Stuffed Cabbage Soup
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Stuffed Cabbage Soup is everything you love about traditional stuffed cabbage rolls, in a cozy, spoonable bowl that comes together in about an hour. All the flavor, none of the tedious rolling and stuffing.
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Stuffed Cabbage Soup
Stuffed Cabbage Soup
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The story behind this one is simple. I wanted stuffed cabbage for dinner, ran to the market, bought every ingredient, and then, after a full day of work and a grocery run, could not bring myself to roll a single cabbage leaf. So I chopped everything, threw it in a pot, and this easy soup was born. It has been in our regular rotation ever since.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
It is hearty enough for a full dinner, freezer friendly, and flexible. You can make it on the stovetop, in the slow cooker, or in the Instant Pot, and it works just as well with ground beef, ground turkey, or a mix. Scroll down for my tips on rice, substitutions, and storage so your leftovers taste just as good as night one.
Stuffed Cabbage Soup Ingredients
- Sweet yellow onion
- Garlic cloves, minced (do you have a garlic press? you should.)
- Seasoned salt
- Cooked ground beef
- Diced tomatoes (canned)
- Plain tomato sauce (canned)
- Worcestershire sauce
- Chicken stock (here’s how to make chicken stock)
- Cabbage, chopped
- Quick cooking white rice
How do you make stuffed cabbage soup?
⭐ First, in a large stock pot brown ground beef.
⭐ Next, saute onion, garlic, and seasoned salt. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and stock. Bring back to a simmer.
⭐ Then, stir in cabbage and cook until cabbage is wilted and softened.
⭐ Finally, stir in rice and cover until rice is ready. Stir in remaining chicken stock, as needed until desired consistency is reached.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
This soup is forgiving, so use what you have and adjust to your taste.
- Ground beef: Ground turkey or ground chicken both work well for a lighter bowl. For a richer, more savory soup, swap in half Italian sausage.
- Rice: Quick cooking white rice keeps things fast. Brown rice works too but needs to be cooked separately since it takes much longer. For a low carb version, stir in riced cauliflower at the end instead, and simmer just until tender.
- Cabbage: A standard head of green cabbage is perfect here. Savoy cabbage is a little more tender and also lovely if that is what you have.
- Tomatoes: Fire roasted diced tomatoes add a nice smoky depth if you want to dress it up.
- Stock: Chicken stock keeps it light. Beef stock makes it heartier and more traditional. Vegetable stock works if you are keeping it meatless.
- Seasoning: Taste before serving. A splash more Worcestershire or a pinch more seasoned salt at the end brings everything together.
Storage, Freezing, and Reheating
The one thing to know about this soup: rice keeps drinking up broth as it sits. If you are planning on leftovers, cook the rice separately and add a scoop to each bowl as you serve. Your soup stays brothy on day two and three instead of turning into a thick casserole.
- Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Add a splash of stock when reheating to loosen it back up.
- Freezer: Freeze for up to 3 months, but freeze it before adding the rice. Otherwise the rice absorbs all the liquid and you will have very little broth left after thawing.
- Reheating: Warm gently on the stovetop over medium low, or microwave individual bowls. Stir in a little extra stock or water until it reaches the consistency you like, then add your rice.
More soup recipes to love!
- Chicken Puttanesca Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Salsa Soup
- Creamy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup
- Soup made with Italian Sausage
- Spicy Cheeseburger and Potato Soup
- Cabbage and Ground Beef Soup Recipe
- See all our easy recipes for soup!
More awesome cabbage recipes
- Oven roasted cabbage steaks
- Unstuffed Egg Rolls
- Cabbage beef soup
- Corned beef and cabbage
- Cabbage curry stew
- Make sure to check our entire collection of cabbage recipes!
More ways to cook ground beef
- Wendy’s Chili Copycat Recipe
- Ground Beef Stroganoff with Curry
- Crockpot Slow Cooker Chili
- Easy Italian Sloppy Joes
- Make sure to check out all our easy ground beef recipes!
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How to Make Stuffed Cabbage Soup
Stuffed Cabbage Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 cup chopped sweet yellow onion
- 2 medium garlic cloves minced (do you have a garlic press? you should.)
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 2 pounds cooked ground beef
- 30 ounces diced tomatoes canned
- 30 ounces plain tomato sauce canned
- ⅓ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 6 cups chicken stock here's how to make your own
- 1 head cabbage chopped
- 3 cups quick cooking white rice (SEE RECIPE NOTES)
Instructions
STOVE TOP
- In a large stock pot brown ground beef (drain excess liquid if desired), then add onion, garlic, and seasoned salt until mixture is aromatic and onions are translucent.
- Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and 4 cups chicken stock. Bring back to a simmer.
- Stir in cabbage and cook on medium/low covered about 20 minutes until cabbage is wilted and softened. Stir in rice and cover until rice is ready.
- Stir in remaining chicken stock, as needed until desired consistency is reached. Enjoy!
INSTANT POT
- In inner pot on saute mode, brown ground beef (drain excess liquid if desired), then add onion, garlic, and seasoned salt until mixture is aromatic and onions are translucent.
- Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, 4 cups chicken stock, and cabbage.
- Cover, set to 'sealing' and cook on manual (high pressure) for 3 minutes. Hit cancel, NPR ten minutes, then release remaining pressure.
