St. Patrick's Day dinner: Delicious slow cooker corned beef and cabbage recipe

Skip the crowded pubs this St. Patrick's Day, and make a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner at home.

Photo bybandd/Depositphotos.com

(CHICAGO) Simply throw your ingredients into your crockpot before you leave the house to come home to a perfectly cooked, traditional St. Patrick's Day meal.

You know the restaurants will be packed. You could stay home and make your own corned beef and cabbage this year. Avoid the crowds and save some money while you're at it.

Is corned beef and cabbage really Irish?

Historians say the beloved St. Patrick's Day tradition began in America in the 19th century. Not in Ireland.

Instead of corned beef, the Irish ate bacon. It's not the crispy bacon we have for breakfast, but a cured piece of pork that was typically served boiled with cabbage.

What about green beer?

While we're at it, green beer didn't originate from Ireland either (you probably knew that already.)

The festive drink was invented by New Yorker, Professor Thomas H. Curtin who made green beer for his clubhouse in 1914.

Photo byLillllia/Depositphotos.com

Corned Beef and Cabbage in the Slow Cooker

Regardless of the origin, corned beef and cabbage has been a Chicago St. Patrick's Day tradition for hundreds of years.

I scoured the internet and found this easy and tasty recipe for a slow-cooked version on allrecipes.com. If you're wondering if it's any good, it has a 4.6 rating out of 5 stars and over 2,000 reviews.

You can either head over to allrecipes for the recipe, or check it out below.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion (chopped)
• About 10 baby potatoes (quartered)
• 4 carrots (peeled and cut into matchstick-sized pieces)
• 4 cups water
• 1 (4 pound) corned beef brisket with spice packet
• 6 ounces beer (optional)
• ½ head cabbage (roughly chopped)

Directions:

1. Add the potatoes, carrots, and onion to the bottom of the slow cooker. Pour the water over the vegetables.
2. Place the brisket on top.
3. Carefully pour the beer over the brisket.
4. Sprinkle the spices from the packet over everything.
5. Cover and cook on high for 7 hours (or 11 hours on low).
6. Stir in the cabbage and cook on high for 1 additional hour.

Notes:

1. Adding beer to the recipe helps tenderize the meat and adds flavor. But you can leave it out if you prefer. I've tried it both ways and it still turns out great without beer. Another option is using a non-alcoholic beer.

2. Save time and throw in a small bag of baby carrots instead of prepping regular-sized carrots.

Other recipes from Jennifer Geer

• Chocolate depression cake recipe: (No eggs, no butter, no milk)
• 4-ingredient mango smoothie recipe
• Whipped Coffee (Dalgona Coffee) Recipe

______________

To get NewsBreak stories delivered for FREE on your phone, download the NewsBreak App. If you use my link, I get a small commission (at no cost to you.)