I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a bit obsessed with cabbage lately. It’s inexpensive, healthy, and lasts a long time in the fridge. Because I always seem to have some in my produce drawer, it seemed like a perfect time to finally make colcannon, a recipe I’ve wanted to try for YEARS.
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What is Colcannon?
If you’ve never heard of colcannon, it’s basically the perfect Budget Byte. This traditional Irish dish brings together two inexpensive ingredients, (potatoes and cabbage or kale) to make a super filling and delicious dish.
Traditional colcannon can be quite heavy with a TON of butter and heavy cream, but to fit my lifestyle I’ve lightened it up a bit. Just a bit though, because I still want it to be good! I’ve used just four tablespoons of butter (yes, that’s less than most recipes I’ve seen) and swapped cream for a mix of whole milk and chicken broth. It’s still very filling, tastes great, and I feel good about eating it every day.
Can I Use Other Greens?
I used cabbage for my colcannon because it was super inexpensive this week ($0.29/lb. YAY!), but you could mix in just about any green that you have in your fridge. Kale, spinach, collard greens, leeks, whatever! That’s what makes this recipe great. It’s very flexible so you can adjust the proportions of potatoes, greens, butter, or milk to work with what you have on hand.
Other Fun Additions
I keep thinking about how awesome other common mashed potato add-ins would be in this, like cheddar, sour cream, bacon, or even some caramelized onions. So flexible!
Colcannon
Servings 8 (8-10 cups total)Ingredients
- 3 lbs russet potatoes ($1.79)
- 4 Tbsp butter ($0.44)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 4 green onions ($0.40)
- 1/2 head cabbage (6-8 cups shredded) ($0.54)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth* ($0.07)
- 1/2 cup whole milk ($0.19)
- Salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Wash, peel, and cut the potatoes into one-inch cubes. Place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Boil the potatoes until they are very tender and fall apart when pierced with a fork (about 10 minutes). Drain the potatoes in a colander.
- While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the cabbage. Remove any damaged outer leaves, then cut it in half. Cut the cabbage into quarters, then remove the core. Cut each of the two quarters used in half once again, then cut crosswise into thin strips. Wash the cabbage well to remove any dirt or debris. Also mince the garlic and slice the green onions.
- After removing the potatoes from the pot, add 4 Tbsp butter, the minced garlic, and the sliced green onions (I reserved a few to sprinkle over top at the end). Sauté the garlic and onions over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic begins to soften.
- Add the shredded cabbage and chicken broth to the pot. Place a lid on top and let the broth come up to a boil. Let the cabbage cook in the simmering broth, stirring every few minutes, until it has wilted and become tender. The volume of the cabbage will shrink quite a bit as it cooks. Cook until the thicker white pieces begin to become transparent (about 10-12 minutes).
- Once the cabbage is tender, add the drained potatoes back to the pot along with the milk and some freshly cracked pepper. Mash the potatoes until everything is well combined. Season with salt to taste. Serve warm.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
Love mashed potatoes? Try my Fluffy Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes or my dairy-free Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes!
How to Make Colcannon – Step by Step Photos
Start by washing, peeling, and dicing 3 lbs. russet potatoes into one-inch cubes. Place the cubes in a large pot, cover with water, then bring it up to a boil over high heat (with lid). Boil the potatoes until they are tender and fall apart when pierced with a fork (about 10 minutes). Drain the potatoes in a colander and set them aside until you’re ready for them.
While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the cabbage. It’s best to use a cabbage with a fair amount of green on it, but you can also add in kale, collard greens, spinach, or just about any other green you have. I used half of this big head of cabbage, which was about 6-8 cups once shredded.
Cut the cabbage in half, then into quarters. You’ll only need two of the quarters, so save the other two for another recipe. Cut out the core, then cut each quarter in half again. Cut the wedges crosswise into thin strips (about 1/2-inch wide). Wash the cabbage well. Don’t worry about removing the excess water, that will just help it steam and wilt.
Mince two cloves of garlic and slice four green onions. Once the potatoes have been removed from the pot, add 4 Tbsp butter along with the garlic and green onions (I saved a few of the green onions to add on top before serving). Sauté the garlic and green onions in the butter over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until they begin to soften.
