Ham Cabbage and Potato Soup

This is an easy delicious Ham, Cabbage, and Potato Soup and was a staple growing up in the 1960s in our home.

This dish will feed a large family inexpensively and it's packed with health benefits.

Ham and any kind of meat you have on hand, really enhance the flavors of this broth and perfect for using up leftovers!

My mom made this often after a big holiday ham dinner using the bone and some meat off of it to make this soup,

I love comfort soups like this and you can add just about anything you like in the pot to make it even heartier so don't skimp on adding more vegetables your family likes.

I still make this in her memory but more often during the year, it's really a family favorite soup and so simple to make.

The soup can be made in an instant pot, slow cooker or stovetop.

A healthy rich soup that is perfect with a loaf of crusty bread of saltine crackers to sop up the delicious broth but fabulous just the way it is.

Mom made many kinds of soups all winter long and this was a family favorite along with Grandma's Chicken Soup, Lentil Soup, and Minestrone, and of course, a famous Italian Wedding Soup is always welcome on our table!

Scroll down and print out the recipe.

this is a bowl of cabbage and ham with potatoes and carrots in a white bowl with a hunk of Italian bread on the bowl

Meat or Meatless

This low-carb soup can be made without meat and all vegetarian.

Cabbage will make the tastiest broth and you really just need to season it to taste with salt and herbs.

This cabbage soup recipe is very basic and you can adapt it to your taste.

We love to add more flavor with garlic and occasionally even add a can of diced tomatoes,

Below are many suggestions to add or omit and make it your own style recipe.

this is a big pot of ham cabbage and potato soup

Making the Broth

Let's take a minute to talk about the broth.

We used leftover meats to flavor the water with cabbage in it, usually ham or the bone from pork roast.

You can use canned chicken broth instead of water.

Also, start out adding boneless chicken to the water or leftover turkey to make a chicken/turkey broth.

The broth taste absolutely fine with just cabbage, however, if you want a richer broth, any kind of meat will enhance the broth.

Grandma would use rendered pork fat, bacon, even smoked meats or Italian sausage.

Whatever we had leftover from another meal would make soup, nothing went to waste.

this is ham inside a big pot of cabbage ham and potato soup

Cabbage Health Benefits and Dieting

You may or may not know that cabbage is recognized as a healthy way to lose weight and is great for any dieter.

Of course, you will want to eliminate the meat in it and just make a vegetable cabbage broth.

The cabbage limits calorie intake and helps lose weight quickly and it's a healthy alternative to many other foods.

A cabbage soup diet is low in complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and minerals, but it is written by health officials you should only stay on it a week at a time.

Cabbage is a good source of Vitamin C and Vitamin K.

this is how to make homemade soup with ham cabbage potatoes and carrots.

Suggestions To Add to the Pot of Ham and Cabbage Potato Soup

Whole or diced tomatoes
Carrots
Chopped Onions
Chopped celery or fennel
Whole cloves or cleaned garlic
White Beans
Cubed Zucchini
Sweet Potatoes cubed
Escarole
Spinach
Chicken
Turkey
Bacon
Pork
Steak
Kielbasa
Italian sausage sliced
Meatballs

Tools and Cooking Methods For Making Cabbage Soup

(Can be made in any below vessels)

Slow cooker
Pressure Cooker
Stovetop
Large Oven Proof Soup Pot
Instant Pot

this is a bowl of ham cabbage broth carrots and potato soup

A Comfort Soup

Mom would always have a house full growing up with friends and family coming over often.

She always made enough to feed an army and this soup was perfect to feed a large crowd!.

I have fond memories of mom with my school friends.

After school, my friends and I would walk home and they always wanted to stay for dinner.

Mom always had some kind of fabulous soup cooking like this huge pot of ham and cabbage with potatoes soup for those cold blustery days.

Living in Upstate Utica, New York, we had very long cold winters and mom made many kinds of the best soup recipes we all loved and continue to make them in her memory.

this is a soup pot boiling with cabbage, potatoes, ham and carrots made into a rich broth.

Ingredients You Will Need to Make Ham Cabbage and Potatoes

Scroll down for the recipe card for exact measurements

ham bone with meat
cubed potatoes only use russet if you freeze this soup
regular or curly cabbage cut in halves and cored
water
cloves peeled whole garlic
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
freshly chopped parsley and a few basil leaves
optional: 4 fresh diced plum tomatoes or use 28 - ounce can of diced tomatoes
Optional: you can add celery, carrots, and onions if you like I don't add onions, just celery, and carrots around 1 cup of each or more.
Note:: Onions tend to get more powerful if there are any leftovers and to me ruins the soup

this is a big pot of cabbage and potato soup

Some of my other favorite soups:

Old Fashioned Chicken Soup

Best Split Pea Soup

Italian Minestrone Soup

Italian Red or White Seafood Chowder

Slow Cooker Potato and Bacon Soup

Pasta Fagioli

Tips For Making Ham Cabbage and Potato Soup

For more fresh flavors use some herbs when possible like basil, parsley
You can use any kind of potatoes however if you're going to freeze the soup, only russet is recommended
Chop the cabbage into smaller pieces, it's easier to eat
The best rich broth flavors come from the ham bone with meat, however, you can use bacon, pork, or any other kinds of meat you want to add for flavors

Ham Cabbage and Potatoes Pin for later

This is a huge saucepan full of boiling cabbage ham potatoes carrots in broth

Ham and Cabbage and Potato Soup

Time to figure out what your family likes in their soup and add to the pot.

This basic soup recipe can be totally recreated in your kitchens and become the new family favorite.

If your family isn't a big fan of cabbage, replace it with another green they like, escarole and spinach are two additions I mentioned earlier.

No matter what you add to the pot this soup will hit the spot all year long and is a healthy addition to your dietary needs.

Let me know in the comments how you like mom's recipe!

ham cabbage and potato soup, cabbage soup recipe with ham, depression food, ham, potatoes, soup,

soup, ham recipes, cabbage recipes

American, German

Yield: 8

Author: Claudia Lamascolo