Cabbage Soup is the perfect savory vegetable soup made with cabbage, tomato, carrots, celery, and spices, ready in under 45 minutes!
When the weather gets cold in the winter, heat things up with a warm and cozy Soup! If you like Ground Beef Cabbage Soup, but want something meat-free, you need to try this veggie version!
Sabrina’s Cabbage Soup Recipe
Cabbage Soup is a savory vegetable soup made with carrots, celery, onions, cabbage, diced tomato and spices. I’ve been making this recipe for years because it’s the perfect thing to make when it’s cold outside, plus you can do it in the slow cooker on days when you’re busy.
A lot of people make this soup for weight loss because it’s low calorie, but I also love it because it’s totally inexpensive and super easy to make. Serve it with freshly made bread or Dinner Rolls. You can even cut up leftover Homemade Rotisserie Chicken and throw that in there, too.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion , chopped
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 8 cups low sodium chicken broth , (vegetable broth is fine too)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper , or to taste
- 1/2 head cabbage , chopped in 1 ½ inch chunks
- 4 large carrots , peeled and chopped
- 2 ribs celery , sliced thinly
- 14.5 ounces stewed tomatoes , (just under two cups fresh cut tomatoes)
Instructions
- In a large pot add the olive oil over medium heat then add in the onions and garlic, onion and cook until the onions are see through, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add in the broth, salt, pepper, thyme, cabbage, carrots, celery, and tomatoes and stir to combine. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Notes
- Change Serving Size: Click on the yield amount to slide and change the number of servings and the recipe will automatically update!
- Conversion: To convert measurements to grams, click on the Metric option next to Ingredients in the recipe card.
- Kitchen Timer: Click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
Nutrition
Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes
Table of contents
Key Ingredients
- Cabbage: This recipe is calling for a half-head of green cabbage. You can use the preshredded stuff too.
- Oil: Extra virgin olive oil is great for this. You can also use avocado oil or even coconut oil if you prefer.
- Seasoning: I use simple thyme in this recipe. But you can use Italian blend or Herbes de Provence (an incredible french blend of dried herbs).
- Broth: Look for the low sodium chicken broth. Vegetable broth works especially if you want to make a vegan soup.
- Carrots: Carrots add an earthy depth and natural sweetness to the soup.
- Celery: Just a couple of stalks will do. You can also add the leaves with the cabbage for a bit more fresh flavor.
- Tomatoes: I used canned stewed tomatoes not only because it’s easy but they are slightly sweeter and often stewed with basil so you get more Italian flavor.
Can this be made ahead?
Yes! Pro-tip: Make a double batch so you can freeze half of it for a quick dinner another night! For easy prep, you could also cut up all of the vegetables used for one pot of this soup, wrap in a sealable bag and freeze. Then you just need to pull the bag out of the freezer and cook (or slow cook) with broth and spices! For even easier prep, use pre-shredded cabbage and precut frozen vegetables.
How to Store
- Store: Cabbage Soup will last for 4-5 days in the refrigerator, when sealed tightly. You can have this for dinner, then pack a few lunches with it, then freeze whatever is leftover for another day.
- Freeze: Let it cool completely before putting it into an airtight container and freezing. This will keep for about 2-3 months in the freezer.
Ideas To Serve
- Low Carb: Make a healthy dinner Classic Wedge Salad which is like a regular salad, except the head of lettuce is cut into wedges for a fancy presentation.
- Bread: Some freshly baked Buttermilk Biscuits or a loaf of garlic bread from the grocery store are perfect for soaking up the broth.
- Lunch Combo: This light soup goes great with your favorite sandwiches as a filling lunch duo without adding a bunch of extra calories.
Alternative Cooking Techniques
Slow Cooker
Add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker and stir together. Set the cooker on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. The soup is done when the vegetables are soft and your kitchen smells amazing. Pro tip: use a crock pot liner for virtually no clean up!
Instant Pot
Use the sauté function for the oil with onion, garlic, and spices for a few minutes before adding the other ingredients. Once it’s done sautéing, add everything to the instant pot and stir. Lock the lid and set pressure on high for a total time of 10 minutes, then let the pot naturally release, about another 15 minutes.
Frequent Questions
If you want the broth to be a little bit thicker, add 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste and stir well.
This recipe is naturally dairy-free and gluten free (with gluten free broth)!
Good question! There are a lot of similarities between the two. The differences are in that the ingredients used are in different measurements. Plus, there’s a different blend of spices. But the biggest difference is that Weight Loss Cabbage Soup is not made with oil, so there’s less calories.
