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Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) Corned Beef and Cabbage

Name: Pressure Cooker (Instant Pot) Corned Beef and Cabbage
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 96 min
Total time: 150 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 3 pound marinated uncured corned beef round flat roast (Trader Joe's recommended); 4 cups beef broth; 12 ounces stout beer; 1 large onion (quartered); 4 cloves garlic; 2 bay leaves; 1 pound small red potatoes (halved (quarter if medium sized)); 4 large carrots (peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces); 1 small head green cabbage (cut into 6 wedges with core removed)

March 10, 2018 Updated October 24, 2019 By Krissy 28 Comments

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Pressure Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage with creamy baby red potatoes and carrots is a flavorful easy meal with the most tender meat!

A marinated corned beef brisket is cooked in the instant pot with beef broth and Guiness stout and completely falls apart when done. This complete meal is great for St. Patrick’s Day!

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE

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Pressure Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage is quick and easy in the Instant Pot! If you’ve ever made corned beef and cabbage, you probably used your slow cooker. I will guarantee that this Instant Pot corned beef and cabbage is a million times better than any crock pot corned beef recipe you’ve ever tried.

Why? Well, first of all I’ll take quick over slow when it comes to recipes any day. Second, the Instant Pot infuses the liquid into the meat. This not only enhances the flavor, but makes your corned beef so incredibly tender that it falls apart when you cut it. You just can’t achieve the same results in a crockpot.

I love this meal because it comes complete with your meat (corned beef brisket, carbs (baby red potatoes), and veggies (green cabbage and carrots). Nothing else is needed except for maybe a good wine pairing or dark beer.

Speaking of beer… did you know I love to cook with Guinness? I won’t drink the stuff, but it is fantastic in recipes! Did I make my corned beef with Guinness? Of course! Here are some other great ideas!

Recipes to make with Guinness Stout:

Bangers & Mash with Stout Onion Gravy – Not only is this a popular recipe of mine on St. Patrick’s Day, but I’m always surprised at how many pageviews it gets year round. I guess people love their sausage and mashed potatoes for dinner.
Irish Cheddar Shepherd’s Pie – I do love me a good shepherd’s pie! I threw in everything Irish that I could from the Kerrygold butter and cheddar to the Guinness stout. Meat and veggies smothered in a savory sauce, topped with mashed potatoes, and baked up together. Yum!
Guinness Ribeye Steak – Everyone knows beer + steak go well together. But steak cooked in beer? Mercy.
Irish Cheddar Stout Bread – Ever make beer bread? It’s super easy to make. The Irish cheddar and stout add great flavor to this recipe.
Black Velvet – Such a simple drink. Pair a bitter dark stout with a light crisp champagne and you have a whole new cocktail!
Chocolate Guinness Float made with Guinness Chocolate Sauce – This one might blow your mind. Pour stout beer over vanilla ice cream and then top it with a chocolate sauce made with stout beer. Does it sound weird? Yes. Is it delicious? Oh yes.
Guinness Chocolate Cake – This was actually one of my most favorite dessert recipes ever. I never thought adding something like a bitter stout beer to a dessert recipe could be so good. The stout adds the slightest bitter notes to this sweet cake, but also makes it incredibly moist and delicious.

What is corned beef and cabbage?

Corned beef got it’s name because it is salt-cured with large grains of salt called “corns”.

Because the cut of beef used is often tough with little fat, it must be braised. This means it must be cooked in liquid for a long period of time in the oven or crockpot, or rather quickly in a pressure cooker.

Throwing cabbage in the cooking liquid after the beef is removed is an easy way to serve a green vegetable with the meal and it compliments it well.

Is corned beef actually Irish?

From what I understand, many cultures have cured beef and heavily salted beef as a means of curing is a very common method.

Irish corned beef became extremely popular, however, during the British Industrial Revolution. It was widely consumed during that time to feed British and North American armies.

Although corned beef is not really considered a national Irish dish, it is often associated with Saint Patrick’s Day in the United States. This came about from Irish-Americans in the late 19th century and is similar, yet much more flavorful than, a New England boiled dinner.

What corned beef is best?

Most corned beef you’ll find at the store contains nitrates or nitrites to preserve it. Any kind of cured meat, like bacon or lunch meat, needs preservatives to keep it from spoiling. I take extra care to avoid buying any meat that contains nitrates or nitrites.

Instead, I look for meat that does not add them. They still get preserved, but it’s through nitrates or nitrites that naturally occur through the curing process, most often times through ingredients like celery salt.

I passed over so many packages of corned beef because they contained nitrates or nitrites. I finally found one that didn’t have added nitrates or nitrites and, of course, it was at my favorite grocery store – Trader Joe’s.

The specific cut of meat in the package was an uncured corned beef round flat roast. It already came marinated in spices which made cooking in the Instant Pot about as easy as it gets!

What’s in a corned beef spice packet?

If you’re buying a corned beef to make, chances are it will come marinated or with a spice packet. A lot of recipes will tell you to put the corned beef and the spice packet in the crockpot or Instant Pot. You might be wondering what on earth is in that spice packet.

Most often, you’ll find that a corned beef spice packet consists of mustard seed, coriander seed, bay leaf, and hot pepper. Sometimes you’ll also see allspice berries, dill seed, or even cloves.

The flavor of corned beef spices is indeed unique, and when cooked in the pressure cooker, really gets infused into the meat and vegetables.

How to cook corned beef in the pressure cooker:

You’ll add the corned beef and spices or marinade to the cooking pot of your Instant Pot, or whichever brand you use. To the meat, you’ll add a quartered onion, beef broth, stout beer, and bay leaves. I cooked my meat for 90 minutes on high pressure and it was amazing. Perfectly tender and not at all dry.
When the beef is done cooking, you’ll allow it to naturally release pressure for about 10 minutes and then you’ll quick release the remaining steam. Set the meat on a plate and loosely tent it to keep it warm.
Next you’ll cook the veggies. You can do this all at once, but I prefer to throw the potatoes in first. If you cook the potatoes for the same amount of time as the cabbage and carrots, you’ll end up with not-so-good results. You’ll either get firm potatoes and perfectly cooked carrots and cabbage. Or, even worse, you’ll have perfectly cooked creamy potatoes and mush for cabbage and carrots.
Once everything is done, serve it all up on a platter and you can add extra cooking liquid if you wish. No extra salt needed!

Why to add beer to corned beef:

I chose to add stout to my cooking liquid because it not only adds flavor, but it helps make the meat even more tender. The darker the beer, the more intense the flavor.

If you don’t like Guinness, don’t worry. You can’t really taste it in the finished meal. Not at all, actually. It’s hard to explain, but it will add amazing flavor that will please anyone, even if you hate beer.

How long to cook corned beef:

If you’re using a pressure cooker, 90 minutes is a good rule of thumb for just about any kind of large cut of meat. You can tell when it’s done cooking because it should be fork tender.

If you’re boiling (heaven forbid) your corned beef, a good rule of thumb is about an hour per pound.

Many recipes for cooking a corned beef in a slow cooker indicate you will cook it on 4-5 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low. I suppose the low setting is great if you want to make it in the morning before work and come home to dinner. But I will argue til the day that I die that using the pressure cooker is always better than the crockpot!