Slow Cooker Corned Beef
Let the crockpot do all the work for you – simply throw everything in and you are set. It’s so easy, so tender and so flavorful!
St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays for one sole reason: the corned beef. I wait 364 days out of the year to buy a huge corned beef brisket. And since I only get to do this once a year, I go all out – from the baby potatoes to the lemon roasted cabbage.
It’s quite a spread, and also a bit too much work so this slow cooker version comes in super handy. All you have to do is dump everything into the slow cooker and you’re set! Really. There’s no searing, no dicing, no nothing. Even you veggies can get thrown in there as is.
Easy peasy. Although I should warn you – since this recipe is practically effortless, you’ll be tempted to make this more often than just once a year. There’s no judgment here though – I’ve honestly made it twice just this last month! After all, I can just chalk that up to “recipe-testing,” right?
Slow Cooker Corned Beef
Ingredients
- 1 3-pound corned beef brisket, plus pickling spice packet
- 8 whole cloves
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 24 baby carrots, tops trimmed to 2 inches
- 1 pound baby Dutch potatoes
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Place corned beef brisket, fat side up, into a slow cooker; sprinkle with pickling spice.
- Place whole cloves throughout the brisket. Add garlic, bay leaves and 2 cups water, or more water as needed to cover the brisket by at least 1 inch.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 4-5 hours. Add carrots and potatoes to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for an additional 2-3 hours, or until tender.
- Thinly slice the corned beef against the grain. Serve immediately with carrots and potatoes, garnished with parsley, if desired.
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My crock pot is too small to fit my corned beef brisket. Do you think it would be OK if I cut it into sections before cooking? Love your blog, thanks for all the great info!
Yes, that should be just fine.
Do I. rub oliver oil on cornbeef
Do I use brown sugar for a crust on top
Instead of vinegar or beer can I use onion mix soup in my water
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
What? Pink salt is fetal?
I don’t see pink salt in the recipe. Pink salt is found in many cured meats. We haven’t died yet.
Yes, pink salt, or curing salt, can be fatal eating it. It is NOT pink himylania salt. It is used to cure meats and is a bright pink so as not to confuse with table salt. I use Prague powder number 1 to cure all my meats. I get my meats from a farm and they arent cured. Although I didnt see the curing salt in this recipe
I love my corned beef to be “stringy” once it’s done. Does this come out that way or is it more “solid”?
It’s a bit more “solid”.
This can depend on which cut you are using, point or flat. The point cut (the cheaper one) comes out stringy – delicious and tender, but more fatty, and messy to make sandwiches with the leftovers! The flat cut has less fat marbled throughout, so it stays together when cooking, and is better for slicing.
Making this now and wanted to know if the liquid goes below the meat should i add more?
Jocelyn, it should be fine – the meat will slowly submerge into the liquid as it cooks.
I make my corned beef from scratch using a beef brisket and brining it in mustard seeds pickling spice and coriander, I also add honey and brown sugar and kosher salt, but here is the tricky part you must brine you beef brisket with all the spices added to about 5 cups of water,now you add the pink salt ( not Himalayan or Hawaiian salt) this salt it for brining only it is fetal if you eat it so be careful with the pink salt I can’t stress that enough
Ok, I admit I was dumb but I had doctors apps and had a few errands to run and didn’t get the corned beef (2 lbs.) into my crock pot till 3:15pm. Put it in the crock pot on high, put the corned beef in but I always leave the veggies out. I transfer the meat and juice into a big soup pot and the veggies and cook for about 30 minutes on the stove. Just something I have always done so they don’t get overlooked. With that said, how long do you think the meat will take at high in crock pot to cook? Should I be planning for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow? What a day to make that kind of mistake. Would it just be better to put it in a large pot now and start it boiling? Help.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Should I parboil the corned beef before adding to slow cooker. Sometimes corned beef can b salty
That’s completely up to you!
Could a two and a half year old grandchild safely eat this recipe with beer? Does the alchohol burn off after hours in a slow coo
I recommend consulting a pediatrician.
You can also buy non alcoholic beer, O’Douls (spelling?) makes an amber ale non alcoholic. There are others too.
The amount of time the food cooks after adding alcohol or beer plays a critical role, as well as the amount of alcohol and type, this article explains it very well. http://www.livestrong.com/article/562158-can-kids-eat-things-cooked-in-beer/
Here is some more info I googled and FDA says whiskey for example goes down to 5% after 2.5 hours, if using 1 pint of beer & cooking this recipe for 7 plus hours (& beer has much less alcohol content) it “should” burn out, alcohol dissipates first then water, however without asking a Doctor or doing more research non alcoholic may be your best bet (as I am not a Doctor).