- Stir in rice and cover (pot should not be on, rice will cook with residual heat). Allow to sit for 5 - 7 minutes until rice is cooked to your liking.
- Stir in remaining chicken stock, if you wish, until desired consistency is reached, (bring back to a simmer on saute mod) . Enjoy!
SLOW COOKER
- Brown ground beef on stovetop (drain excess liquid if desired). Add all ingredients EXCEPT rice to slow cooker.
- Cover, and cook on high for 4 - 6 hours or low for 8 - 10 hours. Stir in rice and cover. Allow to sit for 5 - 7 minutes until rice is cooked to your liking.
- Stir in remaining stock, if you wish, until desired consistency is reached.
Video
Notes
- This fits best in an 8 quart instant pot. If using a 6 quart you may need to halve the amount of rice.
- As written, this makes a very rice-heavy soup (especially if you're going to leave it to sit for a while). If you prefer it soupier, start with about half the amount of rice and add more as desired, OR cook the rice separately and ladle the soup over your rice to serve.
- Store leftovers in the fridge up to 4 days, or freeze up to 3 months. If freezing, leave the rice out and add it fresh when serving, since rice soaks up the broth as it sits. Reheat gently on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding a splash of stock to loosen as needed.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Stuffed Cabbage Soup
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If you love soup, try our easy broccoli cheese soup recipe or chow mein soup recipe next!
Tools we love
- Enameled dutch oven – if you watch our live cooking show, you’ll see me using this fantastic dutch oven alllll the time. Doesn’t matter the brand, it’s all about the color. Find the colorful dutch oven you love and I bet you’ll find yourself cooking more!
- White ceramic dishware – I love white dishes because you can tell with a glance whether they’ve been cleaned. With five kids, this is a real thing.
- Ceramic soup bowls – there is literally no such thing as too many bowls. I heart bowls. So much.
- Colorful cotton bandanas (we use them as napkins!) – when my kids were young I decided I’d had enough of paper napkins and paper towels. We were going through such a ridiculous amount and it felt like I was just throwing money directly into the trash. So, I ordered 100 (yes!) bandannas and here we are years and years later still using them! It’s perfect.
- Stainless steel soup ladle – my soup ladle is constantly going missing. Does this happen at other people’s homes?
Recipe FAQS
Does cabbage roll soup freeze well?
Yes, but freeze before adding the rice, otherwise the rice will continue to absorb moisture and you will not have any broth left when it is reheated.
What kind of rice for cabbage roll soup?
We prefer a quick cooking rice.
Should I cook the rice separately for stuffed cabbage soup?
Only if you plan to freeze the soup.
7.6.2026, 8.30.2019, 8.2015
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I cook mine with ground beef and serve it with corn bread or garlic bread.
One of our faves. Next cool day we’ll be making it again.
I would use ground turkey in this for sure. Yummy 😋
I would use one pound of ground beef and one pound of ground veal. Tastes absolutely Awesome this way!
I am not a huge fan of the cabbage stuffed or rolled, but saying that my housemate made a version that was OK, if we made this soup it would be with beef (if housemate gets his way, lol), and I think the cauliflower rice is a good idea. Not a big fan of plain white rice, lol you solved at least one dilemma. This sounds pretty good, and since I consider myself an adventurous eater, I would give it a try
I haven’t tried it yet, but I think I would do italian sausage. I will definitely be trying soon
I LOVE Stuffed Cabbage, however, I only eat the innards!! So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. Have to say it was AMAZING! But instead of putting the rice in the soup, I served the soup over the rice. Made the stock a little thicker. Just delicious served with Homemade Ciabatta Garllic rolls. This is my favorite new recipe and I will be serving this often! THANK YOU for the recipe 🙂
I also would serve my stuffed cabbage roll soup with Cauliflower rice to make this recipe more like a healthier option. Just to modify the white rice and substitute to cauliflower rice if you want to make it more healthier option.
I prefer sausage with my cabbage dishes. I think it would be wonderful in this tasty sounding soup recipe!
I prefer sausage with my cabbage dishes. I think it would be wonderful in this tasty sounding soup recipe!
Absolutely delicious. We usually eat this with home made bread.
I call it stuffed cabbage soup and I prefer it with ground beef. I would serve it with warm crusty bread and lots of butter.
I call it Cabbage Roll Soup.
Making this today! I always ground beef in my Cabbage roll soup! Looks delish
This looks delicious I love stuffed cabbage soup I would totally make this and use ground beef. Maybe I’ll even try it with some cauliflower rice!! Thanks for the dinner idea.
I would choose ground turkey for this and have garlic bread with it. Yum!
I would definitely use sausage like conecuh
I call it cabbage roll soup and use ground hamburger and sometimes also ground sausage. I will serve as a side or main dish. I can eat this at all 3 meals and as a snack. I use my cauliflower rice instead of regular rice to help watch my carbs Yum Yum
I call it Cajun Cabbage Hotdish Soup, because I always made Cajun Cabbage Hotdish and I just added more beef broth to it to make soup. This same recipe except I add green peppers and cajun seasoning to it.
My mom made the best cabbage rolls with ground beef. I was never motivated to do all that rolling and tucking and whatnot. I do have a cabbage roll casserole recipe but this soup looks delicious and even easier … I think I will put sausage in mine. Thanks for the recipe.