Amish Cabbage Chowder – A Creamy Cabbage Soup Recipe

Amish Cabbage Chowder is a creamy cabbage soup recipe with carrots, potatoes and milk. This white cabbage soup tastes best served with crackers on a cold day.

Amish Cabbage Chowder

Why is this called Amish Cabbage Chowder? It’s simple. This old fashioned cabbage soup recipe comes from the Amish community, and that’s why I love it so much. There’s nothing fancy about this soup. It’s simply an easy soup recipe.

It’s a white cabbage soup, meaning the broth is milk based and creamy. Along with chopped cabbage, this creamy cabbage soup has diced potatoes and sliced carrots. The seasonings are even simple with just salt, pepper and sugar.

Amish Cabbage Soup Ingredients

• Green Cabbage, coarsely chopped or shredded
• Carrots, thinly sliced
• Potatoes, peeled and diced
• Water
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Sugar
• Milk, warmed
• Butter

The creaminess of this cabbage soup comes from warmed milk and just a touch of butter added right at the end. The original Amish Cabbage Chowder recipe called for the milk to be scalded. I’ve adjusted the recipe so that you just need to gently warm the milk before adding to the cooked vegetables.

The Amish author of this recipe most likely used fresh milk that was unpasteurized. Scalding the milk would have killed the microorganisms and bacteria in the milk; however, milk purchased from the grocery store is already pasteurized meaning we can eliminate this step. I still prefer to gently heating the milk before adding it to the cooked vegetables to speed up the cooking time of this Amish Cabbage Soup recipe.

How to Make Creamy Cabbage Soup

Step by Step Instructions

1. Coarsely chop cabbage, dice potatoes and slice carrots.
2. Add chopped vegetables, sugar, salt and pepper to large soup pot; pour water over top and stir.
3. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender.
4. Heat milk and butter until warmed; do not boil.
5. Add heated milk to cooked vegetables, and heat a few minutes longer.
6. Taste, and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
7. Serve with crackers or oyster crackers.

For the full ingredient amounts and instruction steps for creamy cabbage chowder, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Recipe FAQs

• Use regular, green cabbage (not red or savoy) for this old fashioned cabbage chowder recipe.
• 4 cups of chopped cabbage is equivalent to approximately one small green cabbage.
• Any type of white or yellow potatoes can be used.
• If you’re feeling really lazy, you do not have to peel your potatoes before dicing. Just be sure to wash them well.
• Whole milk is best to get a creamy cabbage soup (not skim or 2%).
• Heat the milk gently being careful not to boil. This will prevent it from curdling.
• Be sure to taste the cabbage soup before serving. You may want to add more salt and pepper to taste.
• This white cabbage soup tastes best topped with salty crackers.  Any variety such as Saltines, Club, Butter, Ritz or Oyster crackers will work.
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Recipe Variations

• Add any vegetables you want including onion, celery, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.
• Garlic powder, onion powder, or any herbs or spices can be added.
• For more protein, add a can of your favorite beans such as kidney beans (drain first).
• Try adding a pound of ground beef.

What to make with green cabbage?

If you’ve got a cabbage at home, it’s most likely a green cabbage variety.  Not sure if it’s a regular green cabbage or a Savoy cabbage?  A plain green cabbage resembles the cabbage from those Cabbage Patch Kid Dolls from back in the day.   On the other hand, Savoy cabbage has a crinkly texture.

Regular green cabbage often looks more white in color when chopped up.   This versatile vegetable is typically very economical to buy and can be used to make side dishes, casseroles, soups or even star as a part of a main dish.

Here are eight easy cabbage recipes to use with a green cabbage.

1. Cheesy Cabbage Casserole
2. Fried Cabbage with Bacon
3. Creamy Cabbage 
4. Low Calorie Cabbage Soup
5. 4 Ingredient Cabbage Casserole
6. Skillet Smoked Sausage and Cabbage
7. Crock Pot Smoked Sausage, Cabbage and Potatoes
8. Instant Pot Cabbage Soup 

White Soup Recipes

Tuscan Sausage and White Bean Soup

Canned Salmon Chowder 

Stovetop Italian Bean Soup

Tuscan Soup with Kale and Sausage

Potato Sausage Soup

Grandma’s Oyster Soup

Creamy Ham and Bean Soup

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