Dutch Oven Corned Beef and Cabbage
Everyone’s favorite St. Patrick’s Day meal, this Dutch Oven Corned Beef and Cabbage is loaded with flavor and great all year long.
This post has been updated from its original March 15, 2018 publishing with new content, photography, and updated recipe card.
Corned beef and cabbage is probably the most iconic of dishes for St. Patrick’s Day.
Fun fact: This is not an Irish dish at all. It’s an Irish-American dish. Made popular by Irish immigrants who had access to this (then) cheap cut of cured meat. They began serving it for St. Patrick’s Day and the rest is culinary history.
How to make Corned Beef and Cabbage
This is one of the few times I don’t prep all my vegetables first. I work on them while the corned beef is boiling and baking. But you do you.
Preparing the Corned Beef
Remove corned beef from its package. I always rinse the meat because there tends to be this congealed gooey stuff that rather unappetizing.
There’s usually a nice fat cap on one side, leave that. But on the other, there can be clusters of fat and such that can be trimmed away.
This will vary from package to package. Some years, there’s none, it’s pristine. Other years it’s like there’s two fat caps. This year I did trim some away with a sharp knife. This is a personal call.
After trimming the beef, place it in the Dutch oven and cover the entire thing with water, about 10 cups or so. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat.
As the corned beef begins to boil reddish-gray foaming film, which I call scum, will rise to the surface. Spoon this out and discard. Preheat the oven to 350 F at this time.
What is the reddish-gray foaming film when boiling corned beef?
So what is this scum?
That reddish-gray foam that rises to the surface as the corned beef boils is basically a mixture of sodium nitrate (used to cure the beef, giving it the reddish-pink hue), some additional spices that may have been injected with the sodium nitrate, and possibly a bit of boiled blood. Tasty!
You’ll want to remove this while cooking because gross! All in all, it takes about 30 minutes or so for all the scum to rise to the surface.
Once all the scum has been released and removed, add more water to cover the corned beef, as some may have reduced while boiling.
Add the seasoning packet that comes with the corned beef and the bay leaves. Cover, toss it in the oven and cook it for an hour.
After the hour, reduce the temperature to 300 F and bake for an additional 90 minutes.
Preparing the vegetables
Peel and chunk the carrots, quarter the onions and cube the potatoes. Place them all under corned beef. While you’re doing this, remove a cup of liquid.
Don’t cut the potatoes too small or you will end up with mashed potatoes by the end of cooking. If you accidentally cut them too small, don’t add them at this point. Save them for later. (See tips below.)
Put some rosemary down with the veggies and a sprig on top of the corned beef. Peel of the outer layers of cabbage and slice into steaks or wedges if your pot has the room.
Place the cabbage on top of the corned beef. I don’t submerge the cabbage, preferring to let it steam more than boil. Pour the reserved cup of liquid over the cabbage, just to moisten in for steaming. Cook for 90 minutes.
Remove the dish from the oven, plate up the meat and veggies, and enjoy.
Tips for making corned beef and cabbage in the Dutch oven
- If you like your cabbage completely soft, add it with all the other veggies as mentioned above.
- If you want crisper cabbage, do not add it with the other veggies. Replace the lid and bake for an hour. Then remove the dish from the oven, scoop up some liquid, place the cabbage on top, pour the liquid over and resume baking. Covered for 30 more minutes.
- If you diced your potatoes too small, you will want to add them the last 45-30 min of cooking time. You’ll have to disrupt most of the dish to get them under the meat, unless you’re adding the cabbage at the end of cooking, then it’s easy-peasy.
- If this last step of cooking the vegetables is too long you may increase the temp to 350 F, toss in the veggies, and cook for about 30 minutes.
- Once done, remove everything from the Dutch oven, save the broth for another use. We don’t dump liquid gold down the drain.
- You can skip the boiling method and go straight to the oven, there will be less impurities that rise to the surface, but remove any that have when adding the spices and lowering the oven temp.
Dutch Oven Corned Beef and Cabbage
Equipment
- 7 qt Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 4 lbs. flat cut corned beef with seasoning packet
- 10 cups water
- 1½ lbs red potatoes (4-6); halved
- 10 oz carrots (5-7); chopped
- 2 onions halved
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 head green cabbage sliced
Instructions
- Rinse the corned beef and place in the Dutch Oven.
- Cover with water, about 10 cups.
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Bring corned beef to a boil, removing film from surface, about 30 minutes.
