Corned beef has never been easier or faster: try this Instant Pot corned beef recipe with cabbage and carrots, pressure cooked to tender melt-in-your-mouth perfection in under 2 hours.
I love celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with traditional corned beef brisket. Here’s some history for you: the dish gets its name from the brining process where grains of salt used to be called corns of salt, hence the name. As for its distinctive pink color, that comes from the use of sodium nitrite, which is used for curing meats including corned beef but also bacon and hot dogs.
I bought my corned beef from Trader Joe’s, which is uncured and came coated with flavorful seasonings such as mustard seed, bay leaves, cloves, garlic, dill seed, and crushed red pepper. Depending on the kind that you buy, yours might have been cured in a brining solution and will come with a separate seasoning packet.
You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to cook corned beef and cabbage in a pressure cooker such as an Instant Pot. Gone are the days of waiting all day to cook a tough cut of meat such as beef brisket, which would otherwise takes a lot of simmering before it became nice and tender.
With a pressure cooker, it takes only ninety minutes to cook the beef followed by another five minutes of cooking the vegetables before your Irish meal is served. The resulting dish has that tender melt-in-your-mouth quality that I love in a comforting meal. This corned beef goes great with a side of Instant Pot green beans, mashed cauliflower, or shepherd’s pie.
This dish is also really simple — just four ingredients and that includes water — literally all you need to do is toss the meat, water, and vegetables into the pressure cooker. You don’t even need to cut the beef brisket into small chunks beforehand. There’s something magical about super simple dishes that are as delicious as this corned beef and cabbage.
Have leftovers? Cut the cooked corned beef into small cubes, and use it to make low carb breakfast hash.
Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage (Pressure Cooker)
Corned beef has never been easier or faster: try this Instant Pot corned beef recipe with cabbage and carrots, pressure cooked to tender melt-in-your-mouth perfection in under 2 hours.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 pounds corned beef brisket (including spices)
- 1 small head green cabbage sliced into 8 wedges
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 5 cups water
Instructions
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If corned beef is cured, drain and rinse the beef. If uncured, leave as is. Place the corned beef into a pressure cooker such as an Instant Pot, including any spices that came with it.
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Add water to the pressure cooker pot so that the water level is even with the top of the corned beef, about 5 cups. If the beef is protruding out, use your hands to flatten it by pushing it down.
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Cover and lock the lid. Select the manual pressure cooking mode and adjust the cooking time to 90 minutes at high pressure.
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When the pressure cooker is finished, use the quick release handle to release steam pressure and to stop the cooking. Use a fork to test if it easily pierces the thickest part of the beef; if not, cook for another 10 minutes and test again.
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Without removing the corned beef from the pressure cooker, add cabbage wedges and carrots. Don't overfill past the maximum capacity of your pressure cooker. Cover and lock the lid. Select the manual pressure cooking mode and adjust the cooking time to 5 minutes at high pressure.
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When the pressure cooker is finished, use the quick release handle to release steam pressure. Take out the vegetables and corned beef. Slice the corned beef against the grain into thick slices and serve with the cabbage and carrots.
Nutrition Info
This recipe yields 6 g net carbs per serving.
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 820 | |
| Total Fat 60g | 92% |
| Saturated Fat 18g | 92% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 214mg | 71% |
| Sodium 4890mg | 204% |
| Potassium 1480mg | 42% |
| Total Carb 9g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 3g | 12% |
| Sugars 5g | |
| Protein 60g |
Can you use a crockpot instead of a pressure cooker?
That would work, Michelle. It would take a lot longer to cook until tender, like 4-5 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low.
My brisket is only 1 1/2 lb–Does cooking time need to be adjusted?
I haven’t experimented with a 1 1/2 lb brisket, so I can’t advise on the proper cooking time. For these cuts of meat, I generally think that they are hard to overcook since the whole point is cooking them for a long enough period of time until they’re meltingly tender, so it’s probably better to err on the long side.
It was melt in our mouths awesome! However, my Instant Pot rebelled against me by not letting me close the top to complete the veggies! I think is a safety thing if it gets too hot. The recipe was spot on !!
Have you added potatoes to this recipe?
I haven’t tried adding potatoes, but that sounds like a delicious idea!
Do you think it will change the veggie cooking time?
I think you can keep the veggie cooking time the same. Depending on the size of your pressure cooker and how many potatoes you’re using, it may be a tight fit so you might want to decrease the amount of cabbage.
OMG! This was the best corned beef recipe ever! I took out corned beef and covered with foil to keep warm and put in cabbage, carrots, onion in separate because I wanted more room for the more cabbage and cooked on high for 6 minutes. Yum Yum!
Your corned beef/cabbage dish looks and sounds so amazing. I can’t wait to try my hand at it. I’ve never used the pressure cooking part of my Instant Pot (always been leery) so, here’s hoping I meet the challenge.
Thanks Linda! I was a bit hesitant about pressure cooking for a while, but once I tried it for the first time and saw how easy and fast it was, I’ve been using it all the time now. 🙂
hi Linda 😉 Question, I have Never made this dish and wanted to try in instant pot, Does it come out salty? I had a friend that cooked his all day,Came out way tender and non salty,That’s what i am looking for Any tips? Thanx for any and all and cant wait to try 😉
Corned beef is typically highly salted when you buy it at the store. This recipe doesn’t add any additional salt. Using the pressure cooking method vs cooking all day shouldn’t make a difference in how salty the corned beef is. Hope that helps!
There are some brands of corned beef that require par boiling to get the salt out before the final cook stage. Those are usually locally cured meats. If you have one that is ‘uncured’ it’s probably pretty safe to just cook once. Ask your butcher if you are not sure.