These Irish Halloween recipes are centuries old, but are still wholesome and delicious for all your spooky costumed party monsters!
Hosting a Halloween party? You'll have to get some real food into your guests' bellies before diving into all that candy!
Check out these traditional Irish recipes for Halloween:
Irish Colcannon recipe for Halloween
Colcannon is a traditional Irish potato dish eaten on Halloween. Its unique, yet simple recipe has become popular around the world. It usually includes chopped kale, cabbage, or green cabbage mixed with hot, floury, mashed potatoes.
This tasty dish is a popular favorite at Oíche Shamhna (Halloween) and iseasy to make,especially with the kids. The word colcannon is from the Irishcal ceannan,which literally means "white-headed cabbage."
In the past, as is done with barmbrack, charms were mixed into the colcannon. Charms found were seen as a portent for the future. A button meant you would remain a bachelor, and a thimble meant you would remain a spinster for the coming year. A ring meant you would get married, and a coin meant you would come into wealth.
Some women filled their socks with colcannon and hung them from the handle of the front door in the belief that the first man through the door would become their future husband.
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Colcannon (Getty Images)
Colcannon Ingredients:
- 4 lbs potatoes, or about 7-8 large potatoes (‘old’ potatoes or russet potatoes are best, waxy potatoes won’t do)
- 1 green cabbage or Kale
- 1 cup milk or cream
- 1 stick of butter, divided into three parts
- 4-5 scallions (green onions), chopped
- Salt and Pepper
- Fresh Parsley or chives *Not everyone adds scallions to colcannon, but they are worth having, in my opinion.
How to make Colcannon:
- Peel and boil the potatoes. Remove the core from the cabbage, slice it thinly, and place into a large saucepan. Cover with boiling water and keep at a slow rolling boil until the cabbage is just wilted and has turned a darker green. This can take between 3-5 minutes, depending on the cabbage. Test it and don’t let it overcook. If anything, it should be slightly undercooked.
- When the cabbage is cooked, drain it well and squeeze to get any excess moisture out, then return to the saucepan.
- Add one-third of the butter and cover. Leave it covered and in a warm place, but not on a burner, with the butter melting gently into it while you continue.
- When the potatoes are soft, drain, and then return to the saucepan with the drained potatoes in. Put burner to low, leaving the lid off so that any excess moisture can evaporate.
- When they are perfectly dry, add the milk to the saucepan along with a third of the butter and the chopped scallions (if you are using them). Allow the milk to warm but not boil – it is about right when the butter has fully melted into it and it starts to steam.
- With a potato masher or a fork, mash the potatoes thoroughly into the butter/milk mixture. Do NOT pass through a ricer or, worse, beat in a mixer as it will make the potatoes gluey and disgusting.
- Mix the cabbage thoroughly through the mashed potato.
- Before serving, season with a pinch of salt and sprinkle with fresh parsley or chives. Most importantly, make a well in the center of the mound of potato and put the last third of the butter in there to melt.
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Irish Barmbrack recipe for Halloween
In the weeks leading up to Halloween, homes are littered with the delicious treat known as barmbrack, which is an Irish fruit loaf. The title comes from the Irish 'bairín breac' which literally means 'speckled loaf.'
Traditionally in Ireland, each member of the family would get a slice of the cake. But you had to be careful when chewing the delicious treat, as there were several charms hidden inside, wrapped in baking paper, which signified omens for the finder's future.
If you found a ring, you’re in for some romance. If you got the coin, then you're in for a prosperous year, but if you found the rag then your financial future was in doubt. If you find the thimble, then you will never marry! Nowadays, all barmbracks sold in Irish shops around Halloween contain a ring.
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Halloween Barmbrack (Getty Images)
Barmbrack Ingredients:
- 375g dried fruit
- 300ml cold tea
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 125g caster sugar
- Honey or Golden Syrup (optional – for decoration)
How to make Barmbrack:
- Soak the fruit in tea overnight, then drain. Mix together with the rest of the ingredients (apart from the honey/golden syrup) and stir in the charms. Don’t over knead the dough or your delicately re-hydrated fruit will break up.
- Line the base of a 20cm round cake tin or 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Grease the tin and pile in the mixture.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 340F for about an hour until risen and firm to the touch.
- You can brush melted honey or golden syrup over the brack before cutting. Or glaze the 'brack with a syrup made from two teaspoons of sugar dissolved in three teaspoons of boiling water.
* Originally published in October 2010, updated in October 2023.
FAQs
Colcannon is a hearty dish that has been eaten on Halloween night for years. Traditionally, a ring was hidden in the dish, and whoever was to find it would be likely to marry in the upcoming year! Colcannon was even paired with a little poem: Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?
