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You are here: Home / Side dishes / Irish Colcannon

Irish Colcannon

March 7, 2016 By Joe 5 Comments

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Faith and Begorrah!  ‘Tis that time of year again.  Time for everyone to claim some Irish heritage.  Put your green on and make some traditional Irish colcannon.

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Overhead view of a bowl of colcannon.

MaryJo has been fixing an Irish colcannon recipe for St. Patty’s Day for several years now.  She has always made it with cabbage and green onions.  

I decided to make a kale colcannon and add some tasty leeks to the creamy potatoes.  

I don’t know why we always think of this dish just for St. Patrick’s Day.  It is a delicious side dish that should be made year-round.

Softening the leeks for Irish colcannon in a skillet.

Preparing the Colcannon

I used a medium-sized leek, which I washed really well.  You want to get all the dirt and grit out that lodges in the folds of the leek plant.  The best way to do this is to slice the leek in half, lengthwise, which exposes the layers of the onion-like plant.  

Once cleaned, it’s easy to finely slice the leek into half rounds.  I sauteed the leek in butter on low heat for about 15 minutes.  The chopped kale was added at about the ten-minute mark and wilted and softened with the leek.

Kale and leeks being softened for Irish colcannon.

The potatoes were boiled for 14 minutes and mashed with a hand mixer.  I added 1/2 cup of warmed-up half and half to the potatoes.  To save on calories, 2% or whole milk could be used too.

When I was doing the photos of the mashed potatoes, all I could think of was how boring a picture of mashed potatoes would be.  

Well, they didn’t turn out too badly and the Irish colcannon was really tasty!  And another good thing…Leftovers!

Close-up view of mashed potatoes, leeks, and kale.

Give this colcannon recipe a try.  If you’d like, use cooked cabbage instead of kale.  

Both ways, this is really good!  Happy St. Pat’s Day all you Irish folks.

Here are some more tasty recipes to try:

  • Creamy Potato Leek Soup
  • Creamy Cauliflower Soup
  • Italian Sausage Stuffed Zucchini
  • Golden Crispy Oven Fries
  • Simple Basil Pesto
Close-up view of mashed potatoes, leeks, and kale.

Irish Colcannon

Perfect dish to go with corned beef on St. Pat's Day.
5 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Potato side dish
Cuisine: Irish
Keyword: Irish colcannon
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 258kcal
Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes , peeled and cut into 1" pieces
  • 1 leek , cleaned and thinly sliced
  • 4 cups chopped kale, small pieces
  • 4 tbsp butter , plus 1 tbsp to float on the finished dish, if desired
  • 1/2 cup half and half
  • 1/2 tsp salt
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Instructions

  • Boil potatoes in salted water until soft, 12 to 14 minutes.
  • While the potatoes are boiling, in a large skillet, melt 4 tbsp butter and add the leeks, saute on low temperature, 10 mins.
  • After 10 minutes, add the kale to the skillet and wilt for another 5 minutes.
  • Mash the potatoes with a hand mixer, adding heated half and half a little at a time until the desired smoothness. (You may not need the whole amount).
  • Fold in the sauteed kale and leeks.
  • Add salt to taste. Serve hot.

Notes

  1. You can substitute cooked cabbage or wilted spinach for the kale.
  2. Store leftovers covered in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 258kcal

nutrition label

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Filed Under: Side dishes, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anne Vieira

    March 17, 2021 at 8:51 pm

    5 stars
    Loved the flavor of this potato recipe. I was making shepherds pie using quorn crumbles and decided to use the colcannon instead of the usual mashed potatoes, got rave reviews! Happy St. Patty’s Day!

    Reply
    • Joe

      March 17, 2021 at 11:05 pm

      Hey Anne,
      Thanks for finding my site.
      We also had the colcannon recipe tonight. Super good.
      Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you.
      Joe

      Reply
  2. Michael Sankey

    March 16, 2021 at 8:06 pm

    Wonderful

    Reply
    • Joe

      March 16, 2021 at 8:33 pm

      Hi Michael,
      Thanks for finding my food blog.
      Glad you liked the colcannon recipe….I’m making it tomorrow!
      Joe

      Reply
  3. Eileen Herbert

    March 4, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    5 stars
    wonderful!

    Reply

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