Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup {Creamy}
48 CommentsUpdated May 22, 2026
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If you love corned beef and cabbage, you have to try this creamy Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup. The broth is rich and savory, making it a comforting twist on the classic dish.
I’ve always loved the classic corned beef and cabbage meal, but this soup takes it to a whole new level! The flavors are incredible, and the meat is unbelievably tender, even more so than when served traditionally with cabbage and potatoes on the side. Trust me, you won’t regret making this delicious twist on a favorite!
Key Ingredients
Corned Beef – Raw corned beef brisket that cooks until tender and easy to shred.
Vegetables – Potatoes, carrots, celery, cabbage, onion, and garlic make this soup hearty.
Seasonings – Just salt and pepper.
Other Ingredients – Butter for richness, broth for the base, and heavy cream stirred in at the end.
How to make Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup
- Add the corned beef to the slow cooker and layer in the potatoes, cabbage, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, butter, and broth.
- Let everything cook low and slow until the corned beef becomes tender and the vegetables soften.
- Shred the beef, return it to the soup, and stir in heavy cream for a rich finish.
Can I use leftover corned beef instead of fresh?
If you have lots of leftover corned beef you can add it to this recipe instead of fresh. Shred or cube your corned beef and add it during the last hour of cooking.
Do I have to add the butter or cream?
Both butter and cream go great with this dish to flavor the broth and vegetables. Though, you can leave the butter or cream out if you want to cut down on calories and the soup will still be great, just less creamy.
How to Serve Corned Beef Soup
- Ladle into bowls or hollowed-out sourdough bread bowls.
- For topping, freshly ground pepper, Parmesan cheese, and saltine crackers.
- For sides, we love buttered rye or pumpernickel bread and a green side salad.
Want to make this soup less salty?
You can boil the corned beef in hot water on the stove top for about 10 minutes before adding to this recipe. The slow cooker will finish cooking the corned beef until it’s tender.
Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup {Creamy}
How to Video
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. raw corned beef well (I use flat cut), cut into four large pieces
- 1.5 lbs. russet potatoes, diced (about 3 small potatoes, skins left on)
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 celery ribs, sliced
- 1/2 head green cabbage, sliced or cut into 2 inch squares
- 1 white onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 Tbsp. salted butter
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
- 4 cups broth, chicken or beef (I use chicken, it has a milder flavor)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Rinse the corned beef WELL, wipe off any remaining brine with paper towels. Cut into 4 large pieces.
- First, place corned beef fat side down in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add potatoes, carrots, celery, cabbage (make sure to not add too much cabbage or the lid won't close), onion slices, butter, minced garlic, pepper, and salt.
- Pour the broth into the slow cooker and cover.
- Cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4.5 hours.
- Take corned beef out of the slow cooker. Remove the fat and discard. Shred corned beef and return to the slow cooker. You can cut and cube the meat instead of shredding if you want smaller pieces.
- Pour in heavy whipping cream and stir to combine.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
How to Store this Soup
Place in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze the soup for up to 3 months.
For best results, freeze the soup before adding the cream. Simply, thaw and reheat with the amount of cream desired.
More St. Patrick’s Day Style recipes for your slow cooker
Try my Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage, Slow Cooker Cabbage, and Slow Cooker Pastrami for more slow cooker favorites.
Maple Mustard Corned Beef and Guinness Beef Stew are two more hearty dinners worth making.
You’ll also love Slow Cooker Reuben Dip, Guinness Corned Beef and Cabbage, and Slow Cooker Colcannon Potatoes.
We had to manipulate this almost completely to make it edible. The salt beef needs to be soaked and rinsed multiple times in cold water or overnight so that it’s not going to shock someone’s system with the sodium level.
Once we took our virtually all of the soup liquid one and a half times and added other stuff and water to it then we could eat it. A great concept but the soaking needs to be in the recipe.
This recipe was so disappointing, although I followed it exactly. It was SO salty that we couldn’t eat it. I will try it again, though, but next time I’ll pre-soak the salt meat overnight, and drain before I slow-cook.
My bf and I had the exact same problem. Definitely needs a few cold water soaks. We will try it again too.
Another thing you can do if the brand of meat you got is salty is leave out the salt and use no-salt-added broth and use unsalted butter then people can add salt to their own servings if needed 🙂
Will this soup freeze well?
I don’t think it will, potatoes and cream don’t usually freeze well.
Didn’t have 4 – 8 hours so I adapted this yummy recipe for my Instant Pot. Put onion, celery, garlic and flavoring pack into bottom of Instant Pot. Placed rack on top and put corned beef on top of rack and then poured over the broth. Set timer for 90 minutes and let it release for at least 10 minutes. Pulled out meat and then put in carrots, potatoes and cabbage (probably would have been better to put in celery at this point instead of earlier). Set timer to pressure cook on high for 6 minutes and manually released pressure. Added the meat back in after I had cut it up and the cream and it was very good. I didn’t cut the corned beef up before cooking it and it was super tender. If you cut it into smaller pieces I would expect you could reduce the 90 minutes down to 60 or even less if you were on a tighter schedule. Thanks for a great recipe.
I trimmed all visible fat I could see before starting. I used evaporated skim milk instead of the cream. I also left out the butter. Added a couple bay leaves because I do to all my soups and used fresh ground pepper and a bit of parsley. I found it didn’t need any salt, maybe my homemade broth was salty enough. It was great. My parents who are 85 and 88 really liked it.
In a pinch I’ve also made it with canned corned beef when I couldn’t find corned beef in the store. I diced a can of if small dice and added it in the last hour. It also turned out well.
Do you think this soup would freeze well?
Sometimes, potatoes and cream get weird in the freezer, it’s hard to say without trying.
Great recipe, my husband loved it so much he didn’t want to share. I have a question though. Can this also be made in an instant pot? If so how would you do it?
Can I use the liquid from cooking the corn beef instead of chicken broth
Yes, that will work fine.
Best soup ever!!!!! Definitely a 5 star!!!! I forgot to rate it in my previous comment
I made this soup last year for my family for Saint Patrick day and they loved it so much, they were disappointed that there were no leftovers, (there is 8 of us) So today I making it again for Saint Patrick day but instead of one crockpot I’m making 2 crockpots today lol, I have to say it’s probably one of my favorite soups ever mmmmm, I serve with corn muffins…. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe