Satisfy your craving for something cozy, comforting, and delicious with cabbage roll soup.
Cabbage, beef, pork and rice are simmered in a flavorful tomato broth for the ultimate bowl of comfort food.
This easy cabbage roll soup recipe is reminiscent of my grandmother’s cabbage rolls and is the perfect meal for chilly days or cozy nights.
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Growing up with a Polish grandmother, dishes like cabbage rolls, rouladen, and haluski (cabbage and noodles) were staples in our family! Good easy simple comfort food!
- This cabbage roll soup recipe has the same great flavors found in my grandma’s cabbage rolls made into a cozy delicious soup.
- Easy prep, no rolling required!
- This dish uses simple ingredients, most of which you likely have on hand.
- It reheats and freezes well.
This Cabbage Roll Soup recipe was adapted from my favorite cabbage rolls to create a quick and easy meal without all of the work! We just simply add it to the pot and walk away; no rolling required!
How to Make Cabbage Roll Soup
Meat – My grandmother always made cabbage rolls with a mixture of pork ground pork and ground beef, which is what I use in this recipe. You can use just one or the other or substitute ground turkey.
If you’d like, add a few slices of bacon, it adds a delicious smoky flavor.
- Brown the meat.
- Add the cabbage and cook for a few minutes. Add the uncooked rice, broth, tomatoes, and seasonings.
- Simmer until tender.
This makes a nice rich and hearty soup loaded with cabbage, meat & rice which is very thick, almost stew-like. If you’d prefer a more soupy consistency, you can add more broth.
Bread for Dipping and Dunking!
This soup pairs well with any type of bread or dinner rolls for dipping and dunking.
Leftovers
Leftovers will keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. The rice may soak up some of the broth so add a bit of water or broth if needed.
You can freeze leftover cabbage roll soup. Place individual servings in freezer bags or in an air-tight container. Freeze bags on a baking sheet and once frozen we stack them in the freezer upright to save space!
More Cabbage Favorites
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound lean ground pork or additional ground beef
- ¾ cup uncooked long grain rice
- 1 medium head cabbage chopped, core removed, about 8 cups
- 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juices
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 ½ cups vegetable juice such as V8
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, brown the onion, garlic, pork, and beef over medium-high heat. Drain excess fat.
- Stir in the chopped cabbage and let cook until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
- Add in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth, V8 or vegetable juice, uncooked rice, paprika, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot and let simmer until the rice is fully cooked, approximately 25-30 minutes.
- Remove bay leaf and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Soup
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8elicious soup loaded with fresh vegetables, potatoes and lean beef. It’s all simmered in a tomato broth for the perfect family meal!
Yummy!! I love cabbage rolls but not the work. I was hungry for cabbage and we have a cold so this was absolutely perfect. Very filling.
This looks like recipe I used before and it looks so good
Very little flavor and the tomatoes were overbearing. I wil not be making this again.
What can you substitute V-8 with for the cabbage soup
Hi Diane, you can use any vegetable juice you prefer or replace it with tomato juice.
Like this soup even more than stuffed cabbage rolls!
Excellent soup – thank you!
I make this all the time. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes!! I’ve tried a few of yours!
Yes, I experienced the same thing. Extremely thick like wallpaper paste. I put 15 cups of beef broth (instead of 4) to get a thick and hearty soup. With that correction, it was fantastic. I also increased the quantity of the paprika and thyme. I’m still tweaking that but so far so good.
I wasn’t expecting much from this soup but it turned out absolutely delicious! Even my picky partner loved it. I used half ground turkey and half ground pork. Only thing I would do differently next time is to cook the rice separately and add it as needed to each bowl of soup, as it absorbs all the liquid in the soup otherwise haha.
Can you substitute anything else for the vegetable juice if you don’t have any on hand?
You could replace it with tomato juice if you prefer.
This soup is so flavorful and hearty! I’ve made this over and over and it always gets rave reviews. I use V8 juice to thin it out and it turns out delicious! Thank you for a great recipe!
absolutely delicious! I didn’t have v8 and used clamato instead but totally hit the spot on a chilly night!
I usually love all of your recipes. However, this soup did not come out very well. It was VERY thick like wallpaper paste. Followed the recipe to the letter. Don’t know what happened.
Yes, this is a very thick and hearty soup. If you’d like it thinner, you can add some additional broth or water. Hope that helps.
Did you rinse the rice well? I put my rice in a mesh strainer and rinsed until the water was completely clear, rinsing the starches off keeps the rice from thickening the soup more.
love, love, love this recipe! I had to tweak it a bit because I can’t have GREEN cabbage because it interferes with my blood thinners so I used pre shredded red cabbage in a bag. So much easier! I also don’t like rice so I cooked up orzo and added it to the bowls. Tons of flavor and I love the idea of V8 juice in it! Great recipe thanks for sharing!
This was a very bland recipe and it makes a lot. I didn’t like it at all and will likely toss most of it.
This is my favourite soup to make. I freeze the leftovers in 2 serving sized containers after my husband and I have one meal. It is great to have for a hearty lunch on a cold day.
This soup was delicious. My husband said it rated second to his chili, and believe me that is a compliment! Lol. I did add some carrots and celery, as I like those in cabbage soup, but I am sure it would be delicious either way. Highly recommended!
What an awesome soup!! It shows serves 8 but can you tell me approximately how much is a serving; ie 1 cup, 2 cups, etc. Thank you!!
Approximately 1 ½ cups.