If you've never tried cabbage roll soup, you have been missing out! This hearty soup is super easy to prepare by throwing some ground beef, fresh veggies, and broth together in a pot, letting it simmer for an hour, and voilà, you have an utterly delicious rich flavorful beef soup for lunch or dinner.
If you love comfort soup, my Greek lemon chicken soup is creamy, ready in 30 minutes, and tastes fantastic. And my chicken and biscuits has a lovely sweet and spicy combination that is mouth watering.
Contents
⭐ Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup
Soups are perfect for fall and colder weather conditions to warm you up, whether for lunch, dinner, or supper, and this unstuffed cabbage roll soup recipe is as good as any soup you will ever try! The recipe combines similar ingredients to traditional cabbage rolls, but instead of making rolls and baking them, you bring all the ingredients together in a large pot with beef broth.
It takes a little over an hour to cook, and the majority of that time needs no attention at all, as it simmers away, letting all those comforting flavors combine to create an irresistible broth. If you love making soups as much as I do, check out my other amazingly delicious Greek lemon chicken soup.
🍽 What you need
Apart from a large pot, all you need is some winter warming vegetables to create this rich and hearty soup.
Equipment
- Large soup pot or stockpot
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 stalks celery - chopped fine
- 16 ounces kidney beans - not drained
- ½ head green cabbage - chopped
- 1 can tomatoes - including liquid 28 ounces
- 1 cup water tomato can worth
- 4 cubes beef bouillon
- parsley fresh - for garnish
🔪 How to make cabbage roll soup
Learn how to make cabbage roll soup in just over an hour with my guided instructions and video walkthrough. Unstuffed cabbage soup is a no-fail recipe, tastes exactly like homemade cabbage rolls, and I love the tender cabbage.
Instructions
Step 1
Start by melting the butter in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes until browned.
Step 2
Mix in the garlic powder, garlic salt, chopped celery, kidney beans and stir.
Step 3
Chop cabbage, add to pot and stir to combine.
Step 4
Add canned tomatoes, water, and beef bouillon. Stir to incorporate.
Step 5
Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour.
Step 6
Serve warm with some chopped fresh parsley.
Substitutions
- For a fuller cabbage roll soup recipe, add in half a cup of brown rice or white rice. You will also need to add another cup of water.
- You can substitute the butter for 1 tablespoon of olive oil if you prefer.
- If you're on a low sodium diet, opt for a low sodium beef broth instead of beef bouillon cubes.
- You can substitute the ground beef for other meats like ground turkey, chicken, or sausage and combine it with chicken broth instead of beef.
💭 Cooking tips
- If you prefer to use fresh garlic instead of garlic salt and powder, I recommend using 2 teaspoons of minced garlic.
- Add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and light brown sugar to the cabbage soup if you want to give the soup some sweetness.
- Depending on how big your pan is and the size of your cabbage, you may need to add more beef broth and water to the pot to cover the ingredients while simmering.
- Add extra layers of flavor to the soup by adding in a bay leaf or two.
🥗 What to serve with
Cabbage roll soup is never a complete meal without something to dip and soak up that finger-licking good soup juices, and these homemade breads are the perfect companion.
Brioche Buns
These brioche burger buns are usually served with a nice burger patty in between. Still, I have come accustomed to dipping them in delicious soups of late because they are utterly buttery, soft, and chewy, and when fresh and warm, they are exquisite!
Parma Sticks
Simple breadsticks made with parmesan cheese and prosciutto are delightfully crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. The saltiness from the prosciutto and cheese combines perfectly with this hearty cabbage roll soup. Breadsticks never tasted as good as these do!
📖 3 Delicious Variations
In love with cabbage rolls and looking for other ways to prepare them rather than spending time rolling them one-by-one? Give these easy variations a go that will surely satisfy your taste buds.
Cabbage roll casserole
Cabbage casserole uses the same ingredients as cabbage soup but with the bonus of rice and tomato sauce. The ingredients are layered in a casserole dish and baked in the oven to perfection. It is mouth-wateringly delicious.
