Cabbage Soup is the PERFECT savory vegetable soup made with cabbage, tomato, carrots, celery, and spices, ready in under 45 minutes!
When it gets cold outside, heats things up with kitchen favorites like Ultimate Slow Cooker Pot Roast, the yummy Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Soup, and the hearty Ultimate Slow Cooker Beef Stew!
Cabbage Soup is a savory vegetable soup made with carrots, celery, onions, cabbage, diced tomato and spices. We’ve been making cabbage soup 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 cabbage soup for weight loss because it’s low calorie, but one of the best parts is that 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.
If you’re having this for lunch, serve it with some crackers or breadsticks and a simple salad. You can also sub the chicken broth for vegetable broth if you’re needing this to be vegetarian style. Pro tip: make a double batch of this cabbage soup recipe so you can freeze half of it for a quick dinner another night!
For easy prep, 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 preshredded cabbage and precut frozen vegetables.
How to Make Cabbage Soup
Making Cabbage Soup is actually really simple! Some vegetables will be fried in a bit of oil to create a great flavor, and then a soup is created with the rest of the ingredients. Check it out!
- Step One: Fry the fragrant vegetables (garlic and onion) in some oil until translucent.
- Step Two: Add the rest of the ingredients into the pot and simmer for about a half hour.
- Step Three: Serve hot with easy Garlic Bread or scrumptious Black Pepper Bacon Biscuits!
More Great Cabbage Recipes
Frequently Asked 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, like regular Cabbage Soup, 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!
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Key Ingredients in Cabbage Soup
This is such a healthy and delicious soup, you’ll want to make it on a regular basis. The ingredients are pretty simple and everything can easily be found at your local grocery store! Check it out!
- Cabbage: This recipe is calling for a half-head of green cabbage. You can use the preshredded stuff too. Make sure it’s the freshest you can find!
- Oil: Extra virgin olive oil (aka EVOO) is great for this. You can also use avocado oil or even coconut oil if you prefer.
- Seasoning: We are using 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 great here too!
- Carrots: Carrots add a hearty depth and non-sugary sweetness to the soup. Feel free to use orange, purple, and even yellow carrots!
- Celery: Just a couple of stalks will do. Make sure they are washed thoroughly as they can often have dirt stuck on them from the farm.
- Tomatoes: We’re using a 14.5oz can of stewed tomatoes here since it’s super easy. But if you prefer, you can dice up a cup of fresh tomatoes too! Fresh cut tomatoes work really well in the alternative slow cooker and pressure cooker options.
Alternative Cooking Methods for Cabbage Soup
- Slow Cooker Cabbage Soup: Add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker and stir together. Set the cooker on low for eight hours, or on high for four 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 Cabbage Soup: 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.
Variations on Cabbage Soup
- Vegetable Additions: You can add more veggies to cabbage soup, 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.
- Pure Veg, Non-Veg: Add chicken or beef to this cabbage soup recipe 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 Cabbage Soup: 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 Cabbage Soup: Add a packet of onion soup mix or Italian seasoning if you want more onion and herb flavor.
- Spicy Cabbage Soup: Use a spoonful of hot sauce or a dash of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes to add some spice to this cabbage soup recipe.
- Sweet & Savory: If you want a sweet and savory soup, stir in 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar.
How to Serve Cabbage Soup
- Low Carb: Serve your hot soup with aClassic Wedge Salad which is like a regular salad, except the head of lettuce is cut into wedges for a fancy presentation.
- Carb-alicious: Get some butter melted on fresh Buttermilk Biscuits, a side of Garlic Butter Smashed Potatoes. For dessert, try a quick homemade Apple Bread with a scoop of ice cream. Is your mouth watering yet?
- Perfect Luncheon: Serve the soup alongside the appetizing Tomato Goat Cheese Galette for a yummy lunch that is perfect for any time of the year!
More Hearty Soup Recipes
How to Store Cabbage Soup
- Serve: Serve your soup nice and hot. Keep covered when not being served. Refrigerate within 2 hours.
- 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.
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 simmer for 30 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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The best cabbage soup for healthy eating. I added a can of cooked cannellini beans at the end. You could also add 1/2 cup of brown rice. Really an excellent, simple and tasty recipe.
Tried your recipe and just added green peppers and potatoes and the rest was by
Your recipe and it was super delicious just cooked it an hour but 5 stars all the way
This soup was very bland…definitely won’t be making it again.
I Use stewed tomatoes with garlic and onions.. yum
Do you drain the stewed tomatoes? Making tonight!!
I am planning on making cabbage soup…I just have 1 question….It says 1/2 head of cabbage how many lb cabbage do you normally use?
I always use the entire head of THE LARGEST CABBAGE I can find!!
I absolutely love this recipe. It has become a weekly staple for me. I added shredded chicken breasts and like the other post lots more veggies. I even added zucchini and squash. Fantastic!!
