This Guinness Corned Beef recipe is an easy and tasty way to prepare this traditional St. Patricks Day dish. All you need is a brisket of beef, some Guinness beer, fresh vegetables and a little bit of brown sugar. After a few hours in the oven, crock pot, or slow cooker, the results are tender, moist, and out of control delicious!
Table of Contents
What is Guinness Corned Beef?
We don't eat Corned Beef that often but when we do, I always try to make it as delicious as possible!
That's why we're using Guinness beer as the braising liquid in this perfect St. Patricks Day recipe.
Not only does the Guinness tenderize the meat, but it also adds the perfect earthy depth to make the corned beef flavor really shine through.
In my recipe, I added cabbage, carrots, onions and potatoes but if you don't want or need the vegetables, we can easily take them out.
And best of all, you can make this recipe in a variety of different ways.
The fastest method is in the oven at a low temperature for about four hours. Personally, I like this way best because everything is perfectly tender in about half of the time as a slow cooker.
The crock-pot or slow cooker method takes about 8 hours - which is double the oven method. To be honest, I couldn't really tell a difference between the two methods so it is all up to you!
Let's gets started on the recipe!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Corned Beef Brisket - The brined, corned beef brisket is a must in this easy recipe! Most of them come with a seasoning packet, but if not, you can make your own or buy some.
- Guinness Beer - Guinness is the perfect Irish beef to use for braising corned beef. If you don't like guiness, you can use whatever beer you prefer.
- Brown Sugar - This mellows out the flavor and makes it even more delicious. You could use half the amount of white sugar or Demerara sugar if you don't have brown.
- Water - If you wanted to be extra fancy, swap the water for beef stock.
- Small Potatoes - Any type of tiny potato works perfectly in this crockpot recipe.
- Yellow Onions - If you want to use a different onion - go for it! It won't make much of a difference in flavor.
- Green Cabbage - Green cabbage works best and I do not recommend using purple cabbage because it can make the color very weird.
- Carrots - You can use any type of carrot you prefer. If you don't like carrots, you could swap for sweet potatoes.
How to make Guinness Corned Beef in the oven
Making Guinness corned beef in the oven is ridiculously easy.
First, you'll want to preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
Next, rinse and pat dry your corned beef and place it in your dutch oven or any large braising pot with a lid. This just prevents the corned beef from being too salty.
Pour the seasoning packet that comes with the brisket and the brown sugar on top of it. If you don't have one, scroll down to see what to mix together.
Now, pour the 2 Guinness's around the brisket and add more water until the brisket is completely covered. Now put the lid on and bake for 2.5 hours.
After 2.5 hours have passed, carefully remove the dutch oven, take the lid off, and add your chopped vegetables. Push them down with a fork or knife so they're submerged into the liquid.
Add a few cracks of fresh pepper and a sprinkle of salt and put the lid on. Place it back in the oven for another 1.5 hours.
After that, remove it from the oven and let it rest with the lid on for at least 30 minutes.
Before serving, cut the brisket against the grain and sprinkle with coarse flaky salt.
How to make it in the crockpot or slow cooker
If you'd rather make your Guinness Corned Beef in a crock pot or slow cooker, you can do that, too!
First, just rinse and pat dry your corned beef and place it in your slow cooker.
Pour the seasoning packet and the brown sugar on top of it. If you don't have one, scroll down to get the recipe to make your own.
Now Pour the Guinness around the brisket. Depending on the size of your crockpot, you might need 2 beers. You'll just want to add a little water so that the liquid comes up to the top of the brisket.
Next, seal the lid on the crockpot and turn it on high and cook for 6 hours.
After 6 hours is up, take the lid off and add the vegetables with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Push the vegetables down into the liquid so they're submerged then put the lid back on.
Cook for another 2 hours on high heat until the vegetables are tender.
After that, remove it from the oven and let it rest with the lid on for at least 30 minutes.
Before serving, cut the brisket against the grain and sprinkle with coarse flaky salt.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What if I don't have a seasoning packet?
If your brisket doesn't come with a seasoning package, you can easily make your own spice blend. Simply combine mustard seeds with crushed bay leaves, allspice berries, salt and pepper. You can find the exact measurements in this post from Food Network.
What Beef is Best for Corned Beef?
