Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage [Recipe & Video] (2024)

Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage is a 19th century Irish American meal traditionally enjoyed on St. Patrick’s Day in North America and loved by Jews all year round. The pressure cooker is the best way to cook this dish!

This Irish-American dish, called corned beef and cabbage is a traditional dish in the United States and enjoyed on St. Patrick’s Day.

The rest of the year, it is considered a Jewish meal. 🙂 As corned beef is considered a very Jewish meal, I grew up with the stuff. We ate it throughout the year. OMG, it is so good.I’ve converted my long time corned beef and cabbage recipe to the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker.

Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage is the most delicious and the quickest way to make this St. Paddy’s Day traditional meal. No more pot on the stove to make sure water did not boil over!!!

Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage is very similar to Pressure Cooker New England Boiled Dinner, in that it is also a boiled meal using corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.

If you just want a simple cabbage side dish, make my popular Low Carb Instant Pot Buttered Cabbage recipe. It’s low carb and keto too!

In Ireland, there is a dish called ‘bacon and cabbage’. Bacon and cabbage is traditionally cooked with boiled potatoes and sometimes carrots.Corned beef was rather pricey in Ireland and in the mid to late 19th century Irish immigrants to the United States substituted corned beef for bacon, since corned beef was more reasonably priced in the US.

Corned beef and cabbage is not an Irish national dish and the connection is specifically Irish American, as part of St. Patrick’ Day or St. Paddy’s Day (the d‘s are short for Patrick or more accurately, “Padraig”) in North America. Irish immigrants purchased corned beef from Jewish butchers, who produced salt cured meat from beef brisket. There were close cultural interactions between the Irish and the Jews in the 19th-20th century at the immigrant port in New York.

Ingredients for Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

• Corned Beef – flat or triangle (tip) is fine. You will see Jewish style (red) and New England grey.
• Guinness Stout Beer – or other beer or none.
• Cabbage andPotatoes – use turnips and radish if following a low carb, keto diet.
• Pickling Spices– if your corned beef brisket does not come with a packets of spices, you will need to getPickling Spices.
• Onion
• Fresh Garlic

Preparing food and cooking for the holidays is always so much fun in my house.

My Holiday Party Ham Buns Southern Baked Ham Cheese Sandwiches are delish and always a good way to use up any extra meat! We always cook extra just to make the Ham Buns, which many now call “Ham and Cheese Sliders,” Ugh, what is up with calling small sandwiches sliders? 🙂 So, for this corned beef and cabbage recipe, we love leftovers so we can make these incredibleReuben Eggrolls.

Of course, Pressure Cooker Southern Style Green Beans go with so many holiday meal, as does my Air Fryer Chanukkah Latkes {Jewish Potato Pancakes} and Pressure Cooker Jewish Noodle Kugel (Luchen Kugel) make great side dishes. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love a good latke?

What is the Difference between Gray and Red Corned Beef?

• Corned beef which has been cured with only salt is grayish in color often referred to as “New England Gray.”
• Red corned beef or “Jewish” corned beef is often cured with a salt water or sodium nitrite mixture and causes the meat to turn red.

Pickling Spices, beer and water make up the braising liquid. The most common spices used in a pickling spice mix include allspice berries, whole coriander seeds, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, ground ginger and crushed bay leaves. Cinnamon sticks are often used.

Most often, when you buy corned beef at the store, a little bag of pickling spices is included. As a kid, the pickling spices did not come in a small cellophane, like they do now and we would par boil and then have to dig out the spices and put them back into the pot.One whole side of the Corned Beef was covered in thepickling spices. So, I keep some extra in the house, so that I can more to the pot.

If you purchase a corned beef with the spices covering the beef instead of in a cellophane bag, or if your corned beef does not come with picking spices, make sure to pick up some pickling spices to use after parboiling in theInstant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker.Marshalls Creek Spices is pretty good and the brand I recommend.

Traditionally, when cooking corned beef and cabbage on the stove, I will boil it for a bit and them skim off the fat and scum and often rinse out the pot and replace with fresh water. Instructions for this are found on the recipe card below, as well as in my Instant Pot New England Boiled Dinner recipe, so check it to see photos and directions for the salt removal using the parboil method.

Don’t worry, the flavor is already infused in the beef from curing, so you won’t lose any flavor from rinsing.Soaking the corned beef for an hour will also get rid of much of the excess salt. Make sure you remove the packet of pickling spices.

Keep it simple! For some recipes, simple and traditional are the way to go. I don’t generally use carrots, but many people like carrots with their Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage, so add them if you like.

