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.
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
Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe
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 oz canned diced tomatoes with juices
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 ½ cups V8 or other vegetable juice
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and 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!
What a delicious soup. I followed the recipe as stated and added half pound of bacon, 2c sweet baby carrots whole,
4 stocks celery diced and 2c frozen peas. In place of vegetable juice I used 2c of Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix. This recipe was enjoyed by all and is a keeper!!!
We love this soup. I have made it several times for us. I have also made it for shut-ins and sick relatives and friends.
This was delicious! I made it with ground turkey & chicken broth because that was what I had. This recipe is a keeper. I love your recipes & share many of them on Facebook & they get re-shared all the time!
Thank you for sharing Barbara Ruby!! So glad you’ve loved them!
This soup was phenomenal! I did make a few changes though. I wanted it meatier and spicier so I used 2.5 pounds of ground chuck and an 18 ounce package of hot Italian sausage and it was the perfect. I also added two cans of fire roasted tomatoes. I did not add the thyme or bay leaf. I will definitely be making this again.
Absolutely delicious. Hearty and flavorful! The aromas permeated the whole kitchen leaving us eager to try, the smell is positively heavenly. I am happy to say this is a new family favorite and I can’t wait to share this with family and friends. Fantastic recipe!!
Delicious and hearty!!!! It definitely makes a lot ;). I wouldn’t change anything. Thank you!!!
Yay! So happy to hear that Mama Beas :)
I love my soups. This is now my absolute favourite!!! Thank you
Yay!! So happy to hear that Bernadette, I can’t get enough soup as soon as the temperature drops down! Enjoy :)
I’m sorry, I didn’t think this was good at all. The recipe is sloppy, underdeveloped, and bland. And the quantity it makes is enough to feed 12 regular people. That’s 4 American adults in case you’re not from the states. It lacked authenticity and I’m not even Polish. Tasted *too* cheap if you know what I mean. Oh, and the amount of thyme they suggest using is outrageous. I used half and it was too much thyme. They’re also missing a little brown sugar and fresh parsley, and that’s just for starters. Also, I think you should let the proteins, cabbage, liquids and spices stew a little before adding in the rice, and you should definitely take it off the heat for the last 5-10 mins of cooking time as there’s enough residual heat to finish cooking the rice before it turns to mush. Idk. I cooked it, finished seasoning it, and couldn’t salvage it so I dumped the huge pot of waste down the garbage disposal. Oh well.
How disappointing for you, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it! Thank you for your ideas. My Grandmother is Polish and this is reminiscent of the cabbage rolls we grew up on. It definitely makes a large portion but we have great success freezing this for another meal.
Cook it in a crock pot/slow cooker and you may feel differently.
I add a lot of cracked pepper to mine and I don’t put in thyme or bay leaf because I don’t like the taste.
My husband will eat it for days.
What a wonderful soup! I made it this past weekend. The only real change-ups I made was using our own canned tomato juice versus V8. I also love Basmati rice, so made a point of using that. I also cooked the cabbage a bit longer. My husband loved it. This will become a fall / winter staple soup in our home! Thank you for sharing it!
Those sound like great substitutions Tracy! So happy you both loved it.
Can I use brown rice?
Hi Angelica, we have not tried this recipe with brown rice, but I imagine it would need a little extra time to cook. Let us know how it turns out!
This cabbage roll soup was delicious. I changed it up a bit, substituting ground turkey for the pork, and I had no rice in the house, so added quinoa, which upped the protein.
Those sound like delicious substitutions Jo! Glad to hear you enjoyed it.
We absolutely love this! I substitute frozen cauli-rice the last 15 minutes of simmering, to keep it low carb. It’s even better the next day. To thin it the next day, just add some V-8 or tomato soup to the pot.
What a great idea Kathy! So happy you enjoyed it.
Hi I’m not a fan of rice , what would be a good sub. for it
This recipe would be delicious with cauliflower rice as well John!
I wanna try the Cabbage Roll Soup
You definitely should Valerie! It is so delicious.
I cant wait to fix this
Have fun cooking Tina!
This recipe became an instant family favorite the first time I made it! It stays in heavy rotation during the cold months and freezes beautifully!
The one change I’ve made to this recipe, is that I replace the half pound of pork, with a pound of Italian sausage meat. It adds a lot of flavor, especially if I use the hot version!
That sounds like a delicious substitution for this soup Josette! Thanks for sharing!
This is by far my favorite Halupki Soup recipe. I made it tonight on a chilly damp and rainy PA day. Absolute comfort food! Thank you for sharing this recipe…it is the closest to my mom’s halupki roll recipe that I have ever found and I know it is because you include the pork in the recipe. It is easy enough to only use the ground beef or to add or subtract some of the broth and seasonings to your liking or need. As for me and my family I keep it to your recipe for the past three times making it. Spot on delicious! Sincerely, thank you!
Hi Martha, so glad you love this recipe! We love the addition of pork too. Enjoy!
I made cabbage roll soup today after seeing recipe a couple of months ago and thought it sounded good. It was easy to make and it was delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe Robert!
So I will start with my house smells AMAZING as this is cooking right now!!! I did slightly alter the recipe by doubling it and adding more garlic and worcestshire sauce (spelling) due to my families preference. I will also be adding fresh lemon juice at the end. Thank you sooo much for this recipe I want to dig in right now but must wait 45 more mins. Will also be adding cheddar cheese shredded on top, but again we love cheese! The one suggestion I have to people is to make the ground beef/ pork into mini meatballs and sear each side in a pan (when i say meatballs I mean tiny, tiny baby sliders). I dislike how the ground meat sinks to the bottom and let me tell you the meatballs FLOAT to the top…AMAZING! It is more time consuming but sooo worth it to pickies like me . Again, THANKS so much, this is literally the first review I have ever given a blog recipe (or any in general), it’s amazing and so are you! To.more recipes!
Thank you for your kind words Ashley! I am so glad you loved the recipe!
I made this for dinner tonight exactly as the recipe stated and it was delicious. Will definitely make this again.
So glad you loved it Yvonne, it’s one of my favorites too!
Love the recipe, hearty, healthy & easy
Thank you Jason, glad you loved it!