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Stuffed Cabbage Soup made with ground beef, rice, cabbage and fresh tomato sauce on your stovetop in just thirty minutes. This hearty rich soup is cozy and perfect for those cold winter nights!
It comes together in 30 minutes so it is easy and idea for a busy day! Serve this soup with a nice Caesar Salad and some Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls for the perfect healthy meal!
Stuffed Cabbage Soup Recipe
Similar to Stuffed Cabbage Casserole, this soup is an easier and less involved recipe than the classic stuffed cabbage rolls your grandma used to make. But it still has the classic flavor and warm rich goodness. And just like most soups the leftovers, if you have any are even better.
There are lots of ways to adapt the soup to your liking, which I love. Make it yours however you want, just make it! You won’t regret it, this will quickly become a family favorite.
Soup Ingredients
Using pretty much the same ingredients as a cabbage roll, these come together in a pinch!
- Ground Beef: Use lean ground beef for less fat
- Salt and Pepper: Add to taste
- Onion: Flavor booster
- Butter: For Sautéing the onions
- Cabbage: half a head cut into wedges
- Canned Chopped Tomatoes: Don’t drain this 8 ounce can
- Canned Crushed Tomatoes: Adds more tomato without the chunks
- Beef Broth: Adds liquid with incredible flavor. You can sub out vegetable broth if desired.
- Italian Seasoning: Perfect combination of spices.Sauté
- Rice: Pre-cooked
Making Cabbage Soup
In 30 minutes you can have a hearty dish on the table.
- Crumble: In a large pot over medium heat add the ground beef and cook and crumble. Drain and set aside on a plate.
- Sauté: Cut two Tablespoons butter into the pot and sauté the onions till tender. Remove and set aside with the beef
- Wilt: Place two more Tablespoons of butter in the pot and add the cabbage and cook till tender and wilted. Add the ground beef and onion back to the pan.
- Add: Add in the crushed tomatoes, tomatoes, beef stock, Italian seasoning and let simmer for 15-20 min.
- Stir: Stir in the Rice right before serving and add salt and pepper to taste.
How to Make Cabbage Soup in the Slow Cooker
- Browning: Brown the beef and the cabbage over high heat with the butter like directed.
- Combine Ingredients: Add the ingredients (except with one less cup of beef stock and don’t add the rice yet) into the slow cooker and cook on high heat for 2 hours or on low heat for 5 hours.
- Rice: Add in the rice just before serving.
Tips and Variations for Stuffed Cabbage Soup
Most people when making this will boil together all the ingredients which would still be a delicious soup, but with just a couple of adjustments it can be an even more amazing soup!
- Browning: Start by browning the beef really well, getting a good deep browning on the meat.
- Cabbage: Remove the beef you add in the cabbage in a couple of batches, browning the cabbage on high heat before adding in the rest of the ingredients.
- Meat: This can also be made with ground chicken or turkey to lighten it up. You can also add ground pork to add a bit more spice.
- Bulk: In addition to using the cabbage you can also add in cauliflower as well to bulk up the soup.
- Beefier: To make the soup richer you can add in some beef base to the liquids or if you are using beef stock, you can also start with double the stock and cook it down in another saucepan before adding it to your soup. I keep beef base on hand instead of boxes of stock because it’s easier to control the strength of the stock. In this soup I would make it double the strength.
- Veggies: If you want to add more vegetables to the soup you can add in some fresh spinach or green peas. You can also dice carrots and celery and add them in when browning the cabbage.
- Freeze: Before adding the rice, let the soup cool and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and bring to a low simmer on the stove. Add the rice before serving.
More Stuffed Recipes
Recipes with the word “stuffed” in them means they have double the goodness. Try these two for one dishes today!
