Are you looking to try an Irish dish to celebrate St. Patrick's day? This Dublin coddle recipe or Irish stew takes only a few ingredients, is economical to make, and tastes great the next day.
If you love traditional Irish recipe that will remind you of Dublin, make sure you check out our recipes for boxty potato pancakes and Irish soda bread.
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About
Dublin coddle is an Irish comfort food that you can proudly serve your family for supper on a cool rainy night. It is a hearty dish made with bangers (sausage) and rashers (bacon) along with potatoes and onions. Since it was a dish that was popular with the working class in Dublin, it was made with water (a white coddle).
Now a days, Dublin coddle is also made with oxtail, vegetable, or beef broth (a brown coddle). It is also the stew Dubliners choose to eat when they are feeling under the weather, much like chicken soup for Americans.
This dish can be traced back to the 1700's to the city of Dublin, Ireland. In Irish catholic homes, back when meat wasn't supposed to be eaten on Fridays, it was traditionally served for supper on Thursdays to use up any leftover pork. The Irish housewives would make a up batch of stew earlier in the day and let it coddle, or cook slowly, in the oven for hours.
The rest of Ireland didn't really eat this dish because the bangers and rashers were cheaper and easier to find in the big city. Country folk would opt for Irish stew made with mutton (lamb), as this meat was plentiful there.
Why This Recipe Works
- This Dublin coddle uses a Dutch oven to promote even cooking and prevent burning at the bottom of the pot.
- Cooking the bacon and browning the bangers (sausages) before placing in the Dutch oven provides more flavor, color and texture.
- Deglazing the pot with beef broth gives the Dublin coddle more flavor as it releases the brown bits from cooking the bacon and browning the bangers.
- The potatoes cook until tender and soft and then are browned on top for additional color and texture.
- Makes a heavenly broth that you can sop up with a freshly baked loaf of Irish soda bread.
Ingredients
This Dublin coddle or Irish stew only has a few ingredients, and most are pantry staples so they're easy to find at your local grocery store. Let's talk about a few of the key ingredients.
- Meat: We used bacon (for rashers) and pork sausage (for bangers), because that was what we could find locally.
- Potatoes: We used russet potatoes, but Yukon Gold or red potatoes can also be used.
- Fresh Spices and Aromatics: We used fresh parsley and yellow onion.
- Broth: We used beef broth instead of water for more flavor and color.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make
- Cut the bacon into one inch pieces and fry in the Dutch oven. Once crisp, transfer to a paper towel lined plate and blot the excess grease. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease from the pan.
- Brown the sausage for two minutes on all sides. This will provide another layer of flavor for the Dublin coddle.
3. Use ¼ cup of beef stock and a wooden turner to deglaze the fond from the bottom of the Dutch oven. This step also gives more flavor to the Dublin coddle as it releases the fond.
4. Layer the sliced onions in the pot.
5. Add the cooked bacon and the chopped parsley.
6. Add a layer of browned sausages that have been cut into one inch coins.
7. Finish it off with a layer of peeled and coarsely chopped potatoes, a sprinkle of parsley, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Pour in the beef broth.
8. Cover the Dublin coddle with a lid or two layers of foil to get a good seal on the Dutch oven.
9. Bake at 450°F for 40 minutes covered, then uncover the Dublin coddle and bake for 25 minutes or until brown on top. If you want, add a few pats of butter for the last 25 minutes of baking.
10. Enjoy a hot bowl of Dublin coddle with freshly baked Irish soda bread or Irish brown bread. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and black pepper.
Recipe FAQs
The Irish got the word coddle from the French verb caudle, which means to gently boil, parboil, or stew. It is used in reference to cooking this favorite comfort food, which is enjoyed by many Dubliners on a cold, damp evening.
Irish sausages are made with eggs, rusk (breadcrumbs), pork (sometimes beef and lamb), and seasoned with spices and garlic. They are light in color and are juicy once cooked. During WW1, the sausages were made with little meat, mostly scraps and water. When the housewives would fry up the sausages, they would sizzle and make banging sounds. The word bangers was coined and the term stuck.
Coddle is an Irish stew that is popular in Dublin and surrounding areas in Ireland. In this dish, the food is placed in layers: potatoes, bangers (sausage), onion, and rashers (bacon) in a large pot and is slowly cooked. A stew is more like a thick soup that is slowly simmered. It can contain meat, root vegetables, broth, and spices.
