This recipe for Instant Pot Corned Beef & Cabbage is made with the help of your electric pressure cooker and finished off under the broiler with a brown sugar-mustard glaze, giving it a perfectly crispy exterior.
Don’t have an instant pot? You can also make glazed slow cooker corned beef or smoked corned beef.
Table of Contents
As a child, I would request corned beef or my birthday. It’s long been a favorite food of mine. It could be the Irish in me, or it could just be that I love corned beef and its salty-fattiness. It wasn’t until college though that I found the best way to enjoy corned beef & cabbage – glazed!
I certainly can’t take credit for this original corned beef & cabbage recipe. It was handed down to me by my college roommate Jim, and I’ve been making it ever since. Up until this year though, I’ve always made slow cooker corned beef.
But now, I’ve got a new obsession – the Instant Pot. And, it makes the best corned beef!
Reader
Love
Made this last night using an IP for the first time. It was truly delicious, and the veggies were perfect as well. Thank you!
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Ingredient notes
Meat and vegetables
- Red Potatoes – You can also use small russet potatoes, or baby potatoes.
- Carrots & Celery
- Up to a 5 pound Corned Beef Brisket – You can use a point cut or flat cut for this recipe. Be sure to save the pickling spice packet that comes with it too, as we’ll use some of it for seasoning.
- Cabbage Wedges
- Garlic
- Dark Beer – This is optional. You can also use chicken stock or beef broth.
Glaze
- Brown Sugar
- Brown Mustard
- Water
- Butter
How to make it
- Add corned beef, pickling spices, beer and 2 cups of water to the instant pot.
- Lock lid on the pot and cook for 90 minutes on high pressure. Then natural pressure release.
- Prepare the glaze. Melt butter, add water and brown sugar. Whisk in mustard and reduce the heat to low.
- Brush corned beef with glaze and and broil.
- Cook cabbage wedges, potatoes and carrots in the instant pot cooking liquid for 3 minutes, then quick release the pressure by turning the valve.
How long does it take?
The Instant Pot makes cooking super hands-off, and it many cases, the recipes are so much faster too. This Instant Pot Corned Beef for example… In the crockpot, this recipe would take over 7 hours, but with the Instant Pot, this yummy corned beef & cabbage can be on your table in under 3 hours.
And I’ll tell you honestly. You’d never know the difference. In fact, the corned beef seems to be even more tender when it’s cooked in the Instant Pot!
Cooking the vegetables
The best part of using the Instant Pot for this corned beef recipe is that when the corned beef is done cooking, you can leave all those braising liquids in the pot, throw in your veggies, and just crank up the pressure for three more minutes!
Super quick potatoes, carrots and cabbage that cook up perfect and take on so much yummy flavor since they’re cooked in the corned beef liquid, which, by the way, we added a bottle of beer to.
I mean the flavor guys, is amazing!
How to make glazed corned beef
The final thing that makes this recipe killer is the glaze on the corned beef. A combination of brown sugar, brown mustard and little bit of butter gets slathered onto the corned beef and then it’s popped under the broiler for 30 minutes, brushing on more of the glaze (every 10 minutes) as it cooks down. This is how you get that amazing glaze and those crispy little bits.
You could stop here, but my friend Jim (he’s my friend for a reason) took things one step further and made a honey-mustard sauce too. This is perfect with the veggies, or you can also drizzle it over the finished corned beef to give it even more flavor.
I promise you that this Saint Patrick’s Day is going to be the best yet if you serve this up at the dinner table!
Plus, if you have any leftovers, slice them up and make reuben sandwiches or shred the tender corned beef to make a corned beef hash.
FAQs
If you forget to rinse your corned beef before cooking, it may be a bit saltier than you’d like. However, it’s perfectly safe to eat!
Yes, you should drain the liquid that comes in the packaged corned beef. You should also rinse the corned beef to remove excess saltiness.
Cook corned beef for 90 minutes on HIGH pressure. Note that it will take about 15 minutes for the pressure to build, and 15 minutes for the pressure to release. So, the total time will be around 2 hours.
Erin’s wine pairings
- I suggest a light-bodied, fruit forward red like a Beaujolais or Grenache to pair with the salty-fatty corned beef and the traditional spices of bay leaves and peppercorn.
- On the white wine side, I’d suggest a Pinot Blanc or dry Riesling.
More instant pot recipes
- Instant Pot Mac and Cheese (this recipe is SO fast)
- Instant Pot Salsa Chicken Taco Lettuce Wraps (just 5 ingredients!)
More St. Patrick’s Day recipes
More → 37+ BEST sides for Corned Beef.
Did you try this instant pot corned beef and cabbage?
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PS – Don’t forget about the 9+ BEST Sauces for Corned Beef too!
Full Recipe
Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
Equipment
Ingredients
Corned Beef:
- 3-5 pounds corned beef brisket (fat trimmed off and rinsed )
- Spice packet (that comes with the corned beef)
- 4 garlic cloves (smashed)
- 1 12-ounce bottle dark beer
- 2 cups water
Vegetables:
- 6-8 small red potatoes (whole)
- 3 medium carrots (peeled and sliced into large 2” pieces)
- 1 cabbage (about 2 pounds, core removed and quartered)
Glaze:
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup brown mustard
Honey Mustard Sauce:
- ¼ cup honey (or agave syrup)
- ¼ cup brown mustard
Instructions
- Place 3-5 pounds corned beef brisket, spice packet, 4 garlic cloves, 1 12-ounce bottle dark beer and 2 cups of water in the instant pot.
- Place lid on pot and cook for 90 minutes on high pressure. (It will take about 15 minutes for the pressure to build, then the timer will start) Once the time expires, allow for 15 minute natural pressure release before releasing remaining pressure and removing the lid from the instant pot.
- While the pressure is natural releasing, prepare the glaze. Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in small skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ½ cup brown sugar and ½ cup water. Cook until it begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Whisk in ½ cup brown mustard and reduce heat to low, simmer 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
- Preheat the broiler on LOW.
- Leaving the liquids in the instant pot, remove corned beef to a cookie tray. Brush some of the glaze on top of corned beef and broil on LOW, 6-inches from the element for 15 minutes adding glaze every 5 minutes. Always keep an eye on the broiler to avoid burning.
- Meanwhile, put cabbage, potatoes and carrots in the instant pot and cook them on high for 3 minutes then do a quick pressure release.
- Make the honey mustard sauce by stirring together honey and mustard.
- After the 15 minutes remove the glazed corned beef from oven and place on cutting board. Cut corned beef across the grain. Serve with veggies and honey mustard sauce.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in 2018. It was updated in 2023 to update the content. The instant pot corned beef recipe remains the same.
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