Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage will become your go to method to cook tender Beef! Pressure cook the traditional corned beef in less time than you would cook it on the stove. This hearty Irish meal was designed to be pressure cooked!
In this Instant Pot Corned Beef recipe you’ve got a huge chunk of tasty meat in the fraction of time! With all the Instant Pot friendly vegetables in one pot. I’m talking potatoes, cabbage and carrots! Talk about comfort food such as this fork tender and fall apart beef!
If the pressure cooker was available to the Irish back in the day, it would be their preferred choice of making this signature dish! And without the use of a slow cooker. This braised corned beef is juicy, succulent tender and packed with flavor! So easy and delicious.
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Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage Cooking Times
70 minutes in the Instant Pot will produce a wonderful flavor and tender. Yet still firm in texture, which is ideal in my opinion. However, if you want corned beef to be even more tender, go up to 90 minutes, but not more than that.
- Keep in mind that Instant Pot Corned Beef will shrink after pressure cooking! Therefore I suggest buying the largest available piece and squeezing it in. That’s what I did with my corned beef brisket.
- It’s also important to keep the beef warm while vegetables are cooking. I suggest placing it on the plate, covering with foil and keeping warm in the 200 degree oven.
Can I cook vegetables without removing the corned beef from the Instant Pot?
If the size of your Instant Pot allows it, you can surely do it. Just make sure to not overload it. Simply add 1 additional cup of water to the pot in addition to the veggies.
Can I cook frozen corned beef in the instant pot?
If you bought frozen corned beef, add just a little bit of time. The rule of thumb is to cook frozen corned beef in the Instant Pot on manual high pressure for about 34 minutes a pound.
For example, if you have 3 pound corned beef, cook it for 102 minutes. If it’s 4 pounds – 136 minutes.
Can I use broth instead of water?
Certainly, just make sure it’s sodium free or low sodium broth. Otherwise you will end up with way too much salt in all the ingredients. As a result it won’t taste good.
Why make corned beef in the Instant Pot?
Are you tired of boiling your corned beef and cabbage for 3 hours on the stove top? Then you will be impressed by the hands off approach in this Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe.
Namely, you won’t have to continuously check on your boiling pot throughout the day. In addition, you will not have a messy stove top at the end. Goodbye time-consuming and complex way of cooking Corned Beef and Cabbage! And Hello Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage!
What is Corned Beef?
Corned beef is a salt-cured beef brisket, soaked in the flavors brine and seasonings. It’s called corned beef because of the large grained rock salt, called salt corns that are used to preserve it.
Pressure Cooking Instructions
Place the brisket in the Instant Pot on the lift-out rack. If there is a fattier side, put that side facing down.
Sprinkle the seasonings evenly on top of the brisket.
Add whole garlic cloves on top of the meat in order to infuse beef with garlic flavor directly. I discarded garlic after pressure cooking, but you can definitely eat that garlic. You can also add garlic in to the water instead of placing it on top of the beef.
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- Pour in water around the edges of the Instant Pot, making sure to keep the spices on top of the brisket in place.
- Secure lid, move steam vent to “Sealing” and select “Manual” or “Pressure Cook”.
- Set time to “01:30” (or 90 minutes).
- Select “High Pressure”. The digital display will show “On”.
- Keep in mind that we are starting out with the Instant pot cold. Additionally, we just added 4 cups of water to it and a huge chunk of cold meat. Therefore it will take about 15 minutes for it to come to pressure. So when it stands there doing seemingly nothing for the first 5 minutes – don’t panic because it’s perfectly normal. After about 5 to 10 minutes, you will hear hissing and see steam coming out. Next the red pin will pop out and 2 minutes later you will hear one beep.
- The countdown will start now at “01:30”, while “On” on the Digital Display will disappear! The pressure cooking has began!
- Once done, use Quick Pressure Release method to release pressure.
How to pressure cook veggies
- Place cabbage, carrots and potatoes in the Instant Pot. Add liquid.
- Press “Pressure Cook”
- Set timer to 6 minutes. Because of so much stuff in the pot it will take about 15 minutes for the pressure to build up. Once you hear hissing and see steam coming out – you’re getting close. Next you’ll hear a beep and the countdown to 6 minutes will start.
- Once done, use Quick Pressure Release method to release pressure.
