Easy canned corned beef recipe ideas to use when you’re in a pinch! Pair with cabbage or air fry to crisp it up a bit. Just one more way of cooking corned beef you can enjoy in March and year round.
Cooking canned corned beef may have you scratching your head. I was curious about it myself and had to answer the question of how to cook it. If you’re in a pinch or traveling and need to know all about this canned meat I have a few ideas for you. (affiliate links present)
Table of Contents
- What Does Canned Corned Beef Taste Like?
- How to Cook Canned Corned Beef
- How to Make canned corned beef and cabbage soup
- What to make with canned corned beef
- How to Cook Air Fryer Canned Corned Beef
- Recipe for Corned Beef Hash with Canned Corned Beef
- What to do with leftovers
- What is inside canned corned beef?
- Canned Corned Beef Recipe
What Does Canned Corned Beef Taste Like?
That was my question too when I first got this. I first thought it looked like Spam but it would taste just like a slow cooker corned beef brisket, NOT. Don’t expect the contents of this to taste the same or even close to the real thing. It is ground with preservatives and doesn’t have the same marinated flavor.
Instead it is quite bland, almost like the brisket was ground as is before adding any of the seasoning packet or brine. That being said if this is all you had available you could tweak it to get some of the flavors you want this time of year. I will share how to make it as another one of our popular simple cabbage recipes and “fried”.
As you can see it is in a tin. There is a little metal twister on one end so you can twist away all the way around and lift off that end to discard. From there you can squeeze the can a bit and if placed upside down it will fall out. Do this over the top of a cutting board.
How to Cook Canned Corned Beef
Take note that it will want to fall apart. If you want it to stay in tact where the slices will be firmer at this point you would want to keep it whole, on a plate and put it in the fridge for about an hour. At this time you will be able to slice it and have it stick together better. It won’t be as firm as spam fries would be if sliced into sticks but better.
You would need to do this if you wanted to attempt to fry it and keep it in patties or cubes. There is a fair amount of fat you will see on the ends of your block. Because of this you don’t really need oil if cooking it in a pan. It will want to break apart though if you aren’t careful and try to move it around a bit.
How to Make canned corned beef and cabbage soup
I decided to add this into my Dutch oven similar to our stewed cabbage, but with this protein. It is basically just steaming your veggies so they wilt and soften as much as you’d like. Then drain the liquid and fold in your canned meat. This is just one way to try it out.
If you wanted to make it into more of a corned beef stew recipe you’d need more liquid of course. Or add it into more of a chowder creamy mixture. I use green cabbage with any sort of recipe during this time of year, I guess it is just the traditional way. With this method it will stay soft in texture as you can see here.
What to make with canned corned beef
- You start off by heating just a touch of olive oil in dutch oven over medium heat.
- Open can and slice corned beef, add into pot and saute for 5 minutes to heat.
- Remove and put into a bowl, set aside.
- Pour broth into pot and scrape remnants of food off and into liquid. Slice large head of cabbage in half and then into 1.5×1.5″ squares. Add those into your pot and stir.
- Put lid on and allow to steam in pot for 5 minutes.
- Remove lid and drain liquid, then add corned beef and all seasonings. Fold together.
Heat for 3-5 more minutes cooking time to incorporate flavors. Taste, add more salt and pepper if you like. Serve.
How to Cook Air Fryer Canned Corned Beef
There is a way to get just a bit of crisp into it at 360F for about 5 minutes. The best way to do this is to air fry it in your Cosori, AirWave or Ninja Foodi. Olive oil spray will prevent corned beef hash from sticking to your air fryer basket. You’ll have to refrigerate it before slicing as I explained above to get it to stick together.
Recipe for Corned Beef Hash with Canned Corned Beef
You can cool, slice or dice and then make our air fryer corned beef hash recipe if you would like with this. With corned beef, potatoes, seasonings and if you choose to add fried eggs on top it is a complete 15 minute meal we love. If you just wanted to cook the meat itself it would take closer to 6 minutes or so and your better off not flipping or shaking the basket so it stays in tact.
