Classic Slow Cooked Corned Beef and Vegetables is the perfect comfort food. If you’re looking for a hearty slow cooker dinner loaded with savory flavor, scroll down for the recipe.
While it’s often a traditional dish for the Americanized St. Patrick’s day season, corned beef and vegetables makes a delicious meal anytime of the year!
How to Get Tender Corned Beef
Corned beef can have a tough chewy texture if it’s cooked at a high temperature or too quickly. Slow cooking corned beef in the crockpot is generally the easiest way to achieve a tender brisket.
That’s why we used a slow cooker for this recipe, because tender and juicy is the best way to enjoy corned beef!
How Long to Slow Cook Corned Beef
Slow cooking corned beef on the LOW setting takes roughly 6 – 9 hours (depending on the size of meat and your slow-cooker’s actual temperature) to be fully done. Slow cooking on the HIGH setting will take roughly 3 – 4 hours.
How to Know When Corned Beef is Ready
You can tell when the meat is done cooking if it’s fork tender. The internal temperature of the brisket needs to be a minimum of 145°F to be considered safe to eat. However, for the most fork-tender texture, you should target a 160°F internal temperature.
Seasoning the Corned Beef
You might be thinking that corned beef and vegetables cooked in the crock pot will have very little flavor… Without the right spices, you’re right!
To make sure your meal is buzzing with flavor, be sure to use plenty of spices like dill, fennel seeds, black pepper, mustard seeds, and even cloves. In fact, this homemade spice rub is perfect for slow cooker corned beef!
Spice Rub Blend Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon dill
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 8 cloves (remove after cooking)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
- 2 bay leaves (remove after cooking)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
Vegetable Ingredients
Corned beef is traditionally cooked together with cabbage, but it doesn’t have to be in order to produce a complete dinner. This recipe uses a combination of fresh vegetables without cabbage. In fact, due to the limited size of slow cookers, you’d be hard spent to fit a cabbage, vegetables, and corned beef into one!
Don’t worry though, these vegetables take on the savory flavors of the corned beef and spices to yield a tremendously delicious dish!
The vegetables for one meal:
We made two separate slow cooker meals since our family enjoys leftovers. Images reflect two meals*.
- 3 large russet potatoes halved
- 1 large onions halved
- 2-3 large carrots cut in thirds
- 3 large stalks of celery cut in thirds
- 1 small cabbage sliced in half
The Process
First, add 1 cup of water to the pot, then add the cut vegetables.
Next, rub the corned beef brisket with the spice blend. Place it into the pot.
Set the slow cooker on low heat and cook for 8 hours.
After 6 hours, stick the meat with a fork to test doneness. If it easily breaks apart, it’s done. If it still feels tough, you can cook it longer or check its internal temperature. We used two slow cookers to make double the meals so we could enjoy this multiple nights.
Not every slow cooker cooks at the same temperature. If yours is older, or less powerful, it could take up to 9 hours to be fully done.
Once your meals is complete, cut corned beef against the grain for the most tender cut!
Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Vegetables Recipe
Slow Cooker Corned Beef & Vegetables
Equipment
- slow cooker
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs. corned beef flat cut point cut will also work.
- 1 cup water *can also use beef broth
- 3 russet potatoes cut in halves
- 3 large carrots cut into thirds
- 3 celery stalks cut into thirds
- 1 small cabbage sliced in half
- 1 large onion peeled, and halved
- 1 teaspoon dill
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 8 cloves
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
Instructions
- Add 1 cup of water (or broth) to your slow cooker.
- Add your veggies to the pot.
- Rub your brisket with all the spices.
- Place your corned beef brisket over the veggies.
- Cover the slow cooker, and set the time for 8 hours of time.
- Stick a fork in the meat to see if it's done. If it breaks apart easily, it's done. Alternatively, you can verify that the internal temperature is a minimum of 145°F.
- Meat will be very tender, delicious, and easy to slice against the grain. Enjoy warm.
Mark A Cunningham says
Corn Beef is not an Irish Dish. It originated with the Jewish and Irish immigrants learned how to make it because it was a cheap cut of meat. The irish do a Bacon and Cabbage dish similar to what we americans know as Corn Beef and Cabbage
Maureen says
I GUARANTEE you that if you make this when you get home you’ll be hard pressed to find a potato! Happened to me years ago. Plus there just read an article that said upsets will indeed dissolve! Best to use red potatoes….personally I like reds with corned beef better anyway!