Guinness Beef Shepherd's Pie (2024)

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by Rachelon Feb 27, 2017 (updated Feb 23, 2024) 48 comments

Hearty Guinness shepherd’s pie, packed full of tender beef and vegetables. A flavorful meal for St. Patrick’s day celebrations or any day!

Can you believe the weather this winter?! We had three days, in the last week alone, that were near or above 70 degrees… in New England! That’s pure craziness. Now we’re back to typical chilly weather for a while. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t completely love the warm weather though. It was a nice break from the norm. And hopefully a sneak peek of what’s to come! I’m itching for spring weather. It just needs to get here and stick around for a while. Fingers crossed for no more snowstorms this year.

I’m so excited to see the new Beauty and the Beast movie next week. We did a little pre-movie prep and refresher by watching the original Disney version this past weekend. It had been ages since any of us had seen it. A classic I’ll always enjoy watching! Here’s to hoping it’s as magical as they’ve made it seem in the trailers. Will you be going to see it?

Vacation week crept up on us fast this year. I’m sure it was partly due to having a full week of snow days or delays earlier in the month. Too bad the warm weather wasn’t around for our days off! I’m busy trying to come up with some fun activities to keep us busy. Bowling, indoor mini golf, the movies… the aquarium… who knows! If it were up to the kids, we’d go to Chuck E Cheese daily. I can only handle so much of that place, but it is fun for a few hours… when it’s not busy! What are your favorite winter break activities?

I’m a huge fan of holiday and seasonal recipes. There’s always something fun to whip up or experiment with. Since St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, it seemed fitting to create a brand new festive recipe featuring Guinness! I love cooking and baking with beer, but especially this time of the year. If you’ve never tried it, you absolutely must. It adds incredible flavor and moisture to everything you make.

Be prepared to have your house smell beyond incredible while whipping this up. It will be near torturous since you have to wait to enjoy it, but it will be completely worth it when you finally get to dig in.

Hearty Guinness shepherd’s pie, packed full of tender beef and vegetables. This flavor packed must make meal is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations or any day! A mash-up of your favorite beef stew and shepherd’s pie, with a fun holiday twist!

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Guinness Beef Shepherd's Pie

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Total Time: 2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Yield: 4 plus

Hearty Guinness shepherd's pie, packed full of tender beef and vegetables. A flavorful meal for St. Patrick's day celebrations or any day!

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Ingredients

▢ 1 1/2 lb beef stew meat
▢ 2 Tb olive oil or butter
▢ 1 C yellow onion, chopped
▢ 1 C carrots, sliced
▢ 1/2 C celery, chopped
▢ 7 oz peas, drained
▢ 1 clove garlic, minced
▢ 1 tsp salt
▢ 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
▢ 1/2 tsp dried thyme
▢ 1 Tb tomato paste
▢ 1 Tb steak sauce
▢ 3/4 C Guinness stout
▢ 3/4 C beef broth
▢ 2 Tb all purpose flour
▢ 3 C seasoned mashed potatoes*
▢ 4 oz Colby cheddar cheese, shredded
▢ Chives, for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Prepare vegetables. Trim meat of fat and cut into 1-inch pieces. Lightly sprinkle meat with salt and pepper.
Heat butter or olive oil in a 10-12 inch skillet or large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown meat in batches, flipping once. Transfer meat to a clean bowl or large plate.
Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, celery and carrots, cooking until onions are translucent. Add minced garlic, cooking for an additional minute. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Stir in tomato paste and steak sauce. Return meat to pan along with peas.
Whisk together flour and beef broth until smooth and fully combined. Carefully pour beef broth and Guinness into hot pan, stir to combine. Mixture will begin to thicken.
Transfer mixture to the preheated oven, cooking covered for 60 minutes. Toss gently after 30 minutes.
If making ahead, cool beef mixture completely. Store in the refrigerator until ready to proceed.
If continuing with recipe immediately, begin cooking potatoes 30 minutes before beef mixture is ready. Season potatoes with butter, cream, salt and pepper to your liking.
Stir half of the cheese into the mashed potatoes.
Top off beef mixture with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
Cook for an additional 30-40 minutes. If desired, broil or use a kitchen torch to lightly char the cheese. Sprinkle with chives.
Serve warm.

