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This Crockpot Cabbage recipe is the perfect alternative to my pressure cooker cabbage when you don’t have a need for speed. It includes ham (or other smoked meat like kielbasa sausage) and other simple ingredients. By making cabbage in a Crockpot slow cooker, you get tender, Southern-Style cabbage with time to spare for work, errands or chores. Make this healthy slow cooker recipe as a side dish for my air fryer tilapia, cauliflower rice pilaf, or pot roast.
Why Make This?
- Easy, Dump-and-go: Cooking cabbage in crockpot requires almost zero cooking skills and minimal attention. If you’re preparing for Thanksgiving, you can slow-cook the cabbage overnight on the eve of the big day and tick one item off your to-do list.
- Great for meal prep: My cabbage with ham recipe allows you to make extra servings of this side dish easily. Plus, you can prep other dishes as the cabbage cooks since it doesn’t require special attention.
- Free up the pressure cooker: During holidays, a lot of cooking happens, so if you cook cabbage in crockpot, you’d free up space to use your pressure cooker for tough meat cuts.
Ingredients Needed
- Cabbage: Cored and chopped into wide ribbons
- Yellow Onion: Thinly sliced
- Ham: Cooked and cubed. You can also make your cabbage with another smoked meat like kielbasa sausage or even smoked turkey like I do with these crock pot collard greens.
- Butter: Cut into 1 tbsp pieces. This helps the butter melt more evenly as the cabbage cooks. You can use salted or unsalted butter to have more control over salt and pepper added to the dish at the end.
- Chicken Bouillon: This is my favorite option and substitute for chicken broth. It includes spices like garlic and turmeric. So, it adds so much flavor to dishes.
- Warm water: I microwave this quickly and use it to mix with the bouillon paste
- Apple Cider Vinegar: For a bit of acidic flavor
- Garlic Powder: you can swap this for fresh minced garlic if you wish.
- Natural Ancient Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
- Red Pepper Flakes: If you like a spicy kick, but this is optional
How To Cook Cabbage In A Crockpot
Follow these 4 simple steps to make the best crockpot cabbage:
- Cut and core the cabbage into bite-sized pieces.
- Add the cabbage, onions, ham, and butter to the bottom of the cooking pot.
- Mix the bouillon with the water and add it to the cooking pot with the apple cider vinegar. Close the crockpot and cook on high for 3.5-4 hours or low for 7-8 hours.
- Stir and add seasoning and salt to taste.
Recipe Tips & FAQs
- You can substitute the ham for bacon, pancetta, or kielbasa sausage
- Check during the last hour of cook time to determine if the cabbage has reached the right level of tenderness for you
- Save the salt and black pepper to the end to be able to add it to taste
- Omit the red pepper flakes if you don’t want a little spicy kick
- Use red or green cabbage
- It’s okay to add carrots if you want
That depends on the heat. It’ll take 3.5-4 hours to get the cabbage tender if you cook it on high. Low heat takes 7-8 hours. You can always check during the last hour of cooking to determine if you’d like to continue cooking or if the tenderness meets your preference.
Yes. Ensure you cook until tender to avoid over-cooking. Slow cooker cabbage shouldn’t exceed 4 hours on high and 8 hours on low.
Spice it to perfection and add bacon or other smoked meat options. My cabbage with ham recipe uses chicken bouillon for added flavor to the smoked meat.
Besides several health benefits, apple cider vinegar preserves the color of red cabbage (if you use it) and adds a little acidic flavor to the dish.
Recipes to Enjoy This With
- Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
- Cauliflower Pilaf
- Air Fryer Tilapia
- Air Fryer Steak
- Crockpot BBQ Chicken Thighs
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Crockpot Cabbage
Use DRDAVINAHS at checkout to save on some equipment & ingredients!
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb Cabbage, cored and chopped into wide ribbons
- 1 cup Yellow Onion, sliced thinly, about 1/2 of a large onion
- 3 cups Ham, cooked and cubed
- 1/2 cup Butter, cut into 1 tbsp pieces
- 2 tbsp Chicken Better than Bouillon, low sodium
- 1 cup Water, warm, to mix it with bouillon
- 2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Natural Ancient Sea Salt, you can save this to the end and salt to taste; Use DRDAVINAHS to save on my recommended brand
- 1 tsp Black Pepper, you can save this to the end
- 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes, optional
Instructions
- Cut and core the cabbage into bite sized pieces.
- Add the cabbage, onions, ham, and butter to the bottom of the cooking pot.
- Mix the bouillon with the water and add it to the cooking pot with the apple cider vinegar.
- Close the crockpot and cook on high for 3.5 – 4 hours (enough for the cabbage to get tender)
- Stir. Then, add seasoning and salt to taste.
Recipe Notes
- You can substitute the ham for bacon, pancetta, or kielbasa
- Check during the last hour of cook time to determine if the cabbage has reached the right level of tenderness for you
- Save the salt and black pepper to the end to be able to add it to taste
- Omit the red pepper flakes if you don’t want a little spicy kick
- Use red or green cabbage
- It’s okay to add carrots if you want
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
Stella Barrett says
I cook this without ham or sausage and substiture butter with a no cholesterol spread. It is still the most delicious cabbage we have ever eaten.
Dr. Davinah's Eats Team says
That’s great to hear! It’s always wonderful to make recipe adjustments that suit our dietary preferences and needs. I’m happy to know that even without ham or sausage and using a no-cholesterol spread, the cabbage still turned out delicious. Thank you for sharing your experience, and keep on enjoying!