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Beef and Guinness Stew in Cork, Ireland

Seven Traditional Irish Foods To Eat In Ireland (Or On St. Patrick’s Day)

Have you ever tasted traditional Irish foods? On my most recent trip to the Emerald Isle, I ate two of the comforting rustic dishes on this roundup of Irish cuisine. Whether you will be traveling in Ireland someday or are looking for a hearty stew to serve on St. Patrick’s Day, guest blogger Lianne, who writes about Ireland travel at My Discover Ireland, shares seven traditional Irish foods worth tasting.

Disclosure: This list of seven traditional Irish dishes contains some affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. When you click on one of these links to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Of course, this is at no extra cost to you, and I only recommend products and services I would use myself.

Table of Contents

  • Seven Scrumptious Traditional Irish Dishes
    • 1. Beef and Guinness Stew
    • 2. Bacon and Cabbage
    • 3. Dublin Coddle
    • 4. Boxty
    • 5. Irish Barmbrack
    • 6. Colcannon
    • 7. Irish Soda Bread
  • Which traditional Irish foods would you like to try in Ireland?
  • Read More Posts Like This

Seven Scrumptious Traditional Irish Dishes

Originally, traditional Irish recipes tended to be both wholesome and simple, with just basic Irish-grown ingredients in most cases. During the 1800s, Irish cuisine consisted of hearty dishes that fed the poor. These traditional. recipes didn’t contain any exotic ingredients, only what was readily available to the cooks at the time.

Over time, Irish chefs started to modify these Irish dishes, to make them a little more exciting, while still maintaining the Irish root of each dish. Traditional Irish gourmet food has become renowned around the world for being good, wholesome, comfort food.

So get ready to have your mouth watering as we count down through some of the best dishes Ireland has to offer.

1. Beef and Guinness Stew

Beef and Guinness Stew must be one of the most well-known Irish dishes. It is a perfect dish for a cold autumn day. Packed full of goodness with Irish grown vegetables, seasonings, beef, and, of course, the pièce de résistance, the Guinness gravy. You can serve this as a stew alone packed with whole potatoes. If you’re feeling a little more adventurous and want to take it one step further, you can use it as the filling for an impressive Irish stew pie.

Learn how to make traditional Irish stews and soups with The Irish Pub Cookbook!

Beef and Guinness Stew in Cork, Ireland
Beef and Guinness stew served alongside a pint of Guinness at the Thomond Bar in Cork, Ireland (© Erin Klema)

2. Bacon and Cabbage

Considered Ireland’s national dish, bacon and cabbage has a long history in Ireland. When this dish was made originally, the cabbage was always cooked in the bacon water. Only one pot could hang over the fire at a time, so when the bacon was almost cooked, the Irish cooks added the cabbage for the last half hour of cooking. The bacon water gives the cabbage a salty, unforgettable flavor, which is why many Irish people try to recreate this cooking method. If done correctly, this seemingly basic meal becomes a flavorsome masterpiece. This dish is best cooked using pork loin, especially if it still has the rind on it, as it adds to the incredible salty flavor. It is typically served with potatoes and a rich and creamy parsley sauce.

Irish bacon and cabbage dish on red plate
Bacon and cabbage, a dish traditionally associated with Ireland, featuring back bacon boiled with cabbage and potatoes. (© Fanfo/Adobe Stock)

3. Dublin Coddle

Coddle is predominately a Dublin dish and is referred to as Dublin Coddle. It is a hearty and nutritious food that originated as an alternative to traditional Irish stew. Recipes vary from home to home in Dublin, but the staple of every coddle remains the same: sausage, bacon (or rashers as it’s called in Ireland), lentils, onion, and potatoes. Yet every household has its own twist to this dish. Coddle is the ultimate comfort food and must be tried at least once.

Dublin Coddle Ingredients
Ingredients for the perfect Dublin Coddle

4. Boxty

This traditional dish is an Irish twist on potato pancakes. Boxty is mostly associated with the north midlands of Ireland in Connacht and Ulster. There are so many variations of this simple recipe, but all of them contain finely grated, raw potatoes served fried. With the modern taste buds being more diverse, some recipes have started to add spices or vegetables into the mix. However, the plain old griddled style is the original and seems to be the favorite among the Irish. Sometimes there is no beating the original.

Try this traditional Irish dish at home with the boxty recipe from Real Irish Food: 150 Classic Recipes from the Old Country!

Homemade Boxty Irish Potato Pancakes (© Brent Hofacker/Adobe Stock)

5. Irish Barmbrack

Traditionally, brack was a sweetened bread baked with sultanas and raisins to add flavor and texture to the regular bread. However, as the Irish palates grew, so did the recipe. It began to include peaches, apricots, prunes, and pumpkin pie spices. This dish has a bit of a myth to it, passed down through the Irish generations. At Halloween, brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread cake and was used to predict the fortune of those who found the items in their slice. This Halloween ritual has evolved slightly. The brack now only contains a ring — and the folklore is the person whose slice contains the ring will get married soon. So be careful deciding which slice you get!

