Slow Cooker corned beef and cabbage is a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day…but it’s just as good any day of the year!
I generally make corned beef and cabbage one time a year-some time around St. Patrick’s Day. I don’t know why I only make it then; we both love corned beef and cabbage, but I guess since it’s on sale in March that’s when I think about it. At any rate, with it just being two of us in the house, we can stretch a single corned beef brisket for at least three and sometimes even four meals. Dishes like that are glorious. I really don’t understand people who never eat leftovers. Sure, there are some foods that are pretty gross the next day….but most foods are even better and minimal cooking, hello?!?!?!?! I like to repurpose my leftovers, so I have a couple of repurposed corned beef recipes to share with you over the next week.
Anyway, enough about leftovers. Let’s talk about corned beef. First off, let me clear something up. Corned beef is always brisket but brisket is not always corned beef. I have run into several people who, when I start talking about brisket, say, “I don’t like brisket!” to which I say, “WHO DOESN’T LIKE BRISKET???” and invariably they make a comment about corned beef. Then I have to set them straight. Brisket is a cut of beef. Corned beef is brisket that has been “corned”, which is a form of curing. The more you know….
Really, though, I should follow with, “WHO DOESN’T LIKE CORNED BEEF?” I really don’t get it. My favorite deli sandwiches usually involved corned beef or pastrami (which is peppered corned beef). I mean, it’s salty and meaty and GAH. Plus you get to pair it with delicious things like potatoes and eggs and melted cheese. How could that be a bad thing? Is it a bad association with the vile cans of corned beef you can buy at the store (I recently saw a YouTube vlogger make sandwiches with canned corned beef and it was not pretty)? If you don’t like corned beef, please comment with your justification-inquiring minds want to know!
One of these days I’m going to corn my own beef. It’s pretty simple, just time consuming. I never think about it in time, though. Anyway, this slow cooker corned beef and cabbage could scarcely be considered a recipe, but I’m giving it to you anyway. Also, I don’t love cabbage, but I find that when prepared this way it doesn’t get über-soft, which equals stinky, and when cooked with the meat and then salted and buttered it absorbs a lot of those flavors. It’s quite good. If you just can’t do it, omit the cabbage and just have corned beef and potatoes!
Yield: 6 servings
10 minPrep Time:
8 hr, 20 Cook Time:
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- one 2.5-3 pound corned beef
- 8-12 red potatoes, quartered
- 1/2-3/4 head cabbage, thinly sliced/shredded
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- salt
Instructions
- Open the corned beef and drain away any liquid. Place the corned beef fat-side up into a 6-quart slow cook (cut in half if you need to in order to make it fit). Sprinkle the contents of the seasoning packet over the corned beef. Arrange the potatoes around the corned beef. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
- Pile the cabbage on top of the corned beef and potatoes in the slow cooker. Replace the lid. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until cabbage reaches desired tenderness.
- Remove the cabbage from the slow cooker and place on a platter. Drizzle half of the butter over the cabbage and stir to coat. Add salt to taste.
- Arrange the potatoes around the edges of the platter, mashing them up just slightly as you get them out of the cooker. Drizzle the remaining butter over the potatoes and salt to taste.
- Thinly slice the corned beef and place on top of the cabbage. Serve immediately.
Click here to print the recipe for slow cooker corned beef and cabbage!
