Easy Irish Boiled Dinner
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There’s something truly special about the simplicity and heartiness of an Irish boiled dinner. This classic dish brings together the robust flavors of tender, pickled corned beef with an array of wholesome vegetables, creating a meal that’s both comforting and satisfying.
At the heart of this recipe is the star ingredient: the corned beef. It’s been pickled to perfection, resulting in a flavorful, succulent cut of meat that promises to be the centerpiece of your dinner table. Slowly simmered, it becomes tender and juicy, infused with the rich, savory essence of the pickling spices.
Accompanying the corned beef are an assortment of vegetables, each contributing its own distinct texture and flavor profile. Carrots, with their natural sweetness, provide a delightful contrast to the earthy potatoes. Onions, when cooked to a golden translucency, add a subtle yet aromatic note. Cabbage, with its gentle crunch, completes the ensemble, infusing the dish with a touch of freshness.
The cooking process is where the magic happens. The ingredients are carefully layered in a pot, allowing them to intermingle and exchange their flavors. As they simmer together, the vegetables absorb the essence of the pickling spices, creating a harmonious medley of tastes. The result is a symphony of flavors, where each ingredient contributes to the overall balance and depth of the dish.
This Irish boiled dinner isn’t just a meal; it’s a culinary journey that pays tribute to the hearty traditions of Irish cuisine. It’s a dish that brings comfort and warmth to any occasion, whether it’s a festive celebration or a simple family dinner.
So, gather your ingredients, set them to simmer, and let the aroma of this classic Irish dish fill your kitchen. With each bite, you’ll taste the rich history and heritage that this recipe embodies, making it a truly special addition to your culinary repertoire. Make sure you make some cornbread, biscuits, or homemade dinner rolls and you will have the perfect meal.
Ingredients Needed To Make An Easy Irish Boiled Dinner
- Carrots
- Onion
- Green cabbage
- New red potatoes
- Pickling spice
- Corned beef
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make an Easy Irish Boiled Dinner
Make sure you start out with a pot big enough to hold everything. Mine is 6 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.
Now, cover this with water and bring just to a boil.
Once it comes to a boil reduce the heat slightly (there should still be light bubbling).
Cook your corned beef for 2 to 3 hours.
Quarter your onion and cut your cabbage into big old wedges.
Place all of your veggies in the pot with the cooked corned beef.
Bring this back up to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Stir every now and then and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Carefully remove the corned beef from the 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!
How To Store This Easy Irish Boiled Dinner
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat them on low heat on the stovetop or in the microwave until heated through. I love to make a Reuben sandwich with my leftovers 😏.
- You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating them as above.
Commonly Asked Questions
Do they eat boiled dinner in Ireland?
Yes! You’ll find this boiled dinner recipe is a comfort food dish for many Irishmen and women. However, it’s not always made with corned beef. They use all sorts of meat cuts.
What is boiled dinner made of?
A boiled dinner typically includes corned beef, beef brisket, smoked pork shoulder, or ham shoulder boiled with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. So if your next question is: can I use a different kind of meat to make a traditional boiled dinner? The answer is yes. Any of the above work.
What nationality is a boiled dinner?
You’d think the hint is in the name. However, this is also known as a New England boiled dinner. It’s believed the name and recipe originated from Irish immigrants in the area, particularly around Boston. It’s now a classic Irish-American staple.
What is the best cooking method for corned beef?
The best cooking method for corned beef is low heat. This can be on the stovetop or in the slow cooker, the choice is yours. This ensures you always end up with soft tender slices of corned beef.
What cut of corned beef should I use?
Corned beef is available in a point cut or a flat cut. Flat cut is the best and most widely available option. It’s leaner and the best for slicing.
Can you make an Irish boiled dinner in the crockpot?
Absolutely! Check out this corned beef crockpot recipe, but here are the quick steps:
- Place the corned beef, seasoning packet, and pickling spice in a slow cooker.
- Peel and quarter the onion and cabbage and add it on top of the corned beef along with the potatoes and carrots. THEN add enough water to cover.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
Why do we add pickling spice?
Well, basically that’s what is in the included seasoning packet. 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.
What does pickling spice contain?
Pickling spice usually includes a combination (in whole or coarse pieces) of allspice, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, dill seeds, ginger, mustard seeds, and peppercorns.
