An easy stovetop method and a rich cooking liquid create this delicious Guinness Corned Beef served with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.
This recipe was originally published here on Valerie’s Kitchen way back in March of 2012. My how time flies! It remains one of my favorite corned beef recipes so I’ve refreshed the post with new photos and I’m bringing it to the front just in time for St. Patrick’s Day 2017.
Many years ago I discovered the method of cooking corned beef in Guinness and I’ve never looked back. I’ve tweaked the recipe over time and this is my tried and true version.
Ingredients
A couple of ingredient notes. Shenson does a nice brisket and I found mine this year at Costco. Be sure to choose one that comes with a spice packet. For the beer, I like to use this Guinness Stout. It’s a bold, dark stout that adds such fabulous flavor to both the brisket and the veggies.
Instructions
Give your brisket a rinse under cool water and pat it dry with paper towels. Place it in a large Dutch oven and coat both sides with brown sugar, leaving it fat side up.
In goes the good stuff.
Pour the Guinness around the brisket.
Add enough low-sodium beef broth to the Guinness so that the brisket is nearly immersed but the top is just visible above the liquid. Sprinkle the spice packet that came with your corned beef over the top of the brisket. Place pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 3 hours.
Once the corned beef has reached a nice, tender state it is removed to a cutting board and covered with foil while the veggies and cabbage take a turn in the now extremely flavorful cooking liquid. See the printable recipe below for all of the detailed instructions.
I like to toss the cooked cabbage and fork-tender veggies with a little butter and a touch of salt before serving.
Drizzle it all with some of that fabulous cooking liquid and it is ready to serve.
And, don’t forget to crack open those remaining bottles of Guinness. This meal is always a fabulously tasty way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!
More Recipes for St. Patrick’s Day
Irish Colcannon Potatoes | Valerie’s Kitchen
Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage | Valerie’s Kitchen
Irish Soda Bread with Browned Butter | The Food Charlatan
Fudge Caramel Stout Cake | The BakerMama
Guinness Beef Stew | Valerie’s Kitchen
Traditional Irish Coffee | Nutmeg Nanny
Guinness Corned Beef
Ingredients
- 3 ½ to 4 pound corned beef brisket with spice packet included
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 11.2 ounces Guinness Stout beer
- 4 cups low-sodium beef broth, divided
- 1 head green cabbage
- 6 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1 ½ pounds mini red potatoes
- butter
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Remove the corned beef and spice packet from packaging and set the spice packet aside. Give the corned beef a good rinse under cool water and place it, fat side down, in a large Dutch oven. Coat the top with half of the brown sugar. Flip the brisket over and coat the fatty side with the remaining brown sugar. Pour the Guinness around the meat adding just enough beef broth until the brisket is almost completely immersed. The fatty top of the brisket will be visible above the liquid. Reserve any remaining broth for later. Sprinkle the contents of the spice packet over the brisket.
- Place the Dutch oven over HIGH heat and bring to a boil. Reduce to LOW, cover the pot, and simmer for 3 hours.
- Remove the cooked brisket to a cutting board and cover with foil. Add the carrots and potatoes to the cooking liquid in the Dutch oven, adding enough remaining beef broth so that vegetables are almost covered. Increase the heat to HIGH to bring to a boil. Reduce heat to MEDIUM-LOW, cover the pot and simmer until the vegetables are fork tender, about 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut the cabbage into 5 or 6 sections. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a serving dish and place the sections of cabbage into the cooking liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes or until the cabbage has softened. Transfer the cabbage to a serving dish. Dot the vegetables and cabbage with a little butter and season with salt, to taste.
- Slice off the fatty layer from the corned beef and slice into 1-inch slices. Serve with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes with butter, salt, and pepper on the side.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
My husband and I tried this recipe for “One Pot Guinness Corned Beef” And we LOVED it!! Everything was so flavorful, we will never use any other recipe but this one!!
This turned out great! I used brussels sprouts instead of cabbage and just left them to simmer a bit longer. It was a big hit!
Did you add the vegetables toward the end or from the start?
The veggies and cabbage go in at the end, Holly. Please take a look at the recipe card above for the details.
Can I use a slow cooker?
Sure!
I made this recipe last night but used my crockpot instead of the Dutch oven and it so easy and delicious!!! I cooked it on high for about 4.5 hours. The meat was perfect as were the vegetables. This recipe is highly recommended!
Made this in a crockpot today and it was delicious!! Cooked it on low for 11 hours. Bought corned beef (round) at Costco. Thank you for posting this recipe! It will be our new Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe. So easy and delicious!
Hi Miko! I’m really glad to hear that this worked well in a slow cooker. I’m doing my Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage today but maybe I’ll give this one a try in my slow cooker next year. Happy St. Patrick’s Day 🙂
I haven’t made Corned beef in foreeeeverrrrr!!! this looks so good. i need more irish food in my life 🙂 🙂
I have to try this recipe it sounds delicious, I’m just wondering why you are serving it up with extra butter and not using the delicious gravy ????
Its delicious with a bit of the cooking liquid poured over the top!
My wife made this again for us yesterday, SO GOOD!
Love the pot liquor, sopped it up with some good French bread & butter. The vegetables really soak up the flavor and the brisket was fork tender, melt-in-yer-mouth.
Thanks again for a really easy and great recipe, Val.
So glad to hear you loved it! I love this recipe too and in fact, I’m making it for dinner tonight. I was torn between corned beef and my Guinness Beef Stew and then decided – why not do both? We had the stew last night and the corned beef won out for St. Patrick’s Day. Thanks, RL 🙂
I did your Guinness recipe last year and it was delicious! This time I did basically your recipe including a beer (not Guinness) in the crock pot. We’ll see.
Hi Val! I’m a little late to the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations but I am ready to cook some corned beef and cabbage. I thought your recipe was a crock pot recipe though. Must have been mistaken. I was looking for the easy way out:)
I picked up another corned beef from the store yesterday since the price drops so much after the holiday. Couldn’t resist. I do think if you are using Guinness, it’s best to do on the stove so you can really get it to a boil and keep it at a nice simmer. I hope you can try it!
Hi Gina, I have made Corned Beef and Cabbage in a Crock-Pot, Pressure cooker; Microwave and on the Stove. All wer
e delicious. The Brown Sugar really takes away a lot of the salty taste from the meat and sweetens the vegetables. Yum!!!
I just made this. super yummy!
Mine is cooking as I type this 🙂 So glad to hear you enjoyed it. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!