Traditional Irish Foods for St. Patrick's Day with a Twist

St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday observed by the Irish for over for over 1,000 years. A day celebrated by singing, dancing and lot's of eating, it is now celebrated all over the world. Whether you choose to head to a parade or host a party of your own, a good pint and some traitional Irish food are a must.

We always love traditional recipes, but here at Celebrations, we are all about giving our own little modern twist to dishes. Potatoes, leeks, hearty soups and stews as well as cabbage are all common in traditonal Irish dishes. We found a few great ones to help you celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year that have a special little twist.

Colcannon

Image via Edible Ireland

Potatoes are a popular food in the Irish culture. Colcannon is typically enjoyed on Halloween, but when its cold out in March, we could really use a bowl of this hot potato and cabbage mash. The recipe pictured above uses kale instead of the typical cabbage and look absolutely delicious.

Leek Soup

Image via Homespun with Love

Potato leek soup is another traditonal Irish dish, but this version has one of my favorite ingredients, panchetta! Everyone can get their own helping seeing that it is served in a jar with a lovely soft pretzel on top. Who wouldn't want to dunk a pretzel in that?!

Irish Soda Bread

Image via Baked Bree

I am not Irish, but I love me some Irish soda bread. The combination of buttermilk, dried currants and orange zest in this recipe really got me excited. Plus I always trust a recipe from Baked Bree. Eat it warm with a slab of butter and a hot tea or coffee to kick off your St. Patrick's Day the traditional way.

Bacon & Cabbage

Image via Donal Skehan

I recently learned (recently as in today) that it corned beef and cabbage wasn't always a traditional Irish meal. Originally it was bacon, which sounds far more yummy to me than corned beef. It was sometime in the 19th century that corned beef started being used as a substitute. This dish is made with a shoulder of bacon that is served over a leek and parsley sauce along with cabbage sauteed in butter.

Boxty

Image via Lea & Jay

A traditional Irish pancake recipe made with potatoes, this modern take on a boxty recipe is made on a griddle and covered with butter. Who knew this recipe could get even better by giving it a crispy outside!