Then add all of that shredded cabbage and 1/2 cup chicken broth to the pot with the garlic and green onions. The cabbage will likely fill the pot before it’s cooked, but it shrinks down quite a bit as it wilts. Place a lid on the pot and let the broth come up to a simmer. Cook the cabbage in the simmering broth, stirring often, until it’s wilted and tender (about 10 minutes). Make sure the thicker white pieces of cabbage begin to look transparent.
This is what the braised cabbage looks like once it’s tender. It’s probably about 1/5th of the volume that it was when fresh.
Finally, add the cooked and drained potatoes back to the pot along with 1/2 cup milk and some freshly cracked pepper. Mash everything up until it’s well mixed and the potatoes are well mashed.
And now the most important step, season with salt to taste! And then the colcannon is ready to serve.
I can’t think of a better way to up the nutritional content of mashed potatoes!
Colcannon is definitely my new go-to. I like to build bowls with this as the base. A scoop of colcannon, some cooked chicken, and whatever else might be in my fridge (cheese, leftover vegetables, sauerkraut, or corn kernels). Goes great with steak, too!
This checks all my boxes: delicious, filling, nutritious, and complete! Almost as easy as plain ol’ mashed potatoes to pull together, and so many more layers of flavor.
I’ve made colcannon for over 20 years. I’m glad you’ve discovered it! Typically I’ll add 8 oz of cubed ham. I also prefer to steam the potatoes, keeping them more nutritional. I’ll put the cabbage and ham in the water below the potatoes and do it all at once.
You can add bacon, but ham, shredded chicken, and really, any meat, will make it a meal. In truth, this is a “leftover” dish, like fried rice; you don’t need fresh ingredients to make yummy Colcannon. I like the lighten-up ideas too: I use half-and-half often instead of cream and Canola oil butter.
Just an FYI — made this with left over collard greens. I think I like it even better than with cabbage!
Im actually from Ireland. There are as many versions of Colconnan as there are people. My family keeps it very basic. Potatoes, cabbage and bacon. Thats it. Simple, filiing and hopefully a little nutritious ( counting on the cabbage for that) very budget friendly. Of course anything you make on the side would go well..Pork chops especially.
Yesterday we had potluck after our Celtic Celebration at our church. Since it was an Irish theme I asked Siri for an Irish vegetable dish and this recipe popped up on my iphone. It was a big hit with 2 requests for the recipe!!
Thanks! This is a Keeper!
St. Patrick’s Day and I had to try I will establish Irish side dish. I haven’t made this for several years. Your recipe was easy to follow and it turned out great. Made so much I’m going to be able to get some from my son to take home after dinner today. And that’s a very Irish thing too!☘️
I loved this dish but had to make a few adjustments – no green onions so I used sweet white onion; only had a small amount of cabbage so chopped up and added book choy – wow, fabulous taste; used low salt chicken broth for boiling greens and threw in left over mushrooms; added half teaspoon of horseradish to the potato with the butter. I feel I did justice to my Waterford ancestors by making this – and I will make it again and again. Thanks for the inspiration.
Quickly becoming one of my favourite go to meal prep components. I really like to make this with slow roasted chicken leg quarters/thighs and use the drippings to make a gravy. I also add some defrosted spinach in at the end to keep it extra veggie packed
Easy recipe & inexpensive ! It turned out great!
I finally made this this weekend. I made it with pork chops and gravy and will diffidently be making it again. I have been following your blog for a couple years and I can’t think of anything I haven’t liked.
Thank you for this easy to follow, great recipe. My family loved it!
I’ve passed two St. Patrick’s days without trying this so I made it on a whim finally. Very good! Horror icon Vincent Price’s recipe is also similar :)
Ooooh, I’ll have to look for his recipe. I’m a huge fan. :)
I just tried it with napa cabbage, because I had it on hand. It was a bit too runny (not enough potatoes on hand) and reminded me a lot of a dish we made at home while I was young. Said dish is made with a variant of brassica rapa (that is greens of some kind of turnip). And I got curious and looked brassica rapa up and.. yeah, napa cabbage is also a variant of that. So no wonder it reminded me of that dish! Thank you for that trip down memory lane! ❤
This is delicious. Comfort food at its finest! I served it with apple gouda sausages and that was a perfect combo. Thanks!
wonderful dish, my favourite Vegie too :)
This was delicious even though I made a couple changes. I used Yukon Gold potatoes and some parsnips I had left over from holiday meals. The sweetness of the parsnips was an excellent addition. I also cooked my potatoes in my instant pot. 3 pounds with one cup of water or broth with potatoes on the trivet at the bottom of the pot. 13 minutes on high with a quick release and even the woody parsnips were fall apart soft. Definitely a time saver if you have access to one!
