Cabbage roll soup has the delicious flavour of cabbage rolls – but you can make it in less than an hour! It’s a simple weeknight dinner with the delicious flavours of the real deal. It even uses the same ingredients you’d use for actual stuffed cabbage rolls.
Cabbage Roll Soup
This cabbage roll soup recipe is DELICIOUS, tastes just like cabbage rolls and it’s really easy to make! This hearty and healthy soup recipe has simple ingredients and comes together in less than an hour to create the ultimate comfort food. Such a tasty and comforting soup recipe – with minimal chopping!
This unstuffed cabbage roll soup is a meal on it’s own. You can serve it with bread and butter, garlic buns or cheesy garlic breadsticks. It’s a quick and easy meal that’s hearty, comforting and tastes sooooo good.
Video Tutorial: Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup
*Note: The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.
Looking for even more delicious soup recipes? Here’s a few of my favourites:
Can I make it in a crockpot?
Yes! You can definitely make cabbage roll soup in a crockpot! Be sure to use a large crockpot that’s at least 5 quarts or bigger since this recipe makes a large amount of soup.
Brown your meat, and saute your onions and garlic on the stove top first. Then add it to the crockpot and stir in the rest of the ingredients. I recommend using brown rice if you’re making it in the crockpot. White rice will completely dissolve in this soup if you make it in a slow cooker. Or you can add white rice to the crockpot for the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking.
Cook the soup in the crockpot on high for about 4 hours or on low for about 6 hours until the cabbage tender. It’s that simple! This one-pot meal is easy to prepare and is packed with tons of amazing flavour.
What to serve with cabbage roll soup?
We LOVE to eat soup with fresh bread, especially if all we’re having for dinner is the soup. We usually choose dinner rolls, garlic bread, crescent rolls or even crackers to go on the side. Even a baked potato or leftover mashed potatoes would be delicious on the side.
You could also try our recipe for homemade cheesy garlic breadsticks. Made with a tube of refrigerated pizza crust, they’re quick and easy to put together at the last minute.
Feel free to add a spoonful of sour cream on top of your soup. We eat a lot of sour cream in our house (must be my Lithuanian heritage!) and it’s sooooo good on this soup!
Tips for making cabbage roll soup
- Be sure to only add the rice to the pot of soup for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Any longer than that and the rice will dissolve.
- Feel free to substitute white rice for brown rice. Brown rice is healthier, tastes the same in the soup and it doesn’t dissolve in the soup like white rice.
- The soup thickens up quite a bit after you turn off the heat. Add more beef broth (or water and salt) to thin it out if you like.
- Cook and freeze large batches of beef in advance for quicker prep. Just defrost what you need as you need it.
- To freeze: Fill large freezer bags with this soup and lay them flat in the freezer. Then place the frozen bag of soup in a sink full of warm water to defrost. The thin bags of soup defrost really quickly!
Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe
You don’t have to be precise when you’re chopping the cabbage – Just get that cabbage chopped as best you can (or buy a bag or two of undressed, pre-chopped coleslaw).
I cut the cabbage into 1 inch squares, but you can cut the pieces as small or as big as you like. I used a little more than half of a medium cabbage.
Cabbage Roll Soup
Equipment
- Large Soup Pot
Ingredients
- 1-2 Tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1.5 pounds extra lean ground beef
- 1 can diced tomatoes 28 ounces
- 1 can tomato sauce 22 ounces
- 5 cups green cabbage chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Brown sugar packed
- 2 bay leaves
- 3/4 cup white long grain rice uncooked
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add about 1 to 2 Tablespoons of cooking oil to a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute the chopped onion for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the minced garlic and continue cooking for about 1 minute.
- Add the ground beef to the pot and cook until brown, stirring frequently and breaking up any large chunks.
- Once the beef has browned, add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, cabbage, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and bay leaves. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir well, cover and bring to a boil. (If you're using brown rice instead of white rice, add it now).
- Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the white rice, stir and continue simmering for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat, and let the soup sit uncovered for about 5 to 10 minutes. (It will thicken up slightly if you used white rice).
- Remove the bay leaves and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
My 10 year old devoured her bowl of soup after school last night. As she was eating it, she said, “Wow, this soup is really good!”. Ahhh, I love when the kids compliment the food I make!
This cabbage roll soup recipe is SO GOOD, and it’s really easy to make! It’s loaded with healthy ingredients and with barely any chopping, it can be done in less than an hour. This soup will satisfy your craving for real cabbage rolls, in only a fraction of the time.
Looking for even more soup recipes? Check these out:
My Favourite Lentil Soup Recipe
Easy Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks
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