Our easy Instant Pot corned beef and cabbage and potatoes recipe is the best for St. Patrick’s Day or year round! Your brisket will become fork tender this way with beer. This uses fresh but you can cook Instant Pot frozen corned beef similarly.
Jump To
- Is flat cut or point cut corned beef brisket best?
- Can you cook potatoes at the same time
- Is beer better than water?
- When do you add the cabbage?
- Mustard Sauce
- Optional Add-Ins
- Do you rinse corned beef before cooking?
- Tips for Success
- Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What to Make with Leftovers
This is the best pressure cooker meal we have made this year. Using the flat cut with everything cooked in the same pot, now you have no excuse to make this popular holiday meal lickety split fast. Just one of our popular Instant Pot recipes shared around town!
We don’t do a lot to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but I will say one thing I enjoy is this traditional dinner! It isn’t just for the holidays, and it isn’t just made in the oven anymore. You can use these instructions for the Ninja Foodi corned beef and cabbage too.
This one explains how to get this cut nice and tender starting from fresh or defrosted. If you have had a forgetful moment I get it. That is why I also wrote instructions above if it is still rock hard. We’ve made slow cooker corned beef brisket recipe for years, but this doesn’t take all day.
Is flat cut or point cut corned beef brisket best?
Flat corned beef brisket is the best of the best. This cut is larger, square in size, and more tender if you ask me too. It tends to have a bit more fat too and fat=more flavor. Remember that it will shrink when cooked too so choose a bit larger than you think (plus leftovers are amazing).
You’ll want that packed of pickling spice too that comes in bag. Or make your own corned beef spices if necessary.
Can you cook potatoes at the same time
Yes! Use 2 large potatoes instead of a trivet (because that is not as tasty). You want them sliced with the flat end down so the meat can sit on top and stay out of the liquid (that would make it mushy).
Is beer better than water?
You need some cooking liquid but beer is by far our favorite choice for that. Really anything will do. If you are really opposed to using this then I might suggest beef broth instead.
When do you add the cabbage?
You don’t have to have a head of cabbage, but it is traditionally served together. You just the outside larger leaves will be used (at the end just to steam until wilted) unless diced to make our pressure cooker fried cabbage.
Mustard Sauce
You should definitely make our mustard sauce for corned beef too. Brush it on top of the brisket and then have on the table.
Optional Add-Ins
You can add thick slices of onions and/or large chunks of peeled carrots at the end with the cabbage leaves. This is optional but if you want to add more vegetables this is a great option. I kid you not everyone will fight over the potatoes once they taste them. They’re incredible! You can make Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi corned beef and cabbage the same way.
Do you rinse corned beef before cooking?
NO! I mean some people do in order to minimize the overall sodium content but it will drastically change the taste since the brine is really where it’s at with this. Just remove it from the bag and put the small seasoning packet aside, I do rinse that off. Place it into your pot as is.
Tips for Success
You see most people use a trivet when making cooking corned beef and cabbage in a pressure cooker but you are really missing out if you do it that way. I like using a few large potatoes cut in half instead because then they soak up all the drippings of the meat as well as the liquid you use to cook / “steam” it. Your multicooker is needed too
Pour some broth inside pot on top of everything when serving. When everything is done slice. Serve with some potato from the pot, onion, and cabbage. It is fork tender I tell you!
Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2-3 lb corned beef, flat cut is best
- 2 medium potatoes, cut in half
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 12 oz beer, or water or beef broth
- 1/2 head cabbage
Instructions
- Cut baking potatoes in half and place at bottom of your Instant Pot or pressure cooker with the cut side down. (could use 4 red potatoes to and use those as trivets)
- Remove your piece of corned beef from it's package and set it on top of the potatoes (so it's like a trivet, make sure it's flat so it doesn't fall over). Have the fat side facing up.
- Pour your beer, beef broth or water on top.
- Sprinkle corned beef seasoning packet on top of meat and close lid and steam valve.
- Set to manual, pressure, high for 90 minutes. (timing good for a 3 lb piece)
- Do a natural release for 10 minutes, then let rest of steam out.
- Open lid and remove corned beef, set aside covered.
- Quarter your onion and put into pot with liquid.
- Cut your cabbage head in half so you are using the top half and bottom half with core is left over.
