Instant Pot Ham and Cabbage Soup
I love the way cabbage gets meltingly tender in soup and this low-carb Instant Pot Ham and Cabbage soup is such a winner! If you prefer to use the slow cooker or make it on the stove, there’s a link for that version too!
PIN Instant Pot Ham and Cabbage Soup to make it later!
Tell the truth, are you just a tiny bit skeptical about the idea of cabbage in soup? I hope not, because when cabbage is cooked all day in the slow cooker or cooked under pressure in the Instant Pot it gets sweet and tender and almost seems to melt into the soup. This new recipe for delicious Instant Pot Ham and Cabbage Soup is an updated pressure cooker version of the CrockPot (or Stovetop) Low-Carb Ham and Cabbage Soup that has been popular on the blog.
And I hope no one thinks about The Cabbage Soup Diet when they’re eating this soup, but it’s definitely a healthy diet-friendly soup to make in your Instant Pot! I couldn’t resist using a few carrots for color, but this is still a very low-carb soup and you can certainly use less carrots if you prefer. The soup has lots of tender cabbage, juicy pieces of ham, onion, carrots, and red bell pepper, and there’s also a secret ingredient! (Don’t you love secret ingredients?)
Okay, it’s not really a secret, but if you can get your hands on some Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate (affiliate link), I highly recommend adding a couple of packets of that to the chicken stock you’re going to use as the base of the soup. That bumps up the flavor into the wow category! But even without that, this is a tasty and easy-to-make low-carb soup that will warm your tummy on a cold winter night. And this year I served it at my annual January soup party, and it was a hit; enjoy!
If you’d like more recipe ideas using cabbage check out Low-Carb and Keto Recipes with Cabbage.
Love Your Instant Pot?
I use a 6 Quart Instant Pot (affiliate link) for all my Instant Pot Recipes. Check out my growing collection of Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot Recipes! Find more Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker Recipes on my other site!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
- cabbage
- onion
- red bell pepper
- carrots (Use less carrots for lower carbs)
- diced lean ham
- bay leaves (optional but good)
- Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), or use other all-purpose seasoning mix
- granulated garlic
- Dried Parsley (affiliate link)
- Beau Monde Seasoning (affiliate link) or season salt (or any all-purpose seasoning that’s good in soup)
- coarse ground black pepper to taste (I used a generous amount of pepper)
- chicken stock or canned chicken broth (affiliate link)
- Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate (affiliate link) or other ham flavor base (optional, but recommended)
How to make this soup:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe including nutritional information.)
- First chop up 5-6 cups cabbage along with some onion, red bell pepper, chopped ham, and a few carrots if you’re using them.
- Put cabbage, onion, and red pepper in the Instant Pot, add the ham, carrots, bay leaves, and sprinkle the Spike Seasoning (affiliate link), granulated garlic, Beau Monde Seasoning (affiliate link), Dried Parsley (affiliate link) and black pepper over the top. (Use any good all-purpose seasoning blend if you don’t have Spike or Beau Monde Seasoning (affiliate link).
- If you have Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate (affiliate link) or another type of ham bouillon base, I recommend mixing a bit of it with the 6 cups vegetable stock. (Or if you have Homemade Ham Stock I would definitely use that for this recipe!)
- Pour that over the ingredients in the Instant Pot, lock the lid, set it to MANUAL, HIGH PRESSURE for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, let the pressure NATURAL RELEASE for 10-15 minutes, then release the rest of the pressure manually.
- Serve hot, with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top if desired!
More Tasty Soups with Veggies:
Slow Cooker Cabbage Soup with Tomatoes, Sausage, and Parmesan ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Cabbage Roll Soup ~ Spend with Pennies
Low-Carb Goulash Soup with Red Peppers and Cabbage ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Italian White Bean, Cabbage, and Sausage Soup ~ Barefeet in the Kitchen
Low-Carb and Keto Soups with Cabbage ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Kapusta Polish Cabbage Soup ~ A Family Feast
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Instant Pot Ham and Cabbage Soup
I love the way cabbage gets meltingly tender in soup and this Instant Pot Low-Carb Ham and Cabbage soup is such a winner!
