Not that leftover corned beef is actually a problem, but here are a few of our favorite post-St. Patrick’s Day preparations.

Grilled Corned Beef Tacos

Hugh Garvey

Greetings from L.A., the land of the anything-goes taco. Tacos, by the way, happen to be a great way to make the most of leftover corned beef. We’ve got an easy recipe below, plus three other ideas for stretching your St. Patrick’s Day spoils

In March of 2020, I had one of those strange pandemic moments: no pasta, but tortillas. No chicken, but bountiful corned beef. And so, on the day after St. Patrick’s day, we had possibly the tastiest and most unlikely tacos of the year: leftover St. Patrick’s Day corned beef, diced and browned in a pan and garnished with the a cross-cultural amalgam of your classic onion and cilantro for a nod to tradition, slivered half-dried jalapeños, for heat, and, why not, Greek-style pepperoncini for more heat and tangy crunchy counterpoint. Oh yeah, and a nasturtium plucked from my backyard because, well, we need more pretty things in our lives to cheer us up these days. (I might’ve overcomplicated things. A jot of Cholula would probably suffice.) 

I highly recommend riffing along these lines if you’re lucky with your leftovers. As with all things taco, this recipe is highly flexible. Don’t like jalapeños? Skip them. No nasturtiums? Seriously, the flowers, though edible, are completely optional. Even the meat could be switched out if you didn’t manage to save enough from your St. Patrick’s Day feast, although a rich salty corned beef brisket is just about perfect in a taco setting, sliding effortlessly into a culinary position normally occupied by carnitas or pork al pastor.

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