I forgot to include the 2nd link I mentioned, sorry! Hope this helps
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/slowcooking/comments/44d1f0/does_alcohol_cook_out_in_a_slow_cooker/
Can you bake the purple cabbage with olive oil?
Purple cabbage?
I grow both green and purple cabbage in my garden here in NY. It’s not dyed, it grows that way. I thought it was really common – have you not seen it? Often included in thin shreds in bags of cheap ready-made salad… When you cook it, it becomes dark/dusky purple/red/ish.
I’m thinking she means the cabbage with red dye? It looks purplish
It is not dyed. It is a separate species of cabbage, and it grows purple (depending on the pH of the soil). Just like there are red beets and golden beets, or Golden Delicious or Red Delicious apples, green or purple kale.
Try it, it’s yummy, and FULL of vitamins/minerals (Vitamin C, calcium, zinc, and manganese!)
So it’s 4-5 hrs plus 2-3 once you add the potatoes and carrots or you add the veg when you stil have 2-3 hr left?
Once the carrots and potatoes have been added, it’s an additional 2-3 hours.
Nice recipe, love the whole clove idea…I have found cooking my own corned beef, it is more about reaching tenderness, then a internal temperature.
So, I JUST realized I’m out of whole cloves but I have ground, can I substitute , or should I just leave it out?
Yes, you can omit as needed.
Yes I love this basic crock recipe. It is simple as-is and forgiving with a little experimentation. I just dump in some carrots, then potatoes, then the meat, then when almost full I top it with onions. Each layer gets a little salt and pepper, the meat gets liquid smoke and a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar. Then turn on the heat , wait 8 hours , inhale. The onions melt with the fat and make a really good broth.
Do you use all the juice that comes in the corned beef brisket or pour it off?
I recommend draining the excess juices.
This recipe is a keeper! Double it with confidence! I made it today for a dinner party for 10 people and all raved about the tenderness and flavors. I used (2) 3 + lb flat cut corned beef briskets , 3 cups of water & 1 bottle of a Belgian wheat beer. .. used both season packets but did not increase the whole cloves or garlic clove amounts . I wasn’t sure how long it would take to cook , so I started out by cooking it for 3 hours on high then dropped it down to low for the remaining 7 hours. I added the potatoes and carrots at the 4 hour mark as recommended. Perfect meal ! Thank you also for the roasted cabbage inspiration ; I sliced the cabbage instead of cutting into wedges and rubbed it with olive oil and topped with fresh ground sea salt and black pepper. Baked on a cookie sheet for 45 mins at 400 degrees F. I am going to toss out all my other recipes. This is the best one yet. Thank you again. g
Thank you for this post Gina! I’ve been debated doing exactly what you did, now I’m confident it will work! I love everyone’s comments, such great ideas and so helpful! (Excellent Recipes too of course Chungah! Thank you as well)
Thank you sooo much Gina. I’m having a party and have exactly your situation you stated here. My only concern is how big were your carrots and potatoes. And did you put them on top of the meat or below?And can we still enjoy the onions or do they become too soggy?
I’ll take anyone’s input on this as I’m making this tomorrow night. Yikes. Help.
WOW its sad to see to see the chief only think brisket is a one time a year meal! That this is the only way it served!Funny for this Irish/ Scottish to get brisket was smoked! Makes me think that someone who enjoys this hard to cook meat to expand there culinary mind!
Corned beef is an all time low for brisket! This was made as a cheap meal back in the days! But to put it as a one time a year meal! That to me means the chief just does not know how to cook a great piece of meat! Anyway can make a Ribeye taste good! Takes someone with skills to make a Brisket good! Without all the add on’s! To say brisket is a one time a year deal is just crazy! Like saying Turkey is a one time a year deal!
CHUNGAH you are a very pretty lady and have great skills when it comes to food! Yet it seems you need more Southern in you! As I’m sure I could use a lot of the rest of the worlds recipes and the way they cook things in my knowledge! Not crazy but you are a very lovely lady and have great skills in the kitchen!
This is the only way I’m going to make our corned beef from here on out. For years I’ve been making it in the crockpot with a can of beer and it’s been delicious, but wow! The addition of the cloves put it over the top! My 6 year old was asking for more today, but we ate the entire thing! We’re off to the store to get another for this week! Thanks!
So you don’t brine the corned beef before it hits to slow cooker for the first time? I only ask because most people brine 5-10 days for maximum flavor and tenderness.
You can choose to brine it before if you’d like – it’s completely up to you.
Whole potatoes or sliced?
John, you can keep them whole or chopped – it’s up to you (and the size of the potatoes, of course).