Step-by-Step: Cooking the Perfect Slow Cooker Corned Beef Meal

When most people are asked what their favorite holiday is, they generally say, "Christmas" or "Thanksgiving." Not me. My favorite holiday is St. Patrick's Day.

In a nod to my heritage and my ancestors, we go all out for St. Patrick's Day at my house. We start with a traditional Irish breakfast, enjoy bangers and mash for lunch, and to end the day, we have what is my absolute favorite meal – corned beef and cabbage.

As a super busy wife, mom, and manager, I've had to alter some of my traditional ways of cooking my favorite meals to allow me the opportunity to juggle other things while meals are in progress.

Years ago, I decided to give cooking our corned beef and cabbage in a slow cooker a try, and to my delight, it was not only a cinch, but extremely tasty. Since then, using my slow cooker is how I've cooked the meal.

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Whether you're a pro at cooking corned beef and cabbage but looking for a new twist or you've never cooked the dish before and are looking for a simple recipe, I've got you covered!

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:

• Corned beef brisket with a spice packet. The size is up to you. I love to find the biggest cut of corned beef that I can but with prices as high as they are, I'm going with a smaller brisket this year. Also, look to see how much fat is on the brisket. A super big brisket doesn't mean a lot of extra meat if it's covered in fat.
• 10 to 12 small baby red potatoes. Wash them, but leave the skins on because that’s the most healthy part! Want to use regular baby red potatoes? That's okay, too. Just wash and quarter them, leaving the skins on.
• 1 super large onion chopped roughly
• 6 large carrots washed and chopped into big chunks
• ½ head of cabbage chopped up roughly
• 6oz Guinness beer. If you detest the taste of Guinness (I do- and I'm Irish, but the harshness cooks off), you can use 6oz of beef broth instead.

Directions:

Put the carrots, potatoes, and onion into the bottom of your slow cooker, and then put corned beef on top of the veggies. Pour the Guinness (or beef broth) over the top of the brisket and then sprinkle the packet of spices on top of the brisket. If you like your corned beef a little more on the spicy side, add extra spice.*

Put the cabbage on top of the brisket (this is important because if you put it on the bottom it will burn and burned cabbage tastes disgusting, trust me on this). Cover the slow cooker and set your cook time for 8-10 hours on low.

*If you buy a corned beef brisket and it doesn’t come with a packet of spices, don’t panic! You can solve the problem by buying a jar of pickling spice and adding 1-2 teaspoons before cooking your brisket.

*If you like a more seasoned brisket you can add extra pickling spice in addition to the seasoning packet, too.