Some cold, chilly winter night would you like to cuddle up with this warm, hearty, rich, sumptuous Irish stew? This Dublin coddle is cozy beyond COZY!!
It’s made with rashers, aka bacon, and bangers, aka sausages, and layered with onions and potatoes (or turnips for a keto option). Then it’s slow cooked for hours, along with chicken broth in your oven at a low temperature (we also have slow cooker and Instant Pot directions below). The result is magic in your bowl! You won’t believe the end result, so delicious, made from some rustic and humble ingredients.
St. Patrick’s day is just around the corner. If you are looking for some authentic Irish food, this is it! For years we have been eating corned beef and cabbage, which is not actually authentic Irish food. It was made famous by Irish Americans.
This stew, on the other hand, has deep roots in Irish food culture and is beloved by the locals. I love the simplicity and easiness of this coddle and the bursting flavors and heart warming coziness you feel after finishing a bowl full of this deliciousness, alongside some nice crusty bread.
What is Dublin Coddle?
Dublin is the capital of Ireland and coddle means cooking slow and gentle. This traditional potato and sausage stew is classic comfort food at its best!
Sausage and potatoes just seem to go great together in so many recipes like Zuppa Toscana and sausage potato casserole.
This Irish coddle is inexpensive, easy to prepare and is often eaten in winter months, as it is packed with the protein and fat needed in cold weather. This rustic fare has been served in Dublin and the center of Ireland since the 1600’s.
The beauty of all this is it needs very few ingredients. Many of them are already in your kitchen.
Ingredients for Dublin Coddle
- Bacon – Cut into 1 inch strips. Mmm, we’re off to a mighty good start!
- Sausage – If you have access to traditional bangers, great. If not, no problem, any good pork sausage links will work. I am using beer brats.
- Potatoes – Washed and cut into chunks. You want something starchy. Russet, Idaho and Yukon gold are the top choices.
- Onions – Cut into rings.
- Garlic – Cut into large slices.
- Chicken broth – For flavor and to cook the potatoes.
- Bay leaves – For their distinctive flavor.
- Fresh thyme – One of my favorite herbs.
- Fresh parsley – For a little extra flavor and a lot of extra color.
First, the traditional oven method
Get the biggest, deepest dutch oven you can find in your kitchen, as this is a one pot meal and you want to make a huge batch of.
What better way to start creating hearty flavors than by cooking some bacon? Fry it up in your dutch oven (or other large, oven-safe pot) until crispy. Remove from pot and keep it aside. At this point, start preheating your oven to 300°F.
Now it’s time to brown up the sausages. Cook until they get nice brown color all over. They may not be fully cooked through. That’s fine, they have plenty of cooking yet to do. Remove and keep aside.
Next, add in onions and garlic and sauté a few minutes.
Now all that’s left is to layer your coddle. Add the meats (cutting sausages in half) atop your onions and garlic and toss bay leaves and some fresh thyme and parsley on top. Then add your potatoes and another good sprinkling of fresh herbs. Pour in your chicken broth and cover. Now your trusty oven takes over. Put the lid on your pot and stick it in your preheated oven for two hours.
While it’s cooking, you can check out my collections of the best potato recipes and best sausage recipes.
The magic is happening slowly but surely. After some time the aromas will start greeting you in every room of your house. I bet you will be tempted to peak into that steaming hot pot of your coddle. Just be patient… Open that bottle of Guinsess stout and chill out!
Slow Cooker method
First fry up your bacon in a skillet, remove and set aside. Then brown up sausages in the same pan and remove.
Then quickly sauté the onions and garlic.
In your slow cooker, add onion garlic mixture. Then layer on meats, bay leaves and some of the herbs, then potatoes and more fresh herbs.
Add in chicken broth, cover and cook 2-3 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low.
Instant Pot method
Set your Instant Pot to SAUTE and add in bacon. Fry until crisp and remove. Then add in sausages and brown up. Remove and set aside.
Toss in onions and garlic and sauté for a few minutes.
Add back in the meats, followed by bay leaves and some of the fresh herbs. Top with potatoes and more herbs. Then pour in chicken broth.
Close and lock the lid. Set Instant Pot to MANUAL and set timer to 20 minutes.
Once finished, use quick release method to relieve the pressure.
How to make Dublin Coddle keto friendly?
