Cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage

4 cooking corned beef and cabbage methods for your perfect St. Patricks Day dinner! Tender Crockpot, Instant Pot, or dutch oven corned beef every time.

Looking for the best method of cooking corned beef and cabbage?? We have 4 different ways of making your corned beef dinner this year. Maybe you should try something new! If you have done something different that you love share it with us below so we can try that too. (originally published 3/19, affiliate links present)

Cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage in the Ninja Foodi

• If you are unfamiliar with the Ninja Foodi pressure cooker and air fryer it’s amazing.
  • You can buy a Ninja Foodi here
• This method is using a pressure cooker
• Your corned beef will come out fabulously tender
• Potatoes taste amazing but tend to fall apart once everything is done
• Cabbage can be steamed essentially in the juices as little or as limp as you like
• Another option is to cook them separately using this Ninja Foodi cabbage or air fryer cabbage recipe after the meat is done.
  • This option only takes about 15 minutes and creates a crispy crunch on the outer leaves.

This is probably my favorite method. Using a pressure cooker makes everything easier and the tenderness cannot be replicated any other way really.

What you need to cook corned beef brisket with cabbage:

1. A piece of corned beef
   1. Pickling spices will come in the bag with your meat
   2. Of course you can make your own spice packet with mustard seeds and other ingredients but I have never bothered to do this
2. Liquid
   1. I love beer because of the flavor it lends this dish
   2. Yes you can cover with water instead but I recommend the other
3. Head of cabbage
   1. You typically add the cabbage at the end since it only needs a short amount of time to get tender.

Find directions for Ninja Foodi corned beef and cabbage recipe here. Beef and vegetables come out incredibly flavorful using this method.

Cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage in a Dutch Oven

• If you don’t have a large dutch oven it’s a great way to cook using cast iron.
• You can buy my Dutch Oven here.
• This is how to cook corned beef in the oven.
• Your meat will not be quite as tender as the other 3 methods shared.
  • Corned beef must be almost submerged to get tender
  • Basting will need to be done during the cooking process
• The potatoes come out better than any other method in our opinion.
• Cabbage is my favorite in the dutch oven as well.
• You can add potatoes and carrots too, they come out perfectly tender when cooked together.

You can find our Dutch Oven corned beef and cabbage recipe here.

How to cook corned beef and cabbage in the oven directions are here.

Cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage in an Instant Pot

• This comes out similarly to the top Ninja Foodi recipe
• You can use any brand of pressure cooker for this method
• Find my Instant Pot here, I have the 6 qt. 
• Corned beef comes out amazingly tender on high heat, and perfectly cooked
• Potatoes taste great, softer than making them in the dutch oven but firmer than the Ninja
• I didn’t add carrots but you could 
• Cabbage can be cooked as little or as much as you wanted
  • Or cook it separately using our Instant Pot cabbage recipes.
• Everything soaks up a bit of the beer flavor, or whatever liquid you choose

You can find our easy Instant Pot corned beef and cabbage recipe here.

Cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage in the Crock Pot

• This method will take all day
• My crockpot is here for reference
• Your corned beef will come out extremely tender and juicy
• Flavor of the beer or liquid will be absorbed by potatoes and meat
• The flavors and texture will be similar to pressure cooking but take the longest
• You can reduce heat to warm if you are serving this for a longer period of time. I wouldn’t leave it on with additional heat for more than 30 minutes or it may dry out.
• I used the recipe below for years until I got my Instant Pot and Ninja Foodi, now I use those

Find the recipe for slow cooker corned beef brisket here.

Tips for Cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage the best way

1. Use beer
   1. I don’t drink it at all regularly but it gives everything a great flavor
   2. If you aren’t comfortable then I’d use beef broth over water any day
2. Choose a large piece
   1. Your corned beef will shrink A LOT when it’s cooked
3. Buy a piece with a decent amount of fat
   1. Fat means flavor and will be more tender than a lean corned beef brisket
4. Don’t overcook your cabbage
   1. Cutting it into 4 large chunks is best we think
   2. Cook just enough to soften it but not so long it is limp

What should you serve with corned beef and cabbage? Well our easy Irish soda bread recipe of course!

As with any other recipe please tweak it to add ingredients you love like bay leaves inside the pot if you prefer, or other seasonings. Then try our other simple cabbage recipes and let us know which are your favorite!

• One of our favorites is this slow cooker stuffed cabbage recipe.
• Leftovers work great in this corned beef soup