Unstuffed cabbage roll soup has all the great flavors of traditional cabbage rolls, without all the fuss. It’s hearty, beefy, and full of veggies.
Cabbage rolls. They’re pretty tasty. But, if you’ve ever tried to make them, then you know they can be quite tedious. They’re cabbage leaves stuffed with a flavorful beef and rice filling; smothered in a sweet and tangy tomato sauce; and baked until tender.
This recipe has all those flavors in easy to make form. Soup!
This soup has a rich, sweet, and tangy tomato based broth. It’s loaded with vegetables. And, it’s hearty from beef and rice.
It’s a perfect healthy cold weather meal. A huge 2 cup serving has less than 250 calories, but you’d never guess that.
This recipe makes a lot of soup. And, that’s a good thing because this soup makes great leftovers. The hubs and I had it for dinner one night, then made several lunches out of it.
As the rice sits it will keep absorbing more of the broth. So, the leftovers will be thick like a stew. I loved it. But, if you prefer a thinner soup consistency, you may want to add a little more broth or tomato sauce to thin it out a bit.
Check out the step by step recipe video for Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup below.
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Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 lb. extra lean ground beef I used 96% lean
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 5 cups chopped green cabbage about half of a medium sized head
- 4 cups 32 oz. low-sodium beef broth
- 3 cups tomato sauce (24 oz.)
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup uncooked white or brown long grain rice
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 3 tbsp. packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, add the beef and place over medium-high heat. Break it apart with a wooden spoon. Add the onion. Cook about 8 minutes until the beef is brown, stirring occasionally.
- Add the garlic. Stir and cook 1 minute.
- Add the cabbage, beef broth, tomato sauce, carrots, rice, bay leaves, brown sugar, salt, oregano, and pepper.
- Bring to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to simmer and cover the pot. Cook until rice is tender (25 minutes for white rice and 45 minutes for brown rice).
- Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice. Let the soup rest uncovered for 10 minutes to thicken up before serving. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Check out all of my great soup recipes and ground beef recipes.
I have been making this soup for many years. My family absolutely loves it. Very hearty and so good for you. Super easy to make.
I made this last night, but left out the brown sugar and lemon juice. I used a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, 1 large bag of shredded cabbage with carrots already in it. Salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, basil. It was delicious.
Great stuffed cabbage roll taste with half the work!
This recipe was really tasty! I received a huge green cabbage in my produce box and used my food processor to shred it all. Will probably make another batch today as I still have so much left. Thanks so much!
Love, love, love this! So easy. I cut back on the sugar per another cook’s suggestion, and used slightly less tomato sauce (my family are not fans of too much tomato, but my husband loved this) and it was perfect. So filling, healthy, and tasty, Checks all of the boxes and more!
made this several times. I have found a can of diced tomatoes and green chili’s gives it a nice snap!
This is seriously so good. I often times make stuffed cabbage but this is even easier! This is staying in our recipe rotation for sure.
I’ve been making a version of this soup for years. I absolutely love it!!! I use onion powder and garlic powder, because my son doesn’t like onion, he and I are the only ones in the family that eat it. I use tomato juice, a little katchup, some Worcestershire sauce a can of tomato soup. I’m craving it right now.
I actually prefer this soup to stuffed cabbage rolls.
I made this following the recipe with the exception of using 2 tablespoons of brown sugar instead of three based on what other comments said, just to try and save some added sugar. It was delicious! My husband loved it and said it had great flavor as well! It is hearty, yet healthy, and makes a lot of soup. I’m wondering… does it freeze well? Wasn’t sure because of the cabbage. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe! We will enjoy it on many cold days to come!
This soup is delish!! Pretty close taste to my mamaw’s
Rolled cabbages! Loved it!
Very good soup just made it today, my husband will not let it rest the 10 minutes so it can thinking up. Of course with my seasonings it came out excellent.
I just made a pot of this soup. it is so good and easy to prepare. the only change I made was instead of 24 oz. of tomato sauce I used 24 oz can of crushed tomatoes.
Used store cole slaw mix of cabbage and carrots. Works great and saves time. And yes you can use tomato soup or a mix of sauce diced tomatoes etc.
Can this be frozen? My brother and SIL are having their first baby soon and want to make them meals, and this sounds so good!
I used a mixture of ground beef, pork, sausage. Did NOT add sugar or lemon juice. Used TOMATO SOUP and NOT Sauce. Also, I added seasoning of Marjoram and thyme. Excellent!
This is a fantastic, healthy, low calorie & filling soup. Very easy to make and tastes even better the next day. I cut back on the rice and used about 1/4 cup of Trader Joe’s Brown Rice medley.
Second time I’ve made it. We loved it and not a lot of effort to make. Thank you. Good recipe. Janet
Easy to make good!!!! I left out carrots to make it more like cabbage rolls I also added extra rice. Easy Fast and Family loved it
Excellent for Soup Season and building up your immune system. I discovered lean “Sirloin Ground Beef gives it more flavor then Chuck beef. I didn’t overdue on the seasonings, but just a hint of that “Mexican Oregano gave it a kick
and last added Sriracha Chile Sauce separately from the pot to my soup mug for some heat.
Very good, loved it and easy to make
This was very good I liked the bit of sweetness to it. I did forget to put in the lemon juice so will just have to make it again
How many servings does this make?