How do you cut cabbage for boiled dinner?
Here’s a video from the one and only Martha Stewart for a visual demo.
What do you serve with boiled corned beef?
This is a perfectly hearty and filling main meal as is. However, if you want to add a little something extra on the side, I recommend a bread-based side dish. This might be Irish soda bread, cornbread, biscuits, or homemade dinner rolls.
It also tastes great served with horseradish, brown gravy, or stone-ground mustard.
I bet you’ll also like these recipes:
- Cold Reuben Dip Recipe
- Cabbage Casserole Recipe
- Classic Reuben Sandwich
- Slow-Roasted Beef Brisket in the Oven
- Baked Reuben Dip Recipe
- Sheet Pan Cabbage With Beef
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb corned beef
- new potatoes
- baby carrots or whole carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- onion
- cabbage
- pickling spice
Instructions
- Place corned beef in a large pot. Pour the seasoning packet over the top (they usually come with one). Add an additional 1 tablespoon of pickling spice over this.3-4 lb corned beef, pickling spice
- 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 the beef is fully cooked and tender (at least two hours), peel and quarter the onion and cabbage. Place both in the pot with beef along with potatoes and carrots.new potatoes, onion, cabbage, baby carrots or whole carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- Continue cooking for another 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender.
- To serve, slice corned beef very thin and place it on a platter alongside veggies.
Nutrition
Re: Sweetie: post a “lost dog” ad on craigslist.org. It’s free. I found a cat and returned it when the owner saw my CL ad. Also, don’t forget newspapers, both print and online versions. Many papers don’t charge for lost and found ads. I have had success with those, too. Best wishes for her safe and swift return, and prayers are being said.
Thank you so much Philippa!!
Hope Sweetie finds her way home soon! Thanks for the recipe idea. My husband doesn’t care for corned beef so I’m tring brats (his favorite) instead.
Thank you Debora!!
I do hope and will pray that your lovely dog will return soon. It is many years since our beloved dog died and I still miss him.
Thank you Deirdre, I appreciate your prayers!!! I know some people don’t understand…but I am not sure we ever get over the loss of our best friends.
I am so sorry that your Sweetie is missing. I am sending prayers that she will be found soon and returned to her loving family.
Thank you so much Carole!!
Well Christy, after a few months of enjoying all that you give us, I must now disagree. Sorry. Boiling Corned Beef should be at least a venial sin. When finished boiling just look at all that great flavor in the water that is being throw out. Roasting corned beef is my suggestion for preparing a great Corned Beef. There are many recipes out there, so I won’t bore you with mine. I just suggest trying an alternate method next time to compare results. Being as close to 100% Irish as anybody, I must tell you that that finding Corned Beef at a pub in Ireland is hit or miss, mostly miss. It is not a staple as you have been led to believe over these many years. It is popular in England. Since I’m being ethnically profane this morning; St. Patrick was a French priest. Now, where is that hair shirt of mine.
This is Christy’s version of the recipe. If you don’t like it who cares. If you don’t have something nice to say then don’t comment at all. Better yet start your own blog for all the “ethnically profane” weirdos out there.
I believe I will wait on Christy’s reply. You may be surprised at her response to my attempt at humor and she may also welcome a different opinion. I have been boiling CB for years and just discovered a better version, IMHO. And who knows Kim H., others may also find roasting a reasonable option comparison. Ethnically profane weirdo? Where in the world did that come from?
I apologize if I misinterpreted your comment. I didn’t read it in the context of humor. I re-read it with that in mind and it seemed totally different. I felt the need to take up for Christy and did so on the spur of the moment and that was my mistake.
Thank you. That was unnecessary but appreciated.
First of all, Thank you Kim for coming to my defense when you felt I needed it. I truly appreciate that. There have been times when folks like you coming to my defense has been the one thing that kept me going! I understand how you can read something and “read” a completely different tone than what was intended. That is one of the struggles of the internet and I’ve been working on figuring it out for almost a decade now. More times than I can count, I have read something in one manner only to find it was meant in an opposite one. But it is so hard to know without tone of voice, facial expressions, etc!
