Traditional Irish Colcannon

Written by
Elaine Lemm
Elaine Lemm is a renowned British food writer, classically trained chef, teacher, and author with over 25 years of experience writing about British food and cooking.
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Elaine Lemm
Updated 12/13/20
Colcannon recipe

 The Spruce
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 25 mins
Total: 35 mins
Servings: 4 to 6 servings
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
321 Calories
17g Fat
40g Carbs
9g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines Hide Full Nutritional Guidelines
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories 321
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g 21%
Saturated Fat 10g 50%
Cholesterol 41mg 14%
Sodium 229mg 10%
Total Carbohydrate 40g 15%
Dietary Fiber 9g 31%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 9g
Vitamin C 136mg 682%
Calcium 247mg 19%
Iron 4mg 22%
Potassium 1285mg 27%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Colcannon is a favorite Irish recipe made of potatoes, dairy, and cabbage or kale. Although usually associated with Saint Patrick's Day, colcannon is actually most seen on Irish tables on Halloween nights when the cook hides little trinkets in the mash, each representing fortune, poverty, or perhaps the chance of a future marriage.

There are as many recipes for this dish as there are cooks in Ireland because each household and region has a favorite way of cooking the colcannon, but what seems to be commonplace in all of them is the presence of generous amounts of butter. Colcannon's name comes from the Gaelic cál and caineann, which stand for cabbage (or kale) and leek, respectively. Other linguistic interpretations of the name point to "white-headed cabbage," but regardless of the likely translation, what's true is that in addition to the potatoes and dairy, cabbage or kale are the vegetable of choice to add volume and flavor to this tasty preparation.

For the perfect colcannon, choose floury potatoes, as these have more starch and less water and produce a fluffier mash; types like Rosamunda, Desiree, Melody, Blue Congo, King Edward, Maris Piper, or Early Puritan are excellent potatoes for this dish. Serve the colcannon with boiled ham, Irish bacon, corned beef, Irish stew, or lamb chops for a hearty and flavorful true Irish meal.

1:20

Click Play to See This Traditional Irish Colcannon Recipe Come Together

Ingredients

  • 1 dash salt (plus more to taste)

  • 22 ounces floury potatoes (peeled and quartered)

  • 4 pounds curly kale (stems removed, chopped)

  • 1/2 cup spring onions (roughly chopped)

  • 4 ounces butter

  • 1/4 cup spring onions (finely chopped)

  • Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

  • Optional:

    2 ounces butter (for serving)

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for making colcannon
     The Spruce

  2. Lightly salt a pot of hot water and simmer the potatoes until soft in the middle when pierced with a sharp knife.

    Simmer potatoes
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  3. In a different pot, blanch the curly kale in boiling water for 1 minute.

    Blanch curly kale
     The Spruce

  4. Drain and reserve.

    Draining the curly kale
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  5. Place the chopped spring onions and the blanched kale into a blender and pulse for 10 seconds until roughly mixed. You'd want the vegetables to have some texture.

    Roughly mixing chopped onions and blanched kale in a blender
     The Spruce

  6. Drain the potatoes and add the butter.

    Adding butter to drained potatoes
     The Spruce

  7. Mash the potatoes and butter until smooth and creamy.

    Mashing potatoes until smooth and creamy
     The Spruce

  8. Add the kale and spring onion mixture and stir well.

    Stirring kale and spring onion mixture
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  9. Add the finely chopped spring onions and season with salt and pepper to taste.

    Adding finely chopped spring onions and salt and pepper
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  10. Top the mash with the optional 2 ounces of butter, if desired.

    Colcannon topped with butter
     The Spruce

  11. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe Variations

Try these flavorful variations to this wonderful potato dish:

  • Cabbage Colcannon: If finding fresh seasonal kale is not possible, replace it with shredded cabbage. Use a dark green leafy cabbage, such as Savoy or spring cabbage, soften it in a tablespoon of butter, and then briefly pulse it with the spring onions as you'd do with the kale.
  • Colcannon Cakes: A lovely and delicious alternative to colcannon is to shape it into cakes. For every 3 cups of colcannon, you'll need 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 egg, and an extra dash of salt and pepper. Mix everything, shape the mash like cakes, and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown on both sides. Top them with a poached egg and a dollop of hollandaise sauce. Making these cakes is also a great way of using up leftovers.
  • Bacon Colcannon: Fry 3 to 4 slices of bacon in a pan until crispy. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat and discard the rest. Follow the recipe as instructed, but instead of 4 ounces of butter to mash the potatoes, use 3 tablespoons and the reserved tablespoon of fat. Mix the mash with the vegetables, and top with the bacon and just a small knob of butter instead of 2 full ounces.