This ham and cabbage soup recipe is hearty, healthy, and tastes incredible! This easy soup is ready in about 30 minutes.
Cabbage soup may not sound like the most exciting meal, but trust me, this version with ham, carrots, and onions is delicious! Much like many of our cabbage recipes, this soup is nutritious, low-calorie, and tastes fantastic!
Since cabbage shrinks and softens when cooked, you can add a lot to the pot. In this ham and cabbage soup, we call for eight cups of chopped cabbage, and you could probably stir in quite a bit more. It’s so good! For another soup, try this cabbage soup, or for another recipe with ham, try our easy split pea soup.
Key Ingredients
- Ham: I use a boneless ham steak for this soup. If you have bone-in ham, use it! Just cut it away from the bone, then add the bone to the soup as it simmers (it should add a bit more flavor). Remove it before serving.
- Cabbage: Use regular white cabbage for this soup. I like how it softens as it simmers. If you have leftover cabbage, consider using it in one of our other cabbage recipes!
- Veggies: In addition to the cabbage, we saute onion, carrots, garlic, and rosemary before adding broth to this soup. They create a flavorful base. Fresh or dried rosemary will work. I’ve given amounts for both in the recipe below.
- Tomatoes: I add a small can of tomatoes to the soup, but fresh tomatoes work fine. See the tip below the recipe for substituting fresh tomatoes.
- Broth: Any light broth or stock works in this cabbage soup recipe. My go-to’s are chicken stock, chicken broth, ham stock, and vegetable broth.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Ham and Cabbage Soup
Tip 1: Make the soup in one pot. To make this soup, you’ll cook the onion, carrots, and ham in a big pot and then add the rest of the ingredients. It comes together quickly and only needs to simmer for about 20 minutes before you can dig in.
Tip 2: Add ham for extra flavor. As the soup simmers, the ham flavors and seasons the broth. The soup becomes rich, hearty, and ultra-flavorful. If you don’t have any ham on hand or do not eat meat, you can leave the ham out. It will still be terrific.
Tip 3: Use lots of cabbage. Since cabbage shrinks and softens when it’s cooked, you can add lots of it to the pot. We add eight cups of chopped cabbage to this easy cabbage soup, and to be honest, you could probably stir in quite a bit more.
More Soup Recipes
- Lemon Turmeric Lentil Soup
- Sauerkraut Soup
- Easy Taco Soup
- Browse all of our soup recipes
Easy Ham and Cabbage Soup
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This ham and cabbage soup recipe is hearty, healthy, easy to make, and tastes fantastic. Before adding the ham to the soup, taste it to see how salty it is. You may not need to add salt to the soup, depending on the salt level. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the soup a few times during cooking.
I love this soup with a side of crusty bread or homemade focaccia. Homemade garlic bread would be pretty amazing, too!
You Will Need
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped, about 2 cups
4 medium carrots, chopped, about 2 cups
8 ounces boneless ham steak, cubed, about 1 ½ cups
1 tablespoon minced garlic, 3 cloves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
8 cups chopped white cabbage, about 1 ½ pounds
1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes with juices
6 cups (1.4L) low-sodium chicken stock, ham stock, or vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
Salt, to taste
3 lemon slices or more to taste
Directions
1Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
2Add the onions, carrots, and cubed ham. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened and the onions are translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.
3Add the garlic, rosemary, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, for one minute.
4Stir in the cabbage, and then pour in the canned tomatoes and their juices, as well as the stock. Add the bay leaves.
5Raise the heat to medium-high and bring the soup to a boil. Taste and adjust the salt. The ham adds some salt to the soup, so you may not need much additional seasoning.
6Partially cover the pot with a lid, and then reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the cabbage and other vegetables are tender.
7Remove the pot from the heat and remove the bay leaves.
8Stir in the lemon slices and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Taste and season with more salt and pepper. Serve.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Place the leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge and store it for up to 3 days or a month in the freezer.
- Why lemon slices? While we don’t actually eat lemon slices, adding them to the soup brightens up the flavors a bit. You can also squeeze in fresh lemon juice or use vinegar, such as apple cider vinegar or wine vinegar.
- Use fresh tomatoes: Substitute about 1 pound (5 to 6 tomatoes) for 1 (15oz) can of diced tomatoes.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
It’s simmering on my stove as I write this. Smells great. I added two Yukon cubed potatoes and a stalk of celery. Looking forward to eating this. Don’t have any lemon slices so I guess I’ll use the apple cider vinegar suggestion. I had way too much ham leftover from thanksgiving, I’m a party of one, so appreciate this soup even more. Thank you because I didn’t like the other recipes I saw for Cabbage soup with ham.
Aaliya
I added celery and potatoes, my son really wants to eat healty, lots of protein and vegetables, he absolutly loved it, thank you definetly a keeper, so easy thank you
So glad you loved it!
