Vegan Boiled Dinner Vegetables (Irish New England Style)

These easy Vegan Boiled Dinner Vegetables have all the flavor of a traditional New England boiled dinner! Cabbage, potatoes, and carrots boiled with pickling spices for a healthy and comforting Irish side dish recipe you can make for St. Patrick's Day and beyond! Naturally gluten-free, allergy-free, and paleo, everyone will love these simple budget-friendly veggies!

Everyone loves some cozy corned beef and cabbage during those last few months of the winter season...but what if you just want the vegetables? These super quick and easy boiled dinner vegetables are 100% vegan and make for a perfect healthy side dish to any hearty meal! Cabbage, carrots, and red potatoes all chopped up and boiled in the traditional Irish New England style you grew up with!

Why Is It Called New England Boiled Dinner?

When Irish immigrants settled in New England, specifically Boston, this simple one-pot meal was the perfect cheap and hearty dish to get them through the brutal winter months in the Northeast. Traditionally made with corned beef brisket, green cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. (Ham or a beef roast can also be used). This Irish-American staple became a popular dish to serve on St. Patrick's Day as well, due to its Irish roots.

What Vegetables Are In A Boiled Dinner?

Simple green cabbage, carrots, and red-skinned potatoes are the traditional "trifecta".  Cabbage is a must (hence "corned beef and cabbage"), but you may also find other hearty root vegetables such as turnips, beets, and onions.

Why You'll Love This Vegan Recipe

This recipe is meant to be just the vegetables and served as a side dish. It's perfect for pairing with any hearty winter meal, meatless or not! These vegetarian boiled dinner vegetables are:

• Gluten-Free
• Vegan & Vegetarian
• Allergy-free (Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Wheat-Free, Sesame-Free, Coconut-Free, Corn-Free)
• Paleo & Grain-Free
• Oil-Free + Sugar-Free
• Kid-Friendly
• Budget-Friendly & Customizable
• Make-Ahead & Meal Prep-Friendly
• Quick, Easy, Simple Healthy Side Dish

Ingredients For Vegan Boiled Dinner

• Green Cabbage: Just a humble head of green cabbage. Something small to medium-sized will do the trick.
• Carrots: Whole carrots, no need to peel, just remove the top green part if needed.
• Red Potatoes: Red-skinned potatoes have the perfect waxy texture that can hold up to boiling. No need to peel these either.
• Pickling Spice: In lieu of having the seasonings from the corned beef, a few tablespoons of pickling spice add the exact flavors you know and love!
• Bay Leaves: Anytime you're boiling something that's pretty plain, to begin with, a bay leaf or two flavors up the cooking liquid and ingredients so nicely!

Ingredient Substitutions & Customizations

• Change Up Your Cabbage: Swap green cabbage with napa cabbage, red cabbage, or savoy cabbage. Better yet, do a combination!
• Baby Carrots: Don't have whole carrots on hand? You can use a bag of little carrots. No need to chop these up!
• Different Potatoes: The best swap for red potatoes would be another waxy potato variety, such as creamer, fingerling, or yellow-skinned. If using small potatoes, there's no need to chop them. You can also use an all-purpose potato, such as Yukon gold. Do not use russets, as these potatoes are too starchy and will fall apart.
• Other Root Veggies: You can also include beets, turnips, parsnips, celeriac, kohlrabi, or onion in your vegetable combination.
• Add Some Heat: Serve your veggies with prepared horseradish or homemade spicy mustard or store-bought.
• No Pickling Spice: If you can't have pickling spice, you can add a combination of whole peppercorns, mustard seeds, cloves, coriander, allspice, ginger, and red pepper flakes. About 1 teaspoon of each.
• Add Sweetness: Some like a sweeter boil and add a few teaspoons of brown sugar to the mix!
• Add Some Beef-Flavor: Instead of using water to boil your vegetables, use vegan beef-flavored stock!

How To Make New England Boiled Dinner Vegetables

1. Chop your potatoes in half or quartered, depending on the size.
2. Chop the whole carrots into thick coins, around ½-inch thickness, slightly less.

3. Remove any loose outer leaves from the cabbage before cutting it in half and then into 6 wedges.
4. Add the potatoes first, then carrots, then cabbage wedges to a large soup pot. Add in the seasonings and bay leaves.

5. Cover the vegetables with water or vegan stock.
6. Cover the pot with a lid and bring it to a boil before reducing the heat to medium-high and boiling the vegetables for about 20 minutes, just until the vegetables are fork-tender.

Recipe Tips & Tricks

• This recipe really varies on the size of the vegetables you choose. There's no need to chop small potatoes or carrots. You can also cut your carrots length-wise and in half. You can cut more or fewer wedges of cabbage, depending on the size of the head you buy. Servings will vary as well.
• Cooking time will vary on the size of your vegetables. Anywhere from 15-30 minutes is reasonable. You do not want to boil them so long that they fall apart. The potatoes and carrots should hold shape but be soft and tender.
• Once the veggies have cooked, you can allow them to cool in the liquid slightly with the pot uncovered before carefully draining the liquid in a large colander to stop the cooking process.

A Note On Salt

Typically the corned beef adds saltiness to the veggies. Since the recipe is just using pickling spice which doesn't include salt on its own, you can add salt to taste. I chose not to use any salt and didn't feel it was needed. If you use a beef-less or vegetable stock for boiling instead of water, you won't need to add additional salt (unless the stock was salt-free!)

Can You Make This Recipe In A Slow Cooker?

Since this recipe is meatless, it's pretty quick, but if you want to toss it in your Crockpot or slow cooker and cook the vegetables on low for 2-3 hours or on high for 1-2 hours, depending on the size of your vegetables.

Can You Make Boiled Vegetables Ahead Of Time?

These Irish veggies are great to make ahead of time or meal prep! Once the veggies are cooked, drain them of the cooking liquid and allow them to cool to room temperature before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge. Use the veggies within 5-6 days.

Storage & Reheating

You can store leftover boiled vegetables in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5-6 days. You can eat the veggies cold or reheat individual servings in the microwave for 60-90 seconds or in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat with an added splash of water or stock until warmed through.

Can You Freeze Boiled Vegetables?

I do not recommend freezing these Irish boiled vegetables. The texture will diminish when reheating them and the vegetables will be a mushy mess.

What To Serve New England Boiled Dinner Vegetables With?

These boiled veggies are perfect to serve alongside a hearty entree like this vegan lentil loaf, mushroom stroganoff, whole roasted cauliflower, or these vegan meatballs! For a meaty entree, these veggies are perfect with whole roast chicken, lemon rosemary chicken, or this slow cooker balsamic chicken!

More Vegan Irish Recipes:

• Irish Potato Bread (Potato Farls)
• Traditional Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread
• Traditional Irish Colcannon
• Irish Potato Candy
• Easy Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Print

Quick, easy, delicious, and healthy! All the flavors and comfort of a New England boiled dinner without the meat and ready to be served alongside any weeknight dinner or lunch!

So tell me:

+ What do you call this meal?

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