While this recipe here is utilizing green cabbage, you can use purple (red) cabbage, or even a blended mix of both!
Variations
- Vegetable Additions: You can add more veggies, like green beans, bell peppers, corn, broccoli, kale, spinach, or or cauliflower. If you add leafy greens, add them at the end just a few minutes before you serve, otherwise they’ll get mushy.
- Bulk it Up: Add chicken or beef if you want more protein, and rice or potatoes for more carbs. For a vegetarian protein option, use white beans or extra firm tofu cut into cubes.
- Beef: If you’re making beef cabbage soup, use ¼ cup of red wine to deglaze the onions and simmer until reduced by half. Then follow the recipe as normal. I like to use ground beef, which is a lot like deconstructed cabbage rolls!
- Italian: Add Italian seasoning blend or use herbs like dried oregano, basil, parsley, marjoram and rosemary to give this an Italian flavor.
- Spicy: Use a spoonful of hot sauce or a dash of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes to add some heat.
Related Recipes
More Vegetable Soup Options
Photos used in a previous version of this post:
Can I do this in a crockpot?
Sure 🙂
Cant wait to try your soups…Kansas City is having Ice & Snow, as I write, so perfect timing. Thanks Bunches.
Pam
Stay safe, Pam!
This is the best cabbage soup. I can eat the whole pot in two days if I allow myself. It is a perfect blend of ingredients. My In-Laws are elderly and they love when I share this soup>
Thanks for coming back to let me know, Charlotte. I appreciate the 5 stars.
Could you use ground pork in this recipe?
Sure 🙂
I just love cabbage in any way, shape or form. I’ve been making cabbage soup for a few yrs now. I like to tweak it by adding frozen green beans and sumtimes a little cooked barley. And I usually add a bit of tomato paste for that ‘extra’ tomato goodness/ taste
Sounds delicious!
Just tried it. Everybody thought it was great. Added chili flakes for bite. Soooo delicious!!
I love this soup recipe! My family has requested it many times. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
You’re welcome, Janet. So glad you all enjoy it so much.
Made it today with home made vegetable broth, added tomato paste, chilli flakes, potatoes and chick peas. Served with a dash of olive oil and lemon juice. It was delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Sounds amazing! Thanks for the 5 stars.
How long would i cook it if i use the instantpot or pressure cooker? can i omit the garlic and if so, what would i put in it’s place?
Use the saute function for the onions, celery, and carrots for about 5 minutes or until softened. Add the other ingredients and stir. Turn on the soup function and set it for 20 minutes. Use instant release once the 20 minutes is up. Once the pressure has released, stir and enjoy!
Made this for my wife and I. As Sabrina suggested I added a meat. 1 lb of cooked mild Italian sausage.
This is a great website by the way. I especially liked getting to the recipe quickly instead of having to read a lot of verbiage.
I will be using the lamb stew recipe next.
So glad you liked it, thanks for the review! I appreciate the feedback 🙂 Let me know how the Lamb Stew turns out!
I followed the recipe almost exactly. I have to watch my salt so I left out the salt & substituted my frozen garden tomatoes & peppers for the stewed tomatoes & added a bay leaf.
Really delicious & so easy
How delicious and special to add your own garden veggies! Love that!
Yummy
Added chicken breast bay leaf dill potato and bay leaf!
Cooked in cast iron pot
Yum! Sounds delicious with chicken!
At what point during cooking did you add chicken? You added it raw, right? Thanks!
Easy and tasty.
Glad you liked it!
Do you know the nutritional info on this soup?
The nutritional info is right under the recipe card. Hope this helps!
I like this recipe so I gave it five stars but I strongly suggest reducing the water (it’s way too much), the salt ( since you have salt in the broth, even low sodium) and the pepper ( 1/4 teaspoon is enough).
Great one for loosing weight!
So glad you liked it and were able to make it to your taste! Thanks for the review 🙂
Great recipe.
I love making soup.
It warms the soul on cold days.
Is there “EVER” a way to “mess up” soup on a cold day ?
I’m no chef, but our family will NEVER starve.
Thanks for the recipe.
Aw I completely agree – soup is always easy to throw together and makes a great meal this time of year.
Delicious and easy . It doesn’t have to be exact measurements. I used rotisserie chicken. This is a healthy soup.
