Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Soup is a simple twist on traditional Cabbage Rolls, a family favorite for years! Cabbage, onion, beef and bacon all tenderly prepared in a rich beef and tomato broth, slowly simmered in your crock pot.
This creates a nutritious and tasty soup that will warm your belly from the inside out! This is going to be your new family favorite meal!
Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Soup
I absolutely LOVE a good soup recipe. Soups are a great way to incorporate so many delicious flavors into one bowl. They’re easy to make and inexpensive, there’s good reason my Easy Hamburger Soup recipe is one of my most popular recipes on Facebook!
Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Soup contains several servings of veggies along with lean protein all simmered to perfection. We serve this alongside homemade Dinner Rolls for a meal that my family requests over and over again!
A Family Favorite
Growing up with Polish grandparents, cabbage rolls (and Cabbage and Noodles aka Haluski) were a staple in our family for both family gatherings and Sunday dinner. It was always one of my favorite things!
Traditional cabbage rolls are time-consuming – between preparing the filling, cooking the cabbage till tender and then there is the labour rolling them – whew! Of course, we make Cabbage Roll Casserole which is the lazy cabbage roll version with no rolling required.
As much as I love cabbage rolls (and unstuffed cabbage roll casserole), there really is nothing better than coming home to a meal ready to eat.
Easy Prep
Cabbage is easy to prepare and inexpensive (view more info in the The Ultimate Guide to Cabbage).This Crockpot Cabbage Roll Soup is the answer to rushed meal prep on busy weeknights!
Simply prepare your ingredients the evening before and quickly toss them into the crockpot before leaving the house for school or work or carrying on with your errands, soccer practice and swim lessons.
Dinner is ready when you are!
Easy Substitutions in Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Soup
- Ground Beef: You can substitute sausage, ground pork or ground turkey for half of the ground beef.
- Rice: To make this Cabbage Roll Soup lower in carbs, substitute the rice for Cauliflower Rice (this also lowers the calories or points if you’re following Weight Watchers).
- Diced Tomatoes: If you prefer whole canned tomatoes to diced, they also work great in this recipe.
- V8 Vegetable Juice: You Can use tomato juice in place of the vegetable juice or even canned tomato soup. (Do not substitute tomato sauce, it has a different flavor).
- Sodium: The low sodium/no sodium versions of all products in this soup work perfectly.
All the flavour and goodness of traditional cabbage rolls simmered together in one delicious bowl of crock pot cabbage roll soup! And the very best thing is it’s so easy!
Add the Bacon
Depending where you’re from, you may or may not add bacon to your cabbage rolls. It is used in this soup to add a slight smoky and salty flavor. We fry the bacon until crisp and then use a little bit of the bacon fat to cook the onion and beef. The bacon itself is stirred in just before serving (and used as a garnish) to keep it nice and crisp.
How to Freeze Cabbage Roll Soup
This Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Soup makes a HUGE batch of soup, perfect for feeding a crowd, eating a couple of nights in a row or taking for lunches. If you have leftovers, this soup also freezes well. I just simply spoon the desired amount in a freezer bag lay it flat to freeze (either large or individual servings).
If I’m feeding the family, I defrost it in the fridge the night before and dinner is ready to heat and eat in a flash!
Once you try it, I know for sure this Crockpot Cabbage Roll Soup is going to become a staple to your weekly menu plan. Warm, hearty and wholesome.
More Recipes from the Cabbage Patch
- Creamy Sausage & Cabbage Soup – 5 Star Recipe! Easy and so delicious!
- Cabbage and Sausage Foil Packets – Grill or bake!
- Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe (video)
- Braised Red Cabbage – Perfect side dish!
- The Best Coleslaw Recipe – Make ahead – great for potlucks or topping pulled pork!
- Colcannon Recipe (Cabbage and Potatoes) – Comfort food to the max!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound thick cut bacon diced
- 1 large onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ⅔ cup long grain white rice uncooked
- 6 to 8 cups chopped green cabbage
- 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juices, 1 can
- 10.75 ounces condensed tomato soup 1 can
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 5-6 cups beef broth
- 1 ½ cups vegetable juice such as V8
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- salt and black pepper to taste
- chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp and drain on paper towels leaving about 1 tablespoon bacon grease in the skillet.
- Brown onion and beef in the bacon fat. Once browned, drain excess fat and add to a 6qt (or larger) slow cooker.
- Add all remaining ingredients to the low cooker and stir to combine (it will be very full).
- Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or low 6-7 hours until rice is fully cooked.
- Stir in half of cooked bacon.
- Spoon into bowls, top with remaining bacon and parsley if desired.
