St. Patrick’s Day food can be a fun way to celebrate the holiday. Fortunately, many traditional St. Patrick’s Day foods are pretty IC friendly or can be made IC friendly. You don’t have to miss out on celebrating just because your bladder is sensitive. Lots of savory and sweet Irish dishes can make your taste buds dance a jig but not your bladder!

(If drinking beer is something you’re interested in for St. Patrick’s Day, check out this post from ICN Founder, Jill Osborne.)

Irish Soda Bread

Who doesn’t love good bread? Irish soda bread is a great St. Patrick’s Day food because it’s easy to make and combines a bit of savory and sweet into one. Irish soda bread is made with buttermilk, which is in the Foods Worth Trying category of the ICN Food List. If you are really flaring and hesitant to try it, use regular milk instead and lose a bit of flavor. The other potentially iffy component of Irish soda bread is currants or raisins, both of which also fall into the Foods Worth Trying category. Just proceed with caution if you aren’t sure about how your bladder reacts to them.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Another very traditional St. Patrick’s Day food dish is corned beef and cabbage. You can prepare it traditionally or with a twist. Be sure to look for mild corned beef and use some caution because it is in the Foods Worth Trying category. Avoid heavily spiced and/or preserved corned beef. If you’re going the completely from-scratch route for the corned beef, beef brisket has the all-clear in the Usually Bladder Friendly category. Just be careful with your spices.

Speaking of spices, let’s talk about that spice packet that comes with corned beef. The spice blends in the packet can vary based on brands. But, they usually include peppercorns, bay leaves, mustard seeds and dill seeds. Other spices may be added in as well.(1) If you want to control all of the ingredients going into your corned beef, you can make your own spice blend instead. Alternatively, you can leave out the spices completely for a milder version.

Shepherd’s Pies

Shepherd’s pies are a hearty option for St. Patrick’s Day food to tickle your taste buds and fill your belly. You can make them with lamb or beef topped with mashed potatoes, all of which are bladder friendly. It’s a delicious dish you’ll want to add into your wintertime cooking rotation!

Lamb

  • Shepherd’s Pies with Lamb: Check out Wolfgang Puck’s recipe for shepherd’s pie. Most of the ingredients are bladder friendly, but be aware that leeks are in the Foods Worth Trying category and skip the horseradish which is in the Foods to Avoid category.
  • Easy Shepherd’s Pie: The only troublesome ingredient here is the teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, which is in the Foods to Avoid category. Just omit it.
  • Irish Shepherd’s Pie: Ingredients to watch out for in this recipe are the paprika (Foods to Avoid category), ketchup (Foods Worth Trying category) and cayenne pepper (Foods to Avoid category). The recipe also calls for black pepper to taste. You can use a small amount or omit it completely.

Beef

  • Shepherd’s Pie: This recipe includes a bit of sour cream and onion. Cooked, though, both items should be more bladder friendly than uncooked. Either way, you may want to be a bit cautious since this recipe uses them together.
  • Classic Beef Shepherd’s Pie

Colcannon

You can certainly make mashed potatoes more of a St. Patrick’s Day food by adding green food coloring, but why not make colcannon instead? This tasty version of Irish mashed potatoes includes cabbage or kale to give it additional flavor and color.

Other Savory St. Patrick’s Day Food

Some other dishes are great for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day as well, even though they aren’t as popular or well known. Of course you can use food coloring to make food green, but why not try one of these more Irish-themed dishes instead?

  • Irish Style Roasted Pork with Crackling: Finding an Irish roasted pork recipe that doesn’t use vinegar or alcohol is difficult, but this recipe uses neither. The only problematic ingredient is black pepper, which it says to add to taste. So you can use just a small amount or omit it completely.
  • Instant Pot Irish Cheddar Bacon Mac and Cheese: Just omit the cayenne pepper and stick with mild cheddar cheese, and you’re good to go with this scrumptious recipe.
  • Irish Potato Soup
  • Pasta with Basil Sauce: Make your own fresh basil pesto sauce for a green pasta dinner. The only ingredient to watch out for is the pine nuts or walnuts, which are in the Foods Worth Trying category.

St. Patrick’s Day Sweets

Finish your meal off by satisfying your sweet tooth on St. Patrick’s Day. Use green food coloring to make white iced sugar cookies or vanilla cupcakes with a festive flare. Or try one of these mouth-watering treats!

References:

  1. Thomas J. What Spices Come in a Packet with Corned Beef?. eHow. May 31, 2019.