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Ham and Cabbage Soup

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Ham and Cabbage Soup is a family favorite that has been passed down through the generations. Turn a leftover meaty hambone into a dish that will have you going back for another bowl.

Ham and Cabbage Soup

This post has been updated with new pictures and such.

Whenever I see or smell ham and cabbage soup, I think about a brief moment in time (late 80’s perhaps?) when my parents dove head first into the “Cabbage Soup Diet” phenomenon.

They had successfully kicked the smoking habit and were now determined to lose a few pounds and declare themselves in optimum health and cabbage soup was going to get them there. For the span of what seemed like a forever, there was a bottomless pot of cabbage soup bubbling away on the stove.

The smell permeated everything in the house, including my parents, and I decided then and there that I despised cooked cabbage of any sort. In hindsight, I’m sure that the fad diet didn’t sustain itself for very long in our house since my own father cannot eat the same meal twice in one week much less 3 or 4 times a day, but nevertheless, cooked cabbage did not cross my lips until I was nearly 30.

Ham and Cabbage Soup

The catalyst that brought down my loathing of cooked cabbage was my husband’s ham and cabbage soup, a relic of his family that he brought into our marriage along with chicken tortilla casserole and Godfather meatloaf (the meal that stole my heart).

The first time he made this soup I eyed it with suspicion, but it smelled delicious, so I steeled myself…and ate 2 bowls in one sitting.

Ham and Cabbage Soup

Fast forward a few years, and I now search for a reason to cook a ham so that we can make a vat of this ham and cabbage soup to sustain us for a good week. Maybe I’ll start my own “diet”, although I will keep the leftovers in the fridge.

Using a frozen leftover ham bone

I will often wrap our leftover holiday ham bone in plastic or aluminum foil and stash it in the freezer until I have time to make this soup. There’s no special thing that you need to do, just plop the frozen bone in the pot and maybe give the soup an extra 15 minutes or so.

Do you HAVE to have a ham bone?

I’m not going to tell you that you absolutely positively HAVE to have a ham bone for this soup – but you should try really hard to get one. You could simply use leftover ham that is in large chunks that you can shred after cooking. The point of the bone is to make an amazing broth. It’s a simple soup – you don’t want to cut too many corners if you can help it.

Can you Freeze Ham and Cabbage Soup?

Absolutely.

I do it all the time. Cool the soup completely in the fridge then ladle into freezer safe containers. It should keep for several months.

Click play on the video and let Blaine show you how to make this recipe from start to finish!

Ham and Cabbage Soup in a bowl

Ham and Cabbage Soup

Ham and Cabbage Soup is an old family recipe that relies upon a hambone and a handful of chili powder for flavor. The combination of these simple ingredients is outstanding. 
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Course: dinner
Cuisine: american
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 187kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 meaty hambone
  • 12 cups water
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 whole carrot
  • ½ onion
  • 2 teaspoons beef base
  • 2 Tablespoons chili powder
  • ½ teaspoons salt
  • ½ teaspoons pepper
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1 green bell pepper diced
  • ½ cup shredded carrot
  • 1 small head cabbage cored and shredded
  • 2 medium potatoes peeled and cubed

Instructions

  • In a stock pot, submerge the hambone, celery stalk, whole carrot and half onion in the water. Boil for 30-45 minutes or until the meat begins to easily fall off the hambone. Remove the hambone and vegetables from the broth. Discard veggies and shred the meat from the bone and set aside.
  • Stir in the beef base, chili powder and salt and pepper to the ham broth and bring to a simmer. Add the diced onion, shredded carrot, bell pepper, cabbage and potatoes and simmer until the cabbage is tender and the potatoes are cooked through. Stir the shredded ham back into the soup to reheat. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 187kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 505mg | Potassium: 832mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 3930IU | Vitamin C: 80.9mg | Calcium: 107mg | Iron: 1.9mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TwoLuckySpoons or tag #twoluckyspoons!

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Filed Under: Dinner, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soup Tagged With: & Casseroles, budget, cabbage, ham soup, how to make cabbage soup, soup, Soups, Stews

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Diane says

    December 12, 2016 at 9:13 pm

    Can’t seem to access your recipe for ham and cabbage soup. I so want to try it . It looks delicious! Is there any way you could e-mail it to me or post it again? Thanks so much, Diane

    Reply
    • jodiemo says

      December 12, 2016 at 9:24 pm

      I’m so sorry! I’ve been struggling with some technical issues lately. Here it is!

