Irish Bacon and Cabbage
Irish Bacon and Cabbage Recipe made with only 5 ingredients. Make this tantalizing side dish for Saint Patrick’s Day, or for dinner any night of the week!
Why We Love Irish Cabbage and Bacon
Disclaimer: Today’s Irish Cabbage and Bacon is based on a classic Irish dish usually made with large slabs of pork (pork belly) boiled down into a rich fatty broth that the cabbage is later stewed in.
As I’m not Irish, I have a hard time swallowing the idea of boiling pork in water.
Instead, I decided to make a quickie version, an Americanized alternative, using the same ingredients, but a different cooking method. This way, we get actual bacon that is slightly crispy, with tender, al dente cabbage with a bit of extra flavor from the onion, salt, pepper, and mustard seeds!
If you need an easy meal to serve up around St. Patrick’s Day, you have to try this Irish cabbage and bacon recipe. It is completely irresistible!
Ingredients You Need
My Irish Bacon and Cabbage is made with only 5 simple ingredients:
- Thick-cut Bacon – diced into smaller pieces
- Large Green Cabbage – cut into 12 wedges
- Large Onion – diced
- Chicken Broth – for added flavor
- Mustard Seeds – adds a bit of a kick
- Salt and Black Pepper – To taste (or add red pepper flakes or a dash of cayenne pepper for a spicy kick!)
How to Make Fried Cabbage with Bacon
Place a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat to medium-high heat. Cut the bacon strips into 4 pieces, each with a knife. Separate the bacon pieces and place them in the pot. Stir and fry until the bacon is cooked, but not fully crispy.
Meanwhile, peel the onion and cut it into 8 wedges. Then, cut the cabbage in half and remove the core. Cut the cabbage into 12 wedges. Once the bacon is mostly cooked, add the onion to the pot and sauté for 3-4 minutes to soften.
Add the cabbage, chicken broth, and mustard seeds. Stir to move the cabbage to the bottom of the pot and bring the bacon upward.
Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the thickest parts of the cabbage have a tender silky texture. Stir once or twice while cooking. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed.
Serve in a bowl with whole-grain mustard on the side, if desired.
Tips & Tricks
- Get the bacon just slightly crispy! You don’t want super crispy bacon in this recipe because it will be harder to eat! So make sure it is slightly crispy, but not too much.
- Serve with whole-grain mustard! The mustard seeds in this recipe will shine with a bit of extra whole-grain mustard on the side.
- Goes well with potatoes! To turn this into a hearty meal, serve with some roasted potatoes!
See The (Printable) Recipe Card Below For How To Make Irish Bacon and Cabbage. Enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
This Irish bacon and cabbage would do well alone, as a side dish, or with a few other dishes to create a whole meal! Fried bacon and cabbage goes amazingly well with creamy mashed potatoes or crispy roasted potatoes!
You can also serve this as a savory side dish with baked ham, smoked pork chops, or even steak!
For an Irish feast, pair it with Irish Potato Pie, Irish corned beef stew, Baked Corned Beef and Cabbage in the Oven, or savory Cottage Pie!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Cut Cabbage for Frying?
How you cut the cabbage is totally up to you. Keep in mind that cabbage shrinks significantly once it is cooked! If you cut it into very small pieces, it won’t have that much texture once it is cooked. I like to first cut mine in half, then remove the core. After that, I simply slice each half into 6 smaller wedges. If you want them to be smaller, you can cut each wedge in half! Totally up to you!
How Long Does This Fried Cabbage Recipe Last In The Fridge?
You can store the leftover pan-fried cabbage in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Reheat these leftovers in a large skillet instead of a microwave.
What Do I Serve With This Recipe?
Although you can serve this cooked cabbage recipe as a side dish with corned beef, proportionally there is a lot of bacon in this recipe. Enough protein to make it a main dish in my opinion.
In Ireland, it’s often served as the main course with mustard and boiled potatoes.
Should I Drain The Bacon Fat/Bacon Drippings?
No need to pull out paper towels to pat the bacon dry. The bacon grease that comes off the bacon slices will only be a few ounces, and it will help create the flavor of the recipe and enhance the taste as the cabbage cooks in it. That is what makes this a delicious fried cabbage with bacon recipe!
Can I Make A Smaller Portion?
Of course, you can. You can find a small head of cabbage to use for this recipe and then cut the rest of the ingredients in half. This low-carb dish can be based on the size of the cabbage head you find!
Other Easy Irish Recipes You Might Like:
- Irish Creamy Cauliflower Soup
- Irish Potato Pie
- Irish Pub Cheese (Beer Cheese Dip)
- Crisp and Savory Irish Potato Pie
- One Pan Slow Cooker Shepherds Pie
- Garlic Irish Boxty Potato Pancakes
- Irish Cheese Toasties (Cheese on Toast)
- Cottage Pie Recipe (Shepherd’s Pie)
Check the printable recipe card below for the nutrition information for this vegetable side dish including calories, carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol, sodium, fiber, and vitamin c percentages.
Irish Bacon and Cabbage Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 24 ounces thick-cut bacon
- 1 large green cabbage
- 1 large onion
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Cut the bacon strips into 4 pieces each. Separate the bacon pieces and place in the pot. Stir and sizzle until the bacon is cooked, but not fully crispy.
- Meanwhile, peel the onion and cut it into 8 wedges. Then cut the cabbage in half and remove the core. Cut the cabbage into 12 wedges. Once the bacon is mostly cooked, add the onion to the pot and sauté for 3-4 minutes to soften.