This soup was really good and will become a regular in our rotation, so thank you. The only changes I were that I used 28 ounce can of tomato and I did not use lemon slices because I used a chicken stock that had lemon in it (Pacific Foods Chicken Stock with lemon balm and sage). I liked it so much, that is probably what I’ll stick with. Thank you for the new recipe.
So happy you enjoyed it, Renee!
My wife kept asking me to make some cabbage soup. I’m quite a cook but I thought well let’s give this a try. Her response was it’s absolutely fabulous. Thank you for sharing. I will make it again in the future. Probably quite a bit.
I’ve made this soup twice. Used ham from a leftover bone. First time, took it to a pot luck at work. It was sooo good, 2 people asked for the recipe. I love the lemon freshness in it. Plus, it’s inexpensive to make. Totally a favorite!
Made your soup today. Absolutely delicious. Took some to aging parents who wanted it straight away. They loved it. Good job. I also used ham off bone and added a small handful of rice. Thanks for the great recipe.
Made this soup in the instant pot and it worked out awesome. Made a few slight modifications by using fresh cherry tomatoes as opposed to canned and 1 tsp garlic powder as I ran out of fresh garlic in my pantry. And it tasted great! My husband and kiddo didn’t like the sounds of ham and cabbage soup but ended up finishing up their bowls and with request for seconds. So bookmarking this recipe for sure!
So happy that your family loved it. Fresh tomatoes would be delicious!
Made this soup and it was fabulous. Minor changes, I switched to beef steak instead of ham steak and added a good dollop of fresh parmesan cheese(grated) to each serving. Thank you Inspired Taste.
This soup is so yummy. I’m keeping this recipe there will be no more looking for Ham Cabbage Soup from me or my family. While my soup slowly cooked the flavours build the aroma in my house was amazing. Putting the lemon in gave it a wow factor that I never imagined. I used left over ham with bone, not a ham steak. Took the bone out after while, and I put more then a pinch of red pepper flakes in, yes to many but still very very good. Put some sour cream in the bowl for my hubby as a little to spicy for him. Will make again and again. Thank you I LOVE THIS RECIPE.
This was a really yummy soup I have to say! I did moderate slightly by using some leftover marinara sauce and the 1/4cup of apple cider vinegar as suggested by Soupman! Definitely a keeper and looking forward to the leftovers tonight!😋
Skip the lemon. Try adding 1/4c apple cider vinegar
Excellent soup. The flavor was amazing! 5 Stars
I drive an awful lot with my job, and on the way home I usually think about what I’m going to cook for my wife and myself for dinner. I stopped in front of the grocery store in our little small town tonight and bought everything in this recipe, just as written. I had to call my wife on her way home to ask her to pick up a lemon, I forgot that. She came home, we had dinner, and I moved this recipe to the front of my recipe binder with a huge star on it. It’s a little more than amazing, this is Michelin Star worthy. Thank you very much! Very impressive.
Our weather got too hot & muggy again for soup making, but I’m looking forward to making it soon! ThNK YOU
Think this is the best coleslaw I’ve ever had. Thank you!
this is wonderful soup! I was a little surprised by the addition of rosemary since I have never thought that cabbage and rosemary would work well together. I was wrong, it was perfect. Did not use the lemon as the soup was delicious on it’s own. thanks for a great recipe.
Made this recipe yesterday in the crock pot. Followed it almost exactly but added some celery that I had leftover from Christmas and a dash of dry oregano. It was so good! Even my sometimes picky hubby (that doesn’t always like cabbage) loved it! Great way to use up leftover ham!
I really meant to follow this recipe religiously but the pantry was bare of tomatoes! I did find a jar of marinara sauce which I used…sorry. Then, I had to adjust the herbs…just reduced the amounts a bit. The end result was awesome! Will definitely make this again using the canned tomatoes. Thank you so much!
This was a tasty recipe. Followed to a tee except added 1 tbsp minced parsley before serving. I will keep as one of my favorites!
This looks so good and better than my cabbage soup recipe! I can’t wait to make it myself:)
Doubled this recipe to fill a large crockpot for coworkers, but made the soup at home on my stovetop. The soup was fantastic! Highlights : inexpensive ingredients, lemon slices a unique flavor idea, cooks up quickly ! Loved it.
The whole family LOVED this soup!! It made 3 full meals and the kids took it for lunch, too!
As a Nutritionist, I appreciate this recipe with all healthy ingredients. It is really a healthy and delicious food with full of nutrients. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, I will try at home.
I made this yesterday. I left out the lemons at the end because this was so delicious while it was cooking that I didn’t think it needed anything else. The smell alone will make you hungry. Had a piece of old-fashioned corn bread to go with it and OMG, what a meal!