Complete your authentic Irish supper by making Irish Colcannon, full of mashed potatoes and tender buttery cabbage!
Of all the many holidays that I love celebrating with my raucous extended family, the one I love best (yes, even more than Christmas) is St. Patrick’s Day.
It’s known as “The Day” in our house, and with my Irish mama leading the way, we always do it up right.
My grandmother always told me we didn’t have to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day because had Irish blood in our veins, but we do it anyway, and then some.
(Side note: I swiped that tiara from my sweet sister-in-law Colleen, but I promise I gave it back. Even though I REALLY WANTED to keep it.)
And the menu is pretty much set in stone. Corned beef (which my mama starts shopping for at the beginning of March so she gets the very best pieces).
Carrots. Often in the morning there are scones to be had. There is always both Irish brown bread and soda bread.
And always always, warm and creamy colcannon!
What is colcannon made of?
Colcannon is basically the Irish version of mashed potatoes, with some green onions and cooked cabbage stirred in.
And butter (Kerrygold, if you please), and milk, and nutmeg. My mama always makes more than enough, which works out well when I want shepherd’s pie a few days later.
How do I make Irish Colcannon?
This recipe calls for Yukon Gold potatoes, which is my potato of choice when making any kind of mashies.
Scrub them up, cut them in quarters, and simmer them up in milk until they are tender, and then mash them with your handy masher or potato ricer.
Next, cook up some chopped cabbage in that lovely starchy potato milk until it is tender.
Now all that’s left to do is mix the mashed potatoes with the cabbage, along with some chopped scallions, a good amount of butter (it’s a holiday!) and some salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Colcannon is usually served without baking but sometimes my mama will put it in a buttered casserole dish, dot it with little cubes of butter and bake it at 400 until the top is golden. (That’s my favorite.)
Now please go start looking for corned beef, because next week I’m going to share my mama’s FAMOUS corned beef recipe, and you want to be ready.
Counting the days until The Day,
Kate xo
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Irish Colcannon
Prep Time: 15 minutes- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Irish
- Diet: Vegetarian
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Pin RecipeDescription
Complete your authentic Irish supper by making Irish Colcannon, full of mashed potatoes and tender buttery cabbage!
Ingredients
- 6 Yukon Gold potatoes (no need to peel them!)
- ½ gallon milk
- 6 scallions, chopped
- ½ head cabbage, chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Salt and pepper
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Scrub the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Place them in a pot and pour the milk over them and bring to a simmer. Simmer until tender, about 15-20 minutes.
- Scoop the potatoes out of the milk, mash or rice them and set aside.
- Bring the potato milk to a simmer and add the cabbage, simmering until tender, about 10 minutes.
- Scoop out of the milk and add to the potatoes along with the chopped scallions, the butter and the nutmeg. Mix together well and add salt and pepper to taste. If the colcannon is too thick, drizzle in some of the milk to loosen it up.
Notes
Colcannon is usually served without baking but sometimes my mama will put it in a buttered casserole dish, dot it with little cubes of butter and bake it at 400 until the top is golden.
Need to add something to your kitchen equipment to make this recipe? Below are some of the items we used in the Framed Cooks kitchen to help cook this up. These are affiliate links to things we use and love, which helps to pay for all that bacon I keep buying!
Sadly a smaller piece of corned beef this year–no party! But it will be on the menu with colcannon! Thank you Kate!!
Love you so much! Next year we will need the big piece! :)
1/2 gallon of milk?