Cabbage Roll Soup has all the cozy, savory flavor of classic cabbage rolls without any rolling! Beef and pork, tender cabbage, and rice simmer together in a rich tomato broth for an easy, hearty one-pot meal.
Serve with crusty no-knead bread or homemade fluffy dinner rolls to soak up every drop.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Cabbage Roll Soup
- What Is It: It’s a cozy, deconstructed version of classic stuffed cabbage rolls, with ground meat, cabbage, rice, and tomatoes simmered together in one easy pot.
- Shortcut: Chopped cabbage skips the boiling, separating, stuffing, and rolling required for traditional cabbage rolls.
- Consistency: This soup is thick and hearty, with an almost stew-like texture. Add extra broth if you prefer a thinner consistency.
Total Time: 50 Mins Servings: 8 Cooking Method: Stovetop
- Total Time:
- 50 mins
- Serves:
- 8 servings
- Rating:
- 4.9/5
Ingredient Notes
- Meat: Lean ground beef adds plenty of savory flavor without making the broth greasy. Ground pork adds richness and classic cabbage roll flavor, but you can use additional beef or ground turkey if preferred.
- Long Grain White Rice: Add the rice uncooked so it absorbs the seasoned broth as it simmers. Brown rice takes longer to cook and requires additional liquid.
- Green Cabbage: A firm head of green cabbage holds its texture well as the soup simmers. Chop it into bite-sized pieces, or use bagged chopped cabbage as a shortcut. Savoy cabbage also works but softens more quickly.
- Diced Tomatoes: Keep the juices because they become part of the tomato broth.
- Beef Broth: Beef broth adds rich, savory flavor and complements the ground meat. Chicken or vegetable broth can be used instead.
How to Make Cabbage Roll Soup
- Cook the beef, pork, onion, and garlic. Drain excess fat.
- Add the cabbage and continue cooking (full recipe below).
- Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer.
- Remove the bay leaf, adjust the consistency, and season before serving.
Save Some for Later
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freeze in airtight freezer containers for up to 3 months. Leave a little room for expansion. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding beef broth or water until it reaches the preferred consistency.
Hearty One-Pot Comfort Soups
Did you enjoy this Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Cabbage Roll Soup
Cabbage roll soup has tender cabbage, beef, pork, and rice simmered in a savory tomato broth. It has all the cozy flavor of cabbage rolls in an easy one-pot meal.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound lean ground pork or additional ground beef
- 1 large onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium head cabbage chopped, core removed, about 8 cups
- 1 (28 ounce) can canned diced tomatoes with juices
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1½ cups vegetable juice such as V8
- ¾ cup long grain white rice uncooked
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 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 ground beef, ground pork, diced onion, and garlic 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, beef broth, V8 or vegetable juice, uncooked rice, tomato paste, 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 to 30 minutes.
- Remove bay leaf and serve.
Video
Notes
- This soup is thick and hearty; if you prefer a thinner soup, add more beef broth or water to reach the desired consistency once the rice is cooked.
- If you don’t have beef broth on hand, you can substitute chicken broth or vegetable broth instead.
- Stretch it even further by adding in some chopped carrots, celery, or potatoes.
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freeze any leftovers in airtight containers for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 291 | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 794mg | Potassium: 917mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 795IU | Vitamin C: 67.3mg | Calcium: 113mg | Iron: 3.9mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Soup
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Delicious!
Hi there! Just bought everything for this soup!! Can’t wait to make it! What are your thoughts on making this in the crockpot?
I use this Crock Pot Cabbage Roll soup recipe. Enjoy!
This soup was great! I seasoned it up a little more and added more broth. All I had was chicken broth so I added 4 beef bouillon cubes. I doubled the garlic and paprika, and I added a tablespoon of Vegetta seasoning. My Polish family puts that in everything. Came out just perfect!
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.