Crockpot cabbage roll soup (Slow Cooker)
Your perfect weeknight soup has arrived! If you are busy with work, kids, and life and don't have time to prepare your favorite cabbage rolls dinner, why not grab that crockpot at the back of the cupboards and let the machine do all the work for you. All you need to do is combine the ingredients in the crockpot, switch it on, and let it cook for 3-4 hours. Easy, no-hassle, weeknight comfort food!
Instant pot cabbage roll soup
Using an instant pot to cook cabbage roll soup instead of a pot is genius! You effectively cut down the cooking process by half an hour, meaning you can have the best cabbage soup prepared from start to finish in less than one hour.
It's as easy as clicking the sauté function to brown the beef for 5 minutes, draining the juice before combining the rest of the ingredients, and setting the timer for 15 minutes on high pressure. Wait for the pressure to build for 10 minutes, then release the pressure for 15 minutes, stir and serve.
Highly recommended to explore my list of easy potato soup recipes with few ingredients for busy days.
🧊 Storing and ♨️ Reheating
Storing cabbage roll soup couldn't be easier, and this soup freezes perfectly! Once it's cooled completely, you can store it in the fridge or freeze it.
Refrigerate
Transfer any leftover soup to an airtight container and place it in the fridge for 3 days. Alternatively, you can transfer the soup to a smaller Tupperware container with a lid that will fit in the fridge.
Freeze
If you want to freeze cabbage roll soup, transfer the leftovers to freezer bags or an airtight container. It will last frozen for up to 6 months.
Reheating
To reheat the frozen soup, thaw it overnight in the fridge and warm it up in the microwave or a pot.
🍳 Related Comfort Recipes
If you love my cabbage roll soup recipe. Try one of these fantastic recipes for your next lunch or dinner. Including my chicken vegetable soup.
👪 Serving size
This cabbage roll soup recipe will easily give you 6 generous servings, and if you have a bigger family, you can scale up and make double or triple the amount depending on how big your pot is. My mum has a huge stockpot for making stews like cowboy stew and soups, and I use it to make enough servings for 12 or more during the fall.
If you have extra cabbage do no hesitate to make my delicious fried cabbage with bacon recipe. Super delicious to pair with any meal!
🎥 Video
It's so good I can eat it 3 days in a row for lunch or dinner. Cabbage roll soup is one of my family's favorite recipes to make during the fall, and I hope it will be for you too. ENJOY!
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page.
Try one of my comfort dinner recipes for your next family meal! And if you have any questions, I'm here to help!
📋 Recipe
Cabbage Roll Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 pound ground beef - lean
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 stalks celery - chopped fine
- 16 ounces kidney beans - not drained
- ½ head cabbage - chopped
- 1 can tomatoes - including liquid 28 oz
- 1 cup water tomato can worth
- 4 cubes beef bouillon
- parsley fresh - for garnish
Instructions
- Start by melting the butter in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes until browned.
- Mix in the garlic powder, garlic salt, chopped celery, kidney beans and stir.
- Chop cabbage, add to pot and stir to combine.
- Add canned tomatoes, water, and beef bouillon. Stir to incorporate.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour.
- Serve warm with some chopped fresh parsley.
Video
Notes
- If you prefer to use fresh garlic instead of garlic salt and powder, I recommend using 2 teaspoons of minced garlic.
- Add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and light brown sugar to the cabbage soup if you want to give the soup some sweetness.
- Depending on how big your pan is and the size of your cabbage, you may need to add more beef broth and water to the pot to cover the ingredients while simmering.
- Add extra layers of flavor to the soup by adding in a bay leaf or two.
Anonymous
We made this for dinner. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 12!! So very, very good. We doubled the batch. Since the recipe called for tomatoes but didn't say what kind we made one pot with crushed and one pot with diced. Didn't matter - both were excellent!!
Anonymous
This will be the 2nd time we've made this since we first saw it a few months ago. We absolutely love it. We'll double the recipe, eat it today and will enjoy it as a packed lunch over the next week or so.
Anonymous
I made this today adding another 1/2 can water, 1 more beef cube, 1 small can of sauerkraut & 3/4 c. uncooked elbow macaroni...delicious!