Notes

Recipe serves roughly 4-6.

*roughly 1lb russet potatoes should be used for mashed potatoes. Season with butter, cream, salt and pepper to your liking.

An original recipe from Baked by Rachel

Nutrition

Calories: 350kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 43g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 105mg, Sodium: 974mg, Potassium: 983mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 5861IU, Vitamin C: 27mg, Calcium: 80mg, Iron: 5mg

48 comments on “Guinness Beef Shepherd’s Pie”

Peppermint Dolly — February 27, 2017 @ 6:26 am Reply
Two thumbs up from this Irish woman!!
- Rachel — February 28, 2017 @ 8:17 am
  Thank you!
Nicole Spasiano — February 27, 2017 @ 7:20 am Reply
I can’t wait for Beauty and the Beast either. I do think I need to wait for it to come to DVD since Autumn is too young and I have no time to go by myself. ha!
We just got her Princess sheets for her new bed in the house. loves them
Great dinner
- Rachel — February 28, 2017 @ 8:17 am
  Ahh to be a kid again with fun sheets lol ;)
Sandi G — February 27, 2017 @ 9:54 am Reply
I bet the Guiness in this stew makes it hard to resist. Super yummy!
- Rachel — February 28, 2017 @ 8:17 am
  Thanks, Sandi!
Taylor Kiser — February 27, 2017 @ 1:14 pm Reply
Yeah, crazy weather for sure!
This is comfort food at its best!! It’s a fun dinner idea for St. Patrick’s Day!
- Rachel — February 28, 2017 @ 8:17 am
  Thanks Taylor!
Lexi @ Sempre Dolce — February 27, 2017 @ 2:31 pm Reply
This looks like comfort food deluxe! Definitely need to try this (and I can only imagine the torture of waiting…)! :)
- Rachel — February 28, 2017 @ 8:17 am
  Thank you! I hope you love it :)
Cynthia | What A Girl Eats — February 27, 2017 @ 10:52 pm Reply
Rich and meaty! Perfect for a chilly winter’s night! We’ve been having some insanely cold days and nights in LA lately, so this sounds fab!
See Also
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- Rachel — February 28, 2017 @ 8:18 am
  Thanks, Cynthia! Stay warm! :)
Patricia @ Grab a Plate — February 27, 2017 @ 11:23 pm Reply
This is a wonderful dish! It looks so rich, and those potatoes! What a great dish for St. Pat’s Day!
- Rachel — February 28, 2017 @ 8:18 am
  Thanks, Patricia!
Jen — March 2, 2017 @ 8:20 pm Reply
Made this today. It is SOOO good! So much flavor! My hubby gave it rave reviews too. And yes, the delicious smell was torturous. Thanks for coming up with this. Haven’t had a bad recipe from you yet.
- Rachel — March 3, 2017 @ 8:12 am
  So glad you both enjoyed it, Jen! Thank you for sharing :)
- Laura — August 2, 2018 @ 8:07 am
  Just the comment I was looking for…can’t wait to make!!!
- Rachel — August 6, 2018 @ 8:19 am
  Enjoy! :)
Kristin — March 16, 2017 @ 4:12 pm Reply
This looks delicious! I’m hoping to make this for tomorrow. Just had one question, when do the peas get added in?
- Rachel — March 17, 2017 @ 7:21 am
  Stir them in along with the beef and just before the liquid is added.
Jaime — December 21, 2017 @ 9:31 pm Reply
I just made this tonight for a small family gathering. It was super delicious, even without the Guinness (used more beef broth instead). There were actually out of single bottles of Guinness at the store.
- Rachel — December 22, 2017 @ 7:45 am
  So glad you enjoyed it, Jaime! :)
Anna — December 28, 2017 @ 7:37 pm Reply
My husband has been after me about making him Shepherd’s Pie. He orders one every time we go to eat at an Irish pub. I found your recipe and decided to give it a try. This dish, although time consuming, is absolutely delicious! The flavor the Guinness adds to this dish is amazing! I ate more of this than I should have. I love the flavor so much, I think that next time I will reduce the amount of beef broth and add more Guinness!
