Get all the cabbage roll flavor you love with less effort from this Classic Stuffed Cabbage Soup recipe. It’s perfect comfort food!
I spent a lot of my teen years working in my parents’ Ukrainian restaurant and through that I became a truly expert cabbage-roll-maker. But even for me, they’re time-consuming to make. When I crave the flavor of stuffed cabbage rolls but don’t have the time, I make this classic soup and the flavors bring all those memories back.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Video: Making Stuffed Cabbage Soup
What Type Of Cabbage To Use
For this stuffed cabbage soup, I like to use half of a green cabbage, but half of a napa or red cabbage will also work. It ends up being about 6 cups of chopped cabbage.
To save time, get a 14-16 ounce bag of shredded cabbage (sometimes labeled “cole slaw mix” and give it a quick chop before adding to the soup. You’re chopping it just so that you don’t have long threads of cabbage in the soup. Those are hard to fit onto a spoon.
Want an easy cabbage soup that’s vegetarian? My Quick Cabbage Soup uses coleslaw mix and sauerkraut for great flavor in about 15 minutes.
What Rice Do I Use?
In my recipe, I call for uncooked long-grain white rice. It will be added directly to soup to cook during the simmering time.
You can absolutely use different kinds of uncooked rice, but note that it can affect the cooking time (for example, brown rice takes longer). Keep that in mind if trying to use a different variety of uncooked rice.
What about using already cooked rice? If you want to cut down on the cooking time, or if you have leftover cooked rice, you can use that. Simply stir in 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked rice and then just simmer it enough to heat it through. Any kind of cooked rice can be added like this without making changes to the recipe.
Other Ingredients And Substitutions
The carrots in the soup are optional. If you’re used to cabbage rolls that have carrots in them, or just want some extra vegetables, add them on in. We have never put carrots in our cabbage rolls and so I don’t usually include them in the soup for us.
I use lean ground beef for my cabbage rolls and for my stuffed cabbage soup. That’s pretty classic, but you can substitute in ground chicken or ground turkey if you prefer.
The base of the soup gets made with beef broth or stock, along with tomato paste and diced tomatoes. Some recipes use tomato sauce instead of the paste and diced tomatoes, so feel free to adjust. Just be mindful of any salt or added flavorings in the sauce before you start experimenting.
Some cabbage soup recipes also call for brown sugar. I omit it because my family’s cabbage rolls don’t have added sugar and the sweetness doesn’t match for me. But if your favorite cabbage rolls are on the sweeter side, stir in up to 2 tablespoons of brown sugar when you add the paprika.
I love the addition of fresh dill, but if you only have dried dill, there’s a note to make adjustments in the recipe below. But basically, you’ll add the dried dill weed when you add the rice, and then you won’t add any for garnish. This is because dried dill needs time to absorb liquid and thus doesn’t work well as a last-minute garnish. If you’d prefer, you can skip the dill entirely.
Topping the bowls of soup with some sour cream is the perfect touch, since I love cabbage rolls dolloped with sour cream.
More Fantastic Soup Recipes
You can browse my entire collection of soup recipes, or pick one of the cozy favorites below to add to your next meal plan.
- Easy Homemade Borscht
- Venus de Milo Soup
- Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe
- Beef and Farro Soup
- Burrito Soup Recipe
Podcast Episode: Making Stuffed Cabbage Soup
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this soup, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintStuffed Cabbage Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Get all the cabbage roll flavor you love with less effort with this Stuffed Cabbage Soup recipe. It’s perfect comfort food!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped (optional)*
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 4 cups beef stock
- 1 (14 oz. can) diced tomatoes
- 1/2 head green cabbage, cored and coarsely chopped**
- 1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill, divided***
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/3 cup of sour cream, for garnish
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and the carrot (if using), and cook until onion is softened, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook while stirring for 30 seconds.
- To the onions, add the beef, salt, paprika, and the black pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high. Stir and then cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes to start browning the beef. Then, cook while stirring occasionally until beef is no longer pink, another 2-3 minutes.
- Stir the tomato paste into the beef mixture. Then add the beef stock, diced tomatoes, cabbage, rice, 1/4 cup of the dill, and the bay leaf.
- Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of dill. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
- Ladle soup into bowls. Top each serving with a small scoop of sour cream, if desired.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Notes
*My family’s cabbage rolls never contained carrots and so I don’t usually put them in the soup. But I know that some people have shredded carrots in their cabbage rolls, and then adding some carrots to the soup really makes the flavor more authentic for them.
**This is equivalent to 6-7 cups of chopped cabbage. If buying a bag of shredded cabbage (or coleslaw mix), you’ll need one 14-16 ounce bag. Before adding it to the soup, give the shredded cabbage a rough chop so that you don’t have long strands in your soup. Those don’t fit well on a spoon.
***If using dried dill weed, add 2 teaspoons to the soup when you add the rice and then don’t use any for garnish.
Carla Long says
The stuffed cabbage soup recipe is so good and easy to come together. The instructions being set the way they are allow you to prep the veggies as you get to them vs before if you want which I liked for how I cook.
Christine Pittman says
Thank you, Carla! I appreciate the feedback. :)