Ok here is another idea. You can totally use this as you normally would tuna fish if you wanted. That is right, since it is precooked you don’t have to worry about cooking it, that is why it’s a great camping item. You can just open the can and spread it under eggs on toast for breakfast.
For lunch mix it with mayo, relish and diced celery and pile it on to your slider buns. Same as you would make tuna or chicken salad but with a beefier flavor. Don’t want to bring anything that needs to be refrigerated for rv meals? You can make corned beef spaghetti using this instead of ground beef.
What to do with leftovers
From there you could try any of our best leftover corned beef recipes here with this instead of the whole variety. I will say that whole and non processed is way better, but if this is all you have I hope we gave you a few new ideas.
What is inside canned corned beef?
The primary ingredient, often from various cuts of beef that are finely chopped or minced. Salt, sugar, spices and preservatives are mixed together to create a sort of pate texture that is a bit grittier. Do not expect the same flavor or texture of traditional briskets as it is not the same.
It really is like a pate so spread on crackers or bread to make a sandwich is an easy way to use it. I think it tastes better sauteed with seasonings and cabbage to add flavor as it is somewhat bland as is.
For sure. It is hard to slice but you can scoop it out and spread it on your rye bread with a layer of sauerkraut, Russian dressing and Swiss cheese. Better yet make it panini style heated on both sides so the flavors meld together.
Canned Corned Beef Recipe
Equipment
- 1 dutch oven or air fryer
Ingredients
- 1 can canned corned beef
- 1 c beef broth
- 1/2 head cabbage, cubed
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp salt, and more when served
- 1 sprinkle pepper
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp olive oil
Instructions
- ** Dutch oven ** Heat olive oil in dutch oven. Open can and slice corned beef, add into pot and saute for 5 minutes to heat. Remove and put into a bowl, set aside.
- Pour broth into pot and scrape remnants of food off and into liquid. Slice large head of cabbage in half and then into 1.5×1.5" squares. Add those into your pot and stir.
- Put lid on and allow to steam in pot for 5 minutes. Remove lid and drain liquid, then add corned beef and all seasonings. Fold together.
- Heat for 3-5 more minutes to incorporate flavors. Taste, add more salt and pepper if you like. Serve.
- ** Air fryer ** Open can, set meat on a plate and put into fridge for 1 hour to harden more. Slice into 6 pieces. Preheat to 360 degrees for 5 minutes.
- Spray basket with olive oil spray and lay sliced inside. Air fry for 4 minutes, open basket and lightly spray tops with olive oil. Air fry for another 2 minutes or until outsides as browned to your liking. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and enjoy.
- ** Sandwiches ** Mash canned meat in a bowl and add enough mayonnaise to make it wet, as you would when making tuna fish. Fold in 1-2 tbsp relish and diced celery and spread this on toast or two slices of bread to enjoy.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great advice! Love the Cabbage recipe.
THANKS! The raw stuff is just way out of my price range now, but missed the St. Patty meals…doing a colcannon with a side of “browned” corned beef slices instead.🤷🏻♀️ Didn’t know how to keep it in slices though, so thank you.
Really good recipe and the results were delicious. I did couple of things differently. I used smoked paprika instead of regular, added a diced large carrot, and a pinch of ground thai chiles. Instead of draining off the liquid I added the spices to it when I added the cabbage and then reduced the liquid till it almost disappeared. So much and such good flavor.
so glad
I just needed to tell you that I loved the way you completely explained in simple language what I needed to understand about corned beef in a can. I had NO idea what to do with it! I tried to use it once before straight out of the can and like you said, it wasn’t spam! I threw it out. But I now know a thing or two about it, thank you! I am going to try one of your recipes. Also looked at your other topics, great stuff.
glad I could be of help