Healthy St. Patrick's Day Recipes

Soda breads are hearty Irish staples--wholemeal flour with large flakes of bran and wheat germ, or white flour or a mixture leavened with baking soda and moistened with buttermilk. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda, which is an alkali, creating bubbles of carbon dioxide which rise the bread. Soda breads have the heft of a yeast bread but are made in minutes and the dough can be shaped into scones or a round loaf, depending on the occasion. Originally it would have been baked in a bastible (pot oven) over the open fire.

Traditional corned beef & cabbage sure is tasty, but it's typically loaded with preservatives and sodium. In this healthy recipe makeover, we slash more than 2,300 mg of sodium with our quicker twist on the St. Patrick's Day classic. To get great flavor without the additives found in store-bought corned beef, we rub ground pickling spice onto steak instead.

Like the first sighting of a robin, a pale green minty Shamrock Shake is an annual reminder that spring is on its way. And when you make a homemade version of this fast-food favorite with real ice cream, milk and a refreshing hint of peppermint, you'll feel even more invigorated for the change of season. It's magically delicious that way!

There are countless variations on this classic Irish potato-and-cabbage combination--ours is made with steamed red potatoes, sautéed cabbage and just a touch of butter.

This hearty recipe for Irish lamb stew is full of potatoes, leeks and carrots. In traditional fashion, nothing here is browned first, just all stewed together—in this case, in a slow cooker to make it extra easy.

This warming slow-cooker stew has all the flavors of corned beef and cabbage but with much less sodium, plus it's ready in half the time of traditional corned beef and cabbage. Rather than curing the beef in a salty brine for at least a day, we just throw the beef and veggies into a crock pot with pickling spice for that delicous briny flavor without the long soaking period.

Our healthy take on the classic Shamrock Shake uses fresh spinach and juicy kiwi to achieve the fun and festive color we all love. Using fresh mint makes this smoothie extra minty and refreshing.

Deli-counter corned beef and sauerkraut top a shamrock-shaped spinach wrap in this festive corned beef and cabbage-inspired appetizer for the perfect St. Patrick's Day food.

This single-serve version of classic Irish soda bread is fun for St. Patrick's Day, but you'll find they're also delicious for weekend brunches. All you need with these scones is a warm cup of tea.

This Irish stout cake can't get any easier: everything is mixed in one bowl, poured into the cake pan and is in the oven in 15 minutes flat. Lining the cake pan with parchment paper makes removing the cake easy and helps with cleanup. After this rich chocolate cake has cooled, enjoy it with the espresso- and Irish whiskey-laced whipped cream topping.

A classic Irish side dish, colcannon is typically a mound of mashed potatoes mixed with crumbled bacon, wilted cabbage and scallions, with a crater full of butter in the middle. For this seaweed variation, salty, umami-rich dillisk (the Irish name for dulse) take the place of bacon in this healthy side dish recipe. Look for dried dulse in well-stocked supermarkets.

Fresh strawberries and rhubarb meld together under a crisp oat crumble in this gluten-free dessert recipe made in just one skillet. If you're not gluten-sensitive, regular rolled oats will work too. Top with a dollop of whipped cream for an extra-special treat.