Did you know that you can use Guinness in place of water, stock and wine in recipes? It adds a deep, rich, earthy flavor profile to the dish. I used to work for the Guinness company (Diageo) and created this delicious Guinness Corned Beef with Cabbage recipe. 

guinness corned beef and cabbage recipe

Why This Guinness Corned Beef Is So Good

  • Using Guinness stout, dark stout, or any Irish stout beer instead of water dramatically increases the flavor of the corned beef. The resulting sauce is dark, rich, complex flavor.
  • No need for high heat today! Cooking in the oven, low and slow guarantees moist, flavorful, incredibly fork tender corned beef brisket.
  • Cooking the vegetables separately is an easy way to prevent them from overcooking and becoming mushy.
  • Great for St. Paddy’s Day, or any day really!

Top Tips For This Guinness Corned Beef

  • Beef brisket is usually packed in a solution of salts and preservatives. Discard the solution and rinse beef before cooking.
  • Keep an eye on your beer as it cooks, if it overspills it’s tough to clean off the cooker! (Have some paper towels ready.)
  • This great recipe works well either on the stove, oven or slow cooker.

Ingredients

For the Corned Beef

  • Guinness beer
  • Beef broth
  • Brown sugar
  • Packaged brisket
  • Pickling spice (spice packet that came with brisket)
  • Onion
  • Garlic

For The Vegetables

  • Cabbage, carrots, red potatoes
  • Cooking oil or butter
  • Parsley

guinness corned beef on a plate

How to Cook Guinness Corned Beef Recipe with Cabbage

For the Corned Beef – you’ll need dark brown sugar, 2 bottles of Guinness, pickling spice (only if it doesn’t come in your corned beef package, onion, garlic and of course the corned beef meat that’s been rinsed very well and then patted dry.

This recipe works well either on the stove, oven or in your crock pot.

ingredients for guinness corned beef

On a cutting board, cut your small onion and garlic cloves in half lengthwise. You’ll just need these halves.

garlic for guinness corned beef

In a large pot, combine the brown sugar, Guinness and beef broth.

pouring Guinness in pot

Add the pickling spice, either that you’ve purchased or the seasoning packet that comes with the meat from the grocery store.

adding pickling spice to pot

Add the onion and garlic.

placing onion in pot

Then slide and snuggle in the beef. Your beer should cover the top of the brisket. Get ready for some tender meat!

corned beef in pot

Look at that beer froth!

beer in pot with beef

We’re going to slow cook the Corned Beef in the oven, but first, let’s give it a head start on the stove and bring the beer to a simmer. Keep an eye on this – beer easily bubbles over and it’s a pain to clean. Of course, you could completely skip this route and make it a slow cooker guinness corned beef recipe instead!

cooking pot with guinness corned beef

After the liquid begins simmering, we’ll cover and slip it into the oven at a low temperature (300F for 4 hours). Low ‘n slow.

pot in oven

cooked beef in pot

Perfect Veggies for Corned Beef

Why not throw the vegetable in with the corned beef? Well, two very good reasons:

1) The vegetables really don’t need that long to cook – I want my carrots to taste like carrots, not overcooked corned beef sauce.

2) Vegetables cooked with the meat always end up looking all brown and sad. I want my carrots to look like carrots!

Cooking them separately allows me to cook the vegetables perfectly. I add in some of the corned beef sauce to flavor the vegetables – just enough for nice flavor.

veggies for recipe

Cut the small head cabbage into 8 wedges, the potatoes and carrots into 3/4-inch chunks.

chopped veggies

You’ll brown the cabbage wedges on each side. Medium heat, just a few minutes per side.

cabbage in pot

Then flip to brown the other side.

cooking cabbage

Next, combine potatoes and carrots with your cabbage in the pot. 

carrots and potatoes in pot

Pour in 2 cups of the Corned Beef cooking liquid into the pot. The liquid is incredibly flavorful and will do wonders for the vegetables. I promise you, this is way better than just boiling cabbage in water!

pouring sauce on veg

Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the cabbage (it should be done by now) and leave the carrots and potatoes to cook for another 5-7 minutes, until they are cooked through. You can check by piercing with a paring knife or fork.