Just replace the potatoes with turnips. Though it may be tempting to try cauliflower, it really cooks too quickly for this particular dish.
Storing Leftovers
Like any other soup or stew it gets better and better with time. It’s great as a leftover, refrigerate for 3-4 days.
I don’t recommend freezing, as the quality of the potatoes degrades too much.
How does that hearty pot look? Mmm, now that’s what I call comfort food! Whichever method you choose, once it’s ready all you have to do is ladle big scoops into a big bowl. Please don’t forget some chunky crusty bread, like my no-knead bread, to mop up this coddle from Dublin… YOUR VERY OWN DUBLIN CODDLE!!
Stay tuned for more amazing and authentic recipes from all over the world. Be sure to subscribe to GypsyPlate, and Happy Saint Patty’s day!!!
Dublin Coddle, in my Gypsy Bowl… enjoy!
If you love comfort food, try these other hearty recipes!
Welsh Rarebit
Grillades & Grits
Loaded Cauliflower Soup
Jagerschnitzel
Creamy Lemon Chicken
Crock Pot Islander Pork
Swedish Meatballs
Greek Bean Soup (Fasolada)
Johnny Marzetti
Dublin Coddle
Looking for some authentic Irish fare for your St. Patrick's day feast? Look no further than this hearty and cozy Dublin coddle. Loaded with rich and satisfying flavors, this is what you call comfort food!
Ingredients
- 10 bacon slices, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 lbs pork sausage links
- 3 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 onions, cut into rings
- 5 cloves garlic, cut into large slices
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
Oven Method
- Cook bacon in large dutch oven (or other oven safe pot) over medium high heat. When crispy, remove from pot and place on paper towel covered plate. Start preheating oven to 300°F.
- Add sausages to pot and brown each side. Remove, cut in half and set aside.
- Remove excess fat from pan, leaving about 1/8 inch. Add onion and garlic to pot. Sauté 2-3 minutes.
- Place bacon and sausage atop onions and garlic and top with bay leaves and fresh thyme and chopped parsley.
- Place potatoes on top of meats. Add chicken broth and top everything with more thyme and parsley.
- Cover pot and put in preheated oven. Bake for 2 hours.
Slow Cooker Method
- In a skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Remove to paper towel lined plate.
- Add sausages and brown up on all sides. Remove and cut in half.
- Remove excess fat from pan, leaving about 1/8 inch. Add onion and garlic to pot. Sauté 2-3 minutes.
- Add onion garlic mixture, followed by meats, bay leaves and some of the herbs, potatoes and remaining herbs. Pour in chicken broth.
- Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours.
Instant Pot Method
- Set Instant Pot to SAUTE mode. Add in bacon and fry until crisp. remove to paper towel lined plate.
- Add sausages and brown up on all sides. Remove and cut in half.
- Remove excess fat from Instant Pot, leaving about 1/8 inch. Add onion and garlic to pot. Sauté 2-3 minutes.
- Add onion garlic mixture, followed by meats, bay leaves and some of the herbs, potatoes and remaining herbs. Pour in chicken broth.
- Close and lock the lid. Set Instant Pot to MANUAL mode and set timer to 20 minutes.
- Once time is complete, use quick release method to relieve pressure.
Notes
- If you have access to traditional bangers, they are ideal. If not, use other pork sausage such as bratwursts.
- Refrigerate leftover in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- For a lighter version, replace bacon with turkey bacon and sausages with turkey or chicken sausage.
- To make it keto, just replace potatoes with turnips.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 610Total Fat 36gSaturated Fat 12gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 22gCholesterol 113mgSodium 1414mgCarbohydrates 41gFiber 4gSugar 5gProtein 31g
Nutrition information calculated by Nutritionix.
Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.
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Made this for my family for St. Patrick’s Day. It was a big hit with everyone. This is easy to make , smells wonderful and tastes great. This is being added to our meal rotation. Thank you for a wonderful, satisfying dinner recipe.
I used the slow cooker method. Wonderful recipe. The only thing I did differently was use the chicken broth to de-glaze the saute pan before adding it to the crock — to get that lovely fond into the dish.
My family would love this- I just pinned it.
Thanks, Diane!
This sounds so good, and perfect for our autumn nights now.
Yes, it’s great comfort food!
A super way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! This looks so yummy.
Thanks, Beth!