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.
Excellent soup! My husband suggested using a pound and half of ground beef for a meatier soup to resemble more of a stuffed cabbage roll. Either way is completely delicious, thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
Exactly what was needed on a cold snowy day!
Thats true words.
Super yummy and easy to make.
Hi Sara! This was a quick and easy, delicious and hearty meal! I didn’t have tomato sauce, but used a can of tomato soup/water, didn’t have carrots, and eliminated the sugar, and it was still awesome! Thank you! 5 stars for sure!
We had this for supper tonight. It was an absolute hit! As we had plans this afternoon we left it on the stove, on low. It was great to come home to supper. I will definitely be making this again.
Hit for family of 6! Swapped out the beef for ground bison. Doubled the recipe & added some extra seasonings (Creole, lemon pepper, steak seasoning & cayenne). Loved by all – young & old. Thank you!
Would red cabbage work in this recipe? Just wondering as it is what I have on hand. Thanks!
I’ve never made it with red cabbage, I think it would work fine but red cabbage does have a little different flavor for green so it wouldn’t be an exact substitute!
Delicious my husband loved it!!
This soup is amazing!!! I made it today for dinner. I’ve already had 2 servings and going back for a third.
Made this recipe last week, 11/10/23. It is so good!! Thank you for posting it.
Beautiful soup. As per someone else in the comments, bumped the recipe by half, added a half pound of hot sausage to the beef and combined stewed tomatoes, tomato soup and tomato sauce, instead of just the sauce. Also, added some celery. But didn’t need to change much, this soup was absolutely gorgeous. Thank you!
Great base recipe that you can really expand on to your own tastes. I used hot ground sausage instead of ground beef for some extra flavor, added a big splash of Worcestershire sauce, and some umami powder. 10/10
2nd time making this soup outstanding.
Recipe was spot on and delicious! Thanks
Love this soup dress my leftovers for cold days
I love this recipe. I add cauliflower rice about hour before done instead of using rice it is amazing.
Easy and delicious! I added one ingredient. My mother always made stuffed cabbage with sauerkraut, so I added a cup of sauerkraut to the soup, and it brought back memories of my mom’s stuffed cabbage.
I was thinking of doing the same! Glad to hear it worked.
I used sirloin tip steak that I diced up, cooked first a little longer to tenderize. Also added a splash of Worcestershire and substituted 1 can tomato soup and one small can tomato sauce. Very good!
Can you use Minute rice instead of long grain rice?
Yes that should be fine!
My third time making this. Kninda tweaked it. Had no beef so used chicken broth, 1T of brown sugar, tomato sauce was regular, not salt free like I usually use and grated my carrots. The soup is soo yummy. Also garlic powder not minced garlic.
Yummy yumm yumm! I have not made this …. YET! With cold nights coming in to roost, it won’t be long! I think I will add some hot spice.