Made with boiled dinner leftovers like corned beef and potatoes, a classic side of Red Flannel Hash comes with the added bonus of beets.
By Aimee Tucker
Jan 18 2022
Red Flannel Hash
Photo Credit : Aimee TuckerIn New England, what do you get when you take a recipe for corned beef hash and swap out some of the potatoes with beets? A savory dish, known as Red Flannel Hash, which is named for the (so-called) flannel-esque patches of red made by the beets. We say crack in a few eggs, and just call it Sunday breakfast.
I’d always heard about this unique New England hash variation, especially popular on diner menus, but had never made a batch. Fortunately, Yankee Magazine‘s 1972 cookbook, Favorite New England Recipes, had not just a red flannel hash recipe, but also one for the New England boiled dinner needed to produce the necessary leftovers.
A traditional boiled dinner — the kind with corned beef, cabbage, and veggies — often has leftovers, and it’s these “next day bits” that make the tastiest hash, be it plain corned beef or red flannel with beets.
Our recipe is a simple one — just leftover corned beef, potatoes, beets, butter, cream, and a few shakes of salt and pepper. Yours, however, may include onions, peppers, cheese, fresh herbs… whatever you like or happen to have on hand.
Boiled dinner and the leftover hash (no matter the variety) are both New England comfort food classics, but in a 1991 Yankee food feature by Malabar Hornblower titled “Some of Our Frugal Classics Actually Taste Better the Morning After,” the author gives an extra nod to today’s featured variety:
The early settlers knew how to salt cod and beef, preserving them for use when food was scarce. From corned beef evolved one of New England’s favorite meals-in-one: New England boiled dinner (actually a version of the classic corned beef and cabbage). But there are many who maintain that the only reason to eat a boiled dinner is in order to enjoy the leftovers, chopped up and fried as red flannel hash.
How about you? Are you a fan of red flannel hash? Do you consider it to be as good (or maybe even better?) than the boiled dinner it comes from? Let us know in the comments!
This post was first published in 2015 and has been updated.
Aimee Tucker is Yankee Magazine’s Home Editor and the Senior Digital Editor of NewEngland.com. A lifelong New Englander and Yankee contributor since 2010, Aimee has written columns devoted to history, foliage, retro food, and architecture, and regularly shares her experiences in New England travel, home, and gardening. Her most memorable Yankee experiences to date include meeting Stephen King, singing along to a James Taylor Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, and taking to the skies in the Hood blimp for an open-air tour of the Massachusetts coastline.
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In the summer as the vegetables came in, we made a 3 way; betts, carrots and ‘taters. You the crust on the bottom. And for mke an lighting fried egg is required.
My mom and nana made it with just beets and potatoes but I always make it with leftovers from our boiled corned beef dinner. Big iron skillet, lots of butter and red wine vinegar on top. Best leftovers dish ever!
Cape Cod version is similar to our Salt Fish Dinner from Newburyport. The hash the next day was sublime. We added vinegar and a pinch of sugar to the chopped onions and served the salt pork drippings as part of the “Dinner”. White sauce was enhanced with a raw egg.. Hence, egg gravy. My sisters and I make it when we get together. Arizona, Florida and Massachusetts.
My mother made her Red Flannel Hash from the leftovers from a Boiled Dinner: corned beef, potatoes, carrots, turnips and pickled beets. She never used cream, although that sounds interesting. Don’t think she added the onions! I haven’t had any in years, but it sure sounds good.
Do not see red flannel hash the way my mom made it! She did not add any meat to it. It was just beets, carrots, turnip, and perhaps some potato and onion. Not so sure about the last one. The hash she made after a pot roast meal was the roast, potato and onion all ground together and sometimes she would put a poached egg on top.
As a Yankee born and raised in Littleton NH from ’66-’85 I remember how amazing the boiled dinner was but it was just the precursor to the red flannel hash!! My grandmother always made it with ham rather than corned beef. It was ham, potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, turnip, basically any root vegetable. Then she’d pull out the meat grinder that she attached to her kitchen counter by some kind of screw mechanism and everything would be fed into into it and hand cranked out the other end in a medieval food processor. She’d then fry it in a cast iron skillet and put apple cider vinegar on top. HEAVEN!
I’m looking for a recipe for clam balls. These were sold at rudolfs at revere beach in Massachusetts. The were fried and filled with chopped clams. Had them when I was a kid.
Sounds like clam “fritters” or clam cakes. Use clam cake mix, add copped clams, deep fry and enjoy.
My mother made the most delicious Red Flannel Hash out of left over pot roast, potatoes and beets. She ground everything up together so it was a uniform red color. The “flannel” aspect came when you pressed it down with your fork to make ridges that looked like flannel material!
As a native New Yorker, I have loved red flannel hash since learning how to cook it in my sixth grade home economics class. Thanks Mrs. Hollinger! I still make this tasty skillet dish after making boiled dinner. So filling and comforting!
I make red flannel hash following a pot roast cooked with potatoes, onions and carrots. Best reason to make pot roast is red flannel hash the next day. The first time I made it for my grandchildren they turned up their noses at the funny Ted hash. After one bite they loved it. Now no visit to grandma is complete without red flannel hash.
I make boiled dinner, just so I can make red flannel hash.
New England Dinner as dished out to my family by my Grandmother on Cape Cod was made up of boiled salt cod, boiled potatoes, boiled beets served on a platter which when served to your plate was chopped up into a hash and covered with a white sauce then sprinkled with little chunks of fried salt pork. Don’t judge it until you have tried it! Unforgettable!
We called it a harvest dinner, made in the fall with fresh veggies from the garden , with ham (some used later for split pea soup), cabbage, turnip, potatoes, beets, onions, carrots, celery. We would grind leftovers, then fry it up and serve with an egg with vinegar. Now I think I’ll make one, my tummy is growling and telling me it needs a serving of both harvest dinner, and red flannel hash. Thanks for the memories!!!
Moms hash was ground ingredients s, then fried served with vinegar.
Cream? Beets? Yuk!!
Red Flannel has is the greatest, but please, no cheese! Virtually any kind of cheese no matter how small the amount will significantly alter the delicious taste of a real red flannel hash!
Years ago my stepfather, a Vermonter, introduced me to Red Flannel Hash. After a few years of making it the traditional way, I took the liberty to swap out the regular beets for a jar of sliced, pickled beets and my family loved it so much, we’ve never looked back. I know it’s not traditional but it works for us. We look forward to having that leftover dish more than the boiled dinner itself!
I love the idea of pickled beets.
Red Flannel hash takes patience. Use a non-stick fry pan, an ample amount of butter. Add all the chopped leftovers including some beets (canned is ok). Cook over low heat until a brown crust forms on the bottom (this may take some time). Gently flip the hash (perhaps using a plate) and return to the pan and fry until browned again. Serve with eggs of your choice.
Great tip, Mike! Thanks! This was a fun one. ????
Good article and recipe, Aimee! If you get the chance, try the red flannel hash at the Maine Diner in Wells. Served only on Saturday mornings; made from Thursday’s leftover boiled dinner. Yum!
I make red flannel hash often, it is better than the original meal. I put the cabbage and carrots and turnip with the beets and potatoes. I make it with ham or corned beef. Delicious…… Born on Beals Island, grew up in Stonington, Maine