I looked at the recipe I changed it to my taste I used a tin of tomatoes a fresh chilli Italian seasoning ,a sweet potatoe , tomato purée, salt and pepper , garlic and ginger paste , it was to die for
Just love love this cabbage soup!! It is absolutely delicious! Just made some for my daughter and made my own too!!! I add lots of extra carrots and celery and use already prepared coleslaw mix that has red cabbage ,green cabbage and carrots from Whole Foods and NOT CHICKEN vegetarian bullion cubes,out of this world!!! Thanks for the BEST CABBAGE SOUP EVER!! ?????????
Not a big fan of cabbage but had leftovers in the refrigerator. Soup was AMAZING!
Love this!
This cabbage soup was fabulous, the only complaint I felt is 1.) it doesn’t make enough so double it and 2), I felt it needed another can of tomatoes. But it was so yummy we turner around and made a huge double + pot ( we did have soup coming out of our ears) but I loved it
Thank you for a simple flavorful recipe
So glad you enjoyed Sandy!
Delicious! I will definitely be making this again! It was better than other cabbage recipes I have tried. Thanks for sharing it!
Only thing I did was double the recipe. Absolutely delicious. Even had the cabbage haters eating this one.
Very delicious! Easy to make, taste great and freezes well. I love spicy so I added a few jalapeños to kick up a notch!!
My first time having cabbage soup. I have made this recipe three times so far and I can’t thank you enough for the best soup ever. My whole family loves it.
(We have added croutons, or rice and I hope to add mini meatballs sometime soon.)
This recipe is seriously my favorite cabbage soup, recipe. A friend of mine made this for her and her family and sent some home with us after a night of 4 point pitch and I will honestly say……BEST soup!! Five stars all day long!!
Thanks so much Wade!
Great classic Americana. Must try.
Fantastic soup! My husband just had heart surgery and this soup is good for him, and he loves it. Has requested it twice in the past 2 weeks. After adding the final ingredients, I use my instant pot under pressure for 10 minutes. Leave pressure out slowly to prevent “spitting”. The flavor is through and through. Yum!
So very delicious ,combined with healthy and easy! A winning combo for sure!
Delicious! I added ground turkey meat. Plenty of leftover. I’ll make this again.
Easy & tasty. Will definitely make again.
Steve Hennessey
Great soup ! Added 1/2 to 3/4 lb. ground chuck and some cannellini beans. Thanks.
Looks good and tasty
Am going to cook the ? soup. Tell. Me can I post it on your gmai
Recipe looks delicious and definitely gonna make a pot. Quick question, just wanted to ask about using a low sodium beef broth in place of chicken or veggie broth. Could just be a taste preference. Just curious. Thanks in advance!
This is really tasty! After simmering 30 minutes, the veggies were cooked but still had a little crunch to them, just the way I like it! Thanks!
I’ve made this several times, making slight changes according to what I have on hand each time. It’s never disappointed and is always super flavorful and satisfying!! I took some to a friend who’s home with Covid and who hasn’t really had much of an appetite. She just texted me saying it’s the best vegetable soup she’s ever had and asked if I’d share the recipe. Here are the changes I made this time around:
– added 5 sliced Yukon potatoes
– added 1/2 to 2/3 cup of corn
– added handful of spinach (for the cold-fighting natural zinc) when reheating
– added about an extra half tsp of minced garlic
– left out the onion and black pepper (I’m allergic to both)
– used 3 cups beef bone broth and 5 cups chicken bone broth instead of the low sodium chicken broth
– added about 1 1/2 tbs of organic better than chicken bouillon (to make it more flavorful since the bone broth usually isn’t very seasoned).
I used 2 sm cans diced tomatoes and reduced broth to 6 cups, added herbs de provance for a spice instead of thyme, very good
I would like to know as well how many times a day can i consume this soup?
I am getting ready to try this recipe. So I will let you know how it came out.
Very delish!! Thanks for the recipe! Great soup on a budget.
I love the little added tips, going to use a few. Still wish they were below the recipe not before, but nice to have it all.
Oh, Sabrina…I thought being a professional chef you would realize that SOME of us need a bit more specificity.
HALF a cabbage? The one I bought 2 months ago weighed 3.5 pounds. The one I bought at Xmas weighed just over 8 pounds. So…how many CUPS of cabbage would you recommend?
BTW – I ? that your recipe has built-in timers. It’s an AWESOME feature – especially for those of us that get sidetracked/forget to set one.
Thanks! I REALLY need this soup. It’s MINUS 40°C (& F), plus snow & wind, giving us a “real feel” of -45°C ( -49°F) here in Alberta, Canada ?? Brrr!!!
