Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Potatoes
Simplify St. Patrick’s Day with Slow Cooker Corned Beef and potatoes which uses your slow cooker for an easy no fuss dinner.
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Growing up we would often head up to Santa Maria, CA to visit my great grandparents. Often we would visit over St Patrick’s Day weekend and I remember the wonderful smells of my great grandmother cooking corned beef and cabbage and potatoes and carrots.
I remember loving sitting around their tiny little table eating my food and relishing visiting them. It’s nice that I can make this classic dish that reminds me of so many fond memories but with a LOT less work.
What dish invokes the best memories for you?
Corned beef and cabbage isn’t quite traditional Irish food. In Ireland, it’s usually made with bacon but when immigrants came to the United States, it evolved into what we know today.
Saint Patrick’s Day is a holiday to celebrate Ireland and Irish culture. If you would like to learn more about it with your family, you can take this Irish Culture virtual field trip.
What to serve with corned beef?
I like to serve corned beef with sauteed cabbage and honey carrots for a contrast to the salty meat.
We also serve this with Irish soda bread which is a quick and easy bread to make. Another choice is rye bread which is also another tasty option.
What to do with leftovers?
Some ideas on how to use leftovers:
- Make a corned beef and potato breakfast hash
- Use the leftover meat to make these Grilled corned beef and sauerkraut sandwiches
Tips for making this
-Place the corned beef in the slow cooker fat side up. This will keep the corned beef from drying out.
-If you would like, you can add carrots to the slow cooker instead of cooking them separately. Add them with the potatoes.
-If you also would like to add cabbage to the slow cooker, add it in the last 30-45 minutes of the cook time so that the cabbage will cook but not disintegrate.
What kind of potatoes work best for slow cooking?
Your traditional baking potatoes will tend to become mushy with slow cooking. Red and yellow potatoes hold up better under a low and slow cooking process.
If you find your potatoes are more done than you would like when quartering, consider cutting them only in half if they are larger or keeping them whole if they are smaller.
Other Irish inspired recipes
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 corned beef brisket with spices
- 2 lbs red potatoes quartered
- water
Instructions
- Place potatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Place corned beef in slow cooker fat side up. Sprinkle spices over the corned beef. Add enough water to just cover the corned beef.
- Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low 8-9 hours.
Hi! I’m thinking about using baby potatoes and baby carrots to sub for the 2 lbs. red potatoes and carrots. Would that be okay? I’m leaning towards making this for St. Patrick’s Day. Thanks!
I think that should work. Let us know how it goes!
Simple and absolutely amazing. I used the slow method on low 8-9 hours using a flat budweiser and strong beef broth instead of just water the corned beef was so tender Initially it was hard to slice because it was so tender I put the potatoes, carrots as recommended and everything came out wonderfully. I am not a big fan of cabbage because of the gas factor but I made a exception and put the cabbage in the last 30-40 minutes as recomended and the combination was Oh! so good.
Thank you so much for your comment Steve! It made my day. I’m glad that it turned out so well and I will make a note in the recipe about your use of the beer and broth because I think others would enjoy that as well!