I *really* got to know Baltis when he stepped in and put a very unkind (and a few other adjectives) person in her place with a single sentence. We chat in the comments and he sometimes gives me a hard time in that what that would I laugh back at him and reply “yeah yeah yeah, I hear ya!”. But of course you have no way of knowing this and you, out of kindness towards me, stepped in and stood up for me. I appreciate the both of you very, very much.
Now about that roasted corned beef Baltis… 🙂 I saved all that flavor in the water for my veggies to absorb! 🙂 It was good. But would you believe that NO ONE in my house will touch corned beef but me? So I did that whole thing when My mother was here. She and I had some for lunch and then I sent the rest of it home for my dad. Being a Southerner, especially in today’s renewed climate of everyone thinking we are full on segregated again down here, I can fully understand the frustration of folks going on what they *decide* your culture entails. Just promise me one thing, if all the women in Ireland don’t have waist length red curly hair and walk around in flowing emerald green dresses, don’t tell me. At least let me keep some of the dream alive!
Think I will stick around. If for nothing else, to keep you sharp!
Getting ready for our Easter celebration. Spiral sliced ham with a apricot/orange preserve glaze. This will be the first time I use a blow torch in the kitchen, wish me luck. My wife vowed to remain on the patio for this portion of the cooking process.
LOL!!! Okay, my favorite line (and delivery thereof) so far this year is
“This will be the first time I use a blow torch in the kitchen, wish me luck.”
😉
Wow! By seeing all these cnetmoms it seems as though your words hit a cord with many bloggers! It feels so good to not be alone in needing this reminder. The words you say about how people will read what you have to say or they won’t really hit me. For over a year I blogged and obsessed about numbers and cnetmoms. Now that I am at my new blog home, I let that go. I feel free to be me and it has sparked my blogging passion again. Thanks for this post, it is really what I needed right now 🙂 God Bless!
Baltisraul posted a light-hearted comment about different cooking methods and St. Patrick.
You posted a hateful comment with a personal attack.
I know which person *I* don’t want to see any more comments from. (Hint: It’s not Baltisraul.)
Thanks for having my back!
Is minic a bhris beal duine a shorn, my grandfather used to say.
Many a time a man’s mouth broke his own nose.
Kim felt that I was being attacked and acted swiftly in my defense. Now that we all see good was intended on all sides, we can put this to rest.
Thank you!
While I love (and very much appreciate) all of Christy’s recipes, like Baltisraul, I have become a convert to the roasting method for corned beef. I used to cook the corned beef, cabbage, and onions with red potatoes and baby carrots the same way, but in my slow cooker. Then, a few years ago, I tried a recipe where you mix stone ground mustard and honey, slather that on the corned beef, coat with brown sugar, and then cover it with foil, and roast in the oven. It’s amazingly delicious! I also roast my red potatoes and baby carrots. And, I sauté shredded cabbage with onions. That’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow; can’t wait. (No offense meant at all here, just mentioning that I personally love the roasting method. It’s an entirely different meal that way).
No offense taken at all! Sounds delicious!
Oh Honey, I am so sorry about your baby, Sweetie. I know I would be so heartbroken if I llost one of my babies. Keep the faith, you’ll find your Sweetie. He is adorable. Looks like one of those Heniz 57s as Mother used to call mixed breeds. Their the best ones to have. I have chihuahuas 7 of them, but love each and every one. All of them have their own personalities and man do they know my weakest points to get just what they want. I always call them Babies in fur coats that God forget to put a zipper in.
I will be praying for Sweetie to find his/her way back home and I feel she/he will. Like I said “keep the faith, hon.”
By the way, I just love love your recipes. I am from Alabama also so your newsletteR MEANS A LITTLE BIT OF HOME TO ME. i LIVE IN fLORIDA NOW AND MISS HOME SO MUCH.
aLICE
Thank you so much Alice, that means more to me that you can ever imagine!!
So sorry to hear about your missing Sweety and hope you get good news soon! I helped a woman last week to try to find her dog and the dog DID get found about six days later, so hopefully Sweety will be found soon too! You might want to alert the area police as well and if you’re on Facebook, post it there. Best wishes and good luck and thanks for all of your great recipes! I grew up in GA. but have lived in MA. for years now and reading/trying your recipes is a great joy!
Thank you so much Sharon. I am trying to hold out hope!