Instant Pot Corned Beef Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 3 pounds corned beef
- 1 small head green cabbage, cut into 8 wedges
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 5 cups water
INSTRUCTIONS
- If your corned beef is cured (see packaging) and you are sensitive to salty foods, drain and rinse beef to remove excess salt.
Place corned beef into a pressure cooker with at least 6 quart capacity (I use an Instant Pot), including juices that separated from meat and any flavorings that came in the packaging. - Add water to the pressure cooker pot until the water level is even with top of corned beef, about 5 cups. If beef is partially protruding out of water, push it down.
- Cover and lock the lid. Select the manual pressure cooking mode and adjust the cooking time to 90 minutes at high pressure. Note that it will take 20-25 minutes for the pot to pressurize.
- When the pressure cooker is finished, use the quick release handle to release steam pressure and stop the cooking. Uncover, and check doneness by testing if a fork easily pierces the thickest part of the meat; if not, cook for another 10 minutes and test again.
- Without removing corned beef from the pressure cooker, add cabbage wedges and carrots, pushing them down into the liquid. Don't overfill past the maximum capacity of your pressure cooker (see section below called "Instant Pot Tips").
- Cover and lock the lid. Select the manual pressure cooking mode and adjust the cooking time to 5 minutes at high pressure. Note that it will take 15-20 minutes for the pot to pressurize.
- When the pressure cooker is finished, use the quick release handle to release steam pressure. Uncover and drain vegetables and corned beef. Slice corned beef against the grain (perpendicular to muscle fiber lines, which makes it easier to chew) into thick slices and serve with cabbage and carrots.
- Leftovers: Cover and refrigerate. Reheat using the microwave or on the stovetop until warmed through. Or, cut corned beef into small pieces to make this Breakfast Hash Recipe.
NUTRITION
| Makes 4 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving: |
| Calories 570 (47% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 30g | 45% |
| Saturated Fat 12g | 59% |
| Cholesterol 162mg | 54% |
| Sodium 2060mg | 86% |
| Net Carb 5.5g | |
| Total Carb 8g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 2.5g | 11% |
| Sugars 4.5g | |
| Protein 57g |
❗Instant Pot Tips
Know Your Pressure Cooker. New to this? Before starting the recipe, get familiar with basic functions so that you know how to start a pressure cooking cycle and how to release pressure. Depending on your pressure cooker’s model and brand, the labeling on the buttons may differ.
Pressure Cooker Capacity. Use a 6-quart pressure cooker or larger, otherwise the ingredients will not all fit. Obey the “max” line on your unit, and do not try to over-stuff. If you’re having trouble fitting everything, take the corned beef out when it’s done (tent with foil to keep warm) and cook the vegetables separately.
🔔 Why You Should Make This
- Only 4 Ingredients. This dish is so flavorful, yet so simple. Just 4 total ingredients, and that includes water.
- Almost No Prep. The corned beef doesn’t need to be chopped up beforehand — just add it directly into the pressure cooker. Same with the baby carrots. The only prep work is cutting the cabbage into wedges, and you can do that while the corned beef is cooking.
- Faster Than Other Methods. Gone are the days of waiting all day to cook a tough cut of meat like this, which would otherwise take a lot of simmering before it became nice and tender. With a pressure cooker, it only takes 90 minutes.
💡 Ingredient Spotlight: Corned Beef
Who doesn’t love celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with traditional corned beef brisket? This dish gets its name from the brining process where grains of salt used to be called corns of salt, hence the name.
Its distinctive pink color comes from the use of sodium nitrite, which is used for curing meats like corned beef but also bacon and hot dogs.
Most store-bought corned beef comes 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 may come with a separate seasoning packet.
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!!
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!
This sounds like a great recipe, but I don’t have a pressure cooker. What I do have is a new convection oven. How do I cook it in this oven?
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.
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.
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. 🙂