Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup — Hearty comfort food complete with savory corned beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, and more! It’s the EASIEST soup you’ll ever make and will become a family FAVORITE especially when the weather is chilly! Stovetop cooking instructions also provided.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup Recipe

Eating corned beef and cabbage for New Year’s is supposedly associated with the fortune you hope for in the coming year, good luck, and prosperity. 

The green cabbage is said to be a reference to money.

Even in you don’t believe in any of that, you can believe me when I say this slow cooker cabbage soup with corned beef is pure hearty comfort food.

There’s savory corned beef along with hearty root vegetables like carrots and potatoes, plus celery and cabbage, and it all simmers together with beef broth in your Crock-Pot.

I like to add a bottle of dark beer to add even more depth of flavor to the broth and the soup itself, but it’s optional. More on that below.

The best part about this slow cooker soup recipe is that it’s so darn easy! In this one pot recipe, you truly dump all the ingredients into your slow cooker, set it, and forget it!

There’s no need to brown or sear the meat first, nor cook the vegetables in a skillet a bit before adding them to your slow cooker. Just toss it all in as-is.

This corned beef and cabbage soup recipe will be a go-to for chilly winter evenings because it’ll warm you up from the inside out.

And for anyone who thinks that soup can’t be a “meal”, this one will make you change your mind! 

Tip: For cabbage fans, make sure to check up my 30-Minute One Pot Cabbage Rolls and this Slow Cooker Cabbage Roll Soup!

Ingredients in Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

To make this easy Crockpot corned beef and cabbage soup recipe, there are a fair amount of ingredients but they all lend flavor, texture, and just the right touch to the soup.

Plus, they’re all common and easy to find fridge and pantry ingredients including the following:

• Olive Oil
• Corned beef
• Potatoes
• Green cabbage
• Carrots
• Celery
• Onion
• Garlic
• Reduced sodium beef broth
• Dark beer, optional but recommended
• Worcestershire sauce
• Pepper
• Smoked paprika
• Bay leaves
• Unsalted butter
• Salt, optional to taste
• Fresh parsley, optional for garnishing

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make Corned Beef Cabbage Soup in a Slow Cooker

It truly doesn’t get any easier than this corned beef soup recipe!

1. Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker (except the fresh parsley for garnishing).
2. Cook on LOW for 8 hours OR on HIGH for 5 hours.
3. Remove the bay leaves.
4. Taste for salt and seasoning balance, garnish, and serve!

What Kind of Corned Beef Should I Use for Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup?

Since the corned beef is the star of the show in slow cooker corned beef and cabbage soup, you want to make sure to get it right! But there’s plenty of flexibility.

1. Cooked corned beef – I use corned beef that’s already cooked. You can either cube it or shred it. I tend to cube it.
2. Raw corned beef – Cube it before adding it to the slow cooker and do everything else the same as you would if you were using cooked corn beef. You may need to increase the cooking time so keep an eye on it.

Can I Make This Recipe Without a Slow Cooker?

I know most people “love” slow cooker recipes but I am personally more of a stovetop person because it’s always so much faster!

If you’re like me and want to make fast and easy corned beef and cabbage soup, or you don’t own a slow cooker, you can do it on the stove with ease.

To make this recipe on the stovetop, add all the ingredients to a large Dutch oven or soup pot and cook covered over medium heat for about 45 minutes, or until everything is tender and cooked through.

Tip: If you’re going to make it on the stove and want extra flavor, I suggest:

• Adding the olive oil and butter and sautéing the onion, carrots, and celery together first for about 7 minutes
• Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute
• Sear the corned beef 
• Then add everything else and simmer until done

Adding Beer to Cabbage and Corned Beef Soup

Whenever I suggest adding alcohol to a recipe, such as white wine in my famous Garlic Butter Chicken recipe or red wine in Slow Cooker Beef Stew, I am asked if it’s really necessary?

Yes and no.

I suggest adding a bottle of dark beer for the extra depth of flavor that it lends to the cabbage soup. Try the recipe once at least with the beer and then decide for the next time to skip it or not.

Tip: Dark German beers or a dark Irish beer like Guinness are my recommendations.

The majority of the alcohol burns off in the cooking process. I tend to think it all does but you can research that for yourself if you’re concerned.

However, if you really don’t want to add a bottle of beer, omit it, noting the flavor will be a little less full-bodied. You will need to make up for the 12 ounces of beer by adding 12 ounces of additional beef broth.

Can I Freeze Crock-Pot Cabbage and Corned Beef Soup?

An extra slow cooker cabbage and corned beef soup will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Soups, in general, freeze very well and this one is no exception. It’ll keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months.