- Add the cabbage, chicken broth, and mustard seeds. Stir to move the cabbage to the bottom of the pot and bring the bacon upward. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the thickest parts of the cabbage are tender. Stir once or twice while cooking. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed. Serve with whole grain mustard on the side, if desired.
I don’t usually come back to comment on recipes after making them but this was so good I have too.
I had a couple of cabbages to use up and found this recipe.
It’s really delicious and the “broth”? I ate the with a spoon like a soup.
I added a small amount of garlic with the mustard seeds but other than this followed the recipe fully.
This will be added to my regular recipes.
Came upon this recipe looking for an Irish boiling bacon recipe– yours isn’t Irish at all, but it does look super delicious, and I’m definitely going to make it this week! (“Boiling bacon” is nothing like American bacon- it’s from the pork collar, not pork belly, and the texture/taste is much more similar to ham, which means boiling it isn’t a disgusting idea lol. Also, in Ireland, they wouldn’t cook this kind of cabbage, just use it for making slaw. We don’t really have Irish cooking cabbages here but the closest thing I’ve found is a Savoy cabbage- much looser, softer, different flavor.)
Definitely needed more seasoning than just salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of mustard seeds. But the consistency was awesome! Very low maintenence recipe that can easily be made every month (with way more seasoning). I added garlic powder, onion powder, & Cajun seasoning.
Quick, simple and delicious!
I made this for my son’s Irish fiance who was visiting recently. She had told me previously that Bacon and Cabbage was her favorite meal. I showed her this recipe, and she said it was legit, even using “streaky bacon” as she called the bacon we find in our grocery stores. This meal was a HUGE HIT! Everyone loved it! I will be making this again and again.
I just returned home from Ireland and haven’t been able to find the answer to this question: the green cabbage 🥬 in Ireland seemed different than the green/white cabbage in the states. (I did not have this recipe, just boiled cabbage as a side veg) I really loved the flavor, and wondered if that variety was ever sold here. It had some dark green to it.
Hi Lis,
Hmmm, I wonder if they are using savoy cabbage, it tends to be darker in color. Can anyone else weigh in on this?
Delicious recipe, thanks so much Sommer! Couple suggestions for the noobs. 1) once you have fried up the bacon and onions then remove to a mixing bowl etc then place the broth, mustard seed and cabbage into the pot and placed bacon mixture on top as it’s quite difficult to bring all that bacon/onion up without losing cabbage to the dog 🙄😄
2) use the bacon grease(as the OP suggested) and just about a cup+/- of broth as you will get additional juices from the cabbage as it cooks down but you can always add more to your liking.
3) it’s probably going to take 30-45+/- minutes in reality
4) it’s gonna need quite a bit of salt
5) it’s gonna be goooooo—ooood
Yes I noted that in the comments way back in July 2020 but nobody seems to have noticed. “Boiling bacon” is a large slab cut from the back or shoulder, and it is much different from the fatty sliced pork belly bacon used in America. Also Irish bacon is more lightly cured and not smoky like American bacon.
Hi Summer,
This is a recipe that is similar to one I like to make. I have some Irish roots and the boiled dinner does nothing for me! Boiling is a waste of good ingredients as far as I am concerned. Happy Sy Patricks Day!
This is so crazy to me I’ve never liked my parents corned beef and cabbage or hash or whatever it is so I never really ate it growing up but I recently attempted to make my own version of it to see how it turned out. 2 years later, today, I did a quick Google search as I was putting all my ingredients in my pot, just wondering if anybody else liked or used the same type of recipe or way of cooking it as I do because nobody else seems to have had it done my way that I’ve talked to about it. And this is exactly like my recipe and cooking method to a T. and I never looked it up the first time cooking it this way… and I’m Irish more than anything else in my DNA
Hey! I made this and it was great. However, I was left with a ton of chicken broth in the pot still. I cooked it for way longer, too, but it was still there. Is it supposed to be there? It doesn’t seem like yours has any at the end.
Glad it wasn’t just me with a ton of broth left over. Having said that, it was truly delicious and something that will go on the regular dinner menu. My son dislikes bacon and took two helpings of this deliciousness.
As for the excess broth, I think I’m just going to make sure and drain the bacon grease well after sauteeing the onion, and using about 1.5 cups of broth at first, adding more as needed to get the cabbage to the desired softness.
I’ve been looking for more yummy cabbage dishes, and I even incorporated kale into this recipe, as the cabbage we picked up was rather small for the quantity I wanted to make. Gotta say, it’s even better for breakfast the next day!
Thanks so much for a delicious and FAST dinner idea. I added colcannon on the side, and there was not a smear of sauce left on the plates. Happy family with full bellies equals happy mama!
Sounds like a great recipe!
While this is good as a side dish, it is not actually an authentic approximation of the traditional Irish bacon and cabbage main course, because this uses the wrong kind of bacon!
The typical Irish bacon is NOT pork belly. It is a cut of back bacon, which is much leaner and does not have all those fatty layers. If you automatically assumed that bacon has to be made from pork belly per the US standard, then it’s unsurprising that you couldn’t imagine boiling it in water. But back bacon is completely different.
I hope you will obtain a slab of Irish boiling bacon and try the recipe again in the more authentic manner. There are a number of retailers of Irish and British goods in the US that you could obtain it from.