The last step is to sprinkle with freshly minced parsley.

veggies in pot cooking

Slice the corned beef and serve with the vegetables. Spoon some of the cooking liquid over the meat.

 

guinness corned beef with sauce

 

sauce going onto guinness corned beef

Guinness Corned Beef with Cabbage

We normally associate eating Corned Beef with Cabbage during St. Patrick’s Day, and ironically, the dish isn’t distinctly a traditional Irish meal  — it’s more an Irish-American tradition, something we made up to go great with copious amounts of beer.

So I thought it would be fitting to braise this Corned Beef in Guinness Beer, instead of water or the “stuff” that the brisket is magically suspended in inside the package.

The “stuff” is a solution of salt, seasoning and other preservatives that I really don’t care for. It’s also incredibly salty. I always rinse the corned beef well, discard spice packet, then pat dry.

Why is it called “Corned Beef”?

After all these years of enjoying Corned Beef several times a year, I finally had the bright idea to actually look up why it was called “corned” beef.  Is there corn involved in the pickling process? Did a “Mr Corned” exist and it was named after him?

It turns out after a simple search, it’s an easy explanation. The beef brisket used in making Corned Beef is salt and pickle cured and the salt pellets used resemble corn kernels.

Okay, that makes sense.

Check Out These Delicious Beef Recipes

Have you tried this Guinness Corned Beef with Cabbage? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Guinness Corned Beef with Cabbage Recipe

Jaden Hair
You can use Guinness and beef broth in place of water, stock and wine in recipes. It adds a deep, rich, earthy flavor profile to the dish. So this delicious Guinness Corned Beef with Cabbage  was a no-brainer!
TIMING: The recipe is so simple. The corned beef takes 5 minutes to prep, and it will spend 4 hours in the oven. After 4 hours, you'll need another 20 minutes for the vegetables to cook.
You can also use a slow-cooker to cook the beef. Low for 6 hours.
5 from 13 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 5 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Irish
Servings 6 servings
Calories 731 kcal

Ingredients
  

For the Corned Beef

  • 12 ounces Guinness beer or other stout beer (1 bottle)
  • 1 1/2 cups beef broth
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 3 1/2 pound packaged brisket for corned beef drained, rinsed well and patted dry
  • 1 packet pickling spice spice packet that came with the corned beef or use 1 tablespoon of pickling spice
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 head garlic halved

For the Vegetables

  • 1 head cabbage cut into wedges
  • 2 tablespoons butter or cooking oil
  • 4-5 carrots cut into 3/4-inch chunks
  • 1 pound of red potatoes cut into 3/4-inch chunks
  • 2 tablespoons freshly minced fresh parsley

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 300F. In a large pot, whisk together the beer, beef broth and the brown sugar. Snuggle in the brisket, it should almost be completely covered by the beer (see photo). Add the pickling spice, onion and the garlic. Bring to a simmer on the stovetop, uncovered is best so you can keep an eye on it. Boiled-over beer is no fun to clean.
  • Once it begins simmering, cover the pot and place in oven to roast for 4 hours.
    After 4 hours, remove from oven. Spoon out 2 cups of the corned beef braising liquid to cook the vegetables. Keep corned beef in the pot - you can return the pot to the oven to stay hot if you wish.
  • To make the vegetables, in a separate large, wide pot, heat butter or oil on medium-high heat. When hot, add the cabbage wedges and cook until browned, about a 3-4 minutes. Turn to brown the other side. Add in the carrots and potatoes. Give the vegetables a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Pour in the reserved corned beef cooking liquid, bring to a simmer and cover the pot. Turn the heat to low and let cook for 10-15 minutes. Use tongs or a large spoon to carefully remove the cabbage and reserve. Continue cooking the carrots and potato another 5-10 minutes or cooked though (pierce with fork to check doneness). Sprinkle with parsley.
  • Slice up the corned beef and serve with the cabbage and vegetables. Pour a bit of the sauce over the corned beef just before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 731kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 43gFat: 42gSaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 143mgSodium: 3294mgPotassium: 1561mgFiber: 7gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 7054IUVitamin C: 139mgCalcium: 118mgIron: 6mg
Keyword beer braised beef, cabbage recipe, corned beef recipe, guinness corned beef
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