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Dublin Coddle is a classic savory Irish one-pot meal of tender potatoes, sausage and onions. Everything is cooked slowly in beef broth to create a rich, filling stew that makes great weeknight fare and is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!

We really enjoy authentic Irish meals, which typically use simple ingredients to create something flavorful and delicious! If you are also a fan of Irish food, you may like our Bangers and Mash or Shepherd’s Pie next!

Banger sausages in a dutch oven.

This recipe was originally posted February 27, 2017. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.

I didn’t realize that I had so much Irish ancestry until I took a DNA test a few years back and learned that it’s one of my top results. All four of us took DNA tests at the same time and it was eye-opening to learn each of our backgrounds. We wanted to have a better idea of our daughters’ genetic makeup since both were adopted at birth, but it was just as fascinating discovering more about my own heritage.

Since then I sometimes try to make traditional foods as a way of exploring and connecting with the past. Every March I like to make traditional Irish foods as a way of celebrating this part of my history and sharing it with my family. This dublin coddle is a traditional Irish dish that we enjoy every year!

Sausages, onions, bacon, and potatoes in a pot.

Saint Patrick’s Day has become a bigger holiday for us since moving to Dublin (California, not Ireland) where there is a St. Patrick’s Day festival and parade and everybody gets school and work off and goes to the big city festival. Our town is way into its Irish heritage and there are shamrocks on all our town signs and everything.

In our first year of marriage, I thought it would be fun to have corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day dinner, which I now know is more Irish-American than actual Irish anyway.

But I screwed it up so badly that we ended up scrapping the whole thing and walking to our favorite Indian restaurant and having chicken tikka masala instead. Thankfully, I have since learned how to make fantastic corned beef and cabbage, which I highly recommend! At least I’ve learned from my failures.

The good thing is that I discovered this Dublin Coddle recipe and found it much easier to not mess up and even more traditional that corned beef and cabbage anyway.

A pot of dublin coddle.

I haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit the Emerald Isle, but it’s high on my list of places to go when we get the chance! For now, I love traveling vicariously by exploring some more traditional Irish foods and sharing them here!

If you are looking for a delicious dessert to serve with your Dublin coddle, I recommend Sticky Toffee Pudding which, while known for being British, is also served for dessert in Ireland.

A british banger on a plate with potatoes and onions.

What You’ll Need

The list of ingredients is short and simple! This dish is made from humble ingredients that many poor Irish would have had access to like potatoes, onions, and sausages.

  • Sausages: In this case, I like to use bangers, which are also sometimes called British bangers, but are really just pork sausages. The flavor is closest to country pork sausage, although if you can’t find some, even mild Italian sausage, bratwurst, or kielbasa would work.
  • Potatoes: We prefer russet potatoes in this dish, rather than waxier yukon gold or red potatoes.
  • Onions: These are secretly my favorite part of the whole dish! They add so much flavor!
  • Beef Broth: The savory broth softens and flavors the potatoes and onions while the whole thing cooks in the oven. I usually just use water and better-than-bouillon beef base for my beef broth.
  • Bacon: Everything is better with bacon! Chopping the bacon before cooking it makes it super easy cook in the same pot that you plan to cook the rest of the dish in.
  • Parsley: A generous amount of freshly chopped parsley adds a wonderful herby element to this humble, hearty fare. You can use dried parsley if that’s all you have on hand, but fresh is much better in this dish, in my opinion.
  • Salt & Pepper: What recipe is complete without this hard-working pair of ingredients that season the rest of the ingredients so the dish isn’t bland?
Dublin coddle ingredients

How to Make Dublin Coddle

  1. Cook the bacon until crispy: I always chop the bacon first so that I can just stir it around in the bottom of the pan until the bacon fat has reduced and it is nice and crispy. Transfer the bacon out of the pan with a slotted spoon to a plate, reserving most of the grease.
  2. Brown the bangers: I had a commenter from Ireland mention that this step is actually not traditional as the bangers would typically just be thrown in without browning, but I like that it adds a little color to the otherwise white-ish/grey-ish sausages that aren’t the most appetizing looking things you’ve ever seen. It only takes a minute or two to add a touch of color on each side in the already hot dutch oven with the reserved bacon grease.
  1. Prep the onions, potatoes, and parsley: While the bangers are browning, I usually slice up the onions, peel potatoes, and chop up the parsley. Don’t slice the onions or potatoes too thin as you want them to have a bit of texture after the slow cooking process and too-thin onions tend to just wither away and potatoes break down too much.
Sliced onions
  1. Layer the ingredients in a dutch oven or heavy duty pot: Add half of the sliced potatoes to the bottom of the pot, followed by half of the sliced onions. Season with half of the salt and pepper, then sprinkle with half of the parsley and cooked bacon. Repeat the process, then nestle the browned bangers right on top and pour the beef broth over everything.
  2. Bake at 300 degrees F until done: Cover with the lid and stick the whole thing in the oven to cook until the potatoes are tender and soft. This is usually about 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, although it’s a very forgiving dish and you could let it go longer as long as you check to make sure there is still liquid in the bottom of the pot.

