Cabbage Roll Soup
Cabbage Roll Soup
This Cabbage Roll Soup is a hearty, healthy and delicious dinner…and it tastes just like cabbage rolls! Ready in 1 hour.
Well here in Alberta it turned from summer into fall overnight. One minute the air smelled like sunshine and lazy days, and the next it was all fall leaves and routine, but honestly I’m ready for it. We had an amazing and busy summer, but now I am craving routine, sweaters, brown nail polish, shoes with socks, all things pumpkin, and fall comfort food.
I’m also finding myself in a nesting mode of sorts. I think it’s due to back to school jitters and the fact that I now have two kids in junior high, and I’ve been worried about the transition to a new school and all the stuff that comes with teenagers. Le sigh. So I cook and bake to calm my worries. Last week I made zucchini loaves, chocolate zucchini cake, monster cookies, chocolate chip cookies, bran muffins, hamburger soup and this cabbage roll soup. See what I mean? Nesting. But at least the freezer is stocked.
Tastes Just Like Cabbage Rolls!
This soup is delicious! It tastes just like a cabbage roll, but without all the fuss of having to roll them in cabbage. So good.
Rich and Delicious
I think one of my most favourite things about this soup is the fact that is has a little bacon in it, which adds such a nice smoky flavour to the tomato base. That and the fact that it’s loaded with delicious ingredients: ground beef, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, bacon…mmmmm, all the makings of cabbage rolls.
Serving Suggestions:
I served our cabbage roll soup with a homemade braided pumpkin bread. A perfect fall dinner, and comfort food for stressful days. Homemade dinner rolls and a green salad are delicious with this soup too! A perfect hearty meal.
Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe Tips:
- Consommé: If you don’t have consommé, you can use beef broth instead.
- Beef: Use lean ground beef. You can also make this with ground turkey, ground pork or a mix.
- Rice: Use uncooked rice.
- Leftovers: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Also please note that this soup will thicken after it has sat (in the fridge), so you may want to add more water or a water/consomme mix before reheating.
- Freezing: This soup doesn’t freeze well. I have frozen it, but it gets very thick, and the rice becomes a little mushy. Just a forewarning…doesn’t mean you can’t freeze it.
Slow Cooker Option:
If you like you can make this soup in a slow cooker. Just brown the ground beef with the onions, garlic and carrots. When the beef is cooked, drain any excess grease. Add the cooked beef and all the remaining ingredients to a slow cooker and cook for 6 – 7 hours on LOW, or 3 – 4 hours on HIGH (until the rice is soft).
Cabbage Roll Soup
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 – 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 carrots finely chopped
- 6 – 7 cups chopped green cabbage
- 6 slices of cooked bacon chopped finely
- 2 10 ounce cans beef consommé
- 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 5 ounce can of tomato paste
- 2 1/2 cups plain tomato sauce basically a (23 ounce can)
- 2 cups water
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 leaves bay
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3/4 cup uncooked long grain white rice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large soup pot (stock pot), brown the ground beef with the onions, garlic and carrots.
- When the beef is cooked, drain any excess grease.
- Return the pot with the beef, to low-medium heat, and add the chopped cooked bacon. Stir and cook for about 1 minute.
- Add the chopped cabbage and cook for about 2 minutes more.
- Add the remaining ingredients: consommé, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, sugar, rice and salt and pepper.
- Simmer at a low boil for 35 – 40 minutes (or until the rice is tender).
- Enjoy!
Notes
Inspired by Spending With Pennies
I hope you try this soup and love it too! Have a delicious day!
This soup is delicious; I did not use the bacon and I didn’t add the rice and it was still absolutely delicious. I will be making this again. .
Excellent! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
I’ve been searching for a cabbage roll soup for over an hour. Each one seemed to lack the rich taste I’m looking for. Then, boom! I came across yours. It has every ingredient I would want to put in the soup and I am making it tomorrow!
I love that! I hope you enjoy it!
I just made it now
Looks good
Seems like a lot of tomato though
Does the tomatoe mellow with cooking ?
Hi Sue! Yes the tomato cooks down quite a bit, it’s definitely not an overly tomato flavoured soup. I hope you enjoyed it!
This is fabulous. I make many variations of this dish and like to try new recipes of this type of dish when I see them. This ranks among the best. We loved it. I think it yields more than 8, but that’s good for us!!
I followed recipe as is except didn’t use rice, used beef broth, and for the tomato sauce, I used a 28 oz can of tomato puree. I also used 1/2 ground turkey, 1/2 ground beef. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.
You are so welcome Debi, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! I love to see how others tailor the recipe…that’s what makes it so great!
I liked all the positive feedback so I think l’ll make this this weekend! I LOVE soup and love trying new recipes. One of my favorite things to make and share with my friends.
Will pick up some Worcestershire sauce tomorrow. Used the last of mine on some stuffed peppers yesterday!
Recipe looks really good. ~ Connie
So GOOD! I even posted a video.Great feedback from the family. Was not a disappointment for sure!
I am making this soup today. I am a type 2 diabetic and informed my slightly overweight husband we are going on a soup menu diet. He’s looking forward to it. Would like to know if I can substitute brown and wild rice for the white rice and beef bone broth for the consomme’? I am thinking of adding a cup of lentils, as well. Your picture of the finished product is mostly what inspired me to choose this recipe. The ingredients are healthy and being diabetic, healthy and mostly low glycemic is a good thing. Thanks for sharing.
Kay
Hi Kay! I think brown rice would work great in this recipe, I’m just not sure about the wild rice, it might be too tough? And yes, absolutely you can substitute bone broth for the consomme. Also, if you’re adding lentils, make sure to increase the amount of broth you use as well. Enjoy!
Have you frozen this before?
I have, but the rice becomes quite mushy after freezing, so I don’t really recommend it.
And what about using leftover stuffed cabbage..?
Hi Margarita! I’m not sure what you mean? Do you mean making a soup from them? What are they stuffed with? Let me know a few more details and I’ll see what I can do to help!
I’m going to try this recipe this weekend. Just a note, however. Your slow cooker instructions are for 3-4 hours on LOW or 6-7 hours on HIGH. I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around! 😉
Hi Karen, thank you for catching that! I was adding some extra information this weekend and slipped in that typo! It’s fixed now. Thanks again!