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!
So delicious!!! Love how easy this easy to make compared to actual cabbage rolls and my family loves it. I chose to skip the V8 and tomato paste and it was just as great.
Thank you for sharing Brittany. Happy that your family loves this soup as much as we do!
Excellent flavor. It was very thick so we adapted it a little and made it spicey! I used 2 cans of tomatoes with green chilies (14 oz each) and 1 qt of our home preserved tomatoes. We used ground beef as suggested but added 1 lb of Intalian sausage with it; only used a pinch a thyme and used a tsp of marjoram. A keeper for sure!
Sounds delicious Gail!
How long would you estimate this would take in the slow cooker?
I have a Slow Cooker Cabbage Roll Soup which I cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-7 hours until rice is fully cooked.
How many people does this serve? If i am feeding 8 adults do you recommend that I double the recipe?
This makes 8 hearty servings, if you’re serving it with salad/bread it might be ok. If you’d like leftovers or are serving it on its own, perhaps 1.5x the recipe.
This turned out so good! I was so impressed. I added more veggies and it was amazing. Took no time at all and was so easy, I ate it for days and didn’t get tired of it. Thank you! I am a student and will make this again!
I’m so glad to hear you love the soup Kayla! I love that you can add whatever you want to it. Enjoy!
trader joes sells lentils already cooked above the lettuce by the beets. They have a mild seasoning on them but I just rinsed them off……… they re great for all my soups and dont have to worry about cleaning them or how long you have to cook them .just till they are hot!
hope you have a Trader Joes Enjoy!
Great recipe! I’ve made it twice. I’d like to try a vegetarian version with brown lentils instead of meat. Any ideas how to do so? (How many lentils to use? Do I need to cook it longer or add more liquid?) Thanks in advance!
I’ve only made the recipe as written, but maybe some other readers have ideas for you Alison!
This recipe is great
I add a touch of Cinnamon ,clove and sugar… I always make cabbage rolls with those spices and it is delicious in both.
I don’t eat pork. What could I substitute in place the pork for the cabbage soup/rolls?
I seem to only find breakfast turkey sausage, would that be okay???
Thanks, can’t wait to try this recipe.
You can use ground beef instead.
Just use hamburger for the total amount of meat.
I have made this soup many times since I first saw the recipe. I use hot Italian sausage and ground beef and substitute the diced tomatoes with just tomato sauce. I’ve read a lot of the comments and like the idea of using beer and sauerkraut. Will have to try that. My wife and I love this and have sent the recipe to several family members and it was a hit with all of them.
So happy to hear that you love the soup so much Michael! Thank you
I just made this and my husband and I l& we love it. There are only two of us at home now, so I will be sharing with my daughter and mother in-law. Thanks for the delicious recipe.
I’m so glad you both loved it!
Can I use one more can of diced tomatoes instead of V8 Juice or the Veggie Juice ? Or should I use something else ?
I think a tomato juice substitute would be perfectly fine! I haven’t tried it with the diced tomatoes, but think it would work. Let us know if you try it Jessica!
thank you i will . Will be making this soon
I grew up eating this soup. My grandparents were from Hungary and my grandmother and mother would always make a soup very close to this one. But we would eat this in the summer too! Because my grandmother would say, if you eat something hot on a hot day, you will feel cooler. Funny right!
Super funny Don! Thank you for sharing your memory from your grandmother :)
The best soup I’ve made this winter. My husband loved it.
I am glad you guys enjoyed it Margaret!
Made it for the hubby and he LOVED it ! Great recipe, thanks!
So glad to her that your hubby loved it!
Add sauerkraut it will blow your mind
Great idea Ken!
can i
use frozen cabbage
Hi Jane, We haven’t tried this recipe with frozen cabbage before. But I believe it would work just fine. Let us know how it turns out.
Way too much thyme in this, so much so that it is over powering. I suggest replacing the thyme in this cabbage roll soup recipe with 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning, let simmer for a while then add a bit more as desired to suit your tastes.
other than too much thyme for my taste, this recipe is delicious and my family love it.
Bayleave was too much
I made exactly as printed and it was perfectly delicious.. wouldn’t change one thing… probably our very favorite hearty soup !
Wonderful soup! Crockpot is full! Snow storm expected. We will fire up the generator to warm up soup if electric goes off!
So glad you enjoyed it Debbie!
We love cabbage rolls, so I made this soup.. DELICIOUS and great for chilly winter day! I substituted ground turkey for pork… added a little brown sugar and lemon juice! Everyone raved and had seconds