Video
Notes
- This can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, and reheated on the stove.
- This will keep in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
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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I wanted to know if it would work if I did it on the stove in stead of a crockpot. I want it today but dont have six hours with my work schedule
just went through the comments looking for the same answer! how to convert the recipe to stove top… I’ll be winging it
We made this today. Cooked for 7 hours on low on crockpot. Was not even close to done so we transferred to a stock pot and cooked for about an hour. It was delicious. Hubby went back for thirds. We will be making this again just not in crock pot. Lol
I was wondering if you could can this??
I haven’t tried canning this recipe.
Do I need to use the V8 and tomato soup? Trying to cut carbs. Would like to know the total carbs too. I will be omitting the rice too
You can leave them out, the tomato soup adds creaminess and the V8 adds salt and flavor. You may need to add additional seasoning if you leave them out.
I’ve made similar and love that soup so definitely and going to try this, but with variations as I have to watch fat content due to hubbies’ heart issues. 93% lean Ground beef will be boiled and all the fa tis at the top of the water. I drain it and rinse it super good with hot water as well. Bacon would have to be omitted due to the fat content so onions would be sauteed in a heat friendly oil.
Would brown rice work in this recipe?
I’m sure it would work, I haven’t tried it but cooking time may need to be adjusted.
My mom passed away a year ago and I fear some of her recipes have gone with her. We are polish and I love polish food! I remember my mom making stuffed cabbage (golumpki) when I was young. This sounds amazing…and like you said, much easier. It’s in the crock pot now. I basically made as is except for one thing. I used both fresh shredded cabbage and also added most of a large can of sauerkraut (because I love it so much). It’s only been cooking an hour and already smells amazing. Can’t wait to dig in! Thanks so much for your recipe.
FYI…came out great. I like a heartier “soup” so I intentionally made it on the thick side. The sauerkraut was a great addition. I love it tangy so I didn’t rinse it. It definitely came through. I highly recommend! I’ve already passed the recipe along to others. (Even a friend of mine who come here from Poland!)
Cameout fantastic!
I used some cut up potatoes instead of rice
So glad you loved it!
Tried this tonight. It was very good. Made homemade french bread to dunk with it. Yum, yum.
I was thinking stew meat instead of ground beef. Do you think this would work?
I haven’t tried it but I do think it would work perfectly.
Thanks, Holly! Gonna make it in the morning.
I made this soup last night and of course added my own touches to it, as in a little extra hamburger, bacon and onion. We like our stews on the thick side! Very easy to make, the directions were easy to follow. It was pretty good and nice and thick just like we prefer. A little lacking on the spice side, I would double the spices next time around. The smell drove me and our furry family member nuts starting about 2 in the morning! LOL
The author of this recipe is absolutely right, in that it will FILL your 6 quart crockpot. I will be packaging it into smaller portions for my honey and I to enjoy over the next couple of months. We love soups, stews, chilis and chowders; I look forward to trying a few more from this website!
Thank you Brenda! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this today. Delicious, with just the right blend of tomatoes and beef. Perfectly easy to make. Hubby loved it!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Can I use my Dutch oven instead of the crock pot?
That should work just fine.
Looks really good but need to know what size crockpot is used I have a 4 qt Thanks
This recipe fills a 6QT slow cooker.
Watching the video but I do not see the addition of the V8 juice or Worcester sauce? Am I missing something??
The Worcestershire sauce is added with the seasonings and the V8 is added along with the broth but it’s not shown in the video.
i made rhis only thing i added is the canaloni beans. it was outstanding. my family love it. served with vorn bread. thanks
Great addition!!
I get the cooked bacon part but…
If you are cooking the whole thing for 6 hours, why does the onions and ground beef have to be cooked first! 6 hours is plenty of time for the onions and meat to cook!
Mainly because the beef will release fat and most of it is drained off to avoid an oily soup. I usually cook my beef and onions together so the beef has more flavor.
I have this in my crock pot right now…it tastes wonderful…I made a couple of changes because of what I like in my soups…I left out the rice and used white kidney beans ( cannellini beans )…I know cabbage rolls should have rice.. so mine will be different than yours…I left out the tomato soup because I don’t use canned soups…hope you don’t mine me changing some of the things in your soup…the flavor is wonderful…thank you…
I am so glad you were able to make this recipe work for your preferences Sherry! I think the white kidney beans sound like a tasty substitution!
If I want my cabbage to be a more tender crisp, at what point should I add it to the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients? Thanks:)
Excellent recipe. Don’t know which was better, the cabbage roll soup or the other choices posted with this recipe. Look forward to trying several of the others.