How to Cook Frozen Corned Beef in Crock Pot

How to cook frozen corned beef in Crock Pot is here! Cooking frozen corned beef in Instant Pot and now in your slow cooker comes out tender and delicious.

Can Corned Beef be Frozen

Yes!! I’m telling you this turns out great, or I wouldn’t be sharing it. I started experimenting with this after St. Patricks Day last year. Saw all the packages that were left over and they were practically giving them away. $5 for each package which is SO cheap and I couldn’t pass them up.

Bought 5 of them, threw them into our deep freezer and cooked them from frozen without defrosting first. OMG, so good y’all. There are two ways you can do this. Cook this slow cooker frozen roast like we will share with you below, or in your pressure cooker. (link to that one above)

Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

Slow Cooker Frozen Corned Beef

Of course we had made slow cooker corned beef brisket for years and years but I always bought that thawed and never thought about it otherwise. Back then I only cooked it in February and I guess I never thought about it other than that time of year. My mistake.

Like I said, I changed that a few years later when I bought a ton, saved them in the freezer and figured out how to cook them year round. I do think if you have time that meat is best cooked when fresh or defrosted. If you wanted to make our air fryer corned beef it could not start out rock hard.

When it comes to which cut to choose I definitely have a preference. You will find the point cut and flat cut, choose the latter. You can see what that one looks like here. It is larger, rectangular, typically with a fat flap on one side.

How to Cook Frozen Corned Beef Brisket

The other is leaner, which you might think is better but you want fat to get it as tender as possible, and in a triangle shape. As for the liquid you can use all sorts of things. I would not choose water because it won’t add any flavor. Beer is by far the best, and I don’t even really drink.

When cooking corned beef and cabbage you can use any liquid you want. I like beer. I didn’t have a “regular” can but had some apple cider beer and just used that in this go around. Just adds another layer of flavor as it steams is all. This is all you really need;

• 3-4 lb corned beef brisket frozen, flat cut is best
• 4 potatoes, any variety but russett or red are best – they will be used as your trivet
• An onion sliced is optional but great
• 1 can of beer, water or 12 oz broth

How to Defrost Corned Beef

Frozen Meat in Slow Cooker

Reason why I don’t cook one of our cabbage recipes in at the same time or at the end is I love it so much I really want that vegetable to shine on it’s own too. I have so many options to make cabbage steaks in the oven, or our favorite Instant Pot fried cabbage you should try with this.

This is how to cook frozen Crock Pot corned beef, literally so easy.

• Wash your potatoes to remove debris and lay inside pot together in the middle to be your trivet. Slice onions and lay all around them.
• Unwrap your package and set frozen corned beef on top of potatoes with fat side facing up. Pour can of beer over the top.
• Sprinkle seasoning packet that came in that bag with meat on top so it sticks.
• Cover and cook on low for 9 hours or until it slices easily and is fork tender.
  • do not cook on high when slow cooking
  • like our Crockpot frozen whole chicken I tried it both ways – high dries out the meat

Ours was about 3.5 pounds so the timing would be appropriate for that weight. Timing also fluctuates slightly depending on how tender you want it to be. Longer = more pull apart.

Frozen Corned Beef in the Oven

Ok so if you wanted to try it this way it would take about the same amount of time. I think a Crock pot is by far the best when it comes to really trapping that heat and steaming to a tender bite. BUT if you really want to try a few different ways you’ll need to;

• Remove meat from packaging, set seasoning packet aside
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Lay two sheets of heavy duty tinfoil down and wrap the entire piece of meat making sure to fold ends together so it is completely sealed and can steam inside of it
• Set inside of a casserole dish or on a baking sheet with a lip on the edges. Lined with foil is best in case there is any leakage.
• Bake for 4 hours, then unwrap the top, sprinkle spice packet on top of meat and pour our prepared corned beef mustard over the top. Brush lightly to ensure all spots and sides are covered.
• Put back into the oven for another 3-4 hours cooking time or until the center reaches 145 degrees F and is nice and fork tender.

Remove, set on a cooling rack still sealed and allow to rest this way for 15 minutes. Then slice against the grain and serve corned beef and cabbage together with taters on the side or make mashed potatoes with them.