Cabbage rolls are my favourite comfort food, but they take forever to make. This cabbage roll soup has all the flavours and comfort of cabbage rolls, but it’s ready in 1 hour! It’s great for a weeknight meal, makes great leftovers and will crush your comfort food craving.
This post is sponsored by Minute Rice Canada. As always, all opinions are my own.
I love cabbage rolls more than the average person. But they take so much time and effort to make. Enter, Cabbage Roll Soup. Everything goes into the pot and simmers away for an hour, then, dinner is served.
They go by many names – cabbage rolls, stuffed cabbage, halupki, golumpki. Whatever you call them, they’re all very similar and all very delicious. My Baba’s cabbage rolls are legendary. I know everyone says that their grandma made the best ones, but my Baba’s are truly the best. The ingredients are so simple but the process is long. It’s likely to take you the whole day to make them, so don’t plan on eating them on the same day. Because the process takes so long, we only ever have cabbage rolls for the holidays. Quite frankly, a few times a year just isn’t enough. That’s where this comforting cabbage roll soup comes into play. It has all the same flavours, ingredients and nostalgia as the rolled version, but it’s ready to eat in an hour.
Lets Talk Ingredients
Cabbage roll soup is made with simple, wholesome ingredients. The key players in this soup are green cabbage, ground beef and tomatoes. It’s amazing how much flavour you get from a handful of basic ingredients.
- Green Cabbage: I use fresh, green cabbage for this recipe. I look for a small to medium sized head of cabbage without any damaged leaves on the outside. Chances are you won’t need the whole head, so make some coleslaw with the leftovers.
- Lean Ground Beef: Most stuffed cabbage recipes use ground beef or pork in the filling. It’s what’s going to make this soup hearty and filling.
- Tomato: This recipe calls for passata, which is simply uncooked, pureed tomatoes. If you prefer, you can use a jarred tomato sauce, instead. Tomato sauce will have a thicker consistency compared to passata, but will still work great.
- Minute Rice: Using Ready to Serve Whole Grain Brown Rice does two things. 1. It ensure the rice is perfectly cooked no matter what. No mushy or hard rice here. 2. It allows you to add it to your bowl instead of all into the soup. This will help with leftovers. I hate when rice and pasta soak up all the liquid in leftover soup. This way, you add as much or as little as you want, each time you eat it.
How to make Cabbage Roll Soup
Folks, there’s really not much to it! Start by browning the beef with the onions, then add in the garlic, cabbage and tomato paste. Add everything else except for the rice. Let it simmer for 45-60 minutes. You want the cabbage to have softened and sweetened and in my experience, it’s best to let it go for the full hour. Once the cabbage is perfect, add in the pre-cooked rice (either all to the pot, or portioned out into individual bowls) and serve! The benefit to adding the pre-cooked rice at the end, is that you know it’s cooked perfectly (no soggy rice or hard rice, here!).
With the cold, winter months upon us, comfort food is always on the brain. Cabbage Roll Soup is full of hearty, good-for-you ingredients and it’s super simple to make. This soup goes great with some garlic bread, buttered baguette, or just on it’s own. It’s a great weeknight meal and makes for even better leftovers the next day.
Looking for more Comfort Food?
- Turos Teszta (A Hungarian Pasta Dish)
- Instant Pot Turkey and Rice Meatballs
- French Onion Soup Bites
- Thai Coconut Curry Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 3 large cloves of garlic minced
- 3 cups chopped green cabbage
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups passata pureed tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning herb blend
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 125g each Minute Rice Ready to Serve Whole Grain Brown Rice about 2 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- In a soup pot over medium heat, add beef and onions. Cook until beef has browned. Drain excess fat.
- Add garlic, cabbage, and tomato paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add in beef broth, diced tomatoes, passata, sugar, Worcestershire, Italian seasoning, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.
- Simmer the soup for 45-60 minutes, or until the cabbage has softened and sweetened. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Prepare Minute Rice Ready to Serve Whole Grain Brown Rice according to package directions.
- Add rice to the soup, stir to combine.
- Serve Immediately.
Nutrition
Nutritional calculation was provided by WP Recipe Maker and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator
Notes
- You can also use long grain white rice in place of the Minute Rice. You'll want about 2 cups of cooked rice.
- If you want to cook the rice in the soup as it simmers, use 1 cup long grain white rice (uncooked), and you'll also need to increase the amount of beef stock, or water, by about 2 cups.
This looks delicious! I love soups that are full of flavor like this one! I’ll have to try the recipe soon!