🍽️ DINNER
Irish Stew
A gentle, honest stew of lamb, potato, and onion slow-simmered into pure comfort.
Irish · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 120 min
~648 cal · 53g protein · 33g carbs · 32g fat · 5g fiber · 5g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Irish stew is the plainest and most cherished of Irish dishes, and its simplicity is precisely the point. Historically it was little more than mutton or lamb, potatoes, onions, and water, layered in a single pot and cooked slowly over the fire, food born of a country where ingredients were few and had to stretch.
The magic comes from patience. As it for hours, some of the potatoes half-dissolve and thicken the broth into something rich and silky, while the cheap, tough cut of mutton grows meltingly tender. Purists insist on that short list of ingredients; carrots and pearl barley are common modern additions that traditionalists eye with suspicion.
It is honest, sustaining winter food, the kind that warmed generations through the damp Irish cold, and it carries no pretension at all. A bowl of Irish stew with soda bread is comfort reduced to its essentials.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 2.5 lb lamb or mutton, bone-in, cut up
- 2 lb potatoes, in chunks
- 2 onions
- 3 carrots
- 1 tsp thyme
- 2 bay
- a handful parsley
- 5 cups
- to taste salt
Instructions
- 1Layer the lamb (or mushrooms and beans), onions, carrots, and half the potatoes in a heavy pot.
- 2Add the thyme, bay, stock, and salt.
- 3Cover and simmer very gently for about 1.5 hours, until the lamb is tender.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the simmer barely bubbling. A hard boil toughens the lamb, while low and slow melts it to spoon-tender.
- 4Add the rest of the potatoes and cook until they begin to break down.✎ Chef’s noteThe second batch of potatoes is meant to fall apart and thicken the broth, while the first stays whole, giving two textures.
- 5Shower with parsley and serve with soda bread.
Munster tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Munster. Cork once ran the world's butter trade. The Butter Exchange opened in 1769 and graded every firkin that came down the mountain roads from Cork and Kerry, which made it for much of the nineteenth century the largest butter market anywhere, before it finally closed in 1924.
🗺️
Ireland. Irish cooking is honest and comforting, soda bread, stews, colcannon, and a great tradition of dairy, seafood, and cured bacon. Modern Irish kitchens now celebrate superb local produce alongside those hearty roots.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Ireland
Full Irish BreakfastThe great fry-up: eggs, sausage, rashers, black and white pudding, beans, tomato, and soda bread.
BoxtyA soft potato pancake made from both grated raw and mashed potato, griddled golden, an Irish comfort classic.
BarmbrackA lightly spiced tea-soaked fruit loaf, tied to Halloween and its hidden fortune-telling charms.
Browse all Ireland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it an Ireland meal
Irish CoffeeDrink
BarmbrackDessert
BoxtyLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
LocroArgentina
PitiAzerbaijan
Karjalanpaisti (Karelian Hot Pot)Finland
Kuwaiti MargoogKuwait
BazinLibya
HaleemPakistan
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
Dairy-Free Dinners from Around the World
Nut-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Irish Stew?
A gentle, honest stew of lamb, potato, and onion slow-simmered into pure comfort.
Where does Irish Stew come from?
Irish Stew is an Irish dish from Munster, Ireland.
Can Irish Stew be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Irish Stew recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Irish Stew safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Irish Stew take to make?
About 140 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 120 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.