Easy Leftover Corned Beef Soup

Leftover corned beef soup using your leftover corned beef brisket from St. Patricks Day! Make this chowder in your Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or on your stovetop tonight! 

Corned Beef Chowder

You can make it in your Ninja Foodi, Crockpot Express or on your stovetop too. I have you covered! Bet you didn’t completely finish your hunk of meat yesterday did you?? Well as good as corned beef brisket is you never want to throw even a bite of it away.

THIS is the best way to use leftover corned beef ever. You’ll agree with me once you have a bowl of this goodness.

Corned Beef Soup without Cabbage

For this you aren’t going to use any cabbage. I will say flat out that whatever you have left in that regard should just be thrown out. You know how I hate to waste food but it just doesn’t save well, and certainly wouldn’t reheat well in a soup. It would just become mush. Use a new drained can of veggies instead.

I had everything I needed in my fridge. To begin with this is what I added. I used frozen vegetables but you could use canned, they will just become softer. Onions go in just about everything I make so those were a given. Since this is a chowder of sorts you don’t need a ton of meat to make it amazing.

One bite sized piece in every spoonful is great, so even if you only have about 1 cup you’ll be good to go still.

We made our Instant Pot corned beef and cabbage recipe again this year. Our piece was about 3.5 lbs. which left about 1.5 cups of diced leftover corned beef. A perfect amount for this Instant Pot corned beef chowder we called it.

• Cooking corned beef and cabbage has never been easier with the existence of pressure cookers nowadays. Just incredible I tell you. Fall apart goodness with TONS of flavor which is why I say to season when it is done.

Leftover corned beef soup

1. Corned beef already has tons of flavor, I want to taste that
2. We are trying to decrease our salt intake as a whole
3. Some beef broth’s have a lot of sodium in them already

At the end of the day it is up to you whether you add salt during the cooking process or at the end.

Instant Pot Corned Beef Soup

No matter whether you baked, smoked or made air fryer corned beef brisket the night before this will work great. Just dice what you have into bite size pieces and throw it right in.

• Leftover corned beef
  • Chopped into bite sized pieces
  • Leaving caraway seeds in the mix is fine
• Beef broth
  • We used this low sodium container
  • Could opt for chicken broth if you desire
• Onion
• Heavy whipping cream
• Cornstarch
• Frozen mixed vegetables
  • Can use canned but they will come out much softer
• Salt and pepper to taste
  • I don’t feel a lot is necessary because the meat has a lot in it already

If you wanted the addition of some shredded cabbage you could add that at the end when it’s on the saute function to soften.

Pressure cooker corned beef soup

What if you want to make corned beef chowder on the stovetop?

• I have directions for that in the recipe card below
• There are really no changes other than to put first 4 ingredients in a pot, heat to medium
  • could add chopped cabbage and potatoes diced very small in there too if you wanted
• Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat until boiling
• Then reduce heat to low.
• Allow your soup to stay on a slow rolling boil until meat and vegetables soften to your liking
  • this typically takes 20 minutes or so
• Use cornstarch and whipping cream mixture to thicken at the end

I haven’t made this in a corned beef and cabbage soup in a slow cooker but I imagine you could put all ingredients (minus whipping cream & cornstarch) on low for 4-6 hours.

Then whisk last 2 together and add at end allowing them to heat on high for 30-60 min.

• Our dutch oven corned beef is shown below.

Can you freeze leftover corned beef?

It’s recommended to drain the brine because salt encourages rancidity and texture changes. Of course the flavors and texture will diminish with prolonged freezing, but the product is still safe to consume.

After cooking, it’s best for leftover corned beef to be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days max, and frozen for about 2 to 3 months for best quality.

How do you thaw frozen corned beef?

1. Put the meat in a pot large enough to pot or pan to catch any drippings.
2. Place the roast in your refrigerator.

Allow it to stay in there until the beef has defrosted, this is the best method even though it takes time. Depending on the size and weight of the meat, this can take 2 to 5 days. We even have an Instant Pot frozen corned beef recipe now.

Leftover corned beef recipes

1. We love our homemade corned beef hash recipe
2. You can of course make corned beef sandwiches too

We usually don’t have enough to make more than 1 more dish out of our cut but there have been times. Above is our corned beef potato hash with a creamy addictive twist!

What goes well with corned beef

• Slice apples really thin and rewarm it on top, or spoon a bit of applesauce over the top
• Cranberry sauce can be paired with it too for a salty sweet meal
• Warm a piece and serve it with a garlic pickle on the side too for an over the top dish.

Corned beef mustard is one of my favorites for dipping those bites. sweet chili sauce is a great dip too.

Corned beef chowder

Printable recipe is below with nutritional information too.

I have a printable recipe card for you below but here is a quick step by step so you can get an idea of how this was done:

Dice your leftover corned beef into small bite size pieces. Add this, your diced onion, frozen mixed vegetables and beef broth into your pressure cooker.

Corned Beef Soup Leftover

• Can add salt now, I choose to season at the end (some corned beef and broth already has a lot of salt in it)
• If cooking on a pot on your stovetop put on medium heat. Allow it to come to a rolling boil stirring it until the vegetables are as soft as you’d like and meat has softened.
• In an Instant Pot, set to high pressure for 2 minutes. Allow to naturally release for 5 minutes, then let out rest of steam.
• Whisk together your whipping cream and cornstarch in a separate bowl until all lumps are gone.
• Turn your pressure cooker off, then press saute and wait until it begins to bubble. Pour your cornstarch mixture in and allow to bubble for about 2 minutes, stirring, so chowder/soup thickens. Serve!
• If making on stovetop add cornstarch mixture once your vegetables are softened to your desired texture, stir until it is as thick as you want it.

Remove from heat and serve immediately. We like to serve this with a side of rolls.