Oh, and don’t forget, lots and lots and lots of mustard! I like Yellow and the hubs liked the Brown Mustard. We are so different, him and I.

Guinness Stout is great to use in Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage. Use one bottle or more.

How Much Corned Beef to Buy?

• Corned Beef is a fatty cut of meat. which has been cured with salt.
• The corned beef will shrink quite a bit after cooking, so plan on buying at least double the amount you think you will need.

Or maybe triple!

The liquid should just barely cover the meat.

If you desire a stronger beer flavor, all Guinness or other beer can be used for a deeper flavor. We just usually use one bottle and the rest water.

Since the meat shrinks so much, it will be completely under water in no time, so not much liquid is needed.

Remember to buy double, triple, quadruple the corned beef. It shrinks.

For a change of pace, try my Pressure Cooker Corned Beef with White Wine Brandy Mustard Sauce.

It is quite delicious and the White Wine Brandy Mustard Sauceis great to toss over your eggs the next morning.

After the pressure has been released, remove the corned beef from the cooking pot and place it on a serving platter with a ladle of the braising liquid. Cover it with tin foil or some type of covering. Let the corned beef rest and redistribute the juices.

This resting period, will ensure a moist and juicy piece of meat! In addition, using a natural pressure release (meaning, do nothing until the pressure releases on its own) will ensure a moist corned beef.

Potatoes and carrots cook so much faster than cabbage and why the cabbage is the last to go into Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker and is best not submerged in the liquid. If cooking on the stove, then the cabbage should be submerged, but not when cooking under pressure.

Pro Tip: I strongly suggest getting this strainer/steamer basket, as you can just lower the basket with the veggies right into the cooking pot. They come in three sizes and this works especially well in 6 quart and larger pots. Four potatoes and a head of cabbage will fit nicely.

If using a greater amount of potatoes, play it by ear and if they don’t all fit in the strainer/steamer basket, just add them straight to the cooking pot.

Remember, potatoes first and then cabbage.

Looks like it is time to eat! Wait until you see what I do to Ed with the mustard. I had to hide after that.

Ed was a good sport as I put waaaaay too much mustard on his Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Plus, the cabbage was wicked hot and he burned his mouth.But, he loved his meal!

You are going to want leftovers, trust me!

What to Make with Leftover Corned Beef and Cabbage

• Egg Rolls, totally, seriously, you must buy extra corned beef, just to make myAir Fryer Pub Style Corned Beef Egg Rolls with White Wine Brandy Mustard Sauce, the next day! These are truly amazing! Thousand Island dressing makes a nice dipping sauce too for a Reuben egg roll.
• Reuben sandwiches. So much yum here. Rye bread, corned beef, cabbage and Thousand Island dressing.
• My famous Instant Pot Reuben Pasta. Wait until you taste all the deliciousness.

Watch my video and then scroll to the bottom for the printable recipe card.

Tips and Tricks for Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage.

1. Either parboil or soak the corned beef to remove salt, nitrates, scum.
2. Buy at least double the amount of corned beef needed, as the corned beef shrinks about 50% during cooking.
3. Figure about one potato per person, so use the amount you think you will need. For a four pound corned beef, four medium potatoes with a large head of cabbage should fee four people.
4. Allowing the corned beef to naturally release ensures that it is nice and tender.Cut the corned beef against the grain and at a slight slant.

The triangle shaped corned beef is fattier than the “flat” cut. Both are delicious, so try both and see which your family prefers.

Make sure lots of mustard is available.Buy extra corned beef and freeze, as you will want to eat it throughout the whole year.

Oh, you MUST make myInstant Pot Colcannon Irishrecipe for St. Patrick’s Day too. It is so good and something we make throughout the year.

More Instant Pot Cabbage Recipes to Make:

• Instant Pot Crack Slaw [Low Carb Egg Roll Bowls]
• Pressure Cooker JewishSweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage Holishkes– seriously make these. They are the best Stuffed Cabbage recipe around. OMG, so good.
• Pressure Cooker Cabbage and Sausage
• Instant Pot Egg Roll Bowls [Low-ish Carbs]
• Low Carb Brussels Sprouts Alfredo Sauce

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone. But, but, but, MAKE INSTANT POT CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE ALL YEAR ROUND!!!

Kitchen Equipment and Essentials

• Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker
• J.A. Henckels Classic 8 inch Chef’s Knife
• Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
• Simply Gourmet (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
• Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
• My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board & Compartments
• Salbree 3 quart, 6 quart or 8 quart Steamer/Strainer Basket
• Marshalls Creek Pickling Spices

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Here is the handy printable recipe:

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