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!
Why are people talking about flour, am I missing something? I don’t see it listed in ingredients.
This recipe originally contained a couple of tablespoons of flour. After retesting I found it unnecessary. The recipe has been updated.
Made this tonight, we all LOVED it!
Such a yummy and un-fussy way to enjoy the flavours of cabbage rolls.
Thanks
:)
I’m so glad your family loved it!
serves how many? calorie count?
This serves 8-10.
Do you have any idea how many calories are in this soup per serving? Thanks!
Never mind, I just saw the above comment.
This was great!!! I used about 1/4 to 1/2 of the cabbage and added sliced carrots and string beans to up the veggie content. Only used ground beef and chopped it fine. This made a big pot of soup and there is enough for tomorrow. Thanks for posting this. Will definitely make this again.
How many calories per serving?
Hi Holly! I love cabbage and this recipe is perfect for the cooler weather! Much easier than cabbage rolls! My husband made a hamburger soup last night with lots of vegetables, including cabbage and it was so good!
The hamburger soup sounds delicious!
I need to find a soup it is a cabbage soup but the directions said dont change a thing said was for diet soup I am going to try your cabbage roll soup tomorrow thank you
It turned out amazing! Will keep this recipe handy.
I did make some changes to match what I had on hand. I used a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes instead of the diced, then went ahead and added a small can of diced later, just for the heck of it. I also used vegetable stock instead of the v8, ended up using the whole quart. I also added allspice to taste. I always used it in my cabbage rolls, my particular taste buds said this recipe was screaming for it.
Love the taste, and there will be tons to freeze for additional meals. YUMMY!
Very Tasty soup. I made it a bit different though….Fried up red onion with red and green peppers…then sauteed meatloaf mix (Beef, Pork, and Veal) Added to 4 cups of Beef Broth with 2 cans of Diced Tomatoes, 1 cup of Instant Rice, Diced cabbage sliced very thin, and tomato paste.
Very Hearty and thick, I did add extra broth to make it less so…
Great on a cold fall night. :) Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it! :)
I don’t know where I ran across this today but I’m glad I did and it got me salivating. One of my favourites is cabbage rolls but I don’t make it but twice a year, if that. Usually when there are just a few left over pieces at the end of the holiday I chop everything up, add some water and boullion and sometimes more tomatoes and heat it all together. I love this even more than the cabbage rolls (OK, so that’s a whole hearted MAYBE). I’m a soup addict. When I saw this I dropped down on my knees and sent a thank you your way. I don’t have to make cabbage rolls to have my soup. Why didn’t I think of this? So, thank you for having this idea and better yet, for sharing it with the world. Now I’m off to the store to buy ingredients I don’t have.
I agree, soup is just one of those things that warms you from the inside out! :) Enjoy!
Thank you so much for this recipie!! I’ve been trying to find something to make with cabbage and my husband was very turned off about the idea of cabbage soup so naturally I made it And lo and behold he LOVED it!! I even used turkey burger and it was so good! Definitely a keeper recipie in our household!!
So glad he loved it Brittany!
Excited to make this today!
I have made this at least once a month since I found the recipe, and have shared the link a few times.. I am gluten sensitive so have not used flour, or a substitute. It freezes wonderfully!!! Thank you for a delicious recipe!
This really does look divine, but I am wondering if I used brown rice instead, would I refer to the cooking time for brown rice or leave it the same. It seems like brown rice takes much longer to absorb liquids. Thanks!
I would suggest testing the rice but it would likely take a little bit of extra time.
Hi Holly! I’m Holly! I stumbled onto your blog from Pinterest and found your recipes looking delicious! I need to make this soon! I love stuffed cabbage rolls, they are a mess to make, but oh so good. This looks so easy. Thanks! I will be visiting often.
Hi Holly, thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoy this as much we we do!! :)
The recipe looks good and then I read thru the comments. So many positive things and ideas for small tweeks, I think I will be visiting your blog often. Very glad some one shared this to FaceBook.
Aww! Thank you for such a nice comment Cherilynne! :)
I just have to laugh at a comment I just read but seems that person was not reading the comments: #Sue, someone thats actually made this? Good grief read the comments from people telling how good it was! How would they know how good it is unless they made it and consumed it along with their families?
This was sorta good but I’d eliminate the paprika and cook it about 20 minutes before adding the rice and THEN cooking 30 mins. I don’t like the cabbage so hard.
My kids love cabbage! I’m going to try this some time soon, yum!