Serve
Dublin coddle is traditionally served with Irish soda bread or Irish brown bread to help soak up the broth from the stew. It is a hearty meal all by itself, but if you want to serve something else, a green salad or our Irish pub salad would round out the meal nicely.
If you're looking for other Irish recipes, make sure to try our recipes for boxty pancakes, boxty bread, colcannon, ham and cabbage pie, dingle pie, pub salad, and Irish-American Mulligan stew.
Serve with an American St. Patrick's Day treat, a copycat McDonald's shamrock shake, for a fun, kid-friendly dessert.
Store
- Make Ahead: This Dublin coddle can easily be made the day before.
- Leftovers: Allow to cool completely, then cover and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: On the stove top over medium low heat until heated through or at 300°F for 30 minutes.
- Freeze: The sliced potatoes in this Dublin coddle won't freeze and thaw well, as potatoes generally get mealy and mushy when thawed and reheated. If you need to freeze leftovers, remove the potatoes first.
Expert Tips
- What pot do I need? Use a heavy bottomed Dutch oven as it evenly conducts heat and prevents burning.
- Do I need salt? No, there is plenty from the bangers (sausage) and rashers (bacon).
- How to cut the onions and potatoes? Cut them in slices, cubes, or wedges.
- Want to cook low and slow? Try 300°F for 3 to 5 hours.
- Want it brown on top? Add a few pats of butter on top during the last 25 minutes of cooking.
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Recipe
Dublin Coddle Recipe (Irish Stew)
Ingredients
- 12 ounces thick bacon or rashers, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 pound pork sausage, Irish bangers or bratwurst
- 6 medium potatoes, peeled ¼ inch slices than cut in half
- 3 yellow onions, cut in ¼ inch slices
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 4 cups unsalted beef broth
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon until golden brown and crispy, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Pour the 3 ½ cups of beef broth into a medium saucepan. Cover with a lid, and bring it to a boil.
- In the reserved bacon grease, brown the sausage for 2-3 minutes per side over medium heat. Transfer the sausage to a large cutting board. Allow to cool slightly then cut into one-inch pieces.
- Turn up the heat to medium-high and deglaze the pot by pouring in ½ cup of the beef broth. Use a wooden turner to scrap any browned bits off the bottom.
- In a Dutch oven, layer the onion, bacon, half of the parsley, sausage, potato, rest of the parsley, and black pepper.
- Pour the hot beef broth over the stew ingredients in the pot. Cover the pot with two layers of foil or use an oven-proof lid.
- Cook in the oven for 40 minutes at 450°F. Remove the foil and let it cook for another 25 minutes or until the vegetables are a nice brown color. Optional, add a few pats of butter during the last 25 minutes.
- Sprinkle freshly chopped parsley and few cracks of black pepper.
- Ladle into individual bowls and serve with Irish soda bread.
Notes
- What pot do I need? Use a heavy bottomed Dutch oven as it evenly conducts heat and prevents burning.
- Do I need salt? No, there is plenty from the bangers (sausage) and rashers (bacon).
- How to cut the onions and potatoes? Cut them in slices, cubes, or wedges.
- Want to cook low and slow? Try 300°F for 3 to 5 hours.
- Want it brown on top? Add a few pats of butter on top during the last half hour of cooking.
Nutrition
Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.
Simon Painter
Hi from Bristol, UK
Am liking your website (nice and clear to read and use - lovely photos too) as well as your recipes. Came here to read more about Dingle pies, after I saw them pop up a recent copy of our Guardian newspaper... nice ! Thanks for all the hard work - am now looking forward to reading more about your delicious-sounding Irish food.
Emma
Thank you so much, Simon! We're happy that you're enjoying our site. We love reading The Guardian's food articles as well, and we hope you enjoy our recipes!
Anthony Hartill
A nice very recipe that would be even better with the addition of some pearl barley, I think, say about 100 grams, and I always slice the potatoes into "coins" for the final layer.
Emma
Those are some delicious ideas, Anthony! Pearl barley would be especially lovely.
Judith Jones
Yum Yum!! Great recipe and very helpful step by step pictures!!
Emma
I'm glad that you found the step-by-step photos helpful, Judith! Thanks for making the Dublin coddle.
Dorothy Henehan Grant
Very good, reminds me of my Irish mother
Emma
That's so sweet, Dorothy! Thanks for making our recipe. 🙂