Cabbage Roll Soup

Our Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe is simple comfort food that feeds a crowd! Less work than traditional cabbage rolls with all of that same delicious, hearty flavor.

It’s officially soup season in our house.

I mean, if I had my way, we’d eat soup all year long, but my husband exists and he gets a little huffy about soup in the summer. I suppose if I was doing yard work in 100 degree heat all day and then came inside to a bowl of soup, I’d probably be confused too.

Anyway! It’s soup season and that means this Cabbage Roll Soup is on repeat, right alongside our taco soup recipe and cheeseburger soup. Allll the soup, please.

We love cabbage rolls, but I never make them myself…too much work! Cabbage roll soup just so happens to have all the same flavors without all of the rolling!

Serve this with our beer bread or some 7 Up Biscuits for a hearty meal.

What is a Cabbage Roll?

A cabbage roll is a mix of ground meat (usually beef) with other ingredients like tomatoes and rice that is wrapped in cabbage leaves.

This is an unstuffed cabbage roll soup recipe, which is basically just a deconstructed cabbage roll with all the same ingredients in a savory soup!

I’m using lots of ground beef, diced tomatoes, garlic, onion, rice, and of course plenty of chopped cabbage! It’s all cooked in a savory mix of beef broth and tomato juice.

You’re going to love this cabbage soup with hamburger meat!

Ingredient Notes:

Ground Beef – We love beef cabbage soup so I’m using a whole pound of ground beef! You can use a lean or fattier blend if you prefer. You could also switch things up and use a different meat like ground chicken, turkey, or pork!

Cabbage – You’ll need some freshly chopped cabbage for this soup. It’s filling and nutritious and it’ll soak up all the savory flavors in the soup.

Broth & Tomato Juice – I’m using beef broth and tomato juice to make up the majority of the liquid in this homemade soup recipe. Use a good quality beef broth and tomato juice to get the best flavor! V8 works well here, too.

Rice – Along with the cabbage this filling ingredient will bulk up the soup and soak up all the savory flavors in the beef broth and tomato juice. I prefer to use a long grain white rice. Do NOT use instant rice.

Ro*Tel: We like a hint of spice in our soup, so we use canned tomatoes with green chiles. If preferred, you may use plain canned diced tomatoes, but the soup won’t have quite as much flavor.

Seasonings – A few additional ingredients you’ll need to add flavor include minced garlic and onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and grated parmesan for topping.

How To Make Cabbage Roll Soup:

Beef: To start, you’ll want to brown some ground beef in a dutch oven or stock pot.

Onion & Garlic: Once the beef is starting to brown and has broken up a bit, stir in the onion an garlic and cook those for about 5 minutes or until the beef is cooked through.

Cabbage: Next, you’ll want to chop up a head of cabbage and add that to the pot along with the beef broth, tomato juice, rice, Worcestershire sauce, and my secret ingredient – Ro*Tel!

The Ro*Tel adds a little kick to the soup without making it spicy. Just gives it a zing. We love it!

Simmer: This soup is so easy! Just bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and then cook for about 25 minutes.

Serve: Once the rice is cooked through, you’re ready to serve.

We like to top ours with a little freshly grated Parmesan. Serve it up with some easy air fryer dinner rolls or a salad!

My Favorite Dutch Oven!

This gorgeous Dutch oven is perfect for making soup, pot roast, and more. It goes from stove to oven as needed and looks pretty enough to leave out on your stovetop as decoration.

Get on amazon

Recipe FAQs:

• Crockpot Potato Soup: So cheesy and so easy!
• Cauliflower Soup: It’s a healthy low carb alternative to potato soup!
• Chicken Pot Pie Soup: I top this with little bits of pie crust in place of crackers and it’s SO GOOD!
• Homemade Tomato Soup: Perfect with a grilled cheese for lunch.
• Ham and Bean Soup: The perfect way to use up any leftover ham!

This recipe was originally published in October 2018. It was updated with new text and photos in November 2023. Original photo below.