This cabbage roll soup has all the same flavors as classic baked cabbage rolls, but with way less work! This unstuffed cabbage soup is hearty, filling and the perfect choice for an easy dinner option.
If you love cabbage rolls, but don’t love all the work involved, this quick cooking cabbage soup is for you!
Baked cabbage rolls are one of those nostalgic dishes that my grandma used to make. While I love the flavors, I don’t love all the work involved. Between boiling the cabbage, making the filling, wrapping everything up and then the bake time, it can turn into an all day affair! This cabbage roll soup has all the same flavors as the classic dish, but with a fraction of the prep time.
How to make cabbage roll soup
To make your unstuffed cabbage soup, you’ll need to start with some ground beef. I use 90% lean beef, it’s got great flavor but doesn’t make the soup overly greased. The beef is browned along with some onion before the rest of the ingredients get added to the pot.
After your beef is ready to go, everything else goes into the pot, including rice, carrots, tomato, spices and of course, cabbage. Bring the whole thing to a simmer and in about 25 minutes dinner is done!
What you end up with is a rich and hearty soup that has complex flavors. I know in many cases simmering a soup for longer helps to develop the flavors, but in this case you don’t want to over-cook the soup or else the rice will get mushy.
There is so much going on here, between the meat, veggies and rice, that it’s really a complete meal in one pot. I do often serve this cabbage roll soup with a side of crusty bread or a green salad, just to round out the meal. Even my kids love this one, they didn’t even mind the cabbage pieces which normally they might not eat.
I often make a double batch of this soup just so we have leftovers to eat for a few days, that’s how good it is! It’s absolutely perfect for a cold night, and the quick prep time makes it ideal for a busy weeknight.
More soup recipes
- Chicken Taco Soup
- Hamburger Soup
- Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Ham Bone Soup
- Tortellini Soup with Sausage
Cabbage Roll Soup Video
Cabbage Roll Soup
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound ground beef I use 90% lean
- 1 onion finely diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 4 cups coarsely chopped green cabbage
- 2 carrots peeled, quartered and sliced
- 4 cups beef broth
- 3 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons parsley
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook, breaking up the meat with a spatula, until beef is browned, approximately 4-5 minutes. Add the onion and garlic cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the cabbage, carrots, beef broth, tomato sauce, rice, bay leaf and brown sugar to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove bay leaf and discard.
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from The Wholesome Dish.
- Not a fan of ground beef? Try ground turkey instead!
- You can substitute brown rice for white rice, but that will require about 20 more minutes of cook time.
This recipe was so easy and delicious! I added a half of small bag of shredded carrots rather than 2 chopped carrots…I also added 2 tbsp of low sodium Dale’s seasoning being I didn’t have Worcestershire… sooo good!
Great recipe. I’ve used it many times and substituted it lots of ways with what I have on hand. I’ve added potatoes or navy beans instead of the rice, and I usually add some zucchini to bulk it up with veggies a little more. Sometimes a sweet red pepper, diced adds some nice color and I usually add a mixture of canned tomatoes as well as the sauce.
That’s the great thing about this soup, you can add or eliminate anything you desire. Me now…I’m a purest! I use the ingredients that are used in stuffed cabbage rolls. No carrots, potatoes etc. I use ground beef, cabbage, tomato juice, a can of tomato soup, katchup, rice, onion powder garlic powder Worcestershire sauce and a touch of sugar.
Now in my vegetable soup I will put as many different vegetables as I like in it. But with this soup I’m more of a purest.
Sooooo good!!! I’m on a low calorie kick right now and this is a great meal for that, I just subbed the beef for turkey. I followed commenter suggestions and added a small splash of ACV. Me and my boyfriend love this and I can’t wait to make it again, I’ll even try the beef version next! Soooo hearty, tangy, acidic, lightly sweet. 🙂
My family doesn’t like rice what can I put in it to replace it. Tthey don’t like cauliflower.
You could try noodles maybe?
I like rice, but not in the soup. I find it starts to break down too much for my liking. So I’m going to serve on top of fresh rice each time. If your family doesn’t like rice, just leave it out and serve with corn bread or another side.
Hi Amy! Thanks for sharing – did you have any problems with the soup being too runny since you did not cook it with the rice?