I also had this with an egg on top and it made a great meal! Ate the leftovers with a little cheese for lunch at work.
Is it possible to take the milk out entirely without completely destroying the dish? (My sister’s allergic.)
You can leave it out, it will just be less creamy. You might want to add more butter, if she can do butter. Leaving out both the butter and milk would not be very good, though.
I loved this recipe! It was really good. I sauteed some celery and added it to the green onion/cabbage mixture and it was delicious. I eat this for lunch and am quite satisfied.
Made this the other day – such a good comfort food! I used red potatoes instead, and left the peels on when I mashed them. It created a nice color contrast with the green cabbage (and I threw in some collards too). I also subbed leeks for green onion, which worked great. Thanks for the recipe!
Oh good grief this reminds me too much of Champ which is potatoes and scallions done in a similar way. *gags* A family favourite of my Brother & Father but get it away with me! Was my least favourite thing my Mother shoved on me growing up. I am an awful Irish person haha.
Colcannon is one of our favorites here. Often, we’ll cook sausage (just about any variety is tasty) or bacon, then use the drippings from the meat instead of butter for extra flavor, and serve it as an entree. So good, super-filling, and *easy*
I’m Irish and have had this for years! I like your variation of it. If I have some ham left over from another meal, I cube it and stir it in after the potatoes/greens are mashed. It then goes from a side dish to an entree. My kids love it and rarely are there leftovers. This is one of the few items that if it is left over, it NEVER goes bad in the refrigerator.
If they see cabbage in the house, they beg me to make it!
This is also really good with some eggs baked into little wells made on top with the back of a spoon!
Made this the other night as a New Year’s Eve side – turned out delicious and amazing. The perfect twist to our mashed potatoes without having to add cheese and bacon. I didn’t have green onion so just used regular onion, and I subbed unsweetened almond milk for the whole milk because that’s all I had.
With a lot leftover, I’ll definitely try the egg bowls mentioned above! I do need to figure out what to do with the rest of the head of cabbage… off to search your website! ;)
This roundup of recipes for leftover cabbage should help (if you didn’t already find it)! :)
I just came across this and I really love this. Signing up.
Love cabbage and mashed/cream potatoes so this is soooo perfect. I have had the potatoes whole in the cabbage but not mashed together…this will be added to my menu for the week!!!!
i always make colcannon to be the potato topping to my Sheppard’s Pie. Just add some cheese and an egg to it to make it for the Pie
Ooh, never thought of that! Yummy!
Colcannon is fantastic stuff – I make it every year for our St. Patrick’s Day party (and many times throughout out the rest of the year because it is just plain glorious comfort food).
For a real game changer, sub out some of the milk/cream for buttermilk. The brightness the acid brings really plays well with the deep flavors of the rest of the dish.
For breakfast, I like to mix an egg or two into the colcannon and make thick potato pancakes with it.
Wonderful suggestions! Thank you! I know I’ll be making this a lot in the future, so I can’t wait to try those variations.
Don’t eat white potatoes, due to health. Would sweet potatoes be a possible substitute, or jicama?
Hmm, I don’t think either one of those would be quite right here, unfortunately.
