Healthy Irish Recipes

These mini vegetarian shepherd's pies feature lentils, carrot and corn, crowned with a velvety mashed potato topping. The recipe can also be made in a broiler-safe casserole dish. Serve with a spinach salad with oranges, walnuts and red-wine vinaigrette.

If you're looking for a healthy beef stew recipe that delivers on comfort, look no further. This one-pot Irish beef stew is packed with veggies and rich meaty flavor. Make this Irish beef stew recipe with Guinness--a dark, malty Irish stout--to keep it authentic. Serve with a side of Irish soda bread to sop up the leftovers.

Chicken thighs can take plenty of cooking without getting tough or drying out, which makes them perfect for the slow cooker. Here we braise them in Guinness stout along with hearty vegetables, with just the right amount of bacon for added savoriness.

In this easy one-pan dinner, boneless pork loin roast is cooked over a bed of carrots and parsnips for an all-in-one dish that makes an impressive centerpiece for a holiday meal or Sunday dinner. Choose free-range heritage pork if you can—its flavor really shines with no more seasoning than a bit of thyme and a little sea salt. If you'd like, dress up the meal with a traditional Irish apple condiment—Ploughmans chutney or Bramley applesauce, which you can find in specialty stores and online.

This quick soda bread is best eaten the day it's made--try it with butter and jam for extra flavor. Traditional Irish soda bread made with wheat flour requires a very light touch to avoid developing the gluten, which would make the bread tough. However this dough, which is made with gluten-free flour, should be beaten thoroughly. A stand mixer is perfect for the job.

Soda breads are hearty Irish staples--wholemeal flour with large flakes of bran and wheat germ, or white flour or a mixture leavened with baking soda and moistened with buttermilk. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda, which is an alkali, creating bubbles of carbon dioxide which rise the bread. Soda breads have the heft of a yeast bread but are made in minutes and the dough can be shaped into scones or a round loaf, depending on the occasion. Originally it would have been baked in a bastible (pot oven) over the open fire.

Fresh strawberries and rhubarb meld together under a crisp oat crumble in this gluten-free dessert recipe made in just one skillet. If you're not gluten-sensitive, regular rolled oats will work too. Top with a dollop of whipped cream for an extra-special treat.

Rhubarb is a tangy counterpart for sweet raspberries in this fruit crumble recipe. For a nutty flavor and a boost of nutrition, this healthy dessert uses whole-grain rye flour and toasted pecans. Serve the crumble with your favorite vanilla frozen yogurt or a dollop of whipped cream.

This hearty recipe for Irish lamb stew is full of potatoes, leeks and carrots. In traditional fashion, nothing here is browned first, just all stewed together—in this case, in a slow cooker to make it extra easy.

This warming slow-cooker stew has all the flavors of corned beef and cabbage but with much less sodium, plus it's ready in half the time of traditional corned beef and cabbage. Rather than curing the beef in a salty brine for at least a day, we just throw the beef and veggies into a crock pot with pickling spice for that delicous briny flavor without the long soaking period.

The abundance of springy sausage, soft beans and tender cabbage packed into this slow-cooker recipe means that each bite is loaded with varied texture. To make this recipe gluten free, use gluten-free sausage. Serve with bread and Guinness, if desired.

This Irish coffee has just enough sweetness to keep it balanced and delicious. It's just sweet enough without being cloying.