As you can tell I filled my Instant Pot to the top and you can’t even see any liquid. I used 1 head of green cabbage and quartered it. I didn’t cut the potatoes and cooked them whole.
Ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s day with the Instant Pot version of Corned Beef and Cabbage? The Irish people from the 17th century could not envision how this revolutionary method of making their signature dish would change things for the better for their descendants!
Instant pot tips
Are frequently using your Instant Pot for a variety of recipes? If you are, it’s a good idea to have 2 different rings. For example, one for savory recipes and the other – for sweet recipes in order to avoid odor exchange. I use this Genuine Instant Pot Ring as my second ring. It has over 1,000 positive reviews on Amazon.
Instant Pot Tempered Glass Lid is a good way to help keep the food warm without having to put the pressure lid on.
Hungry for more instant pot recipes?
Check out these amazing Instant Pot recipes. All are delicious and easy to make: Country Style Pork Ribs, Instant Pot Chicken and Rice and Instant Pot Spaghetti.
Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
Ingredients
- 4-5 cloves garlic
- 4 cups water
- 4 lb. corned beef brisket, (and spice packet)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 lbs red potatoes
- 1 lb baby carrots
- 1 head green cabbage, quartered
Instructions
Preparing Corned Beef for the Instant Pot:
- Remove Corned Beef Brisket from the package, reserve the spice packet and rinse the meat thoroughly. Place the brisket in the Instant Pot on the lift-out rack (if there is a fattier side, put that side facing down).Sprinkle the seasonings evenly on top of the brisket. Add whole garlic cloves on top of the meat. Pour in water around the edges of the Instant Pot, making sure to keep the spices on top of the brisket in place.
Pressure Cooking Corned Beef Brisket:
- Secure lid and move steam vent to “Sealing”Select “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” and set time to “01:30” (90 minutes), select “High Pressure”.
- The digital display will show “On”. One thing to keep in mind that since the Instant Pot is cold and we just added 4 cups of water to it and a huge chunk of cold meat, it will take a long time for it to come to pressure, about 15 minutes. So when it stands there doing seemingly nothing for the first 5 minutes – don’t panic – perfectly normal. After about 5-10 minutes, you will hear hissing and see steam coming out. Next the red pin will pop out and 2 minutes later you will hear one beep and “On” on the Digital Display will be replaced by the Countdown: “01:30”. Pressure cooking has began!
- When done, use Quick Release Method to release pressure.
- Remove corned beef brisket from the pot and discard garlic (or keep it if desired). Put the brisket onto a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Keep the water inside the pot.
Pressure Cooking Vegetables:
- Make sure the rack is removed. Without discarding liquid, add salt, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage to the Instant Pot. Keep in mind that it’ll be packed, but will shrink after cooking.
- Press “Pressure Cook” and set timer to 6 minutes. Because of so much stuff in the pot it will take a while (about 15 minutes) for the pressure to build up. Once you hear hissing and see steam coming out – you’re getting close. Next you’ll hear a beep and the countdown to 6 minutes will start.
- Once done, perform a quick pressure release before removing vegetables. Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon or tongs.
- While the veggies are in the pot, slice the corned beef brisket against the grain. Make sure you use a sharp knife.
- Add the cabbage and veggies to the brisket dish and serve. Spoon the broth from the instant pot over the meat to keep it moist.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
The 34 min/lb for the frozen roast was spot on. I had a 3.44 lb frozen corned beef roast, and set it at 117 min, and it was PERFECT! I cooked it in vegetable broth (highly recommend). Added the salt and veggies afterwards, as stated (basically followed recipe to the tee, substituting veggie broth, and instead of small, red potatoes, I cut some russets to match thre size). Great instructions. Thanks so much!
Thank you Eva for such a detailed review! And the tip about vegetable broth!
My corned beef tastes fine, but my vegetables had no flavor at all. I’ve added more seasoning and placed them back in the IP for a few minutes. Hopefully this will help!
Probably the spice packet!
I love your recipe, I bought a large steamer basket for 6 or 8 q instant pots, I simply prep my veggies, put in steamer basket, when cored beef is done basket goes in for 6 min.. Works perfectly. I have also substituted Brussel Sprouts for the cabbage, sweeter taste. Yumm
I’m so glad you made this, Cecile. I should try it with Brussels sprouts too!