Corned beef and cabbage wasn’t something I ate growing up. We were middle class Lutherans from Ohio – we had meatloaf and pork chops and such. When I went off into the world I discovered corned beef in the deli and in delicious Reuben sandwiches (where I also acquired a taste for sauerkraut). It always seemed like one of those complicated foods that would be too difficult to make at home. Boy was I wrong.
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Turns out making delicious corned beef and cabbage in the slow cooker is so easy I hesitate to call this a recipe. The hardest part is shredding the cabbage and now days you can buy bags of pre-shredded cabbage so even that isn’t hard. If you don’t have a slow cooker you can use this recipe in a covered roaster pan or cast iron dutch/french oven pan with a lid. Just set your over to 250° and follow the same steps.
Amazon has this awesome combination slicer, grater, spiralizer and julienne cutter with built in catch box on sale for $16.99. I use mine often for prepping veggies for salads, stir fry, and other recipes (like corned beef and cabbage).
Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
Save to BigOven Tender, juicy corned beef with cabbage, potatoes and carrots. This is a set it and forget it kind of meal perfect for a cold day when you have lots to do.
- 3 lbs Corned beef roast (uncooked from the butcher, not the deli)
- 3 Cups water
- 4 Large red potatoes
- 3 Carrots
- 4 Cups shredded cabbage (about one small head of cabbage)
- 1 Tbsp pickling spice (if you don’t have this you can use the packet that comes with the corned beef, but it isn’t as good)
- 1/2 Tbsp whole pepper corns
- 1/2 Tbsp Onion flakes (optional)
- 1 Bay leaf
- Remove roast from packaging and dry it off with paper towels
- Put the pickling spice, pepper corns, onion flakes and bay leaf on a piece of cheese cloth and tie up with butcher’s twine to make a sachet.
- Put the corned beef and the spice sachet in the slow cooker.
- Wash and chop carrots and potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Put them in the slow cooker around and over the corned beef.
- Add the water or beef broth, cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
- Shred the cabbage and sprinkle on top of the roast (don’t stir it in, leave it on top) cover and cook for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour until cabbage is tender.
- Scoop cabbage, potatoes and carrots into a large serving bowl and top with some fresh ground pepper (discard spice sachet). Place roast on a plate and slice. That’s it – enjoy a delicious hassle free meal.
1) If you don’t have cheese cloth in your pantry you can put the spices in the broth with the meat, just be sure to fish out the bay leaf before serving the meal. 2) Nutritional Values assume you are consuming all of the cooking liquid with the roast, which is not common.
