Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Dublin Coddle
A pale one-pot Dublin stew of pork sausages, bacon, onions and potatoes gently simmered in a light broth until the potatoes begin to thicken it.
Irish · easy · serves 5
prep 20 min · cook 120 min
~735 cal · 25g protein · 42g carbs · 52g fat · 5g fiber · 6g sugars · 19g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Coddle is Dublin’s thrifty one-pot supper, eaten in the city since at least the eighteenth century. The name comes from the verb "to coddle", to cook something gently in water just below the boil, and that low, slow is the whole method: sausages, rashers of bacon, onions and potatoes layered in a pot and left to cook until the potatoes soften and start to thicken the liquid.
It grew out of using up what was to hand, traditionally the leftover sausages and bacon from the week, and was often eaten on a Thursday because Catholics did not eat meat on a Friday. The classic version is deliberately pale, not browned: the sausages and bacon go in without searing, and the broth stays a cloudy straw colour rather than a deep stew brown.
Dubliners are particular about plain, meaty pork sausages, never spicy or herby ones, and the bacon seasons the whole pot as it cooks. It is served in deep bowls with the broth, a scatter of parsley, and buttered soda bread to mop it up.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 5
8 good plain pork sausages
250 g streaky bacon or a bacon joint, diced
900 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
3 large onions, thickly sliced
1 litre chicken or ham
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, to finish
to taste salt and black pepper
Instructions
1
For the clearest broth, drop the sausages into boiling water for a minute or two, then lift them out. This step is optional but traditional.
✎ Chef’s note
A coddle is meant to be pale, not brown: skip searing the meat and the broth stays a cloudy straw colour, which is the point.
2
Layer the onions, bacon, sausages and potatoes in a heavy pot, seasoning lightly (the bacon is salty).
3
Pour in enough stock to almost cover, tuck in the bay leaf, and bring to a bare simmer. Do not let it boil hard.
4
Cover and cook gently for about 1.5 hours, until the potatoes are soft and starting to thicken the broth and the sausages are tender.
5
Check the seasoning, then serve in deep bowls with plenty of the pale broth, a scatter of parsley, and buttered soda bread.
Working-class Dublin tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Munster. Cork once ran the world's butter trade. The Butter Exchange opened in 1769 and graded every firkin that came down the mountain roads from Cork and Kerry, which made it for much of the nineteenth century the largest butter market anywhere, before it finally closed in 1924.
🗺️
Ireland. Corned beef and cabbage is Irish-American, not Irish: it took shape among immigrants in nineteenth-century American cities where beef was cheap and bacon was not. At home the pork tradition held, and the modern Irish kitchen leans hardest on what the wet grass supports, which is butter, cream, cheese and grass-fed beef and lamb.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Ireland
Irish StewA gentle, honest stew of lamb, potato, and onion slow-simmered into pure comfort.
Full Irish BreakfastThe great fry-up: eggs, sausage, rashers, black and white pudding, beans, tomato, and soda bread.
BoxtyA soft potato pancake made from both grated raw and mashed potato, griddled golden, an Irish comfort classic.
Browse all Ireland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Dublin Coddle?
A pale one-pot Dublin stew of pork sausages, bacon, onions and potatoes gently simmered in a light broth until the potatoes begin to thicken it.
Where does Dublin Coddle come from?
Dublin Coddle is a Irish dish from Munster, Ireland.
Can Dublin Coddle be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Dublin Coddle recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Dublin Coddle safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Dublin Coddle take to make?
About 140 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 120 minutes cooking), serving 5.
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