Prior to this taste test, I was under the impression that I kind of liked canned corned beef hash. I’ve eaten at plenty of crummy diners in my day, and they frequently serve hash from a can (the perfectly cubed potatoes and the mealy, pasty quality of the beef are dead giveaways). But, wow, sitting down to seven sloppy little helpings of the stuff really tested me. Yes, it’s my job to tell you what the best canned corned beef is, but, hey, maybe I could find another job? Or maybe a meteor is sailing toward Earth as we speak and I won’t have to taste all of these after all?
Incidentally, corned beef feels like an end-of-the-world food. In fact, if you’re reading this, maybe that meteor did strike and you’re boning up on which canned meats you should loot from your local abandoned grocery store. Congrats on surviving (so far)! Or maybe, just maybe, you simply like canned corned beef hash. I know I just went off, but there’s truly no shame in that. It’s cheap, filling and, I imagine, nostalgic for plenty of people (especially really, really old people who also remember eating dust soup in a Depression-era Hooverville). Unless the apocalypse comes sooner than later, I don’t see myself voluntarily eating canned hash again, but here’s what I was looking for: tender potatoes and good beef flavor—I shouldn’t have to actively consider what ground-up part of the cow or its insides I’m eating. Also, in a perfect world, corned beef hash shouldn’t taste like a can.
In the end, I can only really recommend a couple of the seven varieties I tried. Every brand I tasted was very similar. I couldn’t detect a huge difference in things like meat-to-potato ratio or overall quality of the meat (these are all more potato than meat). But, hey, you should bookmark this list of the best corned beef hash for the end times all the same.
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- Libby’s Corned Beef Hash
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To my eye, the can of Libby’s corned beef hash has just a little more beef than some of the other brands. If a little bit of very, very finely ground pink meat is going to give one brand an edge over another for you, buy Libby’s. This also had a little bit more of an intense beef flavor than our top pick. My recommendation: Cook this in a skillet if you’re making it at home—heating isn’t enough. Corned beef has to be browned to escape from dog-food territory.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Hormel Mary Kitchen Low-Sodium Corned Beef
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If the briny salinity of corned beef is too much for you (or your blood pressure), Hormel’s low-sodium corned beef is a totally decent option. It looks and tastes almost exactly like regular Hormel—which, spoiler, took the top spot on this list—but with a smoother, less jarring saltiness. It has everything you like about canned corned beef hash, with just a little less salt.
Credit: Merc / Ralphs
- Hormel Mary Kitchen Corned Beef Hash
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While being the best canned corned beef hash is sort of like being named the best toe to stub, Hormel wins all the same. The can is packed with finely ground meat and itty-bitty cubes of potato. It’s salty and filling and it doesn’t taste like can. It doesn’t taste all that much like corned beef either, but, like I said, it’s salty, so they have that in common. (I will say if any corned beef hash brands are considering going back to the drawing board, including some corning spices to amp up the corned beef flavor would be an excellent move!) In the meantime, Hormel has all sorts of ideas about how you should be using corned beef hash in non-apocalyptic situations. Remember when Sam Neill’s character plucked out his own eyeballs at the end of Event Horizon? That’s me after looking at hash recipes on Hormel’s website.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
Best Beef Flavor
Best Low-Sodium
Best of the Best
Other products we tried: Hormel Mary Kitchen Roast Beef Hash, Armour Corned Beef Hash, Signature Select Corned Beef Hash, Brookdale Corned Beef Hash
Share your favorite corned beef hash with us using #SporkedTasteTest for a chance to be featured on our social pages!
6/10 as the best you can buy, I love it.
I freaking love canned corn beef hash. A little sad six sporks was the best ranking, but happy to see corned beef hash make an appearance.
Love the hormel corned beef hash. Hope you all cooked it buy mushing in a frying pan and cooking until it was super crispy. Then mix it up and let it get crispy again. If not, try it again and that 6 might get at least to a 7.5 haha.
You can’t cook anything “buy” mushing it. You can “buy” it and then cook it “by” mushing it. Why do people keep butchering the English Language?
That’s the way English grammar is now. All the students get taught about alternative pronouns and how to identify with said pronouns. It’s a crying shame.
They should leave a review like this to someone who actually enjoys canned beef hash and not someone that compares it to canned dog food.
I just can’t understand why these companies cannot see a market for excellent corned beef hash. My wife slow cooked an actual corned beef recently for 10 hours, adding her own spices. Then she cubed some Yukon Yellow potatoes she has boiled and seasoned. She then put she stripped the fat from the cooled beef and cubed it into small cubes to match the size of the potatoes cubes, and made me some of the best homemade Corned Beef Hash I’ve ever had. Seriously, why can’t Hormel or any of the other brands make actual decent quality corned beef and can it to make a seriously good canned hash??? Why does it have to be mushy “beef?”
Wish I could edit this now!
Why would you even purchase canned corned beef hash, if your wife makes homemade?… 🤔🙄🤣
BECAUSE it’s time consuming! Plus cost of Corned Beef. Maybe U should try making your own.
My brother in law and myself rated the hash the same as you did. We are 65 years old and have eaten a lot of hash. Usually 2 times a week
What a delightful take on hash, considered by many ancient peoples to be the peak of human culinary achievement. I look forward to reading more reviews.
Have you tried Hereford house corned beef hash? It was the best for me and the only one that didn’t have the canned dog food smell. All I can find anymore is just the corned beef.
I beleive if you had tried this brand it would be on the list.
Happy eating. Thank you for your article.
“ Corned beef has to be browned to escape from dog-food territory.” You speak truth!
Who appointed the author as an expert on canned Corn Beef Hash? From her photo I’d say she is too young to know her bottom from a hole in the ground! (See how I cleaned that up!)
Really pushing the sarcasm button, aren’t you…
You look about as dumb as you write.
Why buy canned when St.Patricks day is right around the corner and buy some extra corned beef points! Sheeet, put them in a freezer and boil them up to shread with fried potatoes and onions? Hell yeah! Try some sauteed cabbage in that mix! Like crack… You’ll be back!
Great article