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!
If you don’t want to use v-8 can you substitute with tomato juice or something else?
Yes, I think a tomato juice substitute would be perfectly fine!
Made this today. DELICIOUS. A few tweaks. Ketchup instead of tomato paste, less rice, 2/3 of the quantity of meat, only 1/2 of amount of cabbage. It still turned out really thick so used more V8 to thin it down. Served with a dollop of sour cream. Absolutely comfort food.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Sounds good.
I make this soup a lot. It is my favorite. Only thing I do is use Hunts Garlic Fire Roasted Diced Tomotoes instead of plain diced tomatoes. They are great and add nice flavor. I always use fresh garlic, thyme and bay leafs.
That would be delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Have tried this soup and 8 q. was not enough for my family of four but they will not give me back my big pots 22q.,32q.i love to try any thing that I find on FB I”M a man that loves to cook
Can this be soup be made with chicken broth instead of beef? Would I still add the Worcestershire sauce? Thanks!
It can however it would change the flavor slightly. I would still recommend the Worcestershire sauce.
We had our first frost last night in Indiana, so today was the perfect day to make this soup. I came home from church and didn’t want to go back out to the grocery store so I used what I had on hand which was mostly everything. I had to substitute the pork sausage for Italian sausage, I used canned tomato juice for V8, but everything else was the actual recipe. I could hardly wait for the 25 minutes to simmer before we ate. My house smells so warm and inviting. I served it with big chunks of torn crusty bread which is good for dipping. I will serve this at least once a month this winter and give loads of it away to my elderly neighbors. Thank you, Holly, for this yummy recipe. I’ll be checking out more of your recipes.
I’m so glad you loved this and found a great recipe to share with your elderly neighbors. How thoughtful of you!! Have a great week!
I made this tonight and my husband and I loved it. I used 1 lb of hot sausage instead of 1/2 and added more V8 to make it soupier. I will be sharing this and your Bacon, corn chowder with friends tomorrow after church!
Good for you, Elizabeth! I’m happy you enjoyed the recipe, and tweaked it to your desire. Let me know if your church friends enjoy it!
This soup was totally delicious!
Holly! I just made the cabbage roll soup and it is relish!! I used more tomato juice as it made a huge quantity (I love cabbage) & didn’t have a bay leaf but it still was so tasty. I am a salt & pepper kind of gal and was nervous using paprika & thyme but it turned out great. Such a great comfort food from a cool & rainy day here in Kansas.
Sp glad you enjoyed it Barb!
I just made this for my wife, who found your recipe. This is a very good soup, except for the Thyme in my opinion. It is pretty strong, unless you like it. Will definitely make this again minus the Thyme.
Can I freeze the soup ? It was delicious !
Yes, this soup freezes perfectly.
Wonderful soup
The rice really should be cooked first, unless you like it crunchy.
I haven’t had any problems with my rice being crunchy cooked in this soup.
I have to make this! This is the perfect fall meal!! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you think so! Please let me know how it turns out when you do :)
How would you cook this in a crick pot?
I would brown the meat and add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook on low 4 hours or high 8 hours.
Do you think clamato would be an acceptable alternative to V8? I’d like to make this tonight but can’t get to the store and that’s what I have on hand.
While I haven’t tried it, I think it would work just fine.
Made this tonight, turned out awesome !!!, had plenty left over to freeze for another meal, everyone loved it will definitely make again !!!
One more time, Bonner, not Bonnet
I’m so glad you loved it Kim!
My husband and I made this tonight and he really likes it (I am not a fan of cabbage myself, but it is an interesting flavor). I have a question though, what pot is that in the video? It is so beautiful and I haven’t seen those anywhere.
The pot in the video came from Costco and is no longer available. The brand is Chantal and it is a Cast Iron Dutch Oven. You can find similar Dutch Ovens here on Amazon.
Could tomato juice be used in place of the vegetable juice?
Yes, that would work fine.