Teresa
I made this today in my crock pot but I added carrots and potatoes. You can clearly see there are carrots in the photo.
agustin morales
I love all yours recipie
Carol Lee
I've made this several times...........absolutely delicious!! Thanks for sharing!
Tammy
Has any one used ground turkey? We can't eat the ground beef.
Anonymous
I use ground turkey and add 8 oz. of V-8 to give it a real flavor boost. Great base recipe! I use vegetable broth or chicken broth and sometimes I add chopped zucchini and kidney beans. So hearty and healthy.
m berridge
Absolutely delicious but chuck in some diced pork as well
Amber Price
This soup was excellent. I will definitely make this again, Already passed it to my neighbor and she loved it too.
ReciFlix
great looking soup, this needs to be tried, a free reciflix app also helps in getting video recipes handy
Miss Cellanea
I thought this looked great and wanted to make it but then realized I was missing beans, celery and beef broth. I subbed diced sweet potato as starch for beans, added a can of tomato paste and added water chestnuts for some texture since I was missing celery. I browned the beef with diced onions. It was amazing! I don't think you could do anything to mess up this amazing recipe!
Anonymous
Do you drain the burger before adding everything else?
diannanana
I'm sorry...some of these comments are ridiculous....the soup is incredible...it's a recipe for soup, it's not brain surgery..you can add or subtract what ever you please. What difference does it make that the word kidney beans is misspelled, yes ground beef IS beef, and as far as calories go...do the math. Again....soup is "DELISH"
Anonymous
This was a simple soup to make. I made it per the recipe (minus the celery and parsley, which I don't like) and it was very good. The next day I warmed up the leftovers and added another can of tomatoes, another can of water and another beef bouillon cube (I like soup soupy). I will definitely make this again but since I can do without the ground meat, I am going to use smoked sausage so I can just avoid that and my husband can have his meat, and basically double the rest of the recipe. Thanks!
crystal petersen
This looks so delicious. I'm going to make it in a few weeks as I already have my menu's planned out until then. I'm going to use venison instead of beef. I was wondering if anyone has ever made a double batch and froze some for a later date. I do this with most soups, stews and casseroles so I have lots of precooked meals that I can just heat up on a busy day. I freeze my soups etc.. In quart canning jars as it is the perfect amount for us.
Anonymous
Can you another type of bean besides kidney beans.
Anonymous
This was asked earlier with no reply... Do you drain the ground beef before adding the other ingredients, or not?
Lizzy
I don't see how there can be so much liquid, when only 1 can of water was added. Does the cabbage add liquid? Sorry if it seems like a dumb question. I never really cook with cabbage.
Sandra
I love your recipe. But could you make printing it easier. Eliminate the ads. thank you
Kathy
This is easy enough for even those who are only beginning to cook for themselves to prepare! Make whatever meat and veggie substitutions you like in soup; play around with the seasonings if you feel you must; A good basic recipe to start with! And you might not want to change anything at all!
Diana
This soup was wonderful. It was easy to make & tasted great! Since I only had one can of tomatoes, I added a can of Rotel tomatoes & chilies. We liked that extra kick so well that next time I make it (and there WILL be a next time), I'll add a can of Rotel again.
Janice
When I made this I used lipton onion soup mix and rice instead of beans.
Kathleen
Spelt is also a past tense of spell in some parts of the world, particularly Britain. It is also a variety of wheat. Check it out before you criticize. Oh, I happen to have a Master's degree in English, too, so don't bother arguing with me.
Melissa Sperka
One of my favorite soups of all time!
Barbara Schieving
Pure comfort food!
Aysegul Sanford
Such a stellar soup recipe for a weeknight. I make a similar version of this dish all the time, but never made it with beans. It was such a good idea. Super filling and perfect for cold winter evening.
Joanne
This is such a good soup. Great flavor!
Lori Lange
Perfect comfort food soup for a chilly day!
Jennifer Farley
I loved all these flavors! It really hit the spot!
Toni Dash
Ultimate comfort food! Perfect for fall nights!
Erin
Such a great soup, love how easy it is to make too.
Doug
I've made this with a couple of potatoes cut up in it , but never beans. I'll have to try it.