So glad you liked it! And yes, you can definitely make it your own 🙂
Wow, I have just finished making this and I am eating it right now as I type this at 12:50am. I have found so many recipes online but they all yield a lot. I’m so grateful that I found yours because this really hits the spot and I feel so good to finally be eating healthy again. Thank you so much for sharing this! I will be making this again! ?
Ii dont have celery.
You can make it without. 🙂 It won’t alter the flavor too much.
This soup is fantastic, added parsnips and 2 drops of Tabasco.
Very nice soup. I found this recipe looking for something to make with my left overs. I followed the recipe except for throwing in a few things from my fridge that I had on hand. I had two italian sausages so I broke those up and fried it along with the onion and garlic. I also had two Kale leaves so I threw those in chopped up of course. Also fresh parsley from my garden. Voila! Very tasty. Love soup on these cooler days.
Sounds delicious! I love when you can clean out your fridge and make a hearty, yummy soup. Yay to not wasting food in your fridge! 🙂
I love your recipe because it doesn’t have the usual green pepper, which I don’t like. I’m on a low salt diet so I take out the kosher salt and add salt free seasoning.
So glad you like it and are able to adjust for your diet! Thanks for the review 🙂
I have to be careful with green pepper. Sometimes green pepper gives too much flavor. If I do add it in it is late In the cooking.
This soup was so delicious. I didn’t have thyme so I used oregano and was still amazing.
Glad you liked it! Sounds like a great swap on the herbs.
Recipe says half a head of cabbage but cabbage heads come in all sizes. Can you tell me how many cups of chopped cabbage should be used?
It’s about 4-4.5 cups of shredded cabbage.
I love cabbage so I added more. I also put in yellow pepper, cauliflower and baby carrots. I used beef broth for something different. I used rosemary, thyme, cumin, and some garlic powder(love garlic). It was delicious!! I’ll be making it again for sure!! ?
This is my go-to recipe lately! I just love it. I add two cans of garbanzo beans and slow cooked and shredded pork that I make in my ninja. Really filling and lasts me all week. My favorite side is a nice loaf of homemade beer bread!
Love to hear that – and homemade bread is the best!!
Delicious, easy and inexpensive – thank you! Sadly, but to my own personal benefit, I’m the only member of my family who likes cabbage soup! Made last night in the Instantpot. I like my cabbage soup on the spicy side – I added a little cumin, cayenne pepper, and Sriracha – just enough to make my nose run just a LITTLE bit 🙂
What I’ll do next time: break up the stewed tomatoes, add some tomato paste to thicken it a little bit, and try some versions with cauliflower, ground beef and rice. Can’t wait to finish all the leftover so I can make it again.
Glad you enjoyed. Sometimes you need a special recipe just for you! Love how you made it your own.
I know , haha ?
Yummy! Made this tonight. Thanks for posting.
You’re welcome!
I LOVE cabbage soup! I always use this particular recipe as my base but I like to tweak pretty much any recipe I use! This time I used 5 c. of the Knorr tomato buillon w/chicken broth, which lends a little bit of spice and then 3 c. beef buillon broth. I also like to add in red pepper, leave out the thyme, and add cumin, extra garlic, and a little bit of lime juice! I prefer a little spicier, so I’ll add either cayenne or some hot sauce to my personal bowl =]
Love your tweaks! So glad you love it!
Thank you so much for this recipe Sabrina! It’s lite, full of flavor, and super easy to prepare. My (very picky) husband went back for a third helping. A real winner! Will be adding this to my repertoire.
So glad we won him over! Thanks for coming back to let me know.
This was so good. I made it with frozen meatballs and used your suggestion for adding beef, which was to add red wine, and I used a little brown sugar also. I threw in half a green pepper I had left over, and added marjoram, a bay leaf, and a teaspoon of onion soup mix. I cooked it a little bit longer, about 40 minutes, since my veg needed a little more time.
The final result was rich, sweet, and delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe!
You’re welcome, Stacy! So glad you enjoyed it.
Have been making a similar soup for many years. I use ground turkey or turkey sausage in place of hamburger. I do not season with hot seasonings but use a generous amount of sage, rosemary and thyme plus salt and pepper. I also include a can of black beans or white beans for extra protein. Cabbage soup is one of our favorites it’s keto friendly and very low fat/carb.
Greetings Sabrina ?
Is this the same recipe as the “Cabbage Soup Diet”. Looks YuM (3 stars for appearance!).
I’m going to mGreetings Sabrina ?
