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!
I loves this recipe! It has become a regular go to meal in our household and it’s so easy to make.
Pretty bland had to add 1 1/2 cup addition V8 juice. Then it was perfect.
Can you use left over cabbage rolls ?
I’m sure you could! I haven’t tried it but I think it would be delicious!
This recipe both looks and sounds delicious. I appreciate the fact that you included a nutritional facts label for this soup, however, it indicates 273 calories per serving size but doesn’t indicate actual serving size. Also, I’d like to know how the sodium percentage was calculated because it seems high when you look at the ingredients which don’t seem to indicate many sources of sodium. If the percentage is correct, are there any suggestions on how to reduce the sodium? Thank you.
Serving size is ⅛th of the recipe, approximately 1.5 cups.
Skip the thyme.
I’ve never tried making them as a soup buy I’m sure it’s delicious just the same. Mine is a family recipe & when I have the time to make them for my family, I have to make about 6-8lbs worth so they’ll be some for leftovers later during the nite when my husband raids the fridge! Love your recipes & look forward to trying this version !
I use ground chicken and omit the rice. Carbs are my enemy. This is the best soup. I make a huge stock pot and freeze single servings. I could eat this everyday. Oh and i add red pepper flakes for a light kick.
I have a question about the cabbage roll soup. I am trying to add it into my food tracker. The total calories is for 8 cups?
This is per serving (about 1.5 cups).
I made this tonight( I had no thyme and it was excellent without it). The whole family enjoyed. Thanks for the recipe
This soup is really good. I left out the rice, as I’m trying to cut down on carbs, and I don’t even miss it. My grocery was out of ground pork, so I substituted a couple of sweet Italian sausages, minus the casings–YUM!!! I think the next time I will try half beef broth and half chicken. Thanks so much for a delicious recipe!!
I bet the Italian sausage was great in this recipe! Thank you for sharing!
I made the Cabbage Roll Soup last night–a big pot of it! I switched it up a bit to my liking. I only used hamburg–no pork, no garlic, used a lg. can of whole peeled tomatoes that I chopped myself, no tomato paste, no thyme or bay leaf and I forgot the worc. sauce. I used minute rice and pre-cooked it, added it at the end. I ended up adding more beef broth to make it “soupier,”. It was a good sized pot almost full! My brother and sister-in-law came over and let me tell you, the pot was almost empty! I think my brother had 4 bowls of it! All I served it with was warm, crusty bread and butter and they kept saying how delicious it was! I gave them a small amount to take home and kept the even smaller amount for myself, enough for a tiny bowl! Its so much easier than rolling the cabbage, and just as good!!
I’m so glad your family loved this recipe Nancy! :)
What’s the serving size? Also, I’m vegan and made this with boca crumbles and it turned out WONDERFUL! Making this tonight for NYE. Happy New Year!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it with Boca! Thank you for sharing and Happy New Year to you too! Serving size is about 1½ cups.
this was so delicious- especially on a cold winter day. I love cabbage rolls, my Serbian and Slovak grandparents and my mom made them tirelessly, I however dont have the patience. This soup is perfect, I am guessing it freezes well too, hope so anyway, made a huge pot. I added a bit more rice to make it filling, as hubby doesnt like watery soups, other than that I would not change a thing on this !
Is the Worcestershire necessary? I’m trying to avoid soy. Other than that…I can’t wait to try this recipe.
You can leave it out, it’s just to add a little bit of extra flavor!
What is the difference in the cabbage soup and the casserole ? And on the soup after browning the meat could I just put it all in crock pot ? and on low what would the time be.?
The soup has much more broth while the casserole is more like a cabbage roll. I would cook this 4 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low.
This is one of our very favorite recipes… with one additional ingredient – ketchup. The first time I made it I supplemented ketchup for the V- 8. We almost licked the bowls clean! I’ve made it since ‘the right way’, but it doesn’t come alive for us until we add the magic red sauce. Since each person is different, I would suggest it ‘to taste’. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
I’ll have to give that a try Leslie!!
Great recipes, please keep them coming and send them to my email address below thank you.
I made this recipe yesterday with only lean ground beef and I made it in the crockpot. I just added the rice a little later on in the cooking process. Love it! Huge hit
So glad you loved it
I love your recipes, especially the cabbage roll soup. I would really like to know also where you got the beautiful black pot you cooked it in.
It’s so pretty and unique and I’ve not seen any like it before.
Thank you Darb! It’s definitely one of our favorite soups!
Two questions re:this recipe.
Is it freezable?
Which meat (pork or beef) did you sub the ground turkey for?
Thank you very much, and may you have a joyous Christmas season.
This recipe freezes beautifully! When I use ground turkey I usually use enough to sub for both the beef and pork. Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you and your family too!