Unstuffed "Cabbage Roll" Soup - Comfortable Food (2024)

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.

⭐ 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 deliciousGreek 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 casseroleuses 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.

If you love my cabbage roll soup recipe. Try one of thesefantastic recipesfor 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!

📋 Recipe