Is this the same recipe as the “Cabbage Soup Diet”. Looks YuM (3 stars for appearance!).
I’m going to make this, as it “sounds” like the same recipe & I love cabbage. I just have to limit my intake, as when my mama & I did this soup diet, (so easy, as I love cabbage – eating it 2x/day), waay back in the day, I ended up at the emergency room, bc apparently, cabbage’s, natural gas *ahem* causing ability, can actually kill you! ?
This time I’ll only eat it 1x/day ~ Wish me well ?
Thanks so much for sharing!
It looks really similar. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
What is the serving size?
About 1 cup. 🙂
Loved the recipe. My husband said he would never ear cabbage soup. He loved it. Easy to do. We opted for the veggie version with a bit of tomato paste. Superb taste. Would love to see more of your recipes, especially veggie based.
So glad you got him to give it a try! Thanks so much for the 5 stars.
Just had to leave a comment on how great and simple this dish is. I ended up, going with ground beef and beef broth and it was great. This is definitely a timeless dish and will stay in my cook book for life. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and let me know, Randall. I take that as a huge compliment.
Great recipe! Followed instant pot directions and sauteed onion and garlic before adding other ingredients. Adding crushed red pepper to the instant pot makes the soup super spice-something about the pressure cooking. We loved it!
This site uses so much flash that it’s hard to navigate and everything is slow. I almost gave up on the recipe but I’m glad I pushed through.
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
IF YOU BUT PUT IN THE SPICES YOU LIKE YOU CAN MAKE IT TASTE YOU WANT. THIS IS AWSOME SOUP
Made the fried cabbage with apples & onions for dinner last night. Did not have bacon, but ended up adding sausage!! Was delicious. My husband and I loved it!! Gonna try the cabbage soup next!! Yum!!
That does sound delicious!
It says it yields 8 servings. Though I cant find how much is a serving. One cup? Two? Please let me know
I serving is one cup. 🙂
I hope you enjoy it!
Felt like this recipe could have used more flavor. Easy to make though.
You can always adjust the seasoning more to your liking. Glad you thought it was easy though.
I agree with Jenn. This soap had NO flavor AT ALL. I ended up using LOTS of STEAK seasoning as it was all I had other than Thyme. After using probably 3 Tablespoons it was delicious.
This is so good. I added a package of frozen meatballs and a can of prepared rice for fillers. I also added cumin to make it more of a mexican meatball type of soup. Great recipe.
Sounds delicious!
I made this last night (overnight) in my slow cooker. I woke up to an amazing aroma. I started out by sauteing the onions, celery & garlic to give added flavor. I then followed your recipe also adding green beans, cut okra, and corn, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Similar to a vegetable soup. I just had a bowl and it is so good.
I have a kidney disease and cabbage is one of the foods that is good for kidneys. I plan on freezing some so it is ready to eat at a moments notice. Thank you for a great recipe.
You’re welcome, Kathie. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
Delicious as written but I like to add a pound of the leanest hamburger meat I can find to make what I consider to be a complete meal.
Enjoy!
Cleaned out my freezer only to find your cabbage soup that i made in 2/ 17
I had in a vacuum pack food saver bag and it was as hood as the day I made it.
I haven’t made cabbage soup in probably 20 years! I used all of the ingredients in this recipe except for the fresh carrots because I was using a half bag of frozen medley vegetables instead. In addition, I used 3/4’s of the cabbage head – added a pinch of red pepper flakes – 1 extra large chicken bouillon cube to strengthen the chicken broth – and a can of Ro*Tel diced tomatoes with green chilies. I served it with crusty garlic bread and I must say, the flavors all came together to make one hearty bowl of soup – AWESOME!
So glad you enjoyed it!
In other words, you completely changed this recipe?
I have made this with the packaged cole slaw cabbage and carrots already shredded. Saves a lot of time. I also have browned some sweet italian sausage and added to it. Gives it a great flavor.
Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds delicious!
I don’t see any reason I couldn’t add shrimp to this soup does anyone else?
Sounds delicious to me!
My mom always used to do the cabbage soup diet when I was little. I actually loved the flavor of the soup!
So glad you love it, Tara!
I don’t even like cabbage that much but this looks amazing! May need to try this!!!
You’ve got to try it!
This soup is hearty and so delicious!
Thanks, Courtney!
I have totally been wanting to try this!!! I am adding to my must make list. YUM!
Yes, do it!!
This soup is sooo good. We love cabbage around here and this is always a hit.
Awesome!