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.
I accidently added the parsley to the soup, do you think that is ok
Yes that’s fine!
Could I use leftover rolls to make the soup?
Leftover cabbage rolls?
With all the stuff going on with the world right now, and trying to ration our meals…all I have on hand is vegetable broth ….would that work? And can I omit the bay leaf?
Vegetable broth is totally fine and yes omit the bay leaf!!
can I use minute brown rice instead of uncooked long grain….thanks
Yes that works!
This spot on!! Used less tomato sauce and more cut up canned tomato and juice from that and it is perfect. Had been craving stuffed cabbage, cannot stand long enough in the kitchen to perform all those steps. This is great.
My mom used sour cabbage for her cabbage rolls . I wonder if I could use sour kraut in this recipe
I haven’t tried it, but it sounds like it could work!
In your stuffed pepper soup recipe (making it tonight), you say add cooked rice to the soup before serving as cooking rice in the soup soaks up all the liquid. Would you recommend the same here for the cabbage roll soup?
Thanks!
You can do that if you prefer, the liquid amount in this soup reflects that the rice will absorb some of it!
Hi. Would riced cauliflower be a good substitute for the white rice?
Yes that will work!
Our rainy weather this week has me in the mood for some warm comfort food. I simmered a pot this morning and it’s FABULOUS, I wouldn’t change a single thing.
(P.S. – I use your teriyaki recipe exclusively, my husband and I love it so much!)
Loved it! Easy and delicious. Served it with parker house rolls, yum.
How much is one serving of this? A cup? It’s delicious!!!
1 1/2 cups!
Just made this and it’s absolutely delicious! I tasted it after adding only 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and liked the taste so I didn’t add the third tablespoon. I like my cabbage really soft so I cooked the soup for 15 minutes before adding the rice, then cooked another twenty minutes. Turned out just to my liking and talk about a time saver! I haven’t made cabbage rolls in years because it just takes too long, but man oh man, this tastes exactly like it and took about a fourth of the time.
Such an easy delicious and economical meal. Cut back a bit on the brown sugar. Perfect.
can this be frozen too?
Yes it can!
Can I use purple cabbage instead of green
I think it would work fine!
I was just wondering how much this makes, ifbone batch will feed 8 people, or do I need to make two batches?
This recipe feeds 6, you can change the serving amount from 6 to 8 and the ingredient amounts will automatically update!
You so good!!
MADE THIS FOR DINNER LAST EVENING… MY HUSBAND MADE “YUM” SOUNDS ( LIKE A TODDLER DOES – WHEN SOMETHING IS GOOD). RECIPE IS A KEEPER FOR SURE.
Just tried this since my husband and I are on January diets. We loved it! Can’t believe it only 263 cal per serving!
I don’t have Bay leafs..would dried thyme work in this recipe?
Yes that’s fine!