Dairy free Irish Colcannon is a tasty side dish to serve with your meal this St. Patrick’s Day! Creamy potatoes and cabbage are delicious when served with corned beef.
St. Patrick’s Day is coming up soon! Do you have any plans? We stay home  and make a big meal, and wear green, and draw decorations with shamrocks and rainbows. :)
What meal do you guys eat on St. Patrick’s Day? We always make a corned beef with cabbage and carrots over here. It’s the one time of year that we make corned beef – we get it from Trader Joe’s, so it’s nitrate/nitrite free, and we’ve found that rinsing the brine off results in a better experience for us. It’s a lot of salt and seasoning in that brine! Â Plus there are many crunchy seeds and peppercorns and whatnot…I don’t want to bite into any of that business when we are ready to eat.
There’s a side dish that I’ve added to my St. Patrick’s Day repertoire for the past few years, and that dish is Irish colcannon. It’s so very simple, but really delicious. It’s just mashed potatoes with cabbage, onions, cream, and butter. We make it dairy free by using almond milk and vegan buttery spread. It’s so delicious and comforting, and I love to make a double batch and have lots of leftovers the next day.
I’ve heard of different variations – some people add bacon, some do leeks, but I prefer to do green onions. This is a simple recipe – it just takes a little bit of time to peel the potatoes!
If you are making this for a larger crowd, you can easily double the recipe. I made this version with dairy free products, but if you are not dairy free, go ahead and use real butter and cream or milk.
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Recipe
Irish Colcannon.
Ingredients
- 6 large Yukon Gold Potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
- Half head cabbage core removed and thinly sliced
- ½ cup green onions diced
- ¼ cup vegan buttery spread
- ¾ cup non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper or more to taste
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.
- Put the thinly sliced cabbage in a separate pot of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until cabbage turns a darker color, and is tender, about 5 or 6 minutes. Drain.
- When the potatoes are done cooking, drain the water from the pan.
- Add the vegan buttery spread, and mash the potatoes with a potato masher.
- Add the non-dairy milk and stir, adding more if the potatoes seem to dry.
- Add the cooked and drained cabbage, and the salt and pepper. Stir.
- Stir in the diced green onions, reserving a few for garnish if desired.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
This Irish colcannon is:
- delicious served alongside corned beef
- naturally gluten free
- easily customized – use regular dairy butter and milk if you wish
Have you made colcannon before? Do you eat traditional Irish foods on St. Patrick’s Day?
Follow along:
D
I love this side!
Jessiker Bakes
Yum! I’ve never had colcannon but based on the ingredients I would definitely enjoy it! Please post photos on twitter when you celebrate on the 17th so I can live vicariously through you haha
Gina_AcuteDesigns
YUM! What a simple and comforting side dish :).
Judit + Corina
Love this delicious and healthy version of colcannon! Mmm looks so creamy :)
Chelsea @chelseasmessyapron
Seriously love how healthy you have made these! What vegan spread do you recommend? Also I love green onions! Such a good topping :)
Kelly @ The Pretty Bee: Cooking + Creating
Chelsea, I use the Earth Balance Soy Free Vegan Buttery Spread. We really like it.
consuelohoneyandfigs
We use to make Guiness stew, but using chicken instead of beef. We might try to make Colcannon this year seeing that your version looks so good! Wow, it came out so so creamy!
Deliciously Sprinkled
I have never had colcannon, but it looks delicious! We always make corned beef as well for St. Patrick’s Day and I think I will be making this for a side this year! Pinned :)
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely
I think I’ve had a variation of this dish before! A British restaurant I worked at did something similar, but served it like a potato pancake. The cabbage and peas gave the potatoes great crunch. Thanks for reminding me of it!