What do Irish people eat on Halloween? ›
Colcannon, simple and uniquely Irish, has become popular all around the world. Made with potatoes mashed and mixed with chopped kale or green cabbage and onions, it is a lovely warming autumnal dish to have on Halloween night before you head out for an evening of fun and mischief.
What items are in the Halloween barmbrack? ›
The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune-telling game.In the cake were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), a ring, and a bean.
What is the Irish tradition of barmbrack? ›
It is tradition to add objects to the barmbrack which symbolize certain things for the person who receives it in their slice: a coin — wealth or good fortune; a ring — will marry within the year; a bean — poverty; a pea — will not marry within the year; a matchstick — unhappy marriage; a thimble — single for life.
What is barnbrack and why do the Irish eat it at Halloween? ›
Barmbrack (Irish: bairín breac), also often shortened to brack, is a yeast bread with added sultanas and raisins. The bread is associated with Halloween in Ireland, where an item (often a ring) is placed inside the bread, with the person receiving it considered to be fortunate.
What is the meaning of the word colcannon? ›
Colcannon is a mixture of cooked and shredded cabbage and mashed potatoes. The word colcannon is derived from the Gaelic term cal ceannann, which means "white-headed cabbage" — the vegetable most commonly mixed with potatoes in this dish.
What is Irish Halloween called? ›
In modern times, Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “SAH-win”) is usually celebrated from October 31 to November 1 to welcome in the harvest and usher in “the dark half of the year.” Celebrants believe that the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world break down during Samhain, allowing more interaction ...
What did Irish people call Halloween? ›
Today wildly popular in America with costumed children as well as made famous by Mexico's Day of the Dead, the festival of Halloween actually originated in Ireland as a pagan festival called Samhain (pronounced saw-when), with traditions stretching back thousands of years.
What food is Samhain in Ireland? ›
Turnips, apples and apple cider, mulled wines, gourds, nuts, beef, pork, poultry, ale – the Samhain recipes concocted from the harvest brought the community together as work halted, feasting started and the Celts ate the fruits of their labour, told stories and tried to predict their fortunes in the future.
How do you eat barmbrack? ›
As its Irish language name bairín breac (speckled bread) suggests, barmbrack has much in common with the Welsh bara brith: a plain, yet richly fruited bread that's well suited to a generous topping of butter, and an excellent accompaniment to a pot of tea.
The most common symbols are a pea, a matchstick, a piece of cloth, a coin, a thimble, and a ring. Of these, the only ones worth having are the coin (unsurprisingly a predictor of wealth) and the ring - but only if you're single and in the market for getting hitched, as it is said to indicate an impending marriage.
What do Irish people decorate their homes with during Halloween? ›
Carving pumpkins is an American Halloween tradition that has been enthusiastically adopted in Ireland in the last few years. But Ireland didn't have pumpkins until very recently. So originally it was Turnips that were carved into spooky lanterns to scare off spirits or find your way on a dark Samhain eve!
Why do you put a ring in barmbrack? ›
Barmbrack: whoever got the ring would marry, whoever got the cloth would be a nun and whoever got the stick would never marry. From the Jack-o-Lantern to the idea of spirits roaming the world for a night, many modern Halloween traditions can trace their roots back to Ireland.
What does the ring in barmbrack mean? ›
The bread was used as a type of fortune telling game. Each hidden item, when received in a slice, had a different meaning. Usually related to marriage or riches. Ring: receiving a ring would mean that you would be wed within the year.
What do the items in barmbrack mean? ›
Each item had a special significance for the person who discovered it in their slice of cake. The person who received the pea wouldn't marry that year; the stick meant an unhappy marriage; the cloth indicated poverty and the coin riches; while the person who found the ring would wed within the year.
Why did people give out potatoes for Halloween? ›
While it may just be a coincidence, the tie-in between the Celtic origins of Halloween and the Irish potato famine with this potato trend makes sense. So, potatoes for Halloween may be a silly treat to get, but it's far from one of the worst treats to get in your trick-or-treat bag.
What is the history of colcannon? ›
The name comes from the Gaelic phrase “cal ceannan,” which means “white-headed cabbage”. One of the earliest written references to colcannon comes from the diary of William Bulkeley, who wrote on October 31, 1735 while on a visit to Dublin: “Dined at Coz.
What is the Halloween potato tradition? ›
Pat Foy began handing out potatoes to trick or treaters in Lancaster, Pennsylvania nearly 20 years ago. He told Potatoes USA the tradition started as a joke and a way to provide a healthier treat than candy. “I'm of Irish descent, so potatoes made sense.
How do the Irish celebrate Halloween? ›
With such a cultural influence, Halloween today in Ireland is celebrated very much the same as in the States. Adults and children dress up as witches, ghosts, zombies and all kind of macabre figures and go to fancy dress parties or go out trick or treating.
