If you've come to Trader Joe's for your Corned Beef, you are in luck for St. Patrick's Day. Even if you don't celebrate that holiday, Trader Joe's Corned Beef is something worth celebrating. Best of all there are two varieties: uncooked and precooked. This review focuses just on the corned beef you'll be cooking for yourself. If you find that you are enjoying it, be prepared for this to disappear over the rainbow when the corned beef season ends.

Update for 2019 review

On this blog, I try things. And then if I like them, I sometimes revisit certain products. Especially if there has been a product change or at the very least a packaging change. This product has changed compared to when this post was first published.

So here is what the newest corned beef looks like:

Unlike previous years, there has been both a price change and a change in the cut. Previous years were not brisket. It was round flat. This year's corned beef is also only 21% brine, while last year was 29%. Big difference. This has also gone up to $6.49 per pound, instead of last year's $5.99 per pound.

So you are paying for less salty water and getting what is in my opinion a better cut of meat.

I still recommend giving this a good rinse. This year I've used my Instant Pot every time making this. Why? It cuts down on cooking time. On high pressure, I cook it for 90 minutes. It will be fall apart tender. If you are going to use a pressure cooker of sorts, then keep the fattier side up. I also used 2 beers as cooking liquid. When it was done it was delicious. I've bought this now 3 times this season and I do wish this were something they would keep on shelves all year long.

But if you need to compare the ingredients and nutritional information against previous years here you go. And yes, it is different than in past years. Brisket is a bit fattier than other cuts:

Overall

I still enjoy and recommend this product. My tasting notes are not much different from previous years.

This portion of the review was written in 2017 and refers to the images below.

For $18.15 for this slab of Trader Joe's Corned Beef or $5.99 per pound this was tender, well seasoned, and tasty. Trader Joe's also sells a fully cooked variety of this product for $9.99 per pound. For almost double the price, I personally think you too are capable of boiling water and saving half the cost here. I haven't tried the fully cooked one yet, so I can't tell you how it tastes.

This uncooked variety requires time and minimal cooking skills. I would recommend that when you first dump the contents of the bag into water (obviously from the cold tap water) to get more of the seasoning off of the beef. The excess can stay in the pot, you just don't want all those spices stuck to your finished product. Those were not tasty bites. I think at least half of the spices stuck to my beef and weren't tasty by the mouthful. Scraping them off after the fact gave me the tasty meat I desired. In past years, other grocery stores were selling corned beef without any seasoning at all. This was all in one.

This was one of the better-corned beef I've had in a very long time. There was a good amount of salt and spice which worked its way through the entire product. All that is required on your part is literally dumping the contents of the bag in water and bringing it up to a boil and then simmering this for hours. After 3.5 hours of simmering, mine was as tender as if it had come out of the slow cooker. The meat had some nice layers of fat to it. In the refrigerator, the leftovers when cooled showed nice marbling. It was tasty both hot and cold and in a hash.

I've repurchased this as I know some things are only around for so long. I didn't ask if this was seasonal, but it only recently appeared on the shelves. If you are celebrating St. Patrick's Day or not, this is a tasty dinner (lunch or breakfast for that matter) that is super easy to prepare. As easy as bringing a pot of water to a boil and letting it simmer. I bought a second bag the other night. I recommend this.