This classic Irish Colcannon Potatoes recipe combines creamy red-skinned mashed potatoes with sautéed cabbage, crumbled bacon, and green onion. This dish is far too delicious to save for St. Patrick’s Day!
Do you cook a special meal for St. Patrick’s Day? I love holidays that involve cooking and really, just food in general, so this whole special meal deal is right up my alley.
I’ve always done corned beef and cabbage with carrots and potatoes in some form or another every single year of my adult life. I rotate between the simply wonderful Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage, quick Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage, or my highly flavorful stovetop version of Guinness Corned Beef (love!).
But, last year I departed from my one-pot routine and made this traditional Irish Colcannon recipe to serve with my corned beef and holy smokes-good-gosh-almighty, my friends! I am 100% in love with this delicious dish.
Table of contents
What is Colcannon?
The word “colcannon” comes from the Gaelic term cal ceannann, or “white-headed cabbage.” In the 17th and 18th century, cabbage and potatoes were abundant and readily available to the population of Ireland so this tasty combination became a popular choice.
There are a ton of variations of Colcannon but they always include potatoes combined with either cabbage or kale. It’s not uncommon to find scallions (green onions) and bacon in many recipes.
Colcannon Ingredients
- Potatoes – I use un-peeled red-skinned potatoes. You get to skip the step of peeling (yay!) and the skin adds nutrition and gorgeous color contrast. You can substitute Yukon gold potatoes, if you’d like.
- Cabbage – About half a good-sized head of green cabbage. After roughly chopped, you should have about 5 to 6 cups.
- Seasoning – Onion powder, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- Butter
- Minced garlic
- Milk – I always use 2% milk which is what I keep on hand. Whole milk, half-and-half, or heavy cream would make them even creamier.
- Bacon – Cooked and crumbled bacon adds amazing smoky flavor.
- Green onions – The potatoes are garnished with thinly sliced green onions.
How to Make Colcannon Potatoes
- Place the quartered red potatoes in a large pot or Dutch oven. Cover them with cool water by about 1-inch, add a couple of teaspoons of salt, cover, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat under the pot as needed to bring the water to a low simmer and boil for about 15 to 20 minutes. The potatoes should be tender when pierced with a sharp knife, but not falling apart. Drain the potatoes well and transfer them to a bowl.
- Sauté the garlic in butter in the empty pot until fragrant. Add the chopped cabbage and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes or until softened. Season with a little salt and pepper and remove the pot from the heat.
- Return the cooked potatoes to the pot with the cabbage. Add about half of the milk, the onion powder, the remaining salt and butter. Use a potato masher to smash the potatoes to a slightly chunky consistency (they should not be completely smooth), adding additional milk as needed.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Garnish the Colcannon with the crumbled bacon and thinly sliced green onions.
Storage and Reheating Tips
Transfer leftover Colcannon to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
These potatoes reheat very well. Just transfer them to a microwave-safe container, splash in a little additional milk, and microwave for a couple of minutes, stirring halfway through. You can also reheat them in the same manner in a pot on the stove, if you’d like.
You can serve leftover Colcannon for breakfast by smashing it into patties and frying them in a little butter or oil in a skillet. So good with leftover corned beef!
Serving Suggestions
Colcannon Potatoes and corned beef recipes are a match made in heaven BUT I highly recommend trying these potatoes anytime of year. They basically go well with anything you would normally serve with mashed potatoes.
We had two batches of this glorious dish on hand this week as I wrote this recipe and filmed our video. I served it one night with cast iron steaks and roasted asparagus. Flat out fabulous. Here are some more ideas to take this recipe beyond St. Patrick’s Day
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Irish Colcannon Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed clean and quartered
- 3 teaspoons salt, divided, plus additional to taste
- 6 tablespoons butter, divided
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ of a good sized head of green cabbage, roughly chopped (about 5 to 6 cups)
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, plus additional to taste
- ½ to ¾ cup slightly warmed milk, as needed
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Add potatoes to a large pot or Dutch oven and cover with cool water by about 1-inch Add 2 teaspoons salt, cover, and turn heat to HIGH. Watch closely and when water reaches a boil, reduce heat to MEDIUM and cook at a low boil for 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a sharp knife, but not falling apart. Remove from heat and drain well. Transfer potatoes to a bowl and set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons butter to dry pot, place over MEDIUM heat and when melted add garlic. Sauté until fragrant and add chopped cabbage. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Remove from heat.
