A thick and hearty Vegan Irish Stew with traditional flavors that’s so easy to make! It’s the perfect meal for St. Patrick’s Day or any day you want a stick-to-your-bones meal!
Save This Recipe
Enter your email and we'll send this recipe to your inbox!
Jump to:
St. Patrick’s Day is always a fun holiday to celebrate whether you’re Irish or not!
This is my take on traditional Irish stew made with mutton, lamb, or beef that you may find at an Irish pub. However, my recipe is full of vegetables and takes less time to prepare! It is so flavorful in a rich stock with hearty root vegetables.
The chunks of vegetables in a rich, flavorful sauce have a meaty texture without any meat! It feels more like a meal than a soup!
While preparing the stew, the smell permeated through the house and drew my family to the table. This one-pot vegan soup is ready in 45 minutes!
💗 Why You’ll Love Vegan Irish Stew
- An easy St. Patrick’s Day meal!
- A great addition to your weekly meal prep!
- Healthy and whole food plant-based
- No Added Oil
- Traditional Stew Flavors
- Gluten-Free option
- Rich and Hearty Stew
- Full of good things like vitamins and nutrients
- Super flavorful
- A one-pot meal!
🥣 Ingredients and Notes
White Potatoes: I used white potatoes for this recipe. I didn’t want to use russet potatoes, and I couldn’t find Yukon gold, but you could use any type of potatoes that you like best.
Leeks, Onions, and Garlic: A combination of chopped leeks, onions, and minced garlic adds flavor to this stew. I love the addition of leeks. It has a sweet, mild flavor, giving this stew a nice texture. Be sure to clean and slice your leeks before using them.
Carrots: Peel and roughly chop the carrots. I like having big chunks of carrots in my stew rather than the more finely chopped ones you’ll see in soups.
Spices: This stew is seasoned with Italian seasoning, rosemary, salt, and black pepper. You could also add two bay leaves and some ¼ teaspoon of thyme. Just remember to take the bay leaves out before serving.
Green Beans: I wanted to add a splash of green to this stew, so I chose to throw in a cup of frozen green beans.
Flour and Tomato Paste: The flour and tomato paste thicken the sauce and give this stew a gravy-like texture.
📖 Variations and Substitutions
Gluten-Free: If you’d like to make this recipe gluten-free, substitute the flour for one tablespoon of cornstarch.
Added Vegetables: If you’d like more vegetables, add your favorites! This stew would taste great with added mushrooms, peas, or celery.
Guinness stew: If you are not making this for your kids, substitute the vegetable broth with a stout beer.
Slow Cooker: Easily prepare this recipe in your slow cooker. Sauté your vegetables, then add them to the slow cooker pot with the rest of the vegetables, spices, and broth. Cook on high for 4 hours.
👩🏻🍳 How to Make Vegan Irish Stew
- Add ¼ cup of vegetable broth to a large
saucepan or pot on medium-high heat. (If not oil-free, use olive oil to sauté your vegetables.) Add chopped onion, cleaned and sliced leeks, and minced garlic. Sauté until onions are translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the flour. Stir to coat the onions and leeks. Cook for an additional minute. Add 3 cups of vegetable stock to the pot. Scrape any bits off the bottom of the pot with your spoon.
- Add the chopped carrots, chopped potatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, rosemary, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Before serving, add the frozen green beans and red wine vinegar. Cook for an additional minute to defrost the green beans. Remove from heat and serve warm!
📝 Expert Tips
- Prepare all of the vegetables before you begin making the stew. You’ll need to peel and chop the carrots and potatoes. Clean and slice the leeks, dice the onion, and mince the garlic.
- It’s okay if the flour sticks to the bottom of the pan. Just scrape with your spoon. It will all incorporate and thicken as the stew simmers.
- I prefer to cover the stew to help the vegetables in their cooking process. Be sure the heat is low enough to keep the stew at a low simmer but not too hot so it bubbles and boils over.
- Top with fresh parsley if you have it on hand.
❓ FAQS
Traditional Irish stew is a thick soup made with lamb, potatoes, vegetables, stock, and seasoning. Many recipes also add Guinness beer. I did not add any alcohol since I made this for my kids. Without beer or beef, flavor needs to be added in the form of spices, herbs, and leeks!
This recipe uses all-purpose flour to thicken the broth. To make this recipe gluten-free, substitute the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free 1:1 flour mix.
I use white potatoes in this recipe. However, Yukon gold potatoes and red potatoes would also work well. I would avoid russet potatoes, as you want a waxy potato that holds its shape as the stew simmers.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Serve this Irish stew with a side salad and sliced sourdough, whole wheat or Irish Soda bread to dip into the stew.
