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.
This soup is bomb it is great love it made several times and it was so good left out the brown sugar still was awesome thankyou for your recipe
This is simple and delicious! I used ground turkey and left out the rice for dietary reasons. Instead of cutting up cabbage, I used two bags of coleslaw mix. I added some celery I needed to use up, a can of diced tomatoes and a little bit of crushed red pepper flakes for a hint of spice. I had enough for 4 meal preps and two bowls for us to enjoy tonight.
So good!! Only thing I changed was the brown sugar. Used 1 tablespoon. Thank you!
I used canned tomato soup in place of tomato sauce...delicious if i say myself!!!
I forgot to star rate it! We have made this a dozen times, always a hit. Thank you!
Can you use instant rice? Should I cook it first?
Instant rice is fine, you don't need to cook it first. It won't need to simmer in the soup as long as regular rice.
Excellent recipe! I had a head of cabbage and carrots in the fridge that needed to be used, and this was perfect for it. This was a meal I made with what I had on hand, so I had to improvise a bit. I didn’t have enough tomato sauce or any parsley, so I subbed two of the 8oz cans with one can of petite diced tomatoes. Added a splash of Worcestershire and around 1 tsp Kasuri Methi (dried Fenugreek leaves) at the end and dang it was good! Definitely keeping this one bookmarked for future use.
I’ve made this delicious soup a number of times now! As soon as the weather gets cooler (late November) it’s one of our go to’s!!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!
Great recipe. I subbed out tomatoe sauce for 2 cans of diced tomatoes and did a small bag of minute rice toward in..
Perfect!! A great comfort soup on a chilly night. I sent some home with a friend and she wrote back that she devoured it standing at the sink, it was that good. Thanks for another great recipe!
I love soup and am always on the lookout for new recipes to try. I’m excited to try this one - it looks delicious and filling. I would like to substitute ground turkey for the ground beef called for in the recipe. Do you have any experience using ground turkey in this or other soup recipes and do you have any recommendations to share? Thank you!
It's totally fine to use ground turkey, just use the 93% lean and you won't have to make any other changes.
If I don't use the brown sugar, will it significantly alter the flavor? If so, can I use coconut sugar instead?
You can omit it if needed!
Yummy! This is my second time making it using different white cabbage. The first time I used savoy cabbage and this time a green leafy cabbage (not sure what it’s called). Anyway, I love the savoury taste and the crunchiness of the cabbage. Delicious comfort food that is very satisfying to eat and easy to make.
Quick, easy and absolutely !
We dont need to cook the rice beforehand? Sorry, i don't use rice a lot
The raw rice goes into the soup and it cooks in the broth!
Can you sub crushed tomatoes for tomato sauce?
Yes that's fine!
Can this be made in a Dutch Oven? If so, are there any additional/different instuctions?
It should be the same in a Dutch oven!
Not much I can add other than this was simple. fast and tasted great.
Great recipe! I just substituted cauliflower rice for regular rice.
Excellent and sooo much flavor. I used a hearty homemade tomato sauce and subbed homemade vegetable broth because it's all I had on hand. Probably the best soup I've ever tasted, big winner with my whole family. Thankyou so much!