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This homemade corned beef recipe allows you to make corned beef without nitrates and nitrites. And Himalayan Sea Salt adds health benefits!
A Homemade Corned Beef Recipe
Now that it’s March, the warmerweather has me thinking about traditional foods for the season. One of those that we always make in early spring is corned beef and cabbage. You can make yourown delicious version to avoid chemicals and preservatives found in the store-bought corned beef.
What is Corned Beef?
There is no actual corn in corned beef. The name comes from Great Britain and means “small chunks,” referring to the salt pieces that were used in the curing process. You can certainly use rock salt, although I use Himalayan Pink Salt for the flavor and the nutritive value.
Delicious Homemade Corned Beef Recipe
My main secrets to good corned beef are 1) toasting the spices, and 2) using good cuts of meat. I get most of my beef from a local farm that specializes in hormone-free, pasture-raised, organic beef.
Spice Mix
- 1 Tbsppeppercorns, whole (find organic peppercorns here)
- 1 Tbspcoriander, whole (find organic coriander seed here)
- 5 bay leaves, crushed (find organic bay leaves here)
- 1 Tbspallspice, whole (find organic allspice here)
- 1 Tbspmustard seeds, whole (find organic mustard seeds here)
- ½ hand fresh ginger, sliced (about ⅓ pound)
- 1 Tbsp cloves, whole (find organic cloves here)
- 1 Tbspred pepper flakes (find organic red pepper flakes here)
- and 1 Tbsp cardamom pods, whole (find organic cardamom pods here)
- 1 cinnamon stick, crushed (find organic cinnamon sticks here)
Corned Beef Recipe Brine
- 1-gallon filtered water (find high-quality water filtration systems here)
- 2 cups Himalayan Pink Salt, coarse grind (find it here)
- ¼ cup pink curing salt OR 1-2 Tbsp beetroot powder (find curing salt hereor beetroot powder here)
- see “A Few Tips” below for more information
- ½ cup organic canesugar (find it here)
- 3 Tbsp oftheSpice Mix (above)
Meat
- 1 beef brisket, about 5 pounds for this corned beef recipe.
Cooking Instructions
- Make the Spice Mix. Toast all the spices (except ginger) in a pan for just a few minutes. Be sure to have your fan on or windows open as the fumes can be quite harsh if overheated. Let cool while you do the next step.
- Combine all the ingredients for the Brine. Bring to a boil, then simmer until all of the sugar and salt is dissolved. Cool, then refrigerate until very cold.
- Place the brisket in a large 9×13 pan, or larger if needed. Use enough brine to fully cover the brisket. This could be the entire gallon but may be more or less depending on the cut of meat. The meat may want to float. If it does, fill a clean quart jar with water and place it on top of the brisket. You may need more than one jar depending on the size of the brisket.
- Cover and place in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. Turn it over every day to be sure the brine is getting to all sides.
- When the brisket is fully cured, no more than 7 days for this corned beef recipe, it’s time to cook it. Rinse off well and place in a stockpot or another large pan. Cover with clear water and 1 tablespoon of the Spice Mixfrom the recipe. Either simmer ORbake on low (about 300°F) for 2-3 hours, or until cooked through. It should pull apart easily with a fork.
Tips for Great Roast Beef
The curing salt isnot totallynecessary as a curing agent sinceyou are cooking the meat, but it does help create that cool pink color. Without it, your meat will be a dull gray. However, you will notice that most pink curing salts contain red dye. If you’d like to skip the curing salt, you can use 1-2 tablespoons of beetroot powder to turn the meata light pink color.
You can use almost any type of sugar in this corned beef recipe. You could also use stevia since the sweetness is only for flavoring and not actual curing. Again, the meat will be cooked, not open-air cured.
Any type of salt will work. Just be sure to adjust your recipe if using finely ground salt; use about half as much. You could also omit part of the salt and use soy sauce. Salt is essential to curing and must be used in some form. If you don’t want as much of a salty taste later, you can change the water partway through the cooking process and eliminate some of the final salt.
And check out our Au Jus recipe if you want something to dip your sandwich in!
Corned beef is really easy! Have you ever made a corned beef recipe from scratch?
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About Debra Maslowski
Debra is a master gardener, a certified herbalist, a natural living instructor, and more. She taught Matt and Betsy how to make soap so they decided to bring her on as a staff writer! Debra recently started an organic herb farm in the mountains of Western North Carolina. You can even purchase her handmade products on Amazon!
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DISCLAIMER: Information on DIY Natural™ is not reviewed or endorsed by the FDA and is NOT intended to be substituted for the advice of your health care professional. If you rely solely upon this advice you do so at your own risk. Read full Disclaimer & Disclosure statements here. Make this dutch baby pancake recipe (or pannekoeken) and use it to feed your family for breakfast, brunch, or even as a yummy dessert treat! Ranch dressing is a little slice of heaven! This homemade ranch dressing is delicious and the ingredients are healthy so the dressing is too! Let’s consider the Chaga mushroom! What it is, the benefits of Chaga mushrooms, how to forage it, 3 good ways to use it, and its side effects.More Posts You'll Love
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Comments
Kathy says Your directions about the spice mix are a little confusing to me. You have us make up over 9 tbs of mix, tell us to toast 3 tbls and let cool while you boil the salt and sugar to dissolve in water. When do you add the 3 tbls of spice to the brine, just after it is taken off the boil or just before you put the meat in it? And the 1 tbls that is added when you cook your corned beef, is that toasted also or taken from the untoasted lot? I need specifics, thank you.
- Sonya says
Any way I can put this in the crockpot on low insted of simmer or in the oven? Thanks, im really appreciating your recipes.
- Marco says
I have to make my own corned beef as I can’t eat the commercial ones due to allergies to the spices (black pepper, mustard, coriander, pepper flakes etc)
So I make a herbed one with different dried herbs and salt etc. it comes out fantastically.
There are so many variations to this recipe. The important part is the salt part which does the brining.
I always weigh my salt and water as each type of salt has a different density. Also by weighing the water, I can boil half the water with the salt and herbs, then weigh in the remainder of the water as ice! Makes the whole solution cool down super fast and allows me to get the meat in the fridge brining asap.
- Redina Miller says
As a cancer survivor I avoid nitrates religiously and was enticed by your initial email comment about DIY nitrate free corned beef. But in the recipe you advise us to use “pink curing salt” for a nice pink color. Are you not aware that nitrates are in the curing salt? If you are offering a nitrate free recipe, you should point out that nitrates are in the curing salt and not to use it of you truly want to avoid nitrates.
- Nikkea says
Just curious what you mean by nitrates in the curing salt? Pink Himalayan salt has nitrates??? Or in the process there is a chemical reaction that causes nitrates to be formed.
- Nikkea says
Sorry I just read the rest of the recipe and saw that it uses NOT only Himalayan but also a “curing salt”. Too bad.
- Debra Maslowski says
Hi Redina and Nikkea, I’m all about choices. You can use curing salt if you wish, but for those of you who don’t want to use it, you can add a bit of beetroot powder, as I described above. Curing salt, in this case, is only used to preserve the nice pink color and can be omitted since the meat will be cooked anyway. Hope this clears up any confusion!