Irish Barmbrack
Freshly baked Irish Barmbrack

6. Colcannon

This is probably as Irish as it gets. Colcannon is made from mashed potatoes and curly kale with a sprinkle of scallions, milk, butter, and seasoning. If you are feeling brave, you can add some whole grain mustard to this dish to give it a bit of a bite. As the Irish are a superstitious bunch, there is another Halloween custom attached to this dish. It is well known to serve colcannon with silver coins wrapped in tin foil to symbolize good fortune for those who find the coins in their meal.

Serve colcannon on your dinner table using the recipe in Real Irish Food: 150 Classic Recipes from the Old Country!

Irish colcannon in wooden serving bowl
Homemade Irish Colcannon (© Vm2002/Adobe Stock)

7. Irish Soda Bread

In Gaelic, Irish soda bread is called Cáca Baile, which translates to cake from home. What makes Irish soda bread different from other types of soda bread around the world is the fact the buttermilk is replaced by live yogurt or even stout in the Irish recipe. The Irish recipe also uses soft wheat so the soda bread is basically made with a cake or pastry flour, which has lower levels of gluten than bread flour and gives it a somewhat sweeter flavor. This bread is best served for supper, toasted with butter alongside a large cup of tea.

Want to make soda bread at home? Try the recipe in The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook!

Irish Soda Bread
Fresh out of the oven soda bread

All these delightfully delectable dishes can be recreated with very little work at home. However ideally, to really get the most out of Irish cuisine it should be tasted in Ireland to experience fresh Irish produce and the cooking of Irish chefs.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland has recently revealed the number 1 place in Ireland to get some grub. So for foodie lovers out there, if you are planning a trip to Ireland, why not rent a car and travel to West Cork, winner of the 2017 “Foodie Destination” award. You won’t regret it!

Which traditional Irish foods would you like to try in Ireland?

All seven of the authentic Irish dishes that Lianne shared sound delicious and comforting to me, and I enjoyed the Irish soda bread and Guinness stew that I ate in Ireland. These Irish foods would also be fun to revisit on St. Patrick’s Day, so don’t miss these top-rated Irish cookbooks:

  • Real Irish Food: 150 Classic Recipes from the Old Country
  • The Irish Pub Cookbook
  • Irish Traditional Cooking: Over 300 Recipes from Ireland’s Heritage

Read More Posts Like This

  • Why Guinness Storehouse Should Be On Your Ireland Trip Itinerary
  • 10 Photos That Will Make You Wish You Were In Ireland
  • 15 Things You Should Know About Italian Coffee
  • Five Foods You Need To Taste While Traveling In China
  • Five Foods You Must Eat In Japan
  • Four Pakistani Foods You Have To Taste

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7 Traditional Irish Foods To Taste In Ireland

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Written by:
erinklema
Published on:
March 16, 2021
Thoughts:
9 Comments

Categories: Food, Guest Post, IrelandTags: Bacon and Cabbage, Beef and Guinness Stew, Boxty, Colcannon, Dublin Coddle, Ireland, Irish Barmbrack, Irish Food

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kelsey

    September 12, 2017 at 10:37 am

    These all look so delicious! xo

    Reply
  2. Jordan

    September 11, 2017 at 10:59 am

    What an awesome post! I pinned this for later because I have always wanted to go to Ireland and now I know what to eat there! Seriously cool, because food is very important to me ? I feel like the travel bug has bitten me hard now…

    Reply
  3. Life Of A Med School Wife

    September 11, 2017 at 9:37 am

    What a great post! My hubby is Irish, so we are dying to take a trip to Ireland.

    Reply
  4. Emily @ The Southern Belle Blogs

    September 11, 2017 at 9:08 am

    I want it all! Ireland has been one of my top travel destinations on my bucket list for years.

    Reply
  5. kage2015

    September 11, 2017 at 8:25 am

    We spent two weeks in Ireland this year and went to all the places you mentioned. The food was wonderful and we want to go back we enjoyed ourselves so much.

    Reply
  6. Lara Dunning

    September 10, 2017 at 2:14 pm

    This is a great refresher as I’ll be heading to Ireland soon. Years ago, I backpacked around the entire country for six weeks and tried a few of these dishes. Looking forward to tasting more! And, see you there too!

    Reply
  7. Kayla Manoe

    September 10, 2017 at 2:46 am

    Everything looks to hearty and delicious! I have had the Beef stew but thats it 😀 Would love to try the Soda Bread!

    Reply
  8. melody pittman

    September 9, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    I’ve only eaten a few of those but am a big fan of Irish soda bread with their decadent real butter. Yum! Not a Guinness stew fan but might be if it were meatless.

    Reply
  9. Doreen Pendgracs

    September 5, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    The Beef & Guinness Stew would definitely be my favourite!

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Erin, and welcome to my culinary travel blog! I'm a proud Michigander sharing culinary adventures with you from the Midwest and beyond. Though I'm exploring the world one bite at a time, I'm confident I could live on pizza and red wine. I mean, if I really had to.

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