- Add cooked potatoes back to the pot with the cabbage. Add about half of the milk, onion powder, remaining ½ teaspoon salt and remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Use a potato masher to smash the potatoes to a slightly chunky consistency (they should not be completely smooth), adding additional milk as needed.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, as desired. Crumble the cooked bacon and sprinkle over the potatoes. Garnish with green onion.
Video
Notes
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.
More Ideas
I made a keto version using 1 head of steamed cauliflower and 1/2 head cabbage. It was FABULOUS–I can only imagine how delicious it is done properly with potatoes! We had cranberry honey mustard on the side, yum! In the future I want to try adding 1/4 tsp of caraway seeds or serve it with pickled beets. Thank you for such a fab recipe–I see a lot more colcannon in our future!
I absolutely love what you did with it, Sue! I just may have to try that myself. Thanks so much for your comment 🙂
I usually make Colcannon Potatoes a couple of times a year. I had a real epiphany on the cooking of the bacon with a traditional Irish recipe a couple of years ago. It said to trim off most of the fat and cook the bacon with a bit of water until tender. I render the trimmed fat and use some of the bacon fat to cook the cabbage mix together and I always have chives on hand to I use those instead of scallions. Just a variation you may want to try.
Can this be made in an instant pot?
To take Colcannon up a notch, try browning the 4T butter before adding to the mix. I learned this trick from my Polish mother’s pierogy recipe and it does add the WOW!
Sounds delish!
Great recipe! My Irish mom used to make something like this growing up. We ate it a lot when my dad was out of work. My mom’s way of making Irish fun. It was like the best treat in the world on a slim budget.
Mine is made with Yukon Gold potatoes, cabbage, leeks, Kerry Gold Irish butter, heavy cream, garlic, and I like to add chunks of carrot for color and a bit of crunch. There are as many different recipes for Volcano as there are families in Ireland!
I forgot I had saved this recipe and was looking for a side dish. Thanks for sharing. It’s easy and really great. I did make a couple of adjustments (sorry😬). I used the bulb end of the green onion in lieu of onion powder and said the cabbage/garlic/onion in the bacon drippings along with a little butter rather than just butter. Turned out perfectly.
I’m not sure why you received the negative review, I had zero problems with the recipe or mashing – in fact I always boil my potatoes whole with their jackets on since I feel like they are less starchy that way and still no issues.
I will definitely make again!!
I love what you did with it and so glad it worked out for you 😀
Absolutely love this recipe, I made it in the memory of my Irish mother thank you
I’m so happy it brought back wonderful memories of your mom. Thanks so much for your comment, Cynthia 🙂
What a hoax! Apparently you only post the positive reviews, as my less than positive was not “accepted”. Very misleading, to say the least!!!
Florence, comments are moderated as time allows. It can take up to 2 to 3 days at times depending on how busy we are over here before you will see comments approved. We moderate comments to safeguard our website but do not filter negative reviews. Only hateful or harmful comments are deleted.
This looked so good I couldn’t wait to try it. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to expectations. Its like mashed potatoes with some cabbage in it. The flavors don’t blend. There is mashed potatoes, there is cabbage, there is bacon but the flavors are all separate. Maybe after sitting overnight the flavors will blend more. Also it takes some muscle to make this– first to cut up the cabbage, then to mash the potatoes on top of the cabbage. I finally took the potatoes out and mashed them separately.
Waa..waa.. waa!
This recipe is one of my favorite for St Patty’s Day! I always get compliments when I serve it!
I made this today…delicious!!
So happy it worked out for you, Shelly! Thanks for your comment 🙂
Just to let u know that I made this dish in a dutch oven and it was yummy! Thanks for your helpful video.