If you are going to freeze it, I suggest freezing it in smaller sized containers or portions so that it thaws faster. 

Reheat it gently on the stovetop in a pot or in the microwave. 

Tips for the Best Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup 

This slow cooker corned beef cabbage soup recipe is one of the easiest soup recipes out there! But a couple tips to make sure yours tastes the best are as follows:

Beef broth – It can tend to be very salty. I always use and recommend reduced sodium beef broth. From there, I salt the soup to taste.

If you’re using regular beef broth (not reduced sodium), you may not even need to salt the soup based on your personal taste.

Potatoes – I used baby Yukon gold potatoes that I halve. You can also use baby red potatoes. They’re waxier and will hold their shape during the long slow cooking process.

I do not recommend using Russet potatoes or any type of high starch potato which will get mushy and disintegrate. 

Cabbage – Green cabbage is the traditional cabbage for most cabbage soup recipes and it’s what I recommend rather than red cabbage. Red cabbage will turn the soup a shade of pink-red that is a little shocking!

It’s okay to keep this semi-chunky and if it looks like a lot! It wilts down dramatically and easily.

Chop Small Enough – Hard root vegetables like potatoes and carrots are what take the longest to cook through and soften properly in soup recipes. Make sure to chop the carrots fairly small, halve the potatoes (or quarter them if they’re bigger), and also keep the celery pieces fairly small. You don’t need to go super small but no big chunks.

Bay leaves – Make sure to remove them before serving!

Salt – As I touched on before, if you’re using reduced sodium beef broth, you may want to add salt at the end before serving.

If using regular beef broth, probably not since the broth volume concentrates and it tastes even saltier at the end than when you poured it in.

However, don’t be afraid to add salt if the soup tastes at all flat, boring, or you feel like it’s just missing something. It’s probably missing salt in that case, so add some.

The reason soups in restaurants tend to taste so good is that they are always (very) salty! 

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4.75 from 8 votes

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

By Averie Sunshine

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup - Hearty comfort food complete with savory corned beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, and more! It's the EASIEST soup you'll ever make and will become a family FAVORITE especially when the weather is chilly! Stovetop cooking instructions also provided.

Servings: 8

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 2 pounds cooked corned beef, cubed or shredded*
• ▢ 1 pound baby Yukon gold or baby red potatoes, halved (or quartered if they're larger)
• ▢ ½ head green cabbage, roughly chopped
• ▢ 3 large carrots, peeled and diced into thin rounds
• ▢ 3 stalks celery, diced into small pieces
• ▢ ½ yellow onion, diced small
• ▢ 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
• ▢ 6 cups reduced sodium beef broth
• ▢ 12 ounces dark beer, optional but recommended**
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, or regular paprika
• ▢ 2 or 3 bay leaves
• ▢ 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• ▢ Salt, optional and to taste
• ▢ Fresh parsley, optional for garnishing

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Instructions 

• To a large slow cooker (I recommend at least 6 quarts, I use an 8-quart), add all the ingredients. Tip - I add them in the ordered listed, I evenly pour the beef broth and beer over the top, and then top it all with a pat of butter.
• Cover the slow cooker, and cook on HIGH for 5 hours OR o LOW for 8 hours, or as needed until everything is soft and cooked through. (See Notes for Stovetop cooking recommendations)
• Remove the bay leaves, taste and check for seasoning balance, and add salt if necessary, to taste.
• Optional garnish with fresh parsley to taste and serve immediately. Soup will keep airtight for up to 5 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer. Tip - I recommend freezing the soup in smaller-sized containers so it thaws quicker. Reheat gently on the stove or in the microwave.

Notes

*You can use raw/uncooked corned beef. Cube it and add it raw to your slow cooker. Note that you may need to increase the cooking time.

**Dark German beers or a dark Irish beer like Guinness are my recommendations. The majority of the alcohol burns off in the cooking process. I tend to think it all does but you can research that for yourself if you’re concerned.

However, if you really don’t want to add a bottle of beer, omit it, noting the flavor will be a little less full-bodied. You will need to make up for the 12 ounces of beer by adding 12 ounces of additional beef broth.

***To make this recipe on the stovetop, add all the ingredients to a large Dutch oven or soup pot and cook covered over medium heat for about 45 minutes, or until everything is tender and cooked through.

Tip: If you're going to make it on the stove and want extra flavor, I suggest:

• Adding the olive oil and butter and sautéing the onion, carrots, and celery together first for about 7 minutes
• Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute
• Sear the corned beef 
• Then add everything else and simmer until done

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 466kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 26g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g, Cholesterol: 115mg, Sodium: 1608mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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