- Replace any evaporated water: add the spice packet and bay leaves.
- Cover and bake for 1 hour.
- Reduce the temperature to 300°F and bake for an additional 1½ hours.
- Remove one up of liquid; set aside.
- Nestle the onions, carrots and potatoes UNDER the cornbed beef.
- Add rosemary sprigs around the vegetables and one on top of the corned beef.
- Place the cabbage on top; pour the reserved liquid over the cabbage to moisten it.
- Cover and bake for 1½ hours. (See notes)
- Remove everything from the Dutch oven; allow the corned beef to rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
- Serve with the optional dipping sauce and enjoy.
Notes
Dipping Sauce for Corned Beef
Optional dipping Mustard Sauce. Mix together:- 8 oz sour cream
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp sugar
Nutrition
Dutch Oven Daddy is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
Looks delicious? Would i have to adjust the time for a 2.5lb roast?
Yes Jenifer, I would adjust the time, you will want to make sure you monitor it closely so it doesn’t become over cooked.
Excellent recipe! Best corned beef I have ever made.
Awesome! So glad you loved it!
Can I cook at 300 degree the whole time so I can go work for 2 hours? Thank you
I made two different corned beef roasts, one with this recipe and one in a crock pot. The roast with this recipe in the dutch oven was easily the crowd favorite. More tender, tastier meat, less work, and less cooking time. Well done!
Thank you so much for the feedback! I’m glad your crowd enjoyed this Corned Beef recipe!
I did this in a cast iron Dutch oven on the big green egg on St Pats day. Jameson on ice, Black and Tan with dinner. 2021 was the best st pat day on years. Use indirect cooking method at 300f whole process. Meat should get to 200f internal temp. It was like cutting butter. Absolutely amazing. Going to do it again for sure.
Thank you so much for putting the recommended dutch oven size. I bought my first dutch oven and it’s a 5 Quart for our family of 4. Dutch ovens come in a wide range of sizes and many online recipes don’t mention a recommendation for us dutch oven newbies. Thanks again!
This was a great recipe! My first time making corned beef and cabbage and I wouldn’t try a different recipe after using this one. Family approved, too
Jane! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed with your family!
As a first time Dutch oven user I was quite sceptical about the cooking time but wow, the meat was absolutely perfect, so soft. This will definitely be my go-to recipe for an easy delicious dinner.
So glad you gave it a try and enjoyed it! Slow cooking meat in a Dutch Oven is a thing of beauty and I’m so glad you discovered that. Happy cooking!
The meat was so tender and we loved the cabbage and potatoes flavours melding in the dutch oven!!
Can’t beat one pot meals like this, especially when all the veggies are in there too. Easy and delicious.
I love corned beef and cabbage, so I was eager to give your recipe a try. It is now my new go-to for corned beef! It’s so good and the beef is absolute perfection.
My corned beef came out perfectly! Thanks for the tip about the foam, I didn’t know that before!
I can’t wait to try this Dutch oven corned beef and cabbage. It looks incredible! Yum!
Corned beef and cabbage fan here! Great recipe and so delicious!
You just cannot beat a well-cooked corned beef, especially for St Patrick’s Day! Thank you for the recipe!
What a great way to cook corned beef! I’ve never tried it in a dutch oven before and it turned out perfectly tender, juicy and delicious!
Enjoyed this for dinner last night and it did not disappoint! Turned out perfectly hearty, juicy and delicious; easily, a new favorite recipe!
This turned out fantastically! Wanted to give it a test run before St. Patrick’s Day and it was a win. Already looking forward to making it again.
We love corn beef and cabbage and this recipe was delicious, the whole family loved it!
I love corned beef. I can’t wait to give this recipe a try!
This looks incredible! I can’t wait to give it a try in my Dutch oven!
Wow is all I can say. Best method for cooking corned beef! Mustard sauce was the perfect accompaniment
So glad you enjoyed! My family loves it too. Thank you for sharing your success!
This is such a delicious and simple corned beef recipe. Bonus points that it’s made in one pot!
Love how easy this delicious corned beef and cabbage is to make. It’s a perfect meal for the season.
Love the combination of ingredients in this recipe. So delicious. Thanks for sharing
This looks spectacular and perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, I have been thinking about a menu and this is right up my alley. Definitely making this in my Dutch oven. 🙂
This was by far the best recipe I have used! The corned beef was finally tender and the cabbage was just right. Thanks for the extra information regarding the “scum” and veggies!