Easy Sous Vide Corned Beef (2 Ingredients!)
“Hard to resist this recipe! Tastes delicious, easy to make and it looks pretty… very little else one can look for in a recipe! Thank you for sharing!” Little Chef
Once you find your sweet spot texture, this 2-ingredient recipe for sous vide corned beef is pretty much foolproof. Pile it in Reuben sandwiches, serve it with cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day or make a corned beef hash for brunch. All delish!
We show you two different cooking times – choose what looks good to you.
The sous vide method for corned beef has a long cook time (24-36 hours), but requires minimal hands on time (10 minutes) and is very easy. So plan ahead and treat yourself.
I’m a Montreal smoked meat fan at heart. I grew up in Montreal and ate mountains of Snowdon Deli and Schwartz’s smoked meat. The best. Like a big warm delicious hug.
So I was skeptical about making corned beef. It surprised me.
What to expect
We are starting with a package of uncooked pre-brined corned beef.
The recipe is very simple – only two ingredients and you don’t even need a final searing step as you do with most sous vide proteins. We have included some tips below.
As always with sous vide, you have to experiment with times and temperatures to find your sweet spot. My preferred temperature is 155F/68C. We tested two different times – a 24 hour and a 36 hour cook. I prefer the 24 hour cook as I like my meat moister. The pictures show how each looks so you can start from there.
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
- Corned beef brisket comes pre-brined (cured in salt) and ready-to-cook in a vacuum sealed package at the grocery store. Most will be “flat cut”. Some will be “point cut”. Point cut is fattier and very flavorful, but you will see some connective tissue when cooked sous vide. Most people prefer the leaner flat cut.
- Seasoning: use the seasoning packet that often comes inside the corned beef package. If it doesn’t, buy Montreal steak spice or something similar. Here is a recipe for Montreal steak seasoning from Culinary Hill that shows you the basic ingredients.
Varations: Flavor-wise, there is not much you can change if you are starting with a pre-brined, ready-to-cook corned beef brisket. You can, however, choose how you like it done (softer, shreddable, etc) and there are lots of ways to serve it – we have suggestions!
Step by step instructions
Results after 24 hours
Results after 36 hours
Tips
- Remove some of the saltiness by soaking the corned beef in water for an hour or two. Or, at least run it under cold water for several minutes.
- Use a ziploc freezer bag (instead of vacuum sealing) which allows you to test the corned beef for texture and continue cooking if needed.
- Cover the water bath container to reduce evaporation during cooking.
- Let the meat rest before slicing for 10-20 minutes.
- Slice across the grain. I don’t bother searing my corned beef for appearance, but that’s up to you.
Shortcuts
- Rinsing time to get the salt out – this can be cut down to 30-60 minutes or even just a few minutes of running the corned beef under cold water when you remove it from the package.
- Cook time – If you sous vide at higher temperatures, you can reduce the cooking time significantly. Note that the texture will be different though.
- Skip the searing – I don’t bother searing as corned beef is usually boiled.
How to serve corned beef
- In a grilled reuben sandwich with Russian dressing, swiss cheese and sauerkraut between two pieces of rye bread.
- In a plain sandwich on rye bread with prepared or deli mustard with or without vinaigrette coleslaw. My go-to.
- Sliced with boiled cabbage, carrots and potatoes – a traditional st. patrick’s day meal.
- In a hash with potatoes, onions and peppers. Topped with a fried egg if you like. Here’s our easy potato skillet breakfast with ham – just replace the ham with corned beef.
What to eat with corned beef
Corned beef goes fantastically with mustard (prepared, deli, honey-mustard, spicy), horseradish, sauerkraut and coleslaw.
Back in the day, we ate piled-high hot sandwiches with greasy fries (amazing) and sour pickles. Or potato pancakes – like our mashed potato pancakes or regular potato pancakes (latkes).
Recipe FAQs
Sous vide is a method of cooking where food is immersed into a water bath in a sealed bag and cooked to the precise temperature you choose. There is no chance of over cooking if you follow time guidelines and you can achieve exceptional results with zero stress. An immersion sous vide circulator (wand) or dedicated sous vide box-like machine will have the most accurate temperatures compared to the multi-use equipment like an instant pot.
Typically, corned beef brisket is brined in a solution that includes spices such as coarse salt, black pepper, mustard seed, cloves, bay leaves, coriander seed, cloves and juniper berries.