- Nutella Stuffed Skillet Cookie
- Homemade Stuffed Pizza Bites
- Stuffed French Toast
- Stuffed Poblano Peppers
- Taco Stuffed Avocados
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Stuffed Cabbage Soup
Equipment
- Want to make this even easier? Here are a few products that I LOVE:
- Staub Dutch Oven
- The Recipe Critic Measuring Cups
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter divided
- 1/2 head cabbage cut into 8 wedges and sliced thickly
- 1 can chopped tomatoes 8 ounces - not drained
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 2 cups rice cooked
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium high heat add the ground beef and cook and crumble. Drain and set aside on a plate. Add two tablespoons butter and onion and sauté until tender. Remove and set aside with ground beef.
- Add in 2 Tablepoons butter and cabbage and cook until the cabbage is tender and starts to wilt. Add the ground beef and onion back to the pan.
- Add in the crushed tomatoes, beef stock and chopped tomatoes, and italian seasoning and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Add in rice before serving and salt and pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looks delish, even in hot TX! My husband is diabetic and for whatever reason, rice shoots his blood sugar up. What would you suggest using in place of it? I am thinking quinoa ?
Orzo would be good, too!
You could use riced cauliflower rather than any starch.
I followed the recipe but used 2 pounds of elk and spiced it up with Rotell diced tomatoes with green chili’s. Delicious!!!
My stew came out delicious! I only added an 8 oz can of tomato sauce ( I had no crushed tomatoes) and a 15 oz can of petite diced tomatoes. I thought it might be a typo in the recipe saying 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes. Anyhow, it tastes great and is a large pot of stew. I’ll serve it with corn bread whenn my husband gets home. Thanks
Made this soup for dinner tonight. It was so easy and so delicious!! My husband loved it and we have lots of leftovers.
As an avid recipe collector this one seemed like a good way to add a different veggie into a comforting soup. Tried it and definitely had to make it my own. Was a great base but added more spices as I thought it lacked depth in flavor even when I chose a flavorful stock. Would recommend adding seasonings as you go or especially when cooking the beef as it is flavor absorbing takes well to seasonings
I am planning on making this soon. I love stuffed cabbage rolls but they take all day to make. We make them with sourkraut, Hungarian paprika, and sour cream. So good!
This came out AWESOME! To keep it Hungarian-ish, I added 1 lb. pork, I used marjoram, dill, celery salt, 4 dashes Worcestershire instead of Italian seasoning, plus a heaping teaspoon of Hungarian paprika (the good stuff) I also did a 14 oz. fresh slaw bag short cut instead of cabbage. Going to make some bread tomorrow for day 2. Yum!
Thanks for your variations. They had the best cabbage rolls in the cafeteria where I worked. I still haven’t identified the spice that made them so yummy. I tried allspice, but that wasn’t it. How do you get Hungarian paprika?
Love it easy and quick As a Senior person these are the recipes I use Thanks for sharing
I plan on making this tonight but only have chicken broth.Wondering if that’d work as well.
That will work fine!
What a fantastic recipe!!! Today I am making a double recipe because my Family loves it so much. My Son took a soup thermos with the soup every day last week. I was able to get a taste but left it all for him and my Husband 🙂 Love the way you have pictures of every step Alyssa! very simple to understand. Will be making this recipe forever. Thank you!!
I tried this but there was no cabbage at the store. I bought golf ball sized Brussels sprouts and halved them instead. Followed the recipe aside from that. I wish I had quartered the sprouts… Aside from that it was delicious.
Just wanted to tell you Alyssa that as a recipe collector I have many of yours. You are in my mental list of reliables. As an senior I cook less now but am still adding to my collection and share with my adult children.
I wish happiness for you and yours.
Looks yummy, cant wait to try it myself. we come across so many blogs and posts about different recipes all the time, but not many strike a chord with our taste buds.
I like the recipe. Thanks for sharing!!
Hi! Can not wait to try this! Question!! …what kind of rice are you using
I use jasmine rice, it is long-grain white rice.
Thanks for this brilliant recipe. would definitely try at home
I just made this and it was AWESOME! Thank’s Steve Reid