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Slow-Cooked Corned Beef with Cabbage is an easy meal to serve your family for St. Patrick’s Day. This recipe cooks all day long and has only 5 ingredients. Simple, simple, simple. Place it in your crockpot or slow cooker in the morning and forget about it until suppertime.
(Post modified with new photos on 3/2/24.)
I like to serve my corned beef with cabbage along with potatoes and carrots, or with Steamed Potatoes with Parsley.
I’ve included instructions in this recipe for adding carrots and small red potatoes to the slow cooker. Or you may opt to oven roast the vegetables with some juice from the corned beef. Adding the extra vegetables will help make this a complete and satisfying meal.
If you have any leftover meat, be sure to make Reuben Sandwiches. Oh yeah, March is a great month!
Speaking of March, that is about the only time I’m able to find packages of corned beef at our grocery store. I’ll often buy a few extra packages so I can freeze them to enjoy corned beef later in the year.
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Ingredients for Slow-Cooked Corned Beef and Cabbage
(See the full recipe at the bottom of this post.)
- lean corned beef with seasoning packet (4-6 pounds)
- beef stock
- dark beer, like Guinness
- medium head of cabbage
- medium sweet onion
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- carrots and small red potatoes (optional)
Optional Homemade Seasoning Mix
Sometimes corned beef doesn’t come with a seasoning mix. Or maybe you want a bit more seasoning to add to the dish. Here is a recipe to make your own. Be sure to use whole spices for most of this, and not the ground versions.
You may notice that this seasoning mixture is very similar to Pickling Mix that you can buy in the store. When comparing this recipe to what I had in the pantry, the two mixes were very similar. So, if you want, you may use Pickling Mix. Or make your own with the following spices (or as many of them as you have on hand or are willing to purchase.) In the end, it’ll be fine. Your corned beef will taste great.
To make your own Corned Beef Spice Mix, you’ll need the following spices:
mustard seeds, coriander seeds, bay leaves, crushed, black peppercorns, allspice berries, anise seeds, red pepper flakes, caraway seeds, whole cloves, cardamom
Instructions: Place seasoning spices in a large mortar bowl and coarsely crush with pestle. Depending on the size of your mortar and pestle, you may want to do this a little at a time. Store in a covered container to use as needed. For this recipe, you’ll want to use 2-3 tablespoons of the homemade seasoning mix.
Instructions for this Recipe
Gather your ingredients so that you have everything close at hand on the counter or table. Remove corned beef from package and set in slow cooker.
Sprinkle the meat with enclosed seasoning packet (or your homemade spice.)
Pour beef stock and dark beer over the brisket.
Cook on high for 6 hours.
Prepare the Cabbage
Using a cutting board and Santoku knife, slice head of cabbage into wedges. Halve the onion and slice.
Place cabbage and onion over the corned beef and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Press down into the juices with a spoon.
Cook another 2 hours until the cabbage is tender and meat is tender and falls apart.
You may also opt to add carrots and small red potatoes to the slow cooker for a complete meal. To do this, add in 3-4 peeled and sliced carrots and 8-10 small red potatoes that have been cut in half or quartered. If needed, add enough boiling water to the slow cooker to cover the vegetables.
Before serving, slice or shred the corned beef. Pour a bit of juice over it to keep it moist.
Serve on a platter with the cabbage, or if desired with potatoes and carrots. Or use the corned beef to make Reuben Sandwiches. This recipe will serve 6-8 people.
See more Beef Recipes Here. Browse Main Dishes Here. View Irish Recipe Ideas Here.
Slow-Cooked Corned Beef and Cabbage
Ingredients
- 4-6 pounds lean corned beef with seasoning packet
- 2 cups beef stock
- 12 oz dark beer like Guinness
- 1 medium head of cabbage
- 1 medium sweet onion
- 4 large carrots peeled and sliced (optional)
- 10 small red potatoes halved
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Optional Homemade Seasoning
- 3 teaspoons mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 2 large bay leaves crushed
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon allspice berries
- 1 teaspoon anise seeds
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients so that you have everything close at hand on the counter or table. Remove corned beef from package and set in slow cooker.
- Sprinkle the meat with enclosed seasoning packet. Pour beef stock and dark beer over the meat.
- Cook on high for 6 hours.
- Using a cutting board and Santoku knife, slice head of cabbage into wedges. Halve the onion and slice.
- Place cabbage and onion over the corned beef and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Press down into the juices with a spoon.
- Cook another 2 hours on high until cabbage is tender and meat is tender and falls apart.
- (If desired, add sliced carrots and red potatoes at the same time as the cabbage. If needed, add enough hot (or boiling) water to cover the vegetables in the slow cooker.)
- Serve alone or with potatoes and carrots. Serves 6-8.
Optional Homemade Seasoning Mix
- Place all of the seasoning spices in a large mortar bowl and coarsely crush with pestle.You'll want to use whole spices for this mix, not ground.
- Place in a covered container to use as needed. For this recipe, you'll want to use 2-3 tablespoons of the homemade seasoning mix.
Notes