Yes, and some people swear by it as it only takes 90 minutes. I tried it once and couldn’t get rid of the smell in my Instant Pot for a year! I found it wasn’t as tender as I liked either.
All three are made from brisket. Pastrami is less lean. Pastrami is usually wet brined, smoked and has a sweeter spice rub. Smoked meat is dry rubbed with curing salt then smoked. Spices are more intense. Corned beef is wet brined with curing spices, then boiled. It’s blander than pastrami and smoked meat. Here’s a great article from Food and Wine on the difference between corned beef, pastrami and smoked meat.
Love sous vide? Need some beginner tips?
Check out our best sous vide recipes (with tips for beginners)
Please leave a 5 star rating ***** with a comment in the recipe card below if you like the recipe, Thanks so much!
Sous Vide Corned Beef Recipe
Equipment
- Sous Vide immersion circulator or oven-type sous vide machine ( plus a water bath container eg. large pot or plastic container)
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 pounds uncooked corned beef brisket, Note 1 ( get a pre-brined, ready-to-cook package)
- seasoning packet that comes with package (or Montreal Steak spice)
Instructions
- PREPARE CORNED BEEF: Remove corned beef from package and rinse well. Place in a bowl and add water until meat is fully covered. Let it sit for 30 minutes to 2 hours. This will help remove some of the salt from the pre-brined corned beef. If short on time, rinse under cold water for several minutes. Then pat dry and re-season with packet of seasoning that comes with corned beef. If there isn't one, sprinkle lightly with Montreal spice seasoning (here is a recipe for Montreal steak seasoning if you want to see what spices to include)
- HEAT WATER BATH: Heat water with sous vide equipment to 155F/68.3C (Note 2 for other temperatures). I use hot water from the tap to get the water to temperature quicker.
- SOUS VIDE CORNED BEEF: When water reaches the correct temperature: °For water displacement method: place corned beef in zipper freezer plastic bag. Lower bag into water, unsealed, until top of the bag is just above water level, pushing as much air as possible out of bag. Then seal bag.°For vacuum seal method: place roast in vacuum sealer bag. Seal bag with vacuum sealer machine. Lower bag into water. Bag should not float. Use clip to attach to side of container or hang bag over side when you put on lid. Cover container with lid, towel, plastic wrap or aluminum foil to reduce evaporation. Sous vide corned beef for 24 – 36 hours depending on the texture you prefer, Note 3. When finished, remove corned beef from bag and rest it for 10-20 minutes. Reserve juices if you want to use them to boil potatoes, cabbage and carrots. Otherwise discard them. Note 4 to sear.
- SERVE: Slice corned beef ACROSS the grain. See Note 5 for serving suggestions.
Recipe Notes
- Size of corned beef: Time and temperature will not change if your corned beef is smaller or bigger as most are about the same thickness (2-3 inches/5-7.6 cm).
-
Other time and Temperature options:
- 145F/62.8C for 36-40 hours (moist, steak-like texture, sliceable). This lower temperature means a long cooking time.
- 165F/74C or 16-20 hours (quite a bit of moisture loss, fall apart, flakey)
- 180F/82C for 10-12 hours (a lot of moisture loss, fall apart, dryer, shredded)
- Preferred texture at 155F/68.3C with different times:
- 24 hours: sliceable, tender with a slight bite, moist
- 36 hours: sliceable bordering on shredding, not as moist, very tender.
- Optional searing of corned beef: I don’t bother (since corned beef is usually boiled), but you can sear the meat on a very hot grill or cast iron skillet for two minutes on one side (the fattier side).
-
How to serve corned beef:
- In a grilled reuben sandwich with Russian dressing, swiss cheese and sauerkraut between two pieces of rye bread.
- In a plain sandwich on rye bread with prepared or deli mustard with or without vinaigrette coleslaw.
- Sliced with boiled cabbage, carrots and potatoes – a traditional st. patrick’s day meal.
- In a hash with potatoes, onions and peppers. Topped with a fried egg if you like. Here’s our easy potato skillet breakfast with ham – just replace the ham with corned beef.
- Make Ahead:
- If you’re not using the corned beef right away, cool it in an ice bath for 10 minutes and put it in the fridge in the bag with the juices for 4-5 days. If you vacuum sealed the bag, it will last longer – about 10 days.
- To reheat, place the bag in a water bath at 10 degrees lower than the original temperature you used. Heat for 45-60 minutes.