Easy Irish Boil

As I tried to find a way to describe this Easy Irish Boil dish to a friend I came up the perfect explanation “It’s kinda like a low country boil, only with corned beef and cabbage instead of crawdads…” So rather than call it a New England Boil, because I’ve never been to New England, I’m calling it an Irish Boil, because I’m making it for St Patrick’s Day – and because I can :). 

A lot of families like to have special meals for St Patrick’s Day. Me, I like a good Reuben for lunch. Well, that is any day though. I’m pretty sure I could eat a Reuben every day of the week and not get tired of it. I could also eat an entire skillet of fried cabbage by myself if given half the chance. But I digress…Today I am bringing you a simple recipe for a complete St Patrick’s Day dinner which you can make on your stovetop or slow cooker (crock pot). A meal in one where you dump the ingredients and turn the heat on – how easy is that?

Stay tuned because tomorrow Mama is bringing you a fun and delicious cake with a bit of green to go along with this.

You’ll need: Carrots, Onion, Cabbage, New Potatoes, Pickling Spice, and a Brisket.

A word about sizes: It doesn’t matter how much of each vegetable you use or even how large your brisket is in this recipe, as long as you can fit it all into your pot. I try to get small new potatoes for that very reason. In case you’d like to know, my corned beef is just a little over 3 pounds.

The takeaway here: Make sure you start out with a pot big enough to hold everything. Mine is six quarts and it just barely does the job. 

Place your corned beef in the bottom of a large pot and sprinkle the seasoning packet that comes with it on top. Add another tablespoon or so of pickling spice.

Why are we adding pickling spice? Well, basically that’s what that seasoning packet that comes with corned beef is. All we are doing is adding a bit more to amp up that flavor and get the cooking water infused enough so that it flavors the vegetables as well.

Now, cover this with water and bring just to a boil. Once it comes to a boil reduce heat slightly (there should still be light bubbling) and cook for 2-3 hours.

If you are cooking this in a crock pot: Place corned beef, seasoning packet, and pickling spice in slow cooker. Complete steps below for vegetables and THEN add enough water to cover. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on low, 7-8 hours or high, 3-4.

Quarter your onion (okay, I cut a few more times than four but you get the point), and cut your cabbage into big old wedges. This is the part where I get all nibbly because I love raw cabbage almost as much as I love cooked cabbage!

 Place all of your veggies in the pot with the cooked corned beef. Hopefully, you have a big enough pot for them to go in at this point. If not, don’t say I didn’t warn ya :).

Bring this back up to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and then, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced by a fork. 

Carefully remove corned beef from pot and slice it as thinly as you can. An electric knife works wonderfully for this. My corned beef is not sliced anywhere near thin enough in these pictures but I don’t have the patience for that so I just put steak knives at everyone’s place setting and tell them I wanted to give them more interaction with their food :).

Add veggies around the beef to serve. Enjoy!

Irish Boil

This Easy Irish Boil recipe can be describe as "It's kinda like a low country boil, only with corned beef and cabbage instead of crawdads..."

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Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 5 hours

Total Time: 6 hours

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: boil

Servings: 4

Calories: 918kcal

Ingredients

• Corned Beef 3-4 pounds
• New Potatoes
• Baby Carrots Or whole carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
• Onion
• Cabbage
• Pickling spice

Instructions

• Place corned beef in large pot. Pour seasoning packet over top (they usually come with one). Add an additional 1 tablespoon of pickling spice over this. Cover completely with water and bring just to a boil over medium high heat. Once it reaches a boil, reduce heat slightly (You want it to still bubble) and allow it to cook for 2-3 hours, adding more water if necessary to keep beef covered.
• After beef is fully cooked and tender (at least two hours) peel and quarter onion and cabbage. Place both in pot with beef along with potatoes and carrots. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
• To serve, slice corned beef very thin and place on platter alongside veggies.

Notes

It is up to you how much of each vegetable you use in this recipe. More or less won't affect the recipe, as long as they all fit in your pot.

If you are cooking this in a crock pot: Place corned beef, seasoning packet, and pickling spice in slow cooker. Peel and quarter onion and cabbage and add on top of corned beef along with potatoes and carrots - THEN add enough water to cover. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on low, 7-8 hours or high, 3-4.

Nutrition

Calories: 918kcal

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