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!

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A pot full of cabbage roll soup garnished with parsley.

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.

Ground beef is the basis for cabbage roll soup.

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!

Ingredients for cabbage roll soup including beef, cabbage, vegetables and spices, all in a soup pot.

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.

A bowl of unstuffed cabbage soup with bread and parsley.

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

Cabbage Roll Soup Video


5 from 569 votes

Cabbage Roll Soup

AuthorSara Welch
A pot full of cabbage roll soup garnished with parsley.
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.
Time
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Serves 6

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

  1. Recipe adapted from The Wholesome Dish.
  2. Not a fan of ground beef? Try ground turkey instead!
  3. You can substitute brown rice for white rice, but that will require about 20 more minutes of cook time.

Nutrition

Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 574mg | Potassium: 533mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 3555IU | Vitamin C: 21.5mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 2.5mg

Hello! I’m Sara!

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Making this tonight, I make cabbage soup quite often, but am excited to try a new recipe. I also add broccoli , red peppers and toss in some fresh kale at the end, and I usually use stewed tomatoes!!! Can’t wait for dinner!!!!!😊

  2. 5 stars
    I made this today and it was delicious! I added chopped green and red peppers as well as doubled the garlic. I only added one tablespoon of brown sugar. This will be a frequently used recipe in my home!

  3. Looks very tasty. I’d like to make it and am curious what the brown sugar adds to the soup. Does it ‘taste’ sweet? Can I cut back to 1 tbsp?

    1. You can cut it back, it just rounds out the flavor of the soup and counteracts the acidity of the tomatoes!

  4. 5 stars
    My 5 year old loved this soup! She ate it all and choose leftovers from it for lunch the next day over the chicken strips her sister was eating (that sister is 3 and tasted many small sips of the broth, which is a better performance than usual for soup)! That is high praise in my book and will definitely be trying more of your recipes. Thank you!

  5. 5 stars
    I love cabbage rolls and now I love cabbage roll soup!!! I substituted 8oz of El Pato for 8oz of tomato sauce, a spicy Mexican tomato sauce you can find in the ethnic food aisle. OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE!! I’m looking forward to doing all sorts of riffs with sausages and different tomato sauces.

  6. Love cabbage rolls,taught the recipe by Lebanese friends. 50years later still cooking. Thank you so much for your recipe. It certainly is exactly the same without the hassle. A new favourite

  7. 5 stars
    Tried out this recipe today and it turned out amazing. Had to sub out the tomato sauce for a 28 oz. can of original spaghetti sauce and used brown rice instead of white rice. Extended cooking time to 50 minutes and it worked out very well. Thanks for this recipe. Will be a keeper for my recipe book. (Personal only)

    1. Sounds very good! I am going to make this today, just wondering if anyone has tried to freeze in individual containers? Thank you 😁

    1. That would work fine, you may want to consider freezing it without the rice, then adding the rice when you serve it so that the rice won’t get mushy.

  8. 5 stars
    I really wanted to make this soup today…a rainy, cool Sunday… Did not quite have all the ingredients so instead of rice, I used tiny pasta shells, which I precooked el dente and did not add them till the last ten minute… Used a can of pureed stewed tomatoes for one of the sauce and a half cup of original V8 juice… we all LOVED it !!!

  9. My family doesn’t like rice so I cubed potatoes small to bite size now they liked the taste that’s for this recipe.

    1. That will work but barley typically takes longer to cook so you’ll need to simmer it for more time.

  10. Soundsgreat! As I am typing I just put this all together a d it’s simmering! I hope it turns out great and it looks! Thank you and I added diced tomatoes also.

  11. I live alone, so this recipe will go a long way and it sounds wonderful. I’ll be using my slow cooker and adding the uncooked rice last. How much cooking time will the rice need? Thank you!

      1. We will be trying this without carrots and sugar, and serving with sour cream on top. Oh, and adding lots of lemon juice when we do our cabbage rolls really perks up the flavor.

      2. I’m about to try the vegan version myself. So happy to hear it turned out well. Can’t wait to get this ready tonight!