The Best Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner

Pressure Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

I’ve made many versions of Corned Beef dinners over the years– roasted, slow cooker style and the traditional “boil it in a pot” way. This year, I decided to pressure cook a corned beef brisket with Guinness Beer and pickling spices (instead of the spice packet that is always included). I’m 100% serious– this is the best Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner I have ever made! The meat was moist and tender–and the flavor was incredibly delicious! The aromatics from the pickling spices really kicked up the flavor, as well as the Guinness Beer. Best of all, the brisket wasn’t salty or bland. It took less than 90 minutes from start to finish to prepare and my husband is already asking me to make it again!

I’m not 100% thrilled with the photos I took of last night’s Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner but I’m going to share this recipe with all of you just the same. Honestly, corned beef dinners aren’t my favorite dinner. Well, the cabbage and potato part is, because my German DNA loves it. It’s just that corned beef tends to be on the salty side for me.

I’m going to jump right in and declare that this is the very best corned beef dinner I have ever eaten– let alone made! My greatest regret is that I bought such a small corned beef brisket– thinking I really planning on having leftovers. Big mistake. Let me tell you how and why this recipe rang all the bells for us.

If you can find Snake River American Wagyu Beef Corned Beef (I found mine at Costco) grab it! In fact, I plan to race back and buy two more and to freeze them– because I will definitely make this recipe again! NOTE: I bought a brisket that weighed less than 3 pounds for $7.99 a pound– and it’s worth it!

I don’t drink Guinness beer (I prefer Pilsners) but I this is the perfect ingredient for Corned Beef. Instead of using the enclosed spice packet, I used McCormick Schilling Pickling Spice (that I also use to make German Slow Cooker Sauerbraten)

I much prefer this pickling spice because it contains cinnamon, allspice, mustard seed, coriander, bay leaves, ginger, chilies, cloves, black pepper, mace and cardamon. Yep, that’s a lot of aromatics and I am 100% convinced that is why the corned beef had so much flavor! You can use the enclosed spice packet in your corned beef– but this pickling spice blend has a permanent home in my spice cabinet.

The first thing I did was to thoroughly rinse the brisket and then to pat it nice and dry. Look at all that marbling in the beef! That’s Wagyu beef for you!

In my Instant Pot, I poured one can of Guinness beer and enough water to equal four cups.

I placed my brisket into the liquid a nestled one onion, quartered, the pickling spices and four whole garlic cloves into the pot. I locked on the lid and set the manual timer for 60 minutes. Keep in mind that my brisket was less than 3 pounds, so if using a larger brisket I’d increase the time to 75-90 minutes. Also, don’t think that you need enough liquid to cover the brisket. Pressure cooking is all about having just enough liquid to create that steam that cooks everything just right! I’d stick with 4 cups of liquid, no matter what size.

So, while the brisket was cooking, I prepped the veggies.

Of course, you have to prepare a head of cabbage that I quartered, removed the core and then cut once more into 8 wedges.

I used a combination of small Yukon Gold and Red Bliss potatoes (I love that I don’t have to peel them.) Sadly, I forgot to buy whole carrots, but I did have a bag of baby carrots.

I’ve lost valuable natural light, so please forgive my lackluster photos. Once the Instant Pot beeped, I allowed a 15 minute natural release (simply meaning I didn’t push the button right away that releases all of the pressure). The brisket sure did shrink!

Here’s a very important step that you should not skip– I removed the brisket into a large pot and then ladled out most of the cooking liquid. I left only one cup of liquid. Why? The explanation is coming…

The vegetables are now going into the one cup of liquid– carrots and potatoes, and then the cabbage is stacked on top. Too much liquid will take took long to come back to pressure. I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly want mushy cabbage!

It was a dark and stormy night, so I simply had zero natural light to take stellar photos– not to mention that my husband and I were ravenous and the kitchen had the most delicious aroma of spices! I sliced and plated our meals and we eagerly dug in.

TASTING NOTES: Wow, wow, wow! It’s not that often that I hear my husband humming and making making that “mmm, mmm, mmm” sound when he eats a good meal. I was thrilled with the texture of the corned beef. It was moist. It was tender. It was so flavorful! Best of all, the corned beef wasn’t salty! I believe that giving the brisket a good rinse helps with that.

I saved some of the cooking liquid to spoon over the corned beef and ate with absolute pleasure. For the first time in my life, I can say that I love Corned Beef cooked this way. My son showed up shortly after we ate, and I saved him a plate. He remarked that he wasn’t too fond of cabbage but “he’d try it”. His plate was licked clean. First thing, tomorrow, I’m racing back to Costco to buy more of this beef! Even if you can’t find Wagyu beef, I have no doubt that this recipe will turn out with stellar results. If you don’t own a pressure cooker, you can still cook it on a pot for about 50 minutes per pound. Or, you can use a slow-cooker for about 8 hours. Just add the veggies towards the end!