Cabbage Roll Soup puts the familiar mix of cabbage, beef, rice, and tomatoes into a pot you can serve by the ladleful. The cabbage softens in the tomato broth, the beef adds savory flavor, and the rice makes each bowl substantial enough for dinner. There are no cabbage leaves to blanch or rolls to assemble.
This version uses ordinary long-grain white rice, which cooks right in the soup. Allow about an hour for chopping, browning, and simmering, and use a roomy pot. The recipe makes six hearty servings, with enough broth to tuck a piece of bread into the bowl.
Start with cabbage that fits on a spoon
Remove any damaged outer leaves, cut the cabbage into quarters, and cut out the hard core. Chop the leaves into pieces about an inch across. The thick white ribs can go in too, but cut the widest ones a little smaller so they soften along with the leaves.
That size makes a difference at the table. Long strips can trail off a spoon, while large wedges take longer to become tender. Fairly even, bite-size pieces give you a little cabbage, beef, and rice together in each mouthful.
A few ingredient choices help the whole pot
Ground beef, onion, and garlic. Lean beef keeps the broth from becoming greasy. If the pot looks dry as the beef cooks, use the olive oil listed in the card. The onion softens in the same pot, and the fresh garlic only needs a brief stir before the cabbage goes in.
Diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and broth. The diced tomatoes give the soup little pieces of tomato; the sauce spreads that flavor through the broth. Add the canned tomatoes with their juices. Lower-sodium beef broth gives you more control over the final seasoning.
Long-grain white rice. Use regular uncooked rice for the timing below. Instant rice softens much faster, while brown rice needs a different cooking plan. Measuring the rice matters because it expands as it cooks and takes up some of the broth.
The seasonings. Worcestershire sauce brings a savory note, with paprika, Italian seasoning, and black pepper rounding out the tomato base. Garlic powder is optional. Start lightly with the salt if your broth is already salty, then taste again when the rice is cooked.
Brown the beef, then soften the cabbage
Set a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook the beef, breaking it into small crumbles, until browned and cooked through. Pour off excess fat if there is a pool of it in the bottom. A little fat is useful for cooking the onion; a greasy layer floating on the soup is less welcome.
Add the diced onion and cook for about three to four minutes, stirring as it softens. Stir in the minced garlic for about thirty seconds. Keep the garlic moving so it does not catch on the bottom of the pot.
Add the cabbage and stir it through the beef. It looks like a lot at first, but it settles as it softens. Cook for four to five minutes. If the pot is crowded, add the cabbage in two rounds, stirring the first batch down before adding the rest.
Bring the broth and rice together
Pour in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir across the bottom to loosen any browned bits from the beef. Once the cabbage is surrounded by broth, you should have room to stir comfortably.
Stir in the uncooked rice and the remaining seasonings. Spread the rice through the soup rather than leaving a pile in one spot. A heavy-bottomed pot helps here, especially once the rice begins absorbing liquid.
Bring the soup to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about twenty to twenty-five minutes. Give it an occasional stir from the bottom so the rice does not stick. Keep the simmer gentle rather than letting the soup boil hard.
Check the rice before you call it dinner
Taste a few rice grains. They should be tender all the way through, with no hard center. The cabbage should bend easily and be soft enough to eat with a spoon. If either still needs time, simmer for a few more minutes and check again.
The finished soup is hearty, but you should still see broth between the cabbage and rice. Add extra broth a little at a time if it has become thicker than you like. Stir, let it heat through, and taste for salt and pepper before ladling it into bowls. The cooking time is a guide; the texture tells you when the pot is ready.
Serve it as a simple dinner
A piece of crusty bread or a warm dinner roll is plenty alongside a bowl of this soup. Fresh parsley is an optional finish, and the soup is just as easy to serve without it.
For another rice-based soup, try Chicken Rice Soup. If you are planning more ground-beef dinners, Old Fashioned Goulash keeps the tomato flavor and swaps in pasta, while Creamy Beef and Shells takes dinner in a creamier direction.
Two questions about substitutions
Can I use brown rice?
Brown rice needs longer than the white rice used here. Cook it separately according to its package directions, then stir it into the soup near the end. The recipe card’s simmering time is for ordinary uncooked long-grain white rice.
Can I use a different ground meat?
Ground turkey can replace the beef if you prefer it. Use the olive oil if the pot needs it, cook the meat through before adding the vegetables, and keep the beef broth or choose a broth that suits the meat you use.
Cabbage Roll Soup recipe
Cabbage Roll Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil if needed for lean beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium head green cabbage core removed; cut into roughly 1-inch pieces
- 1 can diced tomatoes 14.5 ounces
- 1 can tomato sauce 15 ounces
- 6 cups beef broth lower-sodium preferred; extra as needed for consistency
- 3/4 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder optional
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a roomy 6- to 8-quart soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil only if needed for lean beef. Cook the ground beef until browned and cooked through, breaking it into small crumbles. Drain excess fat if needed.
- Add the diced onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until softened. Stir in the minced garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the cored cabbage, cut into roughly 1-inch pieces. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to soften and settle. Add it in two batches if the pot is crowded.
- Add the diced tomatoes with their juices, tomato sauce, beef broth, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir well, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in the uncooked long-grain white rice, Italian seasoning, paprika, black pepper, and optional garlic powder. Add salt to taste, starting with less of the listed amount if your broth is already salty.
- Bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Stir occasionally across the bottom of the pot to keep the rice from sticking.
- Check that the rice is tender with no hard center and that the cabbage is soft. If needed, simmer for a few more minutes and check again. Add extra broth a little at a time if the soup is thicker than you prefer.
- Let any added broth heat through, then taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and serve hot. Fresh parsley is an optional garnish.
