Corned beef is such a delicious treat! Unfortunately, it can be hard to find other than around St. Patrick’s Day. Did you know you can make your own corned beef at home? Then you can enjoy tasty corned beef whenever you want!
Can I Make My Own Corned Beef?
{Referral links are used in this post.}
You bet you can! All you need is a beef brisket, a few special spices, and some time.
Making your own corned beef is super-simple, but you do need to plan ahead. In order to be corned beef, beef has to go through a type of pickling process. This takes 10-14 days in your refrigerator. It’s simple to do, once it’s set up all you need to do is ignore it! But it can’t be done overnight, so give yourself plenty of time.
How to Make Corned Beef
If you’ve ever brined a turkey (you haven’t? why not? find out how here), you can make corned beef. You start with a piece of beef brisket. Then make a brine with kosher salt, brown sugar, pickling spice, pink curing salt (also called Prague powder – not pink Himalayan salt), and garlic. (See the printable recipe card below for amounts.) Pour the brine over the meat, and soak away!
When I’m brining a turkey or a chicken, I’ll keep it in a cooler. Those brines have plenty of ice, and they are only soaking overnight. A brisket needs a much longer soak to become corned beef. This will need to live in your refrigerator for 10-14 days. I love 2-gallon Ziploc bags for this. A 2.5-pound brisket fits perfectly in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag. You can squeeze almost all of the air out of the bag, which means you get as much contact between the meat and the brine as possible. Just put the bag inside a lipped pan (like a 9×13 baking pan), in case of any leaks.
Check the brisket every day to make sure there are no leaks, and the meat is still covered with the pickling liquid. Every 2-3 days, turn the whole bag over to flip the meat and help it soak evenly.
You can do a “spot-check” after about 10 days to see if your corned beef is ready. The pink curing salt will turn the meat the beautiful pink color you see in the photos in this post. After 10 days, use a sharp knife to cut into the center of the brisket. If the meat is pink all the way through, you’re done! If there is still some brown in the middle, leave the brisket to soak for a few more days.
Once the brisket is pink all the way through, congratulations! You’ve made corned beef! But it still needs to be cooked.
To cook your corned beef, remove it from the pickling liquid and gently rinse the meat under cool water. Place the corned beef in a large pot, and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil, lower the temperature to a simmer, and cook until the meat is fork-tender.
See, now wasn’t that easy?
Now you don’t have to wait for corned beef to show up in your grocery store around St. Patrick’s Day – you can make it any time you want!
Enjoy!
3 Ways to Take the Fear Out of Your Kitchen
- What is Corned Beef?
- What is the Best Seasoning for Beef? – free printable!
- Why is Ground Beef Brown in the Middle?
3 Recipes to Try
Printable Recipe Card for How to Make Corned Beef
How to Make Corned Beef
Ingredients
- 2-2.5 pounds beef brisket
- 8 ounces Kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons pink curing salt also called Prague Powder
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 5 Tablespoons pickling spice
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 gallon water
Instructions
- Place the brisket in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag.
- In a large pot (I used this one without the strainer insert), combine the Kosher salt, curing salt, brown sugar, pickling spice, garlic, and water.
- Heat, stirring frequently, until the salts and sugar are dissolved. Cool mixture to room temperature.
- Pour the cooled pickling mixture over the brisket in the bag.
- Remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal tightly.
- Lay the brisket flat inside a lipped pan.
- Refrigerate for 10-14 days. (Yes, I really mean 2 weeks!)
- Every 2-3 days, flip the brisket over for even pickling.
- After 10-14 days, remove the brisket from the pickling liquid.
- Discard the liquid.
- Rinse the brisket under cool running water.
- Place the meat in a large pot, and add water until the meat is covered by at least 1 inch of water.
- Cover, and heat on high until the water boils.
- Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 2.5-3 hours, until the meat is fork tender.
- Remove the corned beef from the cooking liquid. Discard the liquid.
- Let the corned beef rest at room temperature for 5 minutes. Then slice across the grain.
- Serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Shared on:
[…] Corned beef often goes on sale in the grocery stores before Saint Patrick’s Day. Other times of the year, corned beef can be quite expensive, or very hard to find. Beef brisket is usually a budget-friendly cut. If you can brine a turkey or a chicken, you can make corned beef! All you need is a container large enough to hold the brisket (I like 2.5-gallon Hefty bags), refrigerator space, and a pot large enough to cook the brisket in (this one works up to a 5-pound brisket). Here is our favorite recipe to make corned beef at home. […]