Try cauliflower! :)
I’m going to disagree with Beth here…I often do a root veg mash and typically sweet potato is the main root veg. It might not be Colcannon, but I think it will be good, i.e. I think a root veg mash with various things: sweet potato, parsnip, rutabaga and some greens and the rest of the ingredients – YUM! I also agree with Kristee on the cauliflower. I think jicama is stretching it unless you’ve had success “mashing” it :)
Often I freeze a variation of this. It usually has carrot, maybe even bacon or ham, onions, I do everything chunky in one pot. Always have bags of stock in freezer, as well as a big bag of collected chicken bones and veggie trimmings for more stock. I seldom use any milk. Mustard, collard or turnip greens are options I’ll throw in if they are around. Bacon fat and butter are typical. Creole seasoning, maybe some extra heat, an Anaheim pepper, crushed red, or just a pinch of cayenne….hot sauce, pepper vinegar, a dash of balsamic….it’s a fluid process. ,Seriously, I know this is not “real” colcannon, but I’m always working with what I have.
So, on the freezing issue, I smash it into a container, kinda pushing out air bubbles, and cover the top with a thin layer of water. When I take it out of the freezer I wash off the outer layer of water which protects the dish from any flavor of icky freezer burn. The water layer works for most things that get prepared and then frozen. Like large batches of beans, or spaghetti sauce, vegetable soup…..
In the south New Years Day must include cabbage and black eyed peas, for luck and money in the new year. For resisters I’ll almost make a pill with 3 peas and a bit of cabbage.
Thanks for posting the real deal. Hope the freezing hints are helpful.
Good Luck & Happy New Year!
I love colcannon and make it often during the winter.. Sometimes I dice a few strips of bacon and cook the vegetables in the bacon fat, then add a tablespoon or so of butter on top of the dish. Baking it sounds like an interesting way to prepare it. I also have a recipe for colcannon soup.
I started to make this and realized I had some Brussels sprouts that needed to be used. I trimmed and halved them and sliced thin, then proceeded with the recipe. It was very good, though I still prefer it with cabbage. The next day I formed some of the leftovers into a patty and browned it, served with a fried egg on top. Delicious!
I love colcannon with cabbage! Every time I peel potatoes, my kids beg me to fry up the peels. It’s a cheap snack and zero waste! 😁
Oh wow! that’s such a great idea!! I can’t wait to try it. :)
I have tried to freeze it, but it just gets too watery when you defrost it.
That looks like prime comfort food! I can’t wait to try it!
Wow !
It’s perfect timing post for me,because it’s winter in my country right now !
And I would like to know you that the vegetable is available and cheap rate in my country at this season.
My mother would like to cook this kind of recipes and I’m surely share with her about the recipe !
Thanks
Hey there Beth! Love all your recipes and reccomend you to all my friends. Just curious if this would freeze well? would love to make colcannon bowls and freeze em for lunches.
thanks!
I haven’t tried freezing it, but I did ask that people share their freezing results in the comments and so far most are saying that it gets watery. Although some have said that it’s just fine (I’m assuming those people are just not bothered by a little watery-ness). :)
I grew up with spinach mixed into mashed potatoes and still eat them that way.
Me too! I add chopped boiled eggs and fried bacon to it as well….it’s my daughter’s favourite dish!
I can’t wait to make calconnon!
Oh, man, I might have to change my weekend cooking plans, ’cause I do love colcannon. For bonus points, put your colcannon in a casserole dish, to with shredded sharp cheddar, and bake until the cheese starts to brown. This turns it into the wonderfully named Scottish dish rumbledethumps.
Oh man! That sounds incredible!! And I love that name hahahah
Colcannon bowls! Oh man, I am so going to put an egg on top.
That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking!
I totally did that for breakfast this morning! Win! :D
Love colcannon! Great for sneaking in some greens. White pepper really makes this stuff yum!
I’m intrigued by this recipe! I’ve never heard of colcannon before. Definitely trying this
This is a typical Dutch meal to mix the mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage. Another good one is mashing cooked carrots into the potatoes. I also grew up on this. I’m pretty sure this is a WWII era meal that was cheap and filling. My family loves it and asks for it especially on a cold wintry day when they all happen to be home. They are all grown up and mostly live on their own!
Alice
That’s what I was thinking–colcannon is Irish stamppot!
My mom used to make this when I was growing up, it is so good on cold nights. You can also use leftovers! If you have sauteed cabbage and leftover boiled or mashed potatoes this is a great way to use them up.
This recipe is pretty much exactly how she did it, but she would mix everything together in a casserole and bake it for a little while so the top became a little crunchy. She would especially do this step when she was using leftover potatoes, it makes it a little easier.