Fabulous Colcannon (Mashed Potatoes and Cabbage)

  4.6 – 24 reviews  • Mashed Potato Recipes

A main course meal for breakfast or dinner that combines a fiery, spicy dish with turkey breast, onions, mushrooms, and cheese.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
Servings: 8
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

  1. 3 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  2. ¼ cup milk
  3. 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  4. ¼ cup unsalted butter
  5. 4 slices bacon, chopped
  6. 1 onion, diced
  7. 1 clove garlic, minced
  8. ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  9. ½ head cabbage, sliced into thin strips
  10. ½ cup water
  11. salt and ground black pepper to taste
  12. 2 cups fully cooked ham, cut into bite-size pieces

Instructions

  1. Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, set heat to medium-low, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
  2. Stir milk, mayonnaise, and butter into potatoes. Mash with a potato masher until smooth.
  3. Cook and stir bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until fat is rendered, 3 to 5 minutes.
  4. Stir onion, garlic, and cayenne pepper into bacon and drippings and cook, stirring often, until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
  5. Stir cabbage and water into onion mixture until cabbage is wilted, about 5 more minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
  6. Fold cabbage mixture into mashed potatoes.
  7. Cook and stir ham pieces in the same skillet used for cabbage mixture until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
  8. Stir cooked ham into mashed potato and cabbage mixture until combined.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 343 kcal
Carbohydrate 36 g
Cholesterol 41 mg
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Protein 13 g
Saturated Fat 7 g
Sodium 585 mg
Sugars 5 g
Fat 17 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Karen Beard
Yep, fabulous. Warning-this makes a huge dish! For our family of 4, served with corned beef, I would have cut it in half. I added 1/2c Swiss cheese and chopped up the bacon to sprinkle on top. Following the reviewer, I did chop the cabbage and cooked out the crunch, correctly assuming the kids would prefer the soft cabbage.
Timothy Knox DDS
I have made this a few times when I’ve had leftover mashed potatoes. I sautéed kielbasa and onions in bacon grease. After I removed the sausage I added in lots of chopped cabbage and about 1/2 cup water. Covered and sautéed till almost tender. Then I heated the potatoes in the microwave and added them and the sausage back to the pan. It’s an easy tasty skillet meal. I served it with Grandpa McAndrew’s Irish Soda Bread and a Guinness stout.
Shelby Wallace
Didn’t add the cheese or the mayonnaise. My grandsons – the potato eaters extraordinaire raved about the recipe. My neighbor also said it was fabulous. You can be sure that I’ll be adding this to my regular repertoire of potato recipes!
Paul Lang
Interesting taste, first time making this. Not bad tasting but I am not sure if anybody else in my family will like it. I had to use up the potatoes and cabbage that I used for my corned beef and cabbage that I am baking, according to another recipe on this site. The cabbage was not very thinly slice so it took over 30 minutes to wilt when it was with the onion mixture.
Ms. Lori Spencer DDS
Everyone loved it
Ann Quinn
I left out the mayonnaise and substituted some sour cream and cream cheese to the mashed potatoes. I sautéed leeks, scallions and chives and onions along with the cabbage to give more green for a St. Patrick’s day luncheon. Sprinkled top with cheddar and crumbled bacon and parsley for color. I also added some cayenne, not much since it was still mild. Very good.
Veronica Norman
Made this for a Book Club potluck (we read Irish Colum McGann books) and it disappeared. I used mix of russet, gold, and red potatoes that I had on hand. Used heavy cream instead of milk. I didn’t know how big the onion or cabbage were in the recipe, but I used 1 cup finely diced sweet onion and 3c finely sliced green cabbage. I used Lawry’s seasoned salt instead of regular salt, and opted for ground black pepper instead of cayenne since not everyone can take the heat. Added chopped ham from leftover holiday ham which made this a hearty, filling main dish. I’d never made Colcannon before, but this was a huge hit- my hubby who is averse to cooked cabbage kept going back for more! I dotted small chunks of butter on top to make mini-wells of melted butter and sprinkled top with minced green part of green onions to garnish for company.
Ryan James