Ingredients
- 1 head cabbage, chopped (about 5-6 cups cabbage after chopping)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 2 small carrots, cut in small rounds or chopped (Use less carrots for lower carbs)
- 2 cups diced lean ham (I used one of those ham steaks that come in a three-pack at Costco.)
- 2 bay leaves (optional but good)
- 1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (or use other all-purpose seasoning mix if you don’t have Spike)
- 1 tsp. granulated garlic
- 1 T dried parsley
- 1 tsp. Beau Monde Seasoning or season salt (or any all-purpose seasoning that's good in soup)
- coarse ground black pepper to taste (I used a generous amount of pepper)
- 6 cups chicken stock (see notes)
- 2 packets Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate or other ham flavor base (optional, but recommended)
Instructions
- Chop cabbage, onion, red bell pepper, ham, and carrots (if using).
- Put cabbage, onion, and red bell pepper in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Add the chopped ham, carrots, and bay leaves, and sprinkle the Spike Seasoning, granulated garlic, dried parsley, Beau Monde Seasoning, and black pepper over the top.
- Mix the Goya Ham Flavor Concentrate or other ham flavor base into the chicken stock and pour the liquid over the ingredients in the Instant Pot.
- Lock the lid, set to MANUAL, HIGH PRESSURE, and cook for 15 minutes.
- Let pressure NATURAL RELEASE for 10-15 minutes, then release manually.
- Serve hot, with freshly grated Parmesan to add at the table if desired.
Notes
Links in the recipe are affiliate links.
If you have Homemade Ham Stock I would definitely use that for this recipe and you probably won't need the ham flavor base if you use ham stock.
This recipe adapted from CrockPot (or StoveTop) Low-Carb Ham and Cabbage Soup which has been a hit on Kalyn's Kitchen!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 241Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 1550mgCarbohydrates: 8.5gFiber: 4gSugar: 11gProtein: 26g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This soup is great for any low-carb or low-glycemic diet plan, especially if you use a limited amount of carrots. Using carrots would make this phase two for the original South Beach Diet.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
16 Comments on “Instant Pot Ham and Cabbage Soup”
Yes, you’re right. Thanks for catching that. It looks like I wrote it correctly in the quick how-to under the photos, but not in the actual recipe but I just fixed it!
What can I use instead of Spike and Beau Monde?
This is delicious! I’m making it a second time. I shared some of the first batch with my sister in law, and she begged me to make it again. She asked, “how did you get it so flavorful?” I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you!!
Hi Elizabeth, so happy to hear you both enjoyed it so much!
I made the cabbage & potato soup recipe in my Instapot, it was perfectly delicious and was enjoyed by all. I saved your recipe – I will fix quite often.
Thank you so much!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Superb soup of ham and cabbage. Thank you Kalyn for sharing this amazing and tasty soup with us.
Feel free to make it any way you prefer. I do make ham broth sometimes but we loved this just the way I made it.
I made this for dinner and my 7yr old loved it! I had to substitute some of the seasonings but it turned out great! Our new favorite receipe for the instapot.
So glad to hear that you (and the 7 year old) enjoyed it!
Mine was not mushy at all; not sure why that happened for you.
Came back to say I went back and checked my recipe notes and manual, high pressure, 15 minutes, then natural release is exactly what I used. Sorry it didn’t work for you.
Goya has MSG in it.
I’m not sensitive to MSG and feel it’s safe, but if you’re avoiding it then you should use another brand.
I am craving a big bowl of this soup right now! Love cooking soups in the IP! So fast and they always come out perfectly delicious!
Thanks Anna! I agree the Instant Pot is so great for soup!