      Ham and Cabbage Soup
      Servings 8 -10 servings
      Ingredients
      1 meaty hambone
      12 cups water
      1 celery stalk
      1 whole carrot
      ½ onion
      2 t . beef base
      ½ T . chili powder
      ½ t . salt
      ½ t . pepper
      1 small onion diced
      1 green bell pepper diced
      ½ cup shredded carrot
      1 small head cabbage cored and shredded
      2 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
      Instructions
      In a stock pot, submerge the hambone, celery stalk, whole carrot and half onion in the water. Boil for 30 minutes or until the meat begins to easily fall off the hambone. Remove the hambone and vegetables from the broth. Discard veggies and shred the meat from the bone and set aside.
      Stir in the beef base, chili powder and salt and pepper to the ham broth and bring to a simmer. Add the diced onion, shredded carrot, bell pepper, cabbage and potatoes and simmer until the cabbage is tender and the potatoes are cooked through. Stir the shredded ham back into the soup to reheat. Serve and enjoy!

      Reply
      • Belinda Huffman says

        November 26, 2017 at 8:46 am

        Hello, this sounds so yummy!
        But what is Beef Base? Is that
        bouillon?
        Thanks!

        Reply
        • jodiemo says

          November 26, 2017 at 9:11 am

          Hi Belinda!
          Beef base is sort of like bouillon but its more like a paste. I believe Better Than Bouillon makes a beef base that you can find most anywhere.
          Hope that helps!

          Reply
  2. Michael says

    December 25, 2016 at 1:24 pm

    Making this right now!!!

    Reply
    • jodiemo says

      December 25, 2016 at 3:58 pm

      Awesome! Enjoy! It’s one of our favorites!

      Reply
  3. Jan says

    January 15, 2017 at 10:04 pm

    Do you need to have a ham bone or can you just make it with ham?

    Reply
    • jodiemo says

      January 15, 2017 at 10:15 pm

      You need a hambone. It makes the broth that makes this so delicious. Ask the guy at the meat counter if they have one you can buy. You would be surprised what they have back there.
      Great question! Thanks so much!

      Reply
  4. Sandra Opperman says

    February 5, 2017 at 5:01 pm

    Making this with cottage ham, will get back with my results…thanks!!!

    Reply
    • jodiemo says

      February 6, 2017 at 7:53 am

      Let me know how it goes! I’ve never tried it with a cottage ham before.

      Reply
  5. Gene Sloan says

    March 23, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    4 stars
    I wasn’t blessed enuf to find a ham bone. So I used cubed or diced ham from grocery shelf. Hopefully, flavor wont be affected too badly! But the only time i wver cooked cabbage was for the annual St. PADDY’S day Corned beef meal. So, I like the soup idea, and I plan on making it tomorrow.

    Reply
    • jodiemo says

      March 23, 2017 at 8:17 pm

      You’ll be fine with that. If I were you, I would sub the water with a little chicken broth instead of trying to make ham broth with a bone. Just go from step 2. It should be pretty tasty. Not exactly like original but close.

      Reply
  6. Dacia says

    March 24, 2017 at 5:31 pm

    5 stars
    I’ve made this twice now and it’s excellent! I make cornbread and crumble it on top of the bowl when serving. Delish!! It was the perfect dish today since we had a snow day. If you’re thinking about making this, DO IT!

    Reply
    • jodiemo says

      March 24, 2017 at 7:57 pm

      Thank you so much for the excellent comment!!
      We always have cornbread with this soup. It’s the perfect accompaniment!

      Reply
      • Heather says

        October 15, 2018 at 3:24 pm

        I have a leftover ham/hambone.. it still has the skin.. do I eliminate that before or after boiling or does it matter? Thanks! My first time ever making this.. or any soup lol

        Reply
        • jodiemo says

          October 16, 2018 at 6:53 am

          Hey Heather! Great question. The skin of the ham can stay on while you cook it. It’ll provide flavor and be easier to remove once it’s been boiled for a while. You’ll probably want to get rid of any dry tough skin pieces before you sit down to enjoy this soup. Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

          Reply
  7. Lizzy says

    April 18, 2017 at 6:48 pm

    I was wondering how many carbs are in this recipe? I’m on a low carb diet and I’m counting carbs. TIA

    Reply
    • jodiemo says

      April 18, 2017 at 7:54 pm

      Hi Lizzy!
      So, I’m no dietician but when I input all of the ingredients into MyFitnessPal, it gives me about 36g of carbs per serving. You could leave out or reduce the potatoes if you wanted to get it lower than that. It would still be delicious! Thanks for stopping by!

      Reply

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