Name: Cheesy Corned Beef & Avocado Bites
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients: Woven wheat crackers (such as Triscuits … or other sturdy cracker of choice); Thin slices of corned beef (or corned venison); Irish Dubliner cheese (or other cheese of choice, preferably grass-fed); Ripe avocado, smashed; Fresh, sweet tomato slices; Everything bagel seasoning

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The perfect little 6-ingredient snack bites, starting with salty spiced corned beef on a woven wheat cracker, melted Irish cheese, smashed avocado and sweet juicy tomatoes, sprinkled with Everything Bagel Seasoning. They not only look pretty, they taste delicious! Perfect for snacking or serving as an appetizer to guests.

I finally took a small departure from my beloved Triscuit Tuna Melts and tried something a little different. I’ve been totally addicted to those lil snacks since last summer when I harvested my first ripe tomatoes from the garden and decided to whip up a tuna melt with more fiber than your average sammie … in bite size form. I fell in love at first bite and have been eating them ever since at all times of day, for breakfast, lunch, mid-afternoon snacks, before bedtime snacks, or just any time I found myself a little hungry. They are amazing little things to whip up when you’re in a time crunch and only have a few minutes to grab some food!

How these Little Bites Came to Be

Yeah, I’m a little behind the times, I know. It’s already April … most people have moved on from St. Patty’s Day. But since my youngest was away for St. Patty’s day, we had our corned beef (or rather, corned venison) and cabbage meal a little late this year … for Easter, in fact! It was totally worth the wait.

So today I happened to have some leftover corned venison in my fridge and bit of smashed avocado that I’d put on my breakfast, but didn’t finish. I needed to use that up soon, so when tummy told me she wanted some food, I decided to try a new spin on tuna melts and use the corned venison in place of the tuna. I have no fresh garden tomatoes on hand, but I have some sweet cherry tomatoes, so I made do with those. I think the bites could use a bit more tomato than what I used, but hey, sometimes you gotta make do with what you’ve got.

These bites are a little saltier than the tuna melts and less creamy (because no mayo from the tuna salad), but still quite tasty and totally serve-able, especially to anyone who loves corned beef. You could certainly skip the tomato and add a bit of sauerkraut and a little drizzle of thousand island dressing for a more Reuben-esque little bite if you like. I think I might have to give that a try sometime!

What’s the best way to cook corned beef?

There are so many ways to cook corned beef, so I’m not sure any one of them is “the best”, but here are some tips to make yours turn out great. I personally prefer using a slow cooker or pressure cooker for corned beef or corned venison.

Rinse the corned beef before cooking. The rinsing is very important for reducing the salt content.
Add some Irish beer. Guinness or a good stout is a great choice, but I’ve also used red ales or brown ales, and, sometimes, in a pinch, a lager. If you’re not into beer, wine is also a good flavor enhancer.
AND water. Many times if I’m slow cooking or pressure cooking a roast, just a cup of liquid or one beer is all I use. But with corned beef, water helps pull some of that extra salt out of the meat so it’s not overly salty.
If there’s a flavoring packet, add that, but then also include some aromatics such as garlic, onion, 1 -2 bay leaves, mustard seed, cloves and peppercorns. Carrots are good for adding a hint of sweetness. I like to make a bed of garlic, onion and carrots, add the seasonings, then put the meat on top.

How long to cook corned beef in the slow cooker or pressure cooker?

If using a slow cooker, I prefer low and slow. Cook for 8 hours on low, then unplug and let sit for at least 20 minutes for the meat to re-absorb the juices.

Pressure cookers are a much quicker method. For a 2-lb. piece of meat, cook on high pressure for 70 minutes, let the pressure naturally release for at least 15 minutes, then unplug and let sit in the juices for at least 20 more minutes. A 3-lb. corned beef roast will take 90 minutes in the Instant Pot.

This time, I used my Instant Pot, added one Guinness beer + 3 cups of water over a bed of garlic, onion and carrot, with bay leaves, peppercorns, mustard seed and a few cloves on my corned venison and it turned out absolutely fall-apart tender, juicy and SO flavorful.