Tips for Making Dublin Coddle

  • Can’t find bangers? Here are some good substitutions: They can be difficult to find, although most of my local grocery stores get a few cases in around St. Patrick’s Day and I always stock up because I love their unique flavor.
  • Additional ingredients: Some people throw in carrots or leeks or use Guinness instead of beef broth. Others cut the sausages into pieces rather than cooking them whole like I do here. Feel free to change things up to make your dublin coddle just how you like it!
  • Reheating leftovers: If you have any leftovers, they are absolutely delicious the next day! Just stick them back in a pot and cover with a lid or with foil and heat for 15 minutes in a 350 degree F oven until warm.

What to serve with Dublin Coddle

This is really a one-pot dish that has everything you need for a balanced meal. But you can’t go amiss serving it with a loaf of fresh Irish soda bread! A green salad would also be delicious.

Bangers, potatoes, and onions with bacon in a white pot.

Dublin Coddle Lore

While researching Dublin Coddle I found a number of interesting stories or legends about it that I found fascinating. Whether these are true or not, I really can’t say.

One idea is that it was made by Irish women on nights when their husbands would visit the pubs. Since dublin coddle can be left simmering on the stove, the men would have something decent to eat when they got home and the women could go to bed.

Another theory is that this is a dish you only find in Dublin, Ireland and not throughout the rest of the country. This is because unlike it’s counterpart, Irish Stew, which uses mutton, Dublin Coddle uses sausages (bangers) which were more readily available and more affordable in the city than mutton, which was found more in the rural parts of the country.

Ladle portions of the coddle into bowls and serve with crusty bread for sopping up the rich sauce! Don’t wait for St. Patrick’s Day to roll around to try out this wonderful Irish dish!

A traditional Irish comfort food dish.

More Irish Recipes You’ll Enjoy

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Irish Dublin Coddle
Yield: 4 servings

Irish Dublin Coddle

Dublin Coddle is an Irish one-pot meal of tender potatoes, sausage and onions, slow cooked in broth to create a rich, filling stew, perfect for St. Patrick's Day or any cold, rainy weeknight.  

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 10 slices bacon, chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 lb. bangers or other high quality pork sausages
  • 2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds
  • 2 onions, sliced into 1/2-inch thick rings
  • Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
  • 3 tablespoons chopped parsley, divided
  • 2 cups beef broth

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
  2. Heat a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the chopped bacon and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.
  3. Next, brown the bangers in the reserved bacon fat for a few minutes, just until they start to brown but not so they are cooked all the way through. Remove the sausages from the dutch oven and set aside. Discard any leftover bacon fat in the bottom of the dutch oven.
  4. Layer half of the sliced potatoes on the bottom of the still hot dutch oven, then layer half of the sliced onions over the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle half of the bacon and one tablespoon of parsley on top. Repeat with the remaining potatoes and onions, seasoning with salt and pepper again and sprinkling with the remaining bacon and another tablespoon parsley. Nestle the browned bangers on top and pour the beef broth over everything.
  5. Cover the dutch oven with a lid and place it in the oven. Bake for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, checking halfway through cooking to make sure the liquid hasn't all dried up and adding an extra cup of broth if necessary to keep about 1 inch of liquid covering the bottom of the pot at all times.
  6. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of chopped parsley before serving. Dublin Coddle is very forgiving and can stand cooking an extra hour or two if you need it, and the leftovers are amazing the next day even.

Notes

  • If you can't find bangers, you could substitute with bratwurst, which are also made with pork, or large country breakfast sausages which have a somewhat similar flavor profile to bangers. You could easily make this in the crockpot just completing steps 2-3 in a large pan and then layering everything in a large crockpot and cooking it on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 736Saturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 117mgSodium: 1556mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 6gSugar: 2gProtein: 31g
© Amy
Cuisine: European