Quick and easy — a hit in my house!
Brian Molina
Very tasty, although I did have to modify the recipe since the leftover ham I was going to use disappeared (I have teenage boys). I substituted pepperoni which I sliced and added to the cabbage. I also substituted red pepper flakes since I was out of cayenne pepper. There were no leftovers!!
Anthony Harper
I was really in the mood for comfort food tonight and this totally fit the bill. I’ve tried Colcannon before but not with as much success as I had with this recipe. I think the technique of sauteing the cabbage and onions with bacon made a difference. I don’t eat pork so I substituted turkey bacon and turkey meat for the bacon and ham with good results. I also left out the cayenne and used mustard in the mashed potatoes for a little zing. And as others suggested I topped with a bit of grated cheese. Hubbie was happy.
Deborah Chapman
I made this for a St. Patrick’s day potluck and everyone loved it. I love that it uses simple, inexpensive ingredients.
Amber Gardner
This was really delicious! I had to leave out the cayenne pepper simply because I didn’t have any, but still really good. Will definitely make again!
Daniel Werner
This is a great one pot (pretty much) meal. I fed 6 people and had leftovers. Very economical!
Ethan Wolf
Tried this tonight and made it to specs except drained bacon onion, reserving drippings and stir fried the cabbage instead.It was a hit! Will be making again though I might add more cabbage.
Jennifer Johnson
We think this is the bomb! A great mix of flavors and a meal in one dish – no need for anything else. Did not vary anything except for the use Greek Yogurt in place of mayo and a little more than half a pack of pre-shredded cabbage (will use the whole package next time). Yummmmm
Steven Frazier
This a family favorite. I do shred some cheddar to sprinkle on top, per another review’s suggestion. Love this with our home grown caraflex cabbage, but with plain old grocery store stuff it is still yummy comfort food.
Phillip Ellis
I thought this was very tasty. I didn’t have ham, so just used bacon, but it was very good without it. The cayenne pepper is a plus!
Tasha Jones
I just made this for dinner tonight and was very happy with it. I probably didn’t follow the recipe directions to a T (I read it then just go by memory) and I left out the cayenne pepper because my kids won’t touch anything spicy in any way. Otherwise I used all the same ingredients and it was very tasty! I salted my water when boiling the potatoes and salted my cabbage a bit when adding it to the pan and it definitely was not bland at all. My kids are already begging for more!
Emily Reyes
We really enjoyed this as part of our New Years dinner. The only changes I made were to omit the mayonnaise (we just don’t care that much for mayo), added a little more than 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, added about 1/2 teaspoon of seasoned salt to the cabbage mixture, and omitted the ham. Everyone thought it was great and my boyfriend asked me to make it again–very soon. Thank you for another great recipe. Edit: I made this again 11/2019 and made a couple of changes. I boiled the potatoes in vegetable stock and then, in place of 1/2 cup of water I added 1/2 cup of the potato/vegetable stock. I used seasoned salt, pepper, and Mrs. Dash to season it. Very, very good. Hubby (boyfriend in earlier review) loved it and has asked me to make it again, only two days after I made it before. Success!
Michelle Taylor
Made this using leftover corned beef, fried cabbage and mashed potatoes. Added a pinch of red pepper and topped with shredded sharp cheddar. We enjoyed the original recipe as well as the improvised version. A handy go-to!
Leslie Leon
Yum! Not only is this cheap to make, it’s equally easy to throw together and surprisingly filling too. Although fine as is, I do have one suggestion for improvement. Instead of slicing your cabbage, I suggest you chop it. Both my hubs and I agree that chopped or finely shredded cabbage (i.e. the pre-packaged stuff) would be a better choice for this dish. It would cook quicker (as is, my cabbage was a *tad* crunchy – and I even cooked it longer than directed) and incorporate MUCH better with the potatoes. I guess this is a matter of preference, but it is a definite must for my hubs and I. And for the one reviewer who thought this was bland… Bah! The key is s&p and LOTS of it. 🙂 It’s a shame this only has three reviews. Hopefully others will follow suit and soon discover this wonderful gem and add their positive comments for others to see! Thanks for sharing your recipe, Ashley! 🙂

 

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