Make the Best Corned Beef & Cabbage Now and Forever

Make the Best Corned Beef & Cabbage Now and Forever

Hello everyone! It’s great to be back and it feels good to come back to you all with one of my family’s favorites of all time, Corned Beef & Cabbage. Whether or not you are Irish, you can certainly appreciate the amazing flavor bombs of this simple yet delicious dish. Now I know, everyone’s grandmas’ do it different but let me just testify for just a second. With this crazy, easy recipe, I have converted people. That’s right! People who would NOT eat corned beef will happily chow down on this version. So while no, it won’t be “Traditional” and it won’t be “like my grandma made”, it will definitely be yummy!

How many of you think that this is a typical, Irish, St. Patrick’s Day celebration dish? If you said it is in America but not in Ireland, you would be correct. In fact, it is a widely held belief that most Irish didn’t widely consume much beef in the early 1900’s because there wasn’t much access to it. They had a wide variety of salted pork products instead. Corned beef & cabbage is a mainstream American dish for the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. That is why you can find it in nearly every bar and restaurant during the month of March.

Corned Beef. What does that mean? It is the process of brining and curing meat with salt. At the time the salt pieces were not are refined and so they were referred to as kernels. Hence, corned beef.

Swaps & Specs:

• Use the flat cut corned beef brisket and look for one that has a decent fat cap so it won’t dry out during the cooking process.

• Get a brisket that has a separate spice packet.

• I use a dark beer like Guinness, but feel free to use any beer you like. The beer does cause some discoloration of the veggies but they taste good!

• I add all my side veggies all at the same time. This is a personal preference because I don’t like crunchy cabbage at all. (unless it’s cole slaw lol) If you want brighter veggies, cook them separately from the meat in large pot of boiling salted water until softened.

• We like this trio of veggies but that is also another thing you can change up if you want to.

• Corned beef & cabbage can be made in the roaster oven, oven or crock pot. If making in the crockpot dial back the liquid to half and monitor closely. Add more if necessary. You don’t want it to boil the meat.

• When the cooking is complete, I use the roaster oven lid and cover the covered beef on the cutting board while it rests for a about 10 minutes. You can use a tin foil tent.

• When slicing the meat, cut it against the grain so you get the best cuts possible. You can also remove the fat cap if you want before slicing. We don’t, but again, it’s all personal preference.

• Serve with a side of mustard and crusty bread!

• Easily double or triple this recipe for bigger crowds or just hungry family’s. Personally, my family of five, I have to double it because the eat so much of it when I make it!

• Check out my other holiday posts for Memorial day and Thanksgiving!

Give this version a try and let me know what you think. I’ve been making it this way for years now and we all enjoy it so much! See if you can convert anybody yourself! Feel free to drop me a line with any questions or comments you might have and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for everything!

Corned Beef & Cabbage

A traditional dish of corned beef and cabbage with potatoes, carrots and beer.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 4 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 6 people

Calories 464 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Roaster oven optional

Ingredients

  

• 1 2-3lb corned beef brisket, flat cut get one with the spice packet inside, set it aside
• 2 heads cabbage, cut into wedges
• 1 lb red baby potatoes, quartered
• 1 bag baby carrots
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 1 bottle dark beer or lager like Guinness
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup mustard
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed

Instructions

 

• Preheat roaster oven to 300°. In bottom, place a few of the first leaves from the cabbage heads until covered. Place brisket in fat side up.
• In a small bowl, mix the pickling packet that came with the meat, brown sugar, mustard, worcestershire sauce and garlic. Rub all over meat.
• Add onions, carrots, potatoes and cabbage all around the sides or the brisket. pour in the beer and broth. Add more liquid through this process as meat should remain ¼-⅓ of the way covered.
  
• Cook covered for 3 1/2 hours or until meat is tender. Remove to cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing against the grain..
  

Notes

• This can be prepared in the oven just make sure to add enough liquid and check about halfway through the cooking process so it doesn’t run low and burn.
• This recipe can easily be doubled for a bigger family and cooked in the roaster or oven.
• If you want brighter, more colorful veggies, cook them separately in a large pot of boiling, salted water.
• For best results buy a corned beef with a separate spice packet and rinse the meat before using. 

Keyword beer, corned beef, potato