Easy Leftover Corned Beef Recipes

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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Easy Leftover Corned Beef Tacos

More Tasty Corned Beef Recipes

1 of 3Annabelle Breakey

Corned Beef Salad

This salad is a light but still festive way to serve corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day–or to use up leftovers the next day.

2 of 3Sunset Magazine

3 Ways with Stuffed Baked Potatoes

A baked potato bar is wonderful for a casual party, since guests can choose which toppings they like and serve themselves–and the recipe is easily doubled or tripled for a crowd. Alternately, you could top the potatoes in the kitchen and serve them with grilled steaks or chicken.

3 of 3James Carrier

Reuben Quesadillas

A delicious and easy (and cheesy!) way to use up any leftovers.

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