How To Reheat Corned Beef? 2 Best Ways To Keep It Tender

Corned beef is a popular Irish dish for St. Patrick’s Day. If you have some leftovers in the fridge, here’s a simple guide on how to reheat corned beef slices.

What is Corned Beef?

Corned beef is a type of meat, typically made from beef brisket, that has been cured or preserved with large-grained rock salt, known as “corns” of salt. It is called “corned” beef because of the corn-sized salt crystals used in the curing process.

The meat is often seasoned with various spices and then slowly cooked until it becomes tender and flavorful. Corned beef is commonly associated with Irish cuisine and is typically enjoyed in dishes such as corned beef and cabbage or in sandwiches like the classic Reuben.

How Long Is Corned Beef Good For?

A great way to keep your corned beef lasting long enough is to store it properly, at least for the next meal. So, how do you store corned beef?

How Long Is Cooked Corned Beef Good For In The Fridge

The shelf life of corned beef depends on various factors such as the packaging, storage conditions, and whether it is cooked or uncooked. Here are some general guidelines:

Uncooked Corned Beef: If stored properly in its original packaging or airtight container in the refrigerator, uncooked corned beef can typically be kept for about 5 to 7 days.

Cooked Corned Beef: When cooked, corned beef can be stored in the refrigerator for approximately 3 to 4 days.

Keep in mind that the timeframes mentioned are approximate and can differ depending on factors like meat quality and refrigerator temperature. Use your own judgment and check for signs of spoilage, such as a strange smell or texture. When in doubt, it’s better to err on the side of caution and discard the corned beef.

How To Reheat Corned Beef

As the holiday is coming soon, you might want to take a look at your refrigerated corned beef to reheat it for the traditional holiday dish.

So, how do you reheat corned beef while keeping the meat moist? There are different ways to do this, like using a slow cooker and microwave oven. Here is my best way to reheat corned beef:

1. How To Reheat Corned Beef Using The Oven

It is common to use an oven for cooking and reheating leftover corned beef. For a balance of texture, I apply a similar step from my oven fried chicken method.

When corned beef brisket is stored, it tends to lose the soft and tender texture. Therefore, when reheating with the oven roasting method, the corned beef is evenly heated to return to its cooked stage.

Now, let’s find out how to heat corned beef:

Firstly, you need to take it out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature for at least 15 minutes.

While waiting for your cool corned beef, you can set your oven to 320 degrees Fahrenheit to make it ready for reheating our corned beef.

I recommend you not change to higher heat for a faster setting time because the high temperature can rip off the moisture left inside the meat, leaving a drier and chewier texture.

When the corned meat is mellowed enough, you need to place it on a cooking tray and pour some beef stock inside for extra moisture.

You can also use some cooking juice or cooking liquid if you have one available in your kitchen. In this way, the heated corned beef will be juicy and moist like before when you store it.

Now, you need to add one last preparation step to ensure a soft and tender corned beef brisket: Cover the brisket with a double layer of foil.

Seal the aluminum foil packet tightly at all the edges, then cover the whole brisket with one last foil layer.

Now it can get inside the oven. It will take around one hour for a whole corned beef brisket to be heated thoroughly. For sliced deli corned beef, you only need 20 minutes.

When it is finished, you can remove the moist oven roasting brisket and serve it with some carrot chunks, butter-sauteed cabbage, oven-roasted potatoes, coarse pepper, sweet summer corn, and dark beer.

2. How To Reheat Corned Beef On The Stove

If you don’t have an oven, don’t worry! You can still use a stove for this. Although reheating corned beef on a stove might take a longer time to cook it thoroughly, the result will be worth the wait.

Normally, I tend to reheat it with some vegetables to spice up the meat and serve the entire dish from the pot. So, how to reheat corned beef and cabbage?

Before you start to reheat the corned beef, make sure you take the cold corned beef out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.

It is important as cold meat, when heated, is difficult to be cooked evenly as the outside meat is boiling hot while the inside remains cold.

Now, once your beef is ready, you can place it in the pot with some beef broth or cooking broth for a moist texture.

Put the pot on medium-high heat until the liquid is boiled, then you can lower the heat and simmer it for seven to ten minutes.

Then you can add some baby-cut carrots and potatoes for around 30 minutes. Then add cabbage and cook for 15 minutes more.

When the vegetables have a nice balance of soft and tender, it is time to take all of them out of the pot.

How To Fix Tough Corned Beef?

A flavorful corned beef should be soft and tender due to the lowest simmer time. However, sometimes your cuts of corned beef can be chewy and tough because of gentle simmer with low heat.

The corned beef should meet a certain temperature to be soft and tender. So, what temperature should corned beef be when done? Or what temp should corned beef be cooked to?

Normally, the corned beef temperature when done should be around 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If the corned beef internal temp is lower than that, it will be tough and chewy.

If you encounter this problem, you can always fix it with these solutions.

Stove Method

Use your pan and pour about a gallon of cooking juices or cold water.

Then, you can put the tough meat on a quart stockpot and leave it on medium heat. You need to set the cooking temperatures above 250 degrees Fahrenheit so that it can be cooked thoroughly.

Leave the pot to simmer for 20-30 minutes of cook time, and the results are super soft and tender cuts of corned beef.

Oven Method

You can also fix the tough and stringy corned beef with your Dutch oven.

Firstly, you need to prepare a crock pot with a cup of beef or hot water inside. Then, set the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thereafter, you can put the corned beef inside the pot of water and place all of it inside the oven. Cook for 1-1/2 hrs minutes, then take the pot out to check the texture of the beef.

If the corned beef is still hard, you can add half a cup of water or stock or more water and cook for another 45 minutes.

Pre Cooked Corned Beef And Cabbage Recipe

Corned beef is a popular and tasty dish to have on our traditional holiday. However, it is not always quick to cook it if you follow the traditional recipe.

If you are looking for a faster way to make tender corned beef dishes, take a look at my pre-cooked corned beef and cabbage recipe below!

To save time, you can make ahead corned beef and cabbage the night before. If you don’t have enough time for that, I recommend that you buy a cooked corned beef deli in your grocery stores.

As it is already cooked, you don’t have to simmer the piece of meat for 12 – 24 hours like in traditional recipes. So, does corned beef need to be cooked?

The answer is yes if you want to have a resemblance to your classic corned beef dish.

Ingredients

One pre-cooked corned beef brisket
Two cups of beef stock or cooking liquid
Three cups of water
Four minced garlic cloves
One bay leaf
Two cubed potatoes
One cabbage
Eight baby carrots
Black peppers and salt

How To Do It?

Prepare the vegetables first. Dice the carrots and potatoes. Chop the head of cabbage into quarters.
Put the garlic on a skillet and sauté it for 3–4 minutes.
Put on a crock pot with a big quart capacity and place a cup of beef stock, water, and bay leaf inside. Bring the cooking liquid to a boil. Then throw the potatoes inside and let them simmer in water for about 10 minutes.
Thereafter, you can add the cabbages and a couple of carrots with five more minutes of cooking time.
Put the meat in water and cook it for another 10–15 minutes. Once the internal temperature of corned beef reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit, you can take them all out on a serving dish.
If you want to slice the fully cooked corned beef brisket, place it on a mat to slice it into bite-size pieces. Let it cool down for about 10 minutes to prevent burning your skin. The piece of beef should be at least 1/8 inch thick.

You can enjoy this dish with some herbs, rye bread, Irish soda bread, or cooked bacon. Drizzle some honey mustard on top to spice up the baking dish, and voilà!