Every St. Patrick’s Day, I make a big feast to celebrate the big day in honor of my husband’s Irish family—but, truth be told, I’d make one even if I didn’t’ have Irish relatives. You know why? Corned beef and cabbage. It’s just too great an excuse not to make some.
There are two corned beef recipes that I tend to go between, but both are a wee bit of a pain (said with my perfect Irish accent, of course). This year, however, I’ve made a new discovery: Corned Beef and Cabbage in the slow cooker. It’s a St. Patrick’s Day miracle! I swear this is the tastiest and easiest way ever to make Corned Beef and Cabbage—so easy that there’s still plenty of time to pull this out for this year’s celebration. Lucky for you, I’m willing to share my recipe.
Related: All natural, dye free Shamrock Shake recipes. Because today is your lucky day.
If you’ve never had it before, trust me that Corned Beef and Cabbage is totally delicious. The most exciting thing about it, though, is that my daughters love it—veggies included!—as much as my husband and I do. Now that it’s this easy to make in the slow cooker, I have a sneaking suspicion that this dish will start making more appearances in our home, which will make everyone happy—daughters and Irish ancestors included.
To start, grab a corned beef at the market. It will come with a spice packet that will add tons of goodness. Of course, if you prefer, you can brine a beef brisket yourself to make a corned beef from scratch like this one from Alton Brown; if you want to do this, though, you’ll need to plan ahead many days (you know, for the brine to do it’s thing). For next year.
Related: How to make mashed potatoes in a slow cooker.
Add onions, carrots, and potatoes to the slow cooker.
Place the corned beef, fat side up, and add spices on top.
And then pour in some beer. Don’t worry: The alcohol with cook off.
Related: Go green with these dye free recipes for St. Patrick’s Day.
Cook for a while…
And then add the cabbage. Duh.
Cook for a little bit longer so that the cabbage can cook, as well, and you’re done. A perfect St. Patrick’s Day meal. Or, now, a perfect anytime-you-feel-like-it meal.
Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
Serves 6-8
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 4 1/2 – 6 1/2 hours
About 6 medium-sized carrots, washed, trimmed, and cut into 3″ pieces
3 large (about 1 pound, total) red potatoes, washed and quartered
1 onion, quartered
3 – 3 1/2 pound corned beef, with included spice packet
24 ounces beer, ale or lager
1 small head green cabbage
1. Place carrots, potatoes, and onion in the insert of a large (5 to 7 quart) slow cooker.
2. Lay the corned beef on top of the veggies, fat side up. Sprinkle meat and veggies with the spices from the corned beef’s included spice packet and pour beet over everything. Cook on high for 3 1/2 hours.
3. Trim and quarter the cabbage, being sure to remove the thick core. Once corned beef has reached the 3 1/2 hour mark, add as much cabbage as will fit into the slow cooker (you may have some left over) and cook for one more hour.
4. At this point, you can serve the corned beef and veggies. Though tender, the meat will still be a bit firm so that you can cut it into slices. If you prefer the meat to cook until it falls apart, remove all the veggies at this point and set aside. Then cook the meat for 1 1/2 – 2 more hours before serving.
Thank you for this! Corned beef in the slow cooker leaves me plenty of time to make some colcannon on the side on a school night!
That’s a perfect plan. Love it, Colleen. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!