This weekend we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with my first attempt at Instant Pot corned beef and cabbage. My hubby has been requesting this dish even before the Instant Pot was invented and I never got around to finding a recipe. It is a meal 20 years in the making!
Being Filipino, the only corned beef we knew was the canned one. Canned corned beef is usually prepared with eggs, potatoes and onions and served over rice for breakfast. Canned corn beef to Filipinos is synonymous with canned Spam and canned Vienna sausage. If you ask any Filipino kid, being born here or not (me!), we were raised on questionable canned meat. And we love that questionable meat!
Back to the Irish version of corned beef – when we were running our errands at Costco this week, hubby and I found corned beef in the fridge aisle. It was the perfect time to try making it and I knew the Instant Pot would be the perfect tool to cook it.
The recipes I found online had cook times from 40 minutes to 90 minutes. Supposedly, 40 minutes was the sliceable corned beef texture and longer cooking times would produce shredded corned beef. So I chose the in-between, 70 minutes cook time with natural pressure release (NPR) of 20 minutes. The meat was very tender and still sliceable!
I must say my first time at corned beef and cabbage was bomb.com. It particularly washed down nicely with Jameson and ginger…a Jamie ginger! Umm, we got the Costco-sized Jameson so we’ll be celebrating errr, St. Paddy’s Day awhile longer. Woe is us.
I always get nervous with first-time recipes especially ones with huge investments of time. Us Mom Hustlers don’t have time to waste! Try this recipe and let me know what you think!
Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
Saltiness of the tender corned beef is balanced with the sweetness of cabbage and carrots, and starchiness of potatoes.
Ingredients
- oil of your choice
- 2-3 lbs corned beef brisket some come with spice packet
- 1-2 cups beef broth see recipe note below
- 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp. garlic
- 1 onion quartered
- 4-6 bay leaves
Brisket Rub
- 3 tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 tbsp. ground mustard
- 1 tbsp. cloves
- 1 tbsp. pepper
Vegetables
- 1 head cabbage quartered
- 5-10 gold potatoes
- 1-2 cups baby carrots
Instructions
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Turn on the Instant Pot to SAUTE. Add oil.
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Mix dry rub ingredients in a bowl. Prepare brisket with dry brisket rub.
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Sear brisket, fat side up, for 3 minutes untouched in pot. At this time, add garlic to oil.
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Flip over and sear brisket an additional 3 minutes on the fat side untouched.
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Fat side down, place brisket on trivet so it is not touching the bottom of the pot. Add onions, apple cider vinegar, beef broth, and bay leaves to the pot. Keep brisket from being submerged in the liquid.
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Close Instant Pot lid and set vent to seal. Use MANUAL button, 70 minutes.
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Once pot beeps, let it count up 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, vent pot and open.
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Place brisket on plate and cover with foil to rest.
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With the Instant Pot still hot from brisket au jus, place potatoes, carrots, and cabbage (in this order) into the pot. Use MANUAL button, 1 minute. Vent once done.
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Slice corned beef and arrange vegetables around it. Douse with au jus from the pot.
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Serve (they say with mustard).
Recipe Notes
- DO NOT ADD SALT! I forgot to add salt and thank goodness. Corned beef is naturally salty.
- I like to place the brisket on a trivet so it doesn't cook right in the juices. In the 8-quart Instant Pot, 2 cups beef broth just touches the bottom of the brisket. If you're using a 6-quart, you can use less beef broth.
- Honestly, I don't like how the vegetables cook in the Instant Pot. Initially, I cooked it on 3-minutes manual and the carrots were too soft and the potatoes and cabbage were almost too soft for my liking. Either try cooking the vegetables on 1-minute manual, NPR or prepare your vegetables on the stove/in a steamer.
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