- Separate leaves and place on top of potatoes and onions. If you test potatoes and don’t want them softened further then remove them at this time and put cabbage in liquid with onions.
- Put lid on, close steam valve, and set to manual, pressure, high for 3 minutes.
- Do a quick release, cut meat, and serve vegetables on the side. Pour some broth inside pot on top of everything when serving.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Frequently Asked Questions
I mean you can really serve it with anything but typically regular and a variety of gourmet mustards are known to pair well with this cut of meat. I personally like regular yellow to add just a dab to each bite, but that is typically what I use for ham as well. With all the other items none of these are really necessary but they’re nice to have on hand and try.
An uncooked corned beef brisket can be frozen if it is drained and well wrapped in tinfoil and then inside a freezer bag. Keep in mind that salt encourages rancidity and the texture will change, but it is still safe to eat after being frozen After cooking, store your leftover corned beef for up to 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze cooked beef 2 to 3 months
What to Make with Leftovers
I tend to make a batch of Ninja Foodi cabbage or some air fryer cabbage wedges with the leftovers, or make one of the recipes below.
- We have a lot of different leftover corned beef recipes here to look over.
- Of course you can make Reuben sandwiches with some Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing. Grill it between 2 slices of rye bread.
- Our corned beef soup is more like a chowder and comes out so good you could really add any type of meat to it.
You can make dutch oven corned beef and cabbage too if you’d like to try a different method each year!
The nutritional information is included here as well, the calories, saturated fat, etc. are calculated by the recipe card itself. Like I said, you can use this for any brand of pressure cooker or Ninja Foodi.
Keep in mind that beyond the 85 minutes to 90 min. it takes a bit to reach pressure. Overall I would leave 2 hours to have this finished to perfection and ready to serve.
I’m cooking for one, so I cut my 3-pound corned beef into three 1.33# slabs and froze two and cooked one the old crock pot method. How would you adjust the time for 1.33 pounds of corned beef in the Instant Pot? Thanks for your guidance.
@Liz, what an absolute amazing idea. I, too, cook for one and I never thought to cut into portions. Thank you, Liz, I now longer need to eat my corned beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I found an inconsistency that might confuse some people. In your general discussion of the recipe you say not to rinse the corned beef because it will loose flavor. However, in the instapot instructions you say to rinse the corned beef.
This is the second time I have used your recipe. We loved it the first time Abd I am sure we will love it again.
I guess I’ve done it both ways but yes I will clarify, thanks for the note. 😉
I would like to add carrots to the recipe. So when would I add them?
I would wait and cook with the cabbage. Otherwise they’ll be too overcooked.
I had a 2.5lb brisket and cooked for 80 min. Used only water. Just perfect. Thanks so much. I’ll never cook one covered in water for 8 hours again.
Yay for a success
The corned beef was very good. I always use Guinness when I fix in the crockpot and we love it. This was my first time to use pressure cooker. When I let the steam out it looked it looked like the beer was foaming out with the steam. The Guinness wasn’t flat, could that have effected it?
I also used smaller potatoes and they were a little mushy but good.
I will definitely keep this recipe.
I make corned beef every year for St. Patrick’s Day. I bought two this year, made one for St. Patrick’s day in the Instapot with another recipe: turned out great! Tonight I made the other one using this recipe: turned out AMAZING! The potatoes were to die for, as well!!! Thank you for sharing!
Yeah!!
I’m really excited to try this out but had a quick question: approximately how much time should I adjust it to for a 3.5 to 4 lb corned beef?
We just finished a 4.3 lb one at 2 hours.
How’d it turn out at 2 hours?
You obviously are American , what would corned beef be in English?
Salt Beef
Haven’t made it yet, need clarification. “Cut your cabbage head in half so you are using the top half and bottom half with core is left over.” You mean, cut it on the equator, not lengthwise, and discard the bottom half?
Yes exactly
@The Typical Mom, I’m not at all clear with directions like “cut on the equator” etc. Could you say again what to do with the cabbage? I haven’t made corn beef in years and would love to try this!! Thanks!
So I just slice the cabbage in half with the stem on the left and top of cabbage on the right, so you’re just using the top half and not the half with the stem attached.
I always use a 12oz bottle of Guiness Stout for my corned beef and it is soooo darn good!
Good to know!