Ham and Cabbage Soup Recipe

Chinese or Italian? A Super Flavorful Soup Recipe Can Be Served in Either Way. What Way Would You Choose?

Ham and cabbage soup recipe is a very affordable, flavorful and healthy dinner.  It is packed with a lot of vegetables.  You may eat a lot. But it is still guilt-free.

Can't wait to dive right into the recipes?  Here you go:

• Italian version
• Chinese version

Total Time: 1 Hour 8 Minutes - 1 Hours 10 Minutes
Prep Time: 8-10 Minutes  
Active Cook Time: 1 Hour  
Serving: 4-6

You see plenty of meat there.  But the tendons made it difficult to pull it out.  Should you keep it or throw it away?  Does it sound familiar to you?  You most likely know me by now that throwing food away is the last thing I want to do. 

So, I decided to take the advantage of the meaty ham bone to make something new.  If you are interested, I also use meaty ham bone to make split pea soup.  Feel free to check that out, too.

TIPS & TRICKS

I cook this ham and cabbage soup recipe on the stove top and in a slow cooker. And I will show you both ways how to make this delicious soup.  Just beware of that everything will take longer to cook if you decide to use a crock pot. If you choose to do so, add boiling water into the crock pot to begin with. Let the meaty bone cook in low heat for 6-8 hours before adding the vegetables into the broth. It will take another 60-90 minutes to cook through everything to desired doneness.

6-8 hours of low heat in a crock pot sounds too long. Here is another tip for you. Use the same instructions by adding boiling water and ham bone into the slow cooker the night before serving. Turn on to high heat and cook until the liquid is boiling on the edge of the slow cooker insert. Turn off heat and leave it alone. Let the remaining heat to do the rest of the work overnight. On the day of serving, turn on to high heat to bring all the mixture to be boiling again before adding the vegetables.

Meaty ham bone may not be available all the time. You can use smoke pork hocks instead.

It may be a meaty bone.  There will be times that you come across one that no matter how long you cook it, the meat is still intact and hard to pull it off.  If that's the case, you get the flavor out of it for this ham and cabbage soup recipe and discard the bone after its last mission completed.

What is the Difference between the Chinese and the Italian Version of Ham and Cabbage Soup Recipe?

Both recipes can use either the stove top or slow cooker to complete.

The Chinese version seems like it requires more ingredients. If you look closer, there are plenty of them that you may have in your pantry already. The main ingredient difference is that the Italian one uses celery vs the Chinese one uses galic and onion instead.

If you haven't built your Chinese pantry yet and want to do so, this is a great opportunity. You can also use the guide here in this eCookbook to build your own.

Italian Ham and Cabbage Soup Recipe and Directions

Ingredients
A meaty ham bone (about 2lbs / 907g or so)
1 small Cabbage (about 1lb / 454g)
1 lb (454g) Carrots (pre-sliced or baby carrots)
2-3 Stalks Celery (diced)
2 Dry Bay Leaves
8 cups (1.9L) Water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Put ham bone and 8 cups (1.9L) of water into a big soup pot.
2. Cover and bring it to a boil. Then, turn it down to simmer for 45 minutes.
3. Add bay leaves, cabbage and carrots to cook for another 15 minutes
4. Add celery for some crunch, salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy immediately!

Want More Keto/Low-Carb Recipes?!

This ebook will teach you to cook authentic Chinese food in a healthy way. It will also show you how to get the beautiful colors, texture and taste you get from your favorite Chinese restaurants.

Italian Ham and Cabbage Soup Recipe Steps with Photos

A meaty ham bone (approximately 2 lbs / 907g)

Cook ham bone with 8 cups (1.9L) of water in a soup pot

Cut a cabbage into quarters

Cut and discard cores. Cut cabbage into bite size pieces

Stir in cabbages and carrots into ham broth

Dice celery

Add celery into soup for crunch

Salt and pepper to taste

ENJOY!

Chinese Ham and Cabbage Soup Recipe and Directions

Ingredients
A meaty ham bone (about 2lbs / 907g or so)
1 small Cabbage (about 1lb / 454g; cut into bite size)
1lb (454g) Carrots (pre-sliced or baby carrots)
3-4 Cloves of Garlic
1 small Onion (cut into halves to fit into the slow cooker)
2 Star Anise
2” long Ginger (or 1tbsp Ginger Powder)
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 Bay Leaves
2-3 dry Chili (or a couple pinches of Red Pepper Flakes)
A Splash of Cooking Wine (optional)
A Splash of Chinese Light Soy Sauce
A Splash of Chinese Dark Soy Sauce
4-6 cups (946ml - 1.5L) Hot Boiling Water (depending how big the ham bone is. The bigger the bone, the lesser water you need)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Scallions (chopped; for garnish only. Check out this newsletter the best way to preserve the leftover of a bunch of scallions and make them available at all time for you to use and garnish.)

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water (4-6 cups / 946-1,419ml) to boil.
2. Wrap these ingredients, garlic, onion, star anise, ginger cinnamon stick, bay leaves and dry chili, into a piece of cheese cloth or a bag made of this material. (This makes a seasoning package which makes it easy to take out those ingredients from the soup later and discard.)
3. Transfer meaty ham bone into a 6-quart slow cooker. Add seasoning package and boiling water. (The water level should be 70% full. You may not need to pour all boiling water into your slow cooker.)
4. Cook at low heat for 6-8 hours until meat comes right off the bone. Discard bone and seasoning package.
5. Add carrots in and turn up to high heat and cook for 20-30 minutes and add cabbage. Make sure all cabbages are immersed into the soup. Cook another 30 minutes until crisp tender. Add soy sauces, cooking wine, salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with scallions (optional). Enjoy immediately!

Chinese Ham and Cabbage Soup Recipe Steps with Photos

Wrap these ingredients with a big piece of cheese cloth or a bag made with the same material. This will be your seasoning package.

Transfer meaty ham bone and the seasoning package into a slow cooker.

Add hot boiling water and cook at low heat for 6-8 hours.

Until the bone can be easily pulled right off from the meat.

Discard ham bone and seasoning package.

Add carrots into the soup. Cook at high heat for 20-30 minutes.

Add bite size cabbages and cook for another 30 minutes.

Add the rest of the seasoning into the soup; salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with scallions (optional) and ENJOY!

Serve This With: 

• Crusty Bread

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Home > Ham Leftover Recipes > Ham and Cabbage Soup Recipe | Ham Bone Cabbage Soup

Last Updated: March 07, 2025

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