Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage is the BEST way to make traditional corned beef with cabbage, potatoes, and carrots! The corned beef becomes perfectly tender and the vegetables are cooked until just tender for a delicious, easy meal.
Traditionally corned beef is cooked with cabbage, red potatoes, and carrots for a one-pot meal that is filled with the flavors from the corned beef. It is a soul-satisfying stick to your ribs, meat and potatoes kind of recipe that the Irish culture is known for. This Instant Pot version keeps all those delicious classic flavors–just speeds up the process. And the result is out of this world! The corned beef is more tender and flavorful as it really absorbs all the flavor when pressure cooked.
Corned beef is a brisket that has been brined and cured. It typically is sold with a pickling mixture made from mustard seeds, peppercorns, dill, allspice, cloves, and a few other spices. It is earthy, tangy, and flavors the cured brisket perfectly.
You can purchase corned beef year-round, but they are much easier to find around St. Patrick’s Day, as Corned Beef is a classic St. Patrick’s Day meal–especially when served with potatoes, carrots, and cabbage.
Growing up Irish, this meal has always been a staple in my house, but it was typically made in the slow cooker or on the stove. But now the ONLY way I will make Corned Beef and Cabbage is in the Instant Pot. Not only is the process faster, but the corned beef also becomes more tender and flavorful than when cooked on the stove or in the slow cooker.
Key Ingredients
- Corned Beef: This recipe works with both a flat cut or point cut, and no changes to time needs to be made. I personally prefer the flat cut, as it is leaner but a lot of people like the marbling found in the point cut.
- Pickling Spices: Most packaged corned beef brisket comes with a pickling spice blend. If yours does not, you can use 1 tablespoon of generic pickling spices.
- Guinness Beer: The dark rich stout beer adds so much flavor to this meal. You can use any brand you like, or you can use beef stock in place of the beer if desired. This recipe only calls for 1 cup stout beer and most stout beers come in 14.9-ounce cans. I usually let my husband drink the remaining beer. If no one drinks beer, feel free to use the entire can in this recipe–the extra liquid will not hurt the overall product.
- Brown Sugar: This may seem like an odd addition but just a little bit of brown sugar balances out this meal perfectly.
- Potatoes: You can use red potatoes, russet potatoes, or new potatoes. Cut your potatoes into 2-inch chunks or leave whole if using baby potatoes.
- Carrots: Use whole baby carrots or 2-inch chunks of peeled large carrots.
- Cabbage: Green cabbage is best for this recipe and you will only need 1/2 head of cabbage. Use the remaining half to make coleslaw or add to fried rice.
How To Make Corned Beef and Cabbage
Step One: Pressure Cook the Brisket
- Rinse corned beef and pat dry. This removes the brine from the brisket, preventing your end result to be too salty.
- Place onion slices into a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot.
- Place brisket on top of the onion slices.
- Sprinkle brisket evenly with seasoning packet, garlic, and brown sugar.
- Pour in beer and beef broth.
- Select manual/pressure cook setting and adjust pressure to high. Set Cook time for 85 minutes.
- Once cook time has elapsed on corned beef, let pressure release naturally for at least 15 minutes, then do a quick release of any remaining pressure.
- Remove brisket from the Instant Pot and place on serving platter. Cover with foil to keep warm.
Step Two: Pressure Cook the Vegetables
- Remove onion with a slotted spoon and discard.
- Drain off all but 2 cups cooking liquid. You can also strain the cooking liquid if desired to remove the pickling spices, I do not find that necessary.
- Add in potatoes and carrots to cooking liquid.
- Top with cabbage wedges that are still intact.
- Cook for 5 minutes on high pressure.
- Let pressure release naturally for at least 5 minutes before doing a quick release of any remaining pressure.
Step Three: Serve
- Slice the brisket against the grain.
- Serve with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and whole grain mustard for dipping.
Leftover Corned Beef
Leftover Corned Beef can keep in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. And the meat itself can be frozen for up to 3 months. It is delicious reheated the next day, but can also be used in creative leftovers.
- Use meat to make a Reuben. Add sliced corned beef to rye bread, top with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing and pan fry.
- Make Corned Beef Hash using potatoes, corned beef, and scrambled eggs.
- Make Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup.
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Pork and Sauerkraut
- Instant Pot Smoked Sausage and Potatoes with Green Beans
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Ribs
- Instant Pot Meatballs
- Instant Pot Honey Baked Ham
Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
Ingredients
- 3 pound corned beef brisket
- 1 Seasoning Packet or 1 tablespoon pickling spices
- 1 large onion sliced
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 cup stout beer such as Guinness
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 pound small red potatoes cut in half
- 1 pound baby carrots
- 1/2 head green cabbage cut into 2-inch wedges
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse brisket with cold water and thoroughly pat dry.
- Place onion slices into a 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot. Place brisket on top of the onion mixture. Sprinkle with brown sugar, garlic, and pickling spices. Pour in beer and beef broth.
- Select manual/pressure cook setting on high pressure. Set cook time for 85 minutes.
- Once cook time has elapsed, let pressure release naturally for 15 minutes. Then do a quick release of any remaining pressure.
- Remove brisket from the Instant Pot and place on serving platter. Cover with foil to keep warm.
- Remove onions from pressure cooker using a slotted spoon. Drain off all but 2 cups cooking liquid in the Instant Pot.
- Stir in potatoes and carrots and top with cabbage. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Once cook time has elapsed, let pressure release naturally for 5 minutes then do a quick release of any remaining pressure.
- Thinly slice corned beef against the grain and serve with potatoes, carrots and cabbage.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- This recipe works with both a flat cut or point cut, and no changes to time needs made. The flat cut is leaner, while the point cut is more marbled.
- Beer: Feel free to use any dark stout beer you like, or all beef stock if you do not drink beer. The beer adds a great amount of flavor, but is not necessary.
- Pickling Spices: Most packaged corned beef brisket comes with a pickling spice blend. If yours does not, you can use 1 tablespoon of generic pickling spices.
- Gluten Free Corned Beef and Cabbage: If you want this to be a gluten free meal, check your corned beef label carefully to be sure the brisket and seasoning packet do not contain gluten. And use an additional 1 cup beef stock in place of the stout beer.
- You can use red potatoes, russet potatoes, or new potatoes. Cut your potatoes into 2 inch chunks or leave whole if using baby potatoes.
- Leftovers will store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze the leftover corned beef brisket for up to 3 months.
This post has been updated in March 2020 from March 2019 a new video and tips. Recipe remains the same.
Best corned beef recipe. It wasn’t all mushy and soupy like the corned beef I ate as a child. Instead it was easily sliced. I enjoy my Insta pot I’m trying to convert more people. Thanks for the great 👍 recipe
I am so glad you enjoyed so much Kevin!