A favorite, classic meal this time of year is Corned Beef and Cabbage. This recipe originated with James Beard. It’s his take on Irish Corned Beef, Cabbage and Carrots.
Corned Beef and Cabbage
I don’t think people really make Corned Beef and Cabbage all that often in the United States unless St. Patrick’s Day is looming ahead. Corned Beef is actually not even very easy to locate at other times of the year. It makes such a delicious meal though that I wish it were more mainstream all year long.
Corned beef and cabbage was made popular in America as a meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Poor Irish immigrants in America made corned beef from beef brisket as it was the cheapest cut of meat. It was paired with cabbage since that was cheap too. And so it became a tradition of eating it on St. Patrick’s Day in America. On St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, you’re more likely to find roasted lamb, savory fish, shepherd’s pies or stew.
How to Make Corned Beef and Cabbage
- The corned beef is placed into a large pot with a bottle of beer, water and peppercorns. It’s simmered for four hours. That ensures this meat is going to be tender as can be!
- After simmering, the meat comes out of the broth. You’ll use the rich broth to simmer onions, carrots and cabbage.
- The final step in making sure this is the best corned beef possible is that you’re going to drizzle a simple glaze on top and roast it for 30 minutes.
- An easy-to-assemble horseradish sauce is served alongside.
You can see how from the photos how wonderful the corned beef turns out. That last step of roasting with the glaze gives it a sweet crust. It’s so delicious.
I’ve seen a lot of Corned Beef and Cabbage recipes where the cabbage and carrots are cooked to death and are soggy and practically inedible. Not this recipe! The vegetables are tender and perfect served alongside the corned beef.
Here are a few more St. Patrick’s Day recipes you might enjoy:
- Beef and Guinness Stew
- Irish Pub Salad
- Colcannon
- Mini Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake Trifles
- Irish Soda Bread
Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage
Ingredients
CORNED BEEF:
GLAZE:
- 1½ cups packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup apple juice
- 3 tablespoons mustard
- ¾ cup bourbon
HORSERADISH SAUCE:
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup prepared horseradish
- 3 tablespoons chopped chives
- ½ medium lemon (juiced)
Instructions
PREPARE THE CORNED BEEF:
- Place the corned beef in a large pot. Pour the bottle of beer over the beef, and then add enough water to cover the beef; add peppercorns or spice packet. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 4 hours or until tender, skimming occasionally. Remove the meat from the broth; add the carrots and onions to the broth and continue to simmer for another 45 minutes. Add the cabbage, and simmer for an additional 15 minutes.
PREPARE THE GLAZE:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. In small saucepan, mix and heat glaze ingredients. Place the beef in a roasting pan and brush with the glaze. Roast for 30 minutes.
MAKE SAUCE AND SERVE:
- Mix together horseradish sauce ingredients; chill until ready to use. When ready to serve, transfer the meat and vegetables to a platter; brush the vegetables with the melted butter. Serve with horseradish sauce.
Notes
- The nutritional information is high (I don't think James Beard was concerned with how many calories this recipe had when he created the recipe). But take into account that ALL of the glaze and ALL of the sauce are included in the nutritional information. Same with the entire brisket, fat and all. So the calories are likely fewer than indicated.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I suggest you update your introduction to this recipe…specifically the reference to how much corned beef is eaten in Ireland. Very little, if any is consumed. Corned beef is specifcally an American tradition. Irish immigrants adapted it to their “boiled dinner” tradition because it was the cheapest cut available to them in the US and their traditional meat “boiling bacon” (an inexpensive cut of cured pork) was not readily available in the US.
Thank you for pointing this out! I actually just did research on this for another website that I have, and I learned about the Irish immigrants making it an inexpensive meal. I’ve updated the text to explain that, thanks!
Kind of a vague recipe. How long do u cook the carrots for before u add the cabbage?
Did you scroll to the bottom to print out the recipe? All of the details are in the recipe 🙂
I agree with Dawn. Tried to print the recipe and it still did not say how long to simmer the carrots before adding the cabbage and simmering for 15 minutes more. Good question, bad answer.
Sorry about that– the total cook time is 5 hours… so cook the corned beef for 4 hours, then remove it and cook the veggies for another hour, adding the cabbage in the last 15 minutes.