This Colcannon recipe is the perfect St. Patrick’s Day dish (or any other day you’re craving true comfort food)! It is a traditional Irish dish combining creamy mashed potatoes with sweet cabbage and fried onion. It’s the ultimate cozy side.
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What is Colcannon?
This traditional dish from Ireland is made with fried cabbage and onion (or leeks), fried until tender and gently folded into rich and creamy mashed potatoes.
- Flavor: Buttery, savory, and slightly sweet from the cooked cabbage and onions.
- Swaps: You can use kale instead of cabbage, but I prefer the softer and sweeter taste of cabbage.
- Serving Suggestions: Colcannon is traditionally topped with melted butter – because let’s be honest, mashed potatoes and butter are a match made in heaven. This dish is great served with corned beef or glazed honey ham.
Ingredient Notes and Swaps
- Potatoes: You’ll need a good starchy baking potato. My favorite choices are Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes. Once boiled, mash them with lots of butter, and light or heavy cream. While it’s not traditional, you can also add sour cream or cream cheese to taste.
- Cabbage: Green cabbage becomes tender and sweet when fried with butter. However, you can substitute curly kale (about 1lb) or savoy cabbage if you prefer.
- Onion: Fried onions pair beautifully with mashed potatoes. Use a white onion, a green onion, or try leeks for an extra-special dish. Leeks are mildly flavored and look like extra-large scallions.
- Butter & Bacon: Could anything be better? I love the flavor bacon adds, although it’s not a traditional addition. If I have it on hand, I add it, but if I don’t, this colcannon recipe is equally delicious with just butter.
- Variations: Swap in parsnips for part of the potatoes for a sweet twist. For extra richness and savoriness, cook the vegetables in bacon drippings and fold in crispy bacon at the end.
How to Make Calcannon
- Cook the potatoes in a large saucepan until fork-tender and drain well.
- Mash the potatoes with cream and butter (full recipe below).
- Soften the onion, leeks, and cabbage in a skillet. Season.
- Stir the cabbage mixture into the potatoes and top with butter.
Garnish with a sprinkle of parsley, chives, and/or crisp bacon.
Pro Tips for Fluffy Mash
- Mash and drain the potatoes to prevent them from turning watery.
- Warm the cream before adding it to the potatoes so they are smooth.
- Mash gently and stop once smooth to prevent a gluey texture. A ricer makes them extra fluffy.
- Cut cabbage into small, even pieces so it remains tender and folds into every bite.
- Leeks hide grit between layers, so slice first, then rinse in a bowl of water.
What to Do With Leftover Colcannon
Fridge: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 days or in the freezer for 2 months.
Reheat: To reheat it, place it on the stovetop with a little cream to keep the consistency of the mashed potatoes.
Leftovers: Can be used to top shepherd’s pie, turned into crispy potato patties, or turned into a delicious baked potato soup.
More St. Patrick's Day Recipes
Did you love this Colcannon Recipe? Be sure to leave a rating and comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 pounds russet potatoes or baking potatoes, peeled & quartered
- 1 white onion or 2 leeks
- ½ head green cabbage about 6 cups
- ½ cup half and half or heavy whipping cream, warmed
- ¼ cup salted butter plus 3 melted tablespoons
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until fork-tender.
- While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the onion or leeks, and cabbage. Dice the white onion into ½-inch pieces or slice the white and light green parts of the leeks thinly and rinse well. Cut the cabbage into 1-inch pieces.
- Melt ¼ cup of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion or leeks and cabbage in the butter until the onion is translucent and the cabbage is tender.
- Once the potatoes are cooked, drain them and return them to the warm pot. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher, adding cream and 3 tablespoons melted butter. Season with salt and pepper.
- Gently fold the mashed potatoes, cabbage, and onions together.
- Top with additional melted butter if desired.
Video
Notes
- If you love bacon, cook 4-6 slices of bacon in a pan until crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the bacon drippings.
- Cook onion or leeks and cabbage in the bacon drippings until the onion is translucent and the cabbage is tender.
- Mix the bacon, cabbage, and onions with the mashed potatoes per the recipe above.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American, Irish© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
we tried and loved the
is. only had about half the cabbage left in the garden si we used kale that was starting to flower. yummy
I love mashed potatoes and I love cooked cabbage and onions. Putting them all together in this easy recipe was fantastic. The taste was so delicious and my family enjoyed it.
