Main Dishes
Easy Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe
Made with corned beef brisket and hearty veggies, this easy corned beef and cabbage recipe is simple, flavorful, and full of St. Patrick’s Day tradition.
By Amy Traverso|Mar 07 2018|
This easy corned beef and cabbage recipe features root vegetables and creamy Yukon Gold potatoes.
Credit: Amy TraversoThis easy corned beef and cabbage recipe features root vegetables and creamy Yukon Gold potatoes.
Credit: Amy TraversoCredit: Amy Traverso But before I sing its praises any further, I have to tip my hat to Jane and Michael Stern, whose 1986 essay for this magazine called “In Praise of the New England Boiled Dinner” was the ultimate ode to a good piece of corned beef with all the fixings: In the current age of culinary frippery and fickle food fashion, of nouvelle cuisine and diet dinners of Pritikin paucity, there is something especially estimable about a plainly named plate of meat and potatoes. Health foodies and fussy chefs de cuisine be damned; the world needs real nourishment when it sits down at the table, a stick-to-the-ribs hunk of cow with vegetables dug up from the good earth. And when it comes to eating plain and square, we in the northeastern part of the United States have everyone else beat. We’ve got the plainest, squarest, clunkiest, and most wonderful meat and potatoes meal in America — the New England Boiled Dinner. In preparing for this column, I reviewed several of our existing recipes for corned beef and cabbage and found several worthy variations. Former Yankee food editor Annie Copps did a wonderful take with brisket she corned herself by curing it for a week in an aromatic brine and served it with roasted—not boiled—veg. Being fond of roasted roots, I was tempted to follow her lead, but ultimately decided to stick closer to tradition. I also started with a supermarket corned beef rather than curing it myself. But I did create a broth with my own preferred seasonings, which flavors both the meat and the vegetables and gives you a thin sauce to serve alongside. The result? The perfect easy corned beef and cabbage recipe for your St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
Looking for an easy corned beef and cabbage recipe for St. Patrick’s Day? This one’s a keeper.
Credit: Amy TraversoCredit: Amy Traverso
EASY CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE RECIPE
Total Time: About 5 hours Hands-on Time: 45 minutes Yield: 8 to 10 servingsIngredients
- 5- to 7-pound corned-beef brisket (discard spice packet)
- 1 medium onion, halved
- 1 medium celery stalk, halved
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and halved
- 8 whole peppercorns
- 8 whole cloves, lightly smashed with the side of a knife
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 garlic cloves (optional)
- 1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds
- Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1 medium cabbage head (preferably Savoy), cut into 8 wedges, core intact (so that leaves don’t fall off)
- 1 pound baby carrots
- 8 medium Yukon gold potatoes, quartered lengthwise
- 2 large turnips, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
- Dijon mustard for serving
Put beef in a very large (7- t0 9-quart) Dutch oven or stockpot and cover with water by 2 inches. Add onion, celery, carrot, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, garlic (if using), and mustard seeds. Turn heat to high and bring water to a boil; then reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is fork-tender, 4 to 4 1/2 hours, depending on thickness. Check meat occasionally and add additional water as needed to keep it level with the meat.
Remove the corned beef to a large platter, cover loosely with foil, and let rest. Strain the liquid from the pot through a fine-mesh sieve, collecting it in a large bowl. Return the liquid to the pot and taste to check seasoning. If needed, add kosher salt and ground pepper, then bring to a boil. Add the cabbage, baby carrots, potatoes, and turnips. Return to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain vegetables, reserving 2 cups of broth to serve on the side.
Slice the corned beef against the grain into 1/4-inch-thick pieces; then serve on a platter with the vegetables arranged around it. Serve with Dijon mustard and reserved broth on the side.
Do you have a favorite easy corned beef and cabbage recipe for St. Patrick’s Day?
This post was first published in 2017 and has been updated.
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The brisket should be raised to a boil separately, then the water poured off and the brisket rinsed, and then start again. It makes all the difference in the world in flavor according to my Irish great-grandmother.
With the New England style (grey), that changing of the water is really required, too salty otherwise.
There are two types , flat cut and point cut. Which is the more tender?
Flat cut has less fat. Both are tender. I prefer flat cut, less waste.
Horseradish!
The way we cooked it could not be easier. Cut the meat into 2″ cubes and bring to a boil with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. No spice pack needed. Once the meat was done we added carrots, Yukon gold potatoes and cabbage cut in slabs. Nothing better than that. The taste was so pure and delicious without all the other spices. Just added pepper and a little broth on top.
Food????