Braised Corned Beef

by Sabrina Snyder

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5 Comments

5 from 1 vote
8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours 10 minutes
Total Time 5 hours 20 minutes
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Braised Corned Beef is tender, flavorful, and effortlessly delicious! A perfect, no-fuss dish for St. Patrick’s Day or a cozy weekend dinner.

When it comes to the perfect Beef dinner recipe for St. Patrick’s Day, you can’t beat a fork tender Corned Beef that has been cooked low and slow, like this oven baked version and my Slow Cooker Corned Beef. You have to give my Guinness Corned Beef a try too!

top down view of sliced beef in a pan
collage of before and after of cooking beef
close up of cooked beef
close up of sliced beef
Recipe Snapshot

Why You’ll Love This Corned Beef?

  • Just 4 simple ingredients and a few hours of cooking to make the perfect St. Patty’s main dish.
  • Incredibly low prep time and hands off cooking so you can make your perfect sides!

Sabrina’s Braised Corned Beef Recipe

While Corned Beef did originate in Ireland, it wasn’t always the traditional meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. That tradition actually started with Irish-American immigrants. Most likely because it was a fairly inexpensive recipe for them to make. Now, for most of us, St. Patrick’s Day just wouldn’t feel right without this classic recipe. This tender beef is also perfect for a weekend dinner when you have some extra time to get it in the oven early.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Braised Corned Beef Recipe

Braised Corned Beef is tender, flavorful, and effortlessly delicious! A perfect, no-fuss dish for St. Patrick's Day or a cozy weekend dinner.
Yield 8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours 10 minutes
Total Time 5 hours 20 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
top down view of sliced beef in a pan
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Ingredients
 

  • 4 pounds corned beef brisket , flat
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 yellow onion , sliced
  • 1 cup beef broth

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
  • Drain liquid from corned beef and pat dry with paper towels.
  • Add oil to a large skillet or dutch oven on medium-high heat.
  • Sear corned beef on each side for 4-5 minutes until browned.
  • Add sliced onions and beef broth to an 8×10 or 9×13 baking dish.
  • Place browned corned beef over the onions.
  • Wrap tightly with foil and bake for 5 hours.

Nutrition

Calories: 487kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 122mg | Sodium: 2872mg | Potassium: 710mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 0.3IU | Vitamin C: 62mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 4mg

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Sabrina’s Tips

There are two steps that need to be followed to make sure this Corned Beef comes out perfectly. Make sure to sear your meat well as it will aid the cooking process as well as add a deeper flavor to the meat. Don’t skip this step! The second is to make sure you slice your meat against the grain so that you have tender fall apart pieces.

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About this Recipe

Braising meat is an easy way to make it melt-in-your-mouth tender. To braise meat, you start by searing it in oil until the outside caramelizes. After searing, the beef is simmered slowly in cooking liquids like broth, wine, beer, or cider. The slow cooking time breaks down tough meat and adds flavor throughout the dish while searing ahead of time gives it a nice, crisp outer edge. It’s an easy way to make even the toughest cuts of meat tender and juicy.

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds Corned Beef Brisket, flat: Corned beef is a brisket that has been cured in a salt brine that typically has brown sugar, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and various other spices. Pick the flat cut over the point cut as it is more uniform in size and will lay flatter when baking.
  • 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil: A basic cooking oil used to sear the beef. You can use canola or avocado oil if that is what you have. Just don’t use olive oil because it has a low smoke point.
  • 1 Yellow Onion, sliced: A classic onion is used to lift the corned beef off of the pan. With the low and slow cook time, the onions will break down and become tender and sweet. You could use shallots or red onions if that is what you have on hand.
  • 1 cup Beef Broth: The liquid used in the braising process. I recommend using a low sodium beef broth since corned beef can already be salty since it was cured. You could use water in a pinch if you don’t have any beef broth, but in that instance, I’d recommend a beer over water for some deeper flavor.

Can this be made ahead of time?

Yes, this dish is great if it is made ahead of time. The flavors actually tend to get better as it sits in the fridge overnight after cooking. It’s also much easier to slice when it is cold. Simply reheat it in the oven at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Pairing Suggestions

For the perfect St. Patrick’s Day meal, serve up your Corned Beef dinner with Mashed Potatoes, Fried Cabbage, and Honey Glazed Carrots. If you want to be a little extra make a few loaves of my Irish Soda Bread. Send your guests home with a loaf for later. This meal is the perfect way to complement this iconic Irish dish.

How to Store

  • Serve: You shouldn’t leave cooked meat at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
  • Store: Let the Braised Corned Beef cool down, then seal it in an airtight container to store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
  • Freeze: To keep leftover corned beef longer, you can freeze it for 2-3 months.

Frequent Questions

Am I supposed to wash the corned beef off before I cook it?

No, you do not need to rinse the beef off. However, some people do feel that it is too salty due to the brining liquid, so if that is the case go ahead and rinse it. Be sure to dry it really well with paper towels.

Why is my corned beef still tough after the cook time?

It just needs a little more time in the oven. Corned beef has a lot of fat and connective tissue so it may just need more time to break down. Pop it back in the oven for 30-45 minutes. That should do the trick.

Variations

  • Seasonings: For some extra flavor, season the brisket with spices like black pepper, caraway seeds, garlic salt or minced garlic cloves, fresh parsley, red pepper flakes, or bay leaves. Add your choice of seasonings along with the spice blend packet.
  • Cabbage: Slice up a head of cabbage into wedges. A half-hour before the meat is done roasting, add the cabbage wedges in and bake them along with the Corned Beef.
  • Oven Beer Braised Brisket: You can change up the braising liquid to make Oven Beer Braised Corned Beef. Use your favorite kind of beer in place of half of the beef broth in the recipe. A dark Irish ale, golden lager, light beer, or stout could all work well for this recipe.

Brown Sugar Mustard Glaze

  • Try making a brown sugar mustard glaze for the meat by combining ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup water, and ½ cup brown sugar in a saucepan while the beef is cooking.
  • You can also add 1 ½ tablespoons of honey for extra sweetness.
  • In the last half hour of the cooking time, take the corned beef from the oven and remove the foil.
  • Brush the brown sugar mustard glaze over the beef.
  • Cover the dish and bake for the remaining half an hour.

More Delicious Beef Recipes

sliced beef pin image

These photos were in a previous version of this post

Beef sliced in baking dish
Beef in baking dish with caramelized onions
Uncooked beef in baking dish with onions before baking
Slab of beef in baking dish with caramelized onions
Beef sliced in baking dish
Collage of uncooked and cooked corned beef

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

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Comments

  2. Flavor packet? Where does that come from ? Not in the ingredient list – does it come with the beef? Do we make it ourself?

    Reply