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.

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 (for folks who aren’t low carb) cottage 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.

5 from 2 votes

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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.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Irish

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 820 kcal

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Cover and lock the lid. Select the manual pressure cooking mode and adjust the cooking time to 90 minutes at high pressure.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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 Notes

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

Vitamin A 90% · Vitamin C 221% · Calcium 6% · Iron 39%

This post was originally published on March 18, 2017.