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.
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Fixed this today for first time. Really good but after 7 hrs ib crockpot the cabbage wasnt tender. Wondering what would happen if steam cabbage prior to adding.
interested in comments
My cabbage cooked all the way through so I can’t say for sure.
My cabbage didn’t cook all the way through either!
I had to cook mine longer on high before mine got tender… first attempt was very crunchy, both rice and cabbage
I omitted the vegetable juice. Only used 3 cups of broth. Then along with the bacon and fresh parsley, I sprinkled a tbsp of fresh grated Parmesan on the top. The toppings made the soup a hit. Very delicious. I will make it again.
I only have instant rice…will this work the same?
I’m sure it would work, I haven’t tried it but cooking time may need to be adjusted. Let us know how it works out for you.
Do you know how long you would cook this in the instapot?
I have only tried the recipe as written.
how much salt and pepper should be added?…it says to taste..mines cooking but it needs something…ive added a couple teaspoons of salt and some pepper, still needs something..everything i have added was full sodium if that helps…
As far as seasoning with salt and pepper, I would use how much tastes good to you. Adding another favorite spice can only make things better!
Did you get an answer to this question? I also added more salt and pepper. But the toppings (crispy bacon and fresh parsley) made the soup a lot more tasty. I also added a tbsp of fresh grated Parmesan.
You can certainly add more if you’d like.
Bought all needed ingredients and excited to make this first thing in morning before kids wake up. Should be ready come supper time :-) been so cold out here lately we need something good to warm us up.
Is this soup gluten free? I have celiac disease.
You’ll have to check your packaging on each item you use.
The one thing I noticed is the tomato soup. You would have to find a gluten free one. If you have a British shop or Wegman’s near you, Heinz makes a creamy tomato soup.
I used Imagine brand tomato soup, and it is great. (Mom and I have Celiac as well)
I want to make this substituting rice with cauliflower. When should I add it into to soup? I was thinking 30 mins before it’s finished?
The cauliflower rice doesn’t need long to cook so yes 20-30 minutes should be perfect.
I really liked this soup, but I will use a little less thyme next time. This is a keeper!!!
Easy meal to make and absolutely delicious! The hubby loves it too!
This turned out very well. I used the stove top. I used only beef but only because the last time I made cabbage rolls he said my mother didn’t use sausage. He ate seconds which is very unusual. Thank you
How long did you cook it for on the stove top?
Excellent!Perfect broth was rich!(used whole can of paste,and oregano instead of thyme)
About to try it again!Only used 5 stripes of Bacon ,might slice up the turkey kielbasa this time!
Made this soup it was so yummy! Kids loved It! I’ll definitely be making this again! Thank you for the recipe!!
I am so glad that your family has been enjoying this recipe!
I don’t own a slow cooker, if I want to cook this in the oven, how high should I set the oven for, was thinking like 250 degrees to 275 degrees ?
I haven’t tried this in the oven, please let us know how it works out for you if you try it.
LOVE ths recipe! Have made it several times and I change nothing. It’s delicious. Thank you!
You are welcome! Glad you LOVE it Bet!
I’m pretty excited to try out this recipe because my husband loooves cabbage rolls! It’s actually in the slow cooker right now! One of the only changes I did was turkey instead of beef and quinoa instead of rice.
I’m going to feature this on my blog of you don’t mind! I want to be able to credit you for your recipe when I have it up!
Thanks!!!! Can’t wait to read more recipes form you!
I made this today. The house smells wonderful and we can’t wait to eat it for dinner!
Hope you enjoy it April!
Making the Cabbage Roll Soup as we speak, but I am running out of room. I am using a Crock Pot Smart Pot 4-7 quart. Half way thru I will ladle out some cabbage before I can add the diced tomatoes! Am I using the wrong size Crockpot?
This was absolutely delicious! I used ground turkey and italian sausage instead of ground beef. I also added a little extra onion and garlic pepper. I also used wild rice and it all cooked very well on the low setting for 7 hours.
Instead of using. Bacon could I use ground pork instead..