Dublin Coddle
Dublin's Saturday-night pot: browned pork sausages and thick bacon layered with sliced onions, parsley and potatoes, covered with stock and left to braise low and slow in the oven in the same pot until everything is meltingly soft.
Edited by JP Lambiase
Change the estimate
Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
Coddle is an Irish stew with no fixed recipe built around boiled sausages, particularly associated with Dublin: layers of roughly sliced pork sausages, rashers (back bacon), chunky potatoes and onion, sometimes barley, braised under a tight lid in the broth the meat makes, and eaten with bread (Wikipedia:). It turns up in James Joyce, and it is "reputedly" a favorite of Seán O'Casey and Jonathan Swift (Wikipedia). IrishCentral says it dates back to the 1700s and is thought of as a city dish, and repeats the popular stories: that a wife could leave it simmering for hours until her husband came home from the pub, and that it used up stray rashers and sausages on a Thursday, when Catholics could not eat meat on Friday; it says the name most likely comes from "caudle," from a French term for boiling gently (Holly Thomas, June 17, 2025, first published 2014:). Nothing about it was Americanized; coddle simply never crossed the Atlantic the way corned beef did, which makes it a good one to meet.
Why it works the kitchen science
A sealed, low oven
300°F under a tight lid braises the potatoes in steam and stock, so the top layer cooks as tenderly as the bottom without anyone stirring.
Browning first, in the pot
A few minutes of color on the bacon and sausages adds the browned flavor the original gets from the grill, and the fat they leave behind seasons the onions.
🧰 You'll need 6 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Appliances
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 300°F. In a 6- to 7-quart oven-safe Dutch oven with a tight lid, cook the bacon over medium heat 5 to 6 minutes, until lightly browned. Lift it onto a plate.
- Step 2
Add the sausages to the fat and brown them on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes (they do not need to cook through yet). Lift them onto the plate and cut each in half.
- Step 3
Turn off the heat. Layer in the pot, from the bottom: the onions, then the bacon, then the sausages, then the potatoes, seasoning each layer with salt, pepper and a little parsley.
- Step 4
Pour the stock over the top. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, about 6 minutes, then cover tightly.
- Step 5
Move the pot to the oven and bake 2 1/2 hours. Check after 2 hours and add a splash of stock if it looks dry. The potatoes should be soft and the sausages should read 160°F.
- Step 6
Spoon into deep bowls with plenty of the broth, scatter with parsley and serve with soda bread to mop it up.
Dublin Coddle
Serves 6 · one 7-quart pot · 3 hr 10 min total
Meat
- 8 oz thick-cut bacon (227 g), cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 lb fresh pork sausages (454 g), such as Irish-style bangers or pork breakfast links
Layers
- 3 onions (450 g), thinly sliced
- 4 lb potatoes (1.8 kg), peeled; quarter the big ones, leave small ones whole
- 4 tbsp chopped parsley, plus more to serve
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 cups ham, chicken or beef stock, plus more as needed
To serve
- Irish soda bread and butter
Equipment: Oven, Dutch oven, Instant-read thermometer, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Mixing bowls
Method
- Heat the oven to 300°F. In a 6- to 7-quart oven-safe Dutch oven with a tight lid, cook the bacon over medium heat 5 to 6 minutes, until lightly browned. Lift it onto a plate.
- Add the sausages to the fat and brown them on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes (they do not need to cook through yet). Lift them onto the plate and cut each in half.
- Turn off the heat. Layer in the pot, from the bottom: the onions, then the bacon, then the sausages, then the potatoes, seasoning each layer with salt, pepper and a little parsley.
- Pour the stock over the top. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, about 6 minutes, then cover tightly.
- Move the pot to the oven and bake 2 1/2 hours. Check after 2 hours and add a splash of stock if it looks dry. The potatoes should be soft and the sausages should read 160°F.
- Spoon into deep bowls with plenty of the broth, scatter with parsley and serve with soda bread to mop it up.
Adapted from IrishCentral's "Dublin Coddle" (for 4 to 6; 4 lb potatoes, 1 lb sausages, 1 lb thick-cut bacon, 3 onions, a little under a pint of stock, 4 tbsp parsley; layered and baked at 300°F for 3 to 5 hours). Changes: we brown the bacon and sausages in the same pot instead of under a grill, use 8 oz bacon instead of 1 lb to keep it under budget, use 2 cups stock, and bake 2 1/2 hours (check at 2), the short end of the source's window. Estimated cost: about $15.10 for the pot, about $2.52 a serving. irishcentral.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Estimated cost: about $2.52 a serving, about $15.10 for the pot.
- Fresh pork sausages must reach 160°F (FSIS); after 2 1/2 hours they are far past it.
- IrishCentral says a dash of Guinness near the end "won't do the dish any harm."
- Make-ahead: it holds in a low oven for another hour, which is the whole point of the dish.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Coddle was Jonathan Swift's favorite dish. Folklore: Wikipedia says "reputedly"; IrishCentral states it without a source.
- Coddle was made to keep warm for husbands coming home from the pub. Folklore (IrishCentral, no source).
- Coddle used up meat on Thursday before meatless Friday. Folklore (IrishCentral, no source).
- Coddle dates to the 1700s. Disputed: IrishCentral says so; Wikipedia gives no date.
- Brown the sausages, or not? Disputed: IrishCentral grills them first; Wikipedia describes them braised in the broth from boiling the bacon and sausages.
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