Microwave Corned Beef Hash with Cheese & Baked Beans

With a simple microwave oven and very few ingredients, you can make corned beef hash in minutes!

This is a quick and easy microwave recipe that’s real comfort food and it’s foolproof. This time I’ve cooked it without onions, but you can add in onions if you like, the recipe is very flexible like that. This is a 3 Ingredient Recipe, cooked using just a microwave oven.

This is one of my favourite meals. The price of corned beef did shoot up a few years ago, so it’s no longer a cheap option, but you can stretch it out by adding more potatoes.

What Is Corned Beef Hash?

There is no single answer as the name is used for several variations. My favourite is to take this recipe and to then fry the mixture, pressing it down with the spatula, forming a crust on the outside – but this is a corned beef hash recipe made entirely in a microwave. Other variations of the recipe will use cubed potatoes and cube the corned beef – that’s an option too, which can be cooked in the microwave, or fried.

Nobody is wrong if they declare one recipe is “the right way” to do it! They’re not feeding you 🙂

Flexible Recipe:

Today I wanted to make my corned beef hash quite “meat heavy” – this recipe works with many more potatoes if you want to stretch the budget further, or want it less meat heavy, or want to make four portions. This recipe will stretch!

This recipe can make up to four portions much cheaper than buying a ready meal from the supermarket.

Ingredients:

• 1x 340g tin of corned beef
• 4x medium potatoes
• 30g of cheese

Method

• The potatoes need to be cooked and mashed. This can be done in the microwave oven: Microwave Mashed Potatoes.
• Alternatively, you can make up instant mash, or use up leftover mash!
• Open the can of corned beef and cut it down. Sometimes the key breaks, if that happens, see here: Corned Beef Can Key Broke!
• Combine your mashed potato with the cut up corned beef.
• Divide the mixture into microwave-safe dishes (I tend to use takeaway boxes) – I divided it into two portions.
• Microwave the corned beef and potato mix for 1 minute, the corned beef is already cooked straight out of the can, so you’re just warming it a little (and can even skip this step if you’re in a hurry)
• Top the hot corned beef hash with cheese, which you can slice, or grate. Grated looks nicer, but today I just hacked some cheese off the block!
• Place the cheese topped corned beef hash back into the microwave and microwave for about a minute, just watch it until the cheese has melted.
• Heat the baked beans in a mug in the microwave.
• Serve!

What I tend to do is “squidge” the corned beef hash to one end and fit the baked beans on the other side of the dish – which saves washing up as I’ve not used a separate plate. You might like to splash a little brown sauce over the top too, sometimes I do!

If you made a second portion, or even a third/fourth if you added more potatoes, cover that dish and put it in the fridge – eat within three days. If you use takeaway boxes when you portion up your corned beef hash, then that second portion can be reheated in the same dish, saving on washing up.

Cost Comparison to Buying a Ready Meal

All supermarkets do a variation of the above, looking at the ingredients a portion tends to weigh about 450 grams, containing about 200 grams of potato and 100 grams of corned beef, using a ratio of 2 parts potato to 1 part corned beef. The rest of the weight is made up of onion, water and buttermilk quite often. A typical supermarket ready meal price for corned beef hash is £2.75.

A can of corned beef at “cheapest price” today costs: Aldi/£1.94 (£5.30/Kg); Tesco/£2 (£5.90/Kg); Morrisons/£2.25 (£6.62/Kg); Asda Smart Price/£1.45 (£4.25/Kg), or regular own brand £2 (£5.88/Kg).

There’s some flexibility in prices if you keep an eye out for a good price.

2.5Kg of potatoes can be bought for < £1 in most supermarkets (e.g. 91p at Aldi I saw yesterday). This recipe could make four portions for about the same price as just grabbing one at the supermarket.

I’m not sure if I’m frugal and careful, mindful of prices… or just plain tight 🙂 It pays to be price aware, but don’t beat yourself up about it.

Can You Freeze Corned Beef Hash?

Yes you can freeze corned beef hash – if you’ve followed the recipe above and stored your meals in takeaway boxes, it makes it super easy to freeze your corned beef hash, once it’s cooled. You can even store them in the fridge now and decide in 1-2 days that you now want to freeze it.

How to Freeze Corned Beef Hash?

Once your corned beef hash is in a suitable container and cool, simply place them into the freezer. I tend to store a lot of meals in takeaway boxes by default as I can simply lift them out of the fridge and put them in the freezer without having to repackage them.

Once frozen, eat your corned beef hash within three months; nothing bad happens after three months, it’s just that food starts to lose some of its taste after that length of time in a home freezer.