Kept to the recipe to make it first. This is my first Colcannon.
I have Irish ancestries to the point of family recipes handed down. Many are surprisingly simple yet unbelievably good, like boiled dinner. Which is why I never made Colcannon. We never made this. Which I find enigmatic – but – I digress.
What were we thinking? This is like the first time I had Mashed Potatoes with Rosemary and Garlic, with a great steak. Unbelievable.
The dish is greater then the sum of it’s parts – which seems to be a cornerstone of Irish cooking (and Italian).
We had Colcannon with Great-Grandma Devine’s Meatloaf (the Irish blood).
Excellent recipe.
I may never make a different mashed potato.
Delicious have made it with bacon also.
This recipe works great with Smashed Cauliflower for a lower fat rendition. A bit of cabbage types on cabbage, but awesome!
I sauté the onion and cabbage in a little bacon fat and WOW! Really makes the potatoes rich. My family requests these on a regular basis.
Can this be made ahead. If so what degree would you heat it and for how long. Thank you in advance.
Hi Elizabeth, you can make this dish ahead of time and when you’re ready to reheat, take it out of the fridge to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Pop it in the oven at 350°F for 20-25 minutes (or until heated through), stirring at the halfway mark. Let us know how it goes for you!
My very first time making this was for my in-laws and hsbd and I this October. We all thoroughly enjoyed this side dish that I served with homemade cabbage rolls and roasted baby carrots. What a terrific use of scrap pieces of cabbage! I sautéed leeks with the cabbage and my russet potatoes were thickened with heavy cream, a dollop of cream cheese and plenty of real salted butter. My in-laws were VERY happy to keep all the leftovers to have the following morning with breakfast eggs! I’m currently making this again (today) to have with a pork roast. It’s my daughters turn to try this now… I will continue to make this delicious recipe, what a great find!!
So delicious, June! I am glad everyone enjoyed it so much.
I often change it to an entree by adding diced leftover corned beef…or browned hamburger…
I don’t see where I am supposed to add the cream?
Sorry for the confusion, the cream is added in step two to the mashed potatoes.
Great recipe! I had so much leftover cabbage from st Patrick day parades and got tired of the same recipes. I had leftover pot roast and I added it to the cabbage mix, put the mashed potatoes on top and topped it with some cheese I had lying around. I put it in the oven at 375 until all the cheese melted and the edges got slightly brown. kinda like shepherd’s pie. I know this is a huge deviation, but I never would have thought of it if I didn’t see this recipe!
Great recipes
Can’t wait to try it! New cabbage fan here (isn’t it funny how our tastes change…suddenly discovering I DO like cabbage at 57 years old!) Could I use red cabbage for this? Would there be a big taste difference?
I have not tried using red cabbage so I can’t say for sure but I think it would taste great Denise! If you try it be sure to let us know how it turns out!
Would radishes work in place of potatoes for a lower carb version? I’m diabetic.
We haven’t made this recipe with radishes but I don’t see why not, Rachael. I think that would work well.
Sorry I didn’t see the potato info until after I posted my question and didn’t know how to delete the question.
No worries, Lorraine! We hope you enjoyed the recipe :)
I am making this tomorrow. Just curious what type of potatoes you used?
As mentioned in the post Lorraine, our first choices are Russet potatoes or Yukon gold! Enjoy!
Amazing! Thanks for the great recipe!
I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this before.
Made it with cabbage rolls.
So happy that you loved it so much!
Have you ever tried using the potatoes and cabbage that cook with the Corned beef in your slow cooker recipe?
I haven’t, that sounds like a delicious idea! Let us know how it goes!
That’s the only way I make it – mash the potatoes (I make extra just for this dish) and fold in any leftover cabbage, then add the fresh fried cabbage and onions
Sign me up!
Can you leave out the rice? No cauliflower rice either. Would it effect the taste too much?
This recipe does not contain rice Sharon.
I did the same thing. I clicked on the link from the Crockpot Cabbage Roll recipe, that did contain rice, to this recipe. Trying both!!
Can you freeze the left overs?
Ginny, I have never tried freezing this recipe
Hi, Ginny. As a general rule, potatoes do not freeze well. They become mealy, or chalky in texture.