- Rachel — January 1, 2018 @ 8:53 am
  So glad you enjoyed it, Anna!
Melissa Higgins — January 5, 2018 @ 12:08 pm Reply
Can this be frozen and finished in the oven later?
- Rachel — January 9, 2018 @ 9:47 am
  I imagine it would work fine! Enjoy! :)
Wade — January 4, 2019 @ 12:30 am Reply
How do you think it would turn out if I just continued to cook it in the skillet instead of cooking it in the oven for 60 minutes before adding the potatoes? Excited to give this a try.
- Rachel — January 4, 2019 @ 7:08 am
  For best results, follow the directions as listed. Enjoy!! :)
Kathleen — August 22, 2019 @ 10:17 am Reply
Hi, Rachel. I love the sound of this recipe. I want to make it for a crowd for a sendoff for friends who will be visiting Ireland for the first time. If I make it a day ahead and add the masked potatoes on top the day of the party, how long should the total cooking be to heat all the contents? 60 minutes maybe? Would you triple the recipe for 20 people plus salad and corned beef sliders?Thanks.
- Rachel — August 23, 2019 @ 9:22 pm
  I’d suggest following the directions as is (cooking for the specified time, followed by additional time with the potatoes on top), especially if you’re tripling the recipe for a larger crowd.
DianneO'Donnell — November 3, 2019 @ 9:17 am Reply
Looking for to making this for my girlfriends luncheon
- Rachel — November 5, 2019 @ 7:18 am
  Enjoy!
Maria — March 17, 2020 @ 7:08 pm Reply
Thanks for this recipe! We just finished eating some of it and it was the best I’ve ever made. My Irish husband loved it! The only thing I did a little different than the recipe was adding extra Guiness and Worchestershire sauce.
- Rachel — March 20, 2020 @ 7:53 am
  So glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing, Maria! :)
Iris — April 14, 2020 @ 1:33 am Reply
Can you make this with ground beef?
- Rachel — April 17, 2020 @ 8:00 am
  If that’s all you have access to, then definitely give it a try! :)
Reen — April 21, 2020 @ 7:46 pm Reply
This is in my oven right now and I added a leek and corn to the peas, subbed Worcestershire for steak sauce. It’s hard to find specific foods on the fly right now but I found Guiness and some sharp Irish cheddar! It looks and smells amazing. Thank you!
- Rachel — April 23, 2020 @ 7:55 am
  Thank you for sharing! I hope you enjoyed it. :)
Deborah — October 5, 2021 @ 4:43 am Reply
Delicious! Really, really good…I can’t wait to have the leftovers tonight!
- Rachel — October 10, 2021 @ 1:19 pm
  So glad you enjoyed it!
Debbie O. — February 19, 2022 @ 4:11 pm Reply
Really, really delicious! I have made this more than once and shared the recipe as well. Fantastic on a cold night!
- Rachel — February 24, 2022 @ 12:55 pm
  So glad you enjoyed it!
Jessica Senula — April 6, 2022 @ 4:44 pm Reply
My go to Shepherds Pie, Delicious!
- Rachel — April 13, 2022 @ 5:52 am
  So glad you enjoyed it!
Rona — November 27, 2022 @ 7:32 pm Reply
Hi Rachel! This looks delicious, sorry for the daft question but what is Steak Sauce? Is it like Worcesterhshire sauce? Or something different?
- Rachel — November 27, 2022 @ 8:11 pm
  They’re similar but with distinct differences. Steak sauce has a thicker consistency and different key ingredients than Worcestershire sauce. You can make your own or find it in the condiment aisle at your local store.
Cheryl — March 18, 2023 @ 2:45 pm Reply
I am not a big fan of stew although the rest of my family is. I made this last night for St. Patrick’s Day and it was stunningly delicious – even for me!
- Rachel — March 22, 2023 @ 5:33 am
  So glad you enjoyed it, Cheryl! Thanks for sharing! :)