3 of Ina Garten’s Easiest St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with easy — and festive — St. Patrick’s Day recipes from Ina Garten. The Barefoot Contessa star has, for years, provided fans with meal ideas for every occasion from Valentine’s Day to Thanksgiving and March 17 is no exception. 

1. Irish soda bread  is a simple Ina Garten St. Patrick’s Day recipes

Ina Garten’s easy St. Patrick’s Day recipes start with a classic; Irish Soda Bread. The Barefoot Contessa version, like the majority of Garten’s dishes, is simple. 

“I might not be Irish but I still love to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by making Irish Soda Bread,” she said on her Barefoot Contessa site in March 2019. 

Her recipe calls for only nine ingredients, many of which are Barefoot Contessa pantry staples. She combines flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and, not before long, she has a fresh loaf of bread. 

Perhaps the best part is that there’s no waiting for the dough to rise like other bread recipes. It truly is one of Garten’s how easy is that? moments. “This is a really easy bread to make – no kneading required!” she said on her official Barefoot Contessa website in March 2019. 

On top of that, there’s no kneading the bread either. Serve it like Garten, “toasted for breakfast with good Irish butter,” for an easy St. Patrick’s Day recipe.

2. Make the ‘Barefoot Contessa’ host’s Irish scones using ingredients from the fridge and pantry for St. Patrick’s Day

For those who don’t want a St. Patrick’s Day treat that doesn’t require a trip to the grocery store turn to Garten’s Irish scones. They’re something of a crisis recipe for the Modern Comfort Food author because they’re so easy to make. 

“For St. Patrick’s Day, I made Irish Scones with jam and cream with ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry!” she said in March 2020. “If you don’t have currants, you can substitute the same amount of raisins, dried cranberries, chopped pecans – or anything delicious that you have!”

Similar to Garten’s Irish soda bread, her recipe for Irish scones is simple. It requires a relatively small number of ingredients. And, unsurprisingly, a lot of pantry items such as flour, sugar, salt, butter, baking powder, and eggs.

Additionally, follow Garten’s tips for light, flaky scones. It’s essential, according to the cookbook author, to use cold butter. “Cold bits of butter in the dough ensure flaky scones,” she said in Cook Like a Pro. “When the heat hits the bits of butter, the water in the butter turns to steam and makes the dough rise.”

Other crucial elements include kosher salt and not using too much flour by packing it in the measuring cup. Both of which, per Garten, make “all the difference” to the final outcome. 

3. Garten’s St. Patrick’s Day recipes Guinness brown bread has no yeast which makes for easy baking

Garten’s Irish Guinness brown bread is yet another how easy is that? moment. As the cooking show host explained, it’s “a classic Irish brown bread that’s easy because it’s made without yeast.”

Measure out the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, combine them, and pour the batter into a loaf before topping it with oats. 45 minutes later, Garten’s St. Patrick’s Day recipe is baked and ready to serve.