What kind of sauce would you say is best?!
I would say always use plain sauce I know it sounds crazy but it will be a base flavor. You want to taste all the other ingredients and not hide anything with over powered sauce. Add Worcestershire
First time I made this I became a fan. I’m literally making a pot of it right now! My head of cabbage is WAY too large so I’ll just make a mess of sauteed cabbage later in the week. I normally look for ways to alter recipes to make them lower in carbs. This is SO EASY to do! Buy a pkg of frozen riced cauliflower. Also works fab to bulk up chili-lose the beans and add cauliflower instead.
This soup is divine freshly made but be sure to make a large pot so you can freeze some in individual servings. Tastes just as good-if not BETTER-heated up! An who doesn’t love a warm bowl of homemade comfort?
Love this recipe ! It turned out so good . I veganized it with beyond meat and veggie broth and also added diced tomatoes . I am going to make the cabbage rolls next
Love, love love this recipe but I always add 2 TVs of Worcestershire to it, makes for a great raining day food!
Delicious! It seemed more the consistency of a stew after 20 minutes so I added another 1.5 C beef broth. I simmered it all another 15 minutes.
I’ve labored every September making the “real deal” cabbage rolls for friends/family & it is so long a process,
I now have an alternative to cook just for our household during the rest of the year! I added the Vinegar @ the end
& it did add “sparkle”.
I love how cheap it is to make this soup! And my family ate it! Lol. I took heed to another commenters remark about adding ACVv… I really does need that extra kick. Thanks a lot for this recipe, I’ll definitely use it again!
This is one of my favorite soups and a recipe I send to folks when we are sharing week day ideas. I follow the recipe except I cut brown sugar by half. To reduce prep, I’ll buy bags of shredded “coleslaw.” I always make in my pressure cooker on the soup setting and it’s perfect! Thanks for sharing it dinner at the zoo!
I have done the same thing with the shredded ColeSlaw mix. less time on my feet and works well. This is a wonderful soup. You can always spice it up with Hot Italian sausage. Thank you.
Awesome idea on bagged coleslaw. Thanks
This cabbage roll soup is absolutely delicious! I’ve been wanting to make it for quite some time but knowing that no one in my house would it eat but myself, I prolonged making it. I finally decided to make it with intentions on freezing the leftovers. Low and behold, there were no leftovers to freeze! My hubby who is not much of a vegetable guy who also said he would never eat cabbage decided to give it a try. I was shocked! He LOVED it!! This makes me so happy knowing he is getting some good nutrition! I will definitely be making this more often! I actually tweaked the recipe a bit my adding a frozen bag of Italian blend veggies and I substituted white rice with riced cauliflower. So so good!!
no red wine vinegar in the cabbage roll soup? I’m thinking of making this a few weeks after I make the cabbage rolls 🙂
You can add vinegar if you prefer it that way!
I used about half a teaspoon of ACV and it gave it that familiar tang.
Making this now with my Valentine on the very coldest of days in Colorado! Delicious even with just 1T of brown sugar and a dash or two of cayenne.
Really delicious!
I am going to add the soup to the rice, since I have a house full of finicky eaters! Do you think this would change anything?
I think that would be fine!
A delicious recipe, full of flavor and very filling!
Delicious! I omitted the carrot cause I’m not a fan of cooked carrot and I added a Lil more rice. It’s thick and hearty, full of flavour! Thank you. I will make this again for sure!
Omitted the carrots and used light and dark kidney beans with juice from the can.
No brown sugar or bay leaves
Added diced tomatos
Cook onions separate before adding so it want fast like onion soup.
I also cook cabbage about half done before adding
season to taste
Also no rice added
I followed the recipe & it turned out delicious 😋 awesome recipe. Thanks for sharing.
what is the serving size for the nutritional value list?
It’s 1 1/2 cups!
When I make stuffed cabbage, there are always leftovers. It’s just one of those dishes that is hard to downsize. What I usually do is to freeze the leftovers for those days I don’t want to fuss with cooking. Since it’s just my husband and myself, that’s the usual MO for us.
I’m thinking that slicing up the already cooked rolls and making soup out of them might also be another way to go about it, but with fewer steps. I’d probably add some vegetable juice to the soup base.
Thanks for the recipe and the inspiration!