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Smoked Corned Beef Round is a great way to take the classic St. Patrick’s Day dish and give it a smoky twist. This recipe is for a pre-corned beef round cut. If you are looking for a homemade brine for corned beef brisket flat, then check out our separate recipe.
Growing up in my husband’s Irish household, his family would often buy a pre-corned brisket flat, boil it in water with some spices and cabbage, and then serve it with potatoes. While a great nod to tradition, there are a lot of ways to add more flavor to this traditional dish — like making Smoked Corned Beef.
Or check out our other St. Patrick’s Day recipes for Irish Beef Stew and Grilled Shepherd’s Pie.
Table of Contents
Smoked Corned Beef Ingredients + Substitutions
Around the time of St. Patrick’s Day most grocery stores are filled with pre-brined ready-to-cook corned beef packs. These are usually beef rounds or brisket flats that have been pre-brined.
This Smoked Corned Beef recipe is so easy, and is made for those you will find in the store, already brined. It’s three ingredients because someone else did all the pickling work first.
- Pre-Corned Beef Roast – Often you will find a beef round. But this will work with any pre-corned beef roast. If you find brisket flats, then follow our cooking times and process for our smoked corned beef brisket.
- Seasoning – Because the brine has done most of the seasoning, we add just a small amount of kosher salt and pepper just before cooking to flavor the outside. For additional flavor you can use our Brisket Rub, but go light on the salt or you will quickly have an over-salty flavor.
Corning Beef Versus a Brine
Smoked corned beef starts with a wet brine or a cure. Corning is simply a brining process with specific spices that allow the meat to cure. The brine is a salt solution that the meat sits in, and through osmosis, the salt and spices are absorbed into the meat.
If you go to the store and purchase a “corned beef” you will see that the meat is typically still packaged in some of that solution. Be sure to save the additional “seasoning” packet that comes with it. It’s great for making a Corned Beef Sandwich with a spiced au jus. And for leftovers you can make our Corned Beef Hash recipe.
Prepare and Season The Corned Beef
Once you remove the corned beef from the packaging, rinse with water and pat dry the roast with a paper towel. This removes excess salty brine from the exterior of the roast.
Add a simple rub that is light on salt (because the corned beef is going to be inherently salty from the brine). There is no need for a binder. For every 2 pounds of roast, plan on 2 teaspoons of seasoning. We like equal parts kosher salt and pepper in that ratio. Keep it simple!
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Smoke the Corned Beef
- Preheat smoker targeting 250 degrees F in the cooking chamber. Fruit wood gives a nice sweet flavor. Oak is also a great option.
- Place the roast on the smoker and insert a remote probe thermometer like the Thermoworks Smoke Unit to watch the internal temperature.
- Continue to smoke until the internal temperature reaches 135 degrees F for medium rare (or continue for your desired finishing temperature).
- Remove the roast from the smoker and let rest for 30 minutes. This allows carry over cooking to occur and will let the cells cool and reabsorb some of that moisture and flavor.
- Slice against the grain and serve with your favorite sides like our Horseradish Mashed Potatoes.
Troubleshooting: Soaking The Meat
One of our readers asked about whether a pre-soak of the corned beef is needed to extract some of the salty flavor. This is going to be optional based upon your taste preference.
- No Soak – If you elect not to soak, then the concentration of all the brine remains in the meat and the flavors and salt component stand out. We love salt, and so we do not soak, nor recommend it for this recipe.
- Soak – Soaking the meat in cold water will allow the water to pull some of the salt out of the meat. Almost like a reverse brine. Simply place the meat into a large container and completely cover with cold water. Keep in the fridge. After 2 hours, discard the water. For smaller cuts under 4 pounds, that should be enough time to tame the salty flavor and then it’s time to season. If you have a large cut, like an 8 pound round roast, then do this 2 times. And it’s best to do this the day before the cook.
Be sure if you soak to discard the water as it’s now contaminated from the raw meat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Smoked Corned Beef can be considered pastrami. However, your classic pastrami has specific spice blends in the rub consisting of herbs and paprika. After the smoking process, pastrami is then steamed. So for an authentic pastrami, there is that extra seasoning and steaming that gives it that flavor and texture.
If you have leftovers, the best way to reheat corned beef is in the oven. Set your oven for 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Wrap the sliced corned beef in foil, place foil pack on a baking sheet. And bake for 14 minutes or until it’s steaming. Serve warm.
If you are smoking corned beef then you don’t need to use the juice. Discard it. If you plan to boil it, then yes. But we recommend smoking it.
Plan 30 minutes per pound when smoking corned beef when smoking at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Smoked Corned Beef
Ingredients
- 2 pound corned beef round, (This same recipe applies for any pre-brined cut of beef)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat Smoker: Prepare smoker to 250 degrees F using fruit wood like cherry or apple.
- Prep Corned Beef: Remove the corned beef round from the packaging and discard excess liquid. Trim off any excess fat from the exterior of the round and then pat dry with a paper towel. Season with pepper and kosher salt.
- Smoke: Place the meat on the smoker, and smoke the round for 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the roast reaches 135 degrees. Remove from smoker and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Serve: Slice against the grain. On a round there are two directions to the grain, so you'll want to adjust the round as you continue to slice. Serve with your favorite sides.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m going to make my first round for St. Paddy’s Day next week and appreciate your explanation of the difference between corned beef round vs brisket. Can you help me understand why the internal temperature is so drastically different between the two?
Dana, a great question. For a brisket flat, we treat it like normal brisket in that we still need to break down the rather rough cut. So we go long on the cook. But the round we treat more like a roast or a steak, so we cook it to a lower temperature so it’s medium rare.
I smoked a corned beef today according to your recipe and it was delicious. I just wasn’t able to slice it as nice as you had in your photos 🙂 If I was to do it again I would probably soak it in water for a few hours to remove a little bit of the salt. Overall really good though.
I am making this today so excited!!
I have read that the pre-corned beef needs to be soaked in a few change`s of cold water to purge some of the salt before smoking.Has Sean tried both soaked and un soaked c/b in the smoker? I have not and would be interested in the results.
Great point. So first I should share that we love salt. So we have done this straight from the packaging. And it was awesome.
But, if you are someone more sensitive to salt, then it is absolutely appropriate for a soak in cold water. The cold water will pull salt out of the meat. For a small brisket flat, a 2 hour soak is all you need. For a 10 pound round or full packer brisket, you’ll want three soaks at 2 – 3 hours for each soak.
Thank you for the info.