⚖️ Serving Size
This recipe makes six large servings
🫙 Storage
Store: Allow the stew to cool, then transfer to an airtight container in the refrigerator. Stews taste even better the day after they’ve cooked, so enjoy the leftovers!
Keep: This stew will keep for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Freeze: If you’d like to freeze this stew, no problem! Allow the stew to cool completely, then transfer to an air-tight freezer-safe container. Label with the date and contents. It will keep in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Reheat in the Microwave: When ready to reheat, transfer to a microwave-safe container and warm for about 45 seconds, depending on the strength of your microwave and the amount you are reheating. The time is an estimate for one bowl.
Reheat Stovetop: Another option is to transfer the contents to a pot, and heat on low until warmed through.
Reheat from Frozen: Remove the stew from the freezer. Transfer to the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Place in a large pot, and reheat on medium-high heat until warm.
🎥 Video
😋 More Vegan St. Patrick’s Day Recipes!
Recipe
Vegan Irish Stew
Equipment
Save This Recipe
Enter your email and we’ll send this recipe to your inbox!
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ cup vegetable stock divided
- 1 cup diced yellow onions
- 1 cup leeks cleaned and sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 1 ½ lb white potatoes cut into ¼ inch pieces
- 3 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Add ¼ cup of vegetable stock to a pot on medium heat. Add chopped onions, cleaned and sliced leeks, and minced garlic. Sauté until onions are translucent about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the flour. Stir to coat the onions and leeks. Cook for an additional minute.
- Add 3 cups of vegetable stock to the pot. Scrape any bits off the bottom of the pot with your spoon.
- Add chopped carrots, sliced potatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, rosemary, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Add frozen green beans, and red wine vinegar. Cook for an additional minute to defrost the green beans. Remove from heat and serve warm!
Video
Notes
- Prepare all of the vegetables before you begin making the stew. You’ll need to peel and chop the carrots and potatoes. Clean and slice the leeks, dice the onion, and mince the garlic.
- It’s okay if the flour sticks to the bottom of the pan. Just scrape with your spoon, it will all incorporate and thicken as the stew simmers.
- I prefer to cover the stew to help the vegetables along on their cooking process. Be sure the heat is low enough to keep the stew at a low simmer, but not too hot so that it bubbles and boils over.
- Top with fresh parsley if you have it on hand.
- Will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Tastes even better the day after you prepare it.
- You can also freeze this recipe for 2-3 months.
Rachel Federman
Massive hit at our house tonight. Such a comforting meal after a cold and gray March Saturday when we’re about to lose an hour. It’s such a simple recipe but was something new and loved the Irish aspect especially leading up to St. Patty’s Day. Absolutely delicious. We didn’t have Rosemary and used GF flour. Everyone went back for seconds. Kids can be oddly picky so I wasn’t sure what to expect. This will be on heavy rotation for us! Thank you.
Bailey Burry
Would I be able to use GF flour OR cornstarch in place of the flour here?
Alison Corey
You can use a GF baking flour.
Bailey Burry
Awesome, thank you! Going to be trying this out tonight 🙂
Kyls
Was great, thanks so much! My whole family enjoyed it!!
I didn’t have beans, but stirred in mushrooms and kale just before serving.
So good, will definitely be making it again, thank you!
Alison Corey
Thank you! Kale and mushrooms sound like delicious additions!
Amanda
Loved it! Easy to prepare and had that great stew taste!
Alison Corey
Thank you! It’s a truly hearty stew.
Emily
Delicious and easy to make!
Ashley
Is it thyme or rosemary?? It says rosemary in the ingredients section but says ‘add thyme’ in the instructions section? And how much tomato paste as I don’t see it in the ingredients section? Looking forward to making this today !
Alison Corey
It’s rosemary. Sorry for the confusion! I made the change in the recipe instructions so that it is clear that it should be rosemary. Hope you enjoy this stew!
Bananahead
This looks so fantastic. I think I might try to make it.
Beth
Yum! This looks so delicious and tasty! I can’t wait to give this a try! So excited!
Gita
This stew is a great way to get veggies into our meal! The kids loved it!
Beth Sachs
Such a hearty and filling stew. The whole family love this recipe!
Lauren
I absolutely love leeks in soups and stew. I love finding new Irish recipes to try as it reminds my of my great grandmother – even better that it’s vegan 😍
Gail Montero
Love the step-by-step instructions so I can never go wrong when I make this tasty dish!
Priscilla
Great stew! The tomato paste was left off the recipe itself, but I luckily checked the longer version after seeing in Instructions and added 6 oz. Delicious!
Alison Corey
Thank you for letting me know that I left out the tomato paste in the recipe card! I’ve gone in and added it, so it’s fixed. Glad you enjoyed the stew!