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 love ground Bison in mine
I love just plain old fashioned stuffed cabbage. I make it just like this. Although the addition of veal I will try.
I am not a cabbage fan, but this looks very tasty!
I have used this recipe to make this & my family really liked it.
I like this soup, we call it unstuffed cabbage soup! I make it with ground beef. I have make it with quick cook rice and I’ve also subbed in Cauliflower rice & my family hardly noticed making it even better for my diabetic husband
Oddly enough, it is great accompanied with CORNBREAD!!
We loved this simple delicious recipe. We used cooked long grain rice instead of instant rice.
This was wonderful! Next time I might cut the rice to 2 cups to make it a bit more soup like! That’s just a personal preference.
Making this right now! I usually don’t follow recipes, but this one is great! Made it with turkey and brown rice and added carrots and celery and more herbs. Very tasty and pretty simple!
I only use one cup of rice as otherwise there is no broth. I also use mild Italian sausage in place of ground beef. You can add sauerkraut too if you like!
How do I follow a recipe with no AMOUNTS on the ingredients????
You are wasting my time
Hi Terry – You had to scroll past the detailed printable recipe card with exact ingredients, amounts, and instructions to leave this comment. I’m not sure what to tell you?
This has been my favorite and go to soup for years now!! Even my daughters love it that are 3 and 6 so that’s a win in my book! The only thing I do differently is skip the rice and add white beans in there instead. But this soup is delicious! If you’re debating it please make it!