Guinness is definitely the best beer for corned beef. Not only is it an Irish beer but it adds the perfect depth and flavor to the corned beef while also making it extremely tender.
What is the Secret for the most Tender Corned Beef?
The secret to getting tender corned beef is slow cooking it in a braising liquid. I recommend throwing your brisket in a slow cooker or dutch oven and using guinness beer as the liquid. Cook it slow and low until it's tender and falling apart.
What to pair it with
If you're making this for St. Patricks Day, I highly recommend pairing it with my Irish White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes. You could also make my Red Cabbage Soup with some or this easy Beer Cheese Bread or even my Beer Cheese Mac and Cheese!
And if you've got leftovers, you can make these extra cheesy corned beef reubens!
If you're making this for an easy weeknight dinner, I recommend pairing it with an easy romaine wedge salad, some smoked mac and cheese and these easy smashed brussel sprouts with bacon!
Save this recipe for later - pin it below!
Recipe
Guinness Corned Beef and Cabbage
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3.5 lbs Corned Beef Brisket plus the seasoning package the comes with it
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- 2 22 oz Guinness Beers room temp
- Water enough to come up to the top of the brisket
- 2 cups Small Yellow Potatoes
- 1 medium Yellow Onion roughly chopped
- 1 small head Green Cabbage cut into small wedges
- 5 medium Carrots peeled and roughly chopped
- Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper
Instructions
IN THE OVEN
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Rinse brisket and place in a large dutch oven. Top the brisket with the seasoning packet and the brown sugar.
- Pour the guinness beer around the sides of the brisket then add enough water to the pot that it comes up to the top of the brisket.
- Place the lid on and bake in the oven for 2.5 hours.
- Take the dutch oven out of the oven and carefully remove the lid.
- Submerge cabbage around the brisket then add the potatoes, onions and carrots on top. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and pepper and place the lid back on.
- Put the dutch oven back in the oven for 1.5 hours before serving.
IN THE SLOW COOKER OR CROCK POT
- Rinse and pat dry your corned beef and place it in your slow cooker. Pour the seasoning packet and the brown sugar on top of it.
- Now Pour the Guinness around the brisket. Depending on the size of your crockpot, you might need 2 Guinness Beers. You'll just want to add a little water so that the liquid comes up to the top of the brisket.
- Next, seal the lid on the crockpot and turn it on high and cook for 6 hours.
- After 6 hours is up, take the lid off and add the vegetables with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Push the vegetables down into the liquid so they're submerged then put the lid back on.
- Cook for another 2 hours on high heat until the vegetables are tender.
- After that, remove it from the oven and let it rest with the lid on for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, cut the brisket against the grain and sprinkle with coarse flaky salt.
Cb
This is ok, however smells amazing. I suggest reducing the cook time on the veggies to 1 hour.
Cara
For the slow cooker recipe, it says: Cook for another 2 hours on high heat until the vegetables are tender.
After that, remove it from the oven and let it rest with the lid on for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, cut the brisket against the grain and sprinkle with coarse flaky salt.
So should I let the brisket rest in the slow cooker on warm for 30 minutes?
grilledcheesesocial
You could let the brisket rest with the slow cooker on off 🙂
Dana
How big of a Dutch oven are you using for this 3.5 lb corned beef brisket?
grilledcheesesocial
I used a 6.75 quart dutch oven. It's linked in the recipe card if you're interested in my model 😉
Laura
Your recipe says "high" but just double checking, for slow cooker is it 8 hours on high or low? Thank you!
grilledcheesesocial
It's correct - high for 8 hours (which means it's cooked at about 180F-200F degrees - oven recipe is cooked for 4 hours at 350F degrees for reference) 🙂 Veggies go in at 6 hours but you could add them at 6.5 hours if you want them more firm.
Donna
The recipe calls for a beef brisket, not a corned beef brisket? Is that correct? Thank you
grilledcheesesocial
you'll want a corned beef brisket from the store - one that is brined and comes with a seasoning packet.
Kristin
Hi, just wondering if I’m supposed to set the oven to 300 or 350 in the top of your recipe you say 300 and in the actual recipe you say 350. Thanks
grilledcheesesocial
OMg so sorry about that - it should say 350! Just fixed it!