Note to self! Don’t move to Alberta, Canada! Lol
Soup great just change it a bit i put carne asada sea salt and bay leaf put it in a crock pot for 4 hours omg delish
I’ve made this two days in a row and can’t stop eating it! I had to cook it for another 10-20 minutes to get the right texture but it’s so good! I wasn’t expecting it to be so flavorful!
What is the serving size?
Is the nutrition listed for a single serving or the entire dish?
Thank You!
What is the serving size and how many times a day do you eat this
I love this recipe! I added two cans of cannellini beans, an onion soup pack, and four teaspoons of tomato paste. I let my soup slow cook for four hours in my insta pot and it came out better (this being the second time I made it). This will be my dinner for the next few nights. Add some lemon and red pepper flakes before serving for an extra kick.
Could I Make this in the slow cooker
Yes, absolutely. I would cook on low for 4 hours. Should be well cooked and tender. Happy thanksgiving!
Simple and delicious!
I used a box of beef stock and 48 ounce can of seasoned tomatoes. I used half the amount of cabbage (that is all I had) but as you can see the amount of liquid I used was less. Also I cut back on the salt a touch.
Was going to add macaroni but it was so thick I decided not to because the stock tasted delicious and I didn’t want to add more liquid.
Definitely a staple and can see how you could add many different ingredients!
Yummy! I had to make some substitutions- regular instead of low sodium broth, diced tomatoes instead of stewed tomatoes (next time I will use stewed), spanish onion instead of yellow onion, oregnao in place of thyme. It was delicious. Healthy and filling! My only issue was that I had to cook it for a lot longer than recommended, close to 2 hours and the cabbage and carrots still have some bite to them. Next time I’ll cut everything smaller. Thanks for the recipe. Just wondering- is the nutrition info based on one serving size, aka 1/8 of the recipe?
So good! This will be a go to!
Why did you rate a recipe you haven’t tried yet? It’s hard to trust ratings when people rate a recipe on how good it *looks* …
The only changes I made is I sautéed the veggies first before adding the tomatoes and used a combination of beef and veggie broth. I simmered the soup for roughly 45 minutes but the cabbage was still not very soft and the flavours weren’t blending together. Tomorrow I’m going to add ground beef and rice to the leftovers and I know that will improve the flavour plus everything always seems to taste better the day after it’s made 🙂
Did you freeze your cabbage first? than thaw out and cook it should be soft.
I hope this helps
Dee
Terrible. Had almost no taste. I kept adding things to give it more taste – tomato paste, salt, pepper, soup powder. Nothing really helped. Very disappointing.
I’m very sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you Leslie. Maybe there is another recipe that would work better for you!
Must be “User error” considering this is rated 4.92 out of 5 from over 100 viewers
Can you leave out the salt and it still taste good I can’t have salt !
It will be a bit bland but there is a salt alternative to season it. The brand Morton has a sodium-free salt substitute.
Has as nyone tried using bacon drippings in place of the olive oil?
James…I can’t have salt either…Use a salt substitute instead…
Simply delicious. I mean simple and delicious! Loved it!
I also added 1 pound ground sausage and added a can of fire roasted dice tomatoes. So good.
What size pot will I need for the basic recipe?
You can use either an 8qt pot or a 12qt pot.
what is the approx serving size for this??
Hello, if you follow this recipe, you will get 8 servings size. you could always make more or less by hovering over the serving number in the blog.
Perhaps I missed this answer but please tell me how many ounces or cups is a serving?
Hi! Soups have a 1 cup serving. Hope you enjoy!
This is DELICIOUS!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!! Could I freeze this??
Thank you Michelle! Im sure you can freeze it, however I am not sure of the cook time to unfreeze.
When I was in my 20’s..,my co-worker who was in her 60’s was telling me about this cabbage soup which I didn’t pay attention. 40 years later I happened to remember the name but don’t know the recipe. Thank you I found you! Hope it turns out great like everyone was telling here. I’m not a good cook just a good eater! ?
This is awesome, I hope it’s everything you wanted!
Fantastic soooo[ good.
Thank you.
Augie
I have a child who might be squeamish about the texture but eat it if it was smooth. Can you puree this soup? Would it still taste right?
Of course you can, I bet it would taste great. Maybe try a serving first and see if you like it!
Yes. I let it cool down and scoop it into the Vitamix blender. Tastes delicious and better absorption of nutrients. Very easy to digest.
Why is it when I add tomatoes to soup my carrots will not cook , after couple hours it’s still a little hard. HELP
Tomatoes are known for delaying the cooking of carrots and also legumes/lentils – something to do with the high acidity. Always make sure these foods are fully cooked and tender before adding tomato.
Made it 20 min ago. Looks very good and taste extremely good. But I added two corn on the cobs sliced into 1″ + two sausages sliced into1/2″…….it is a repeater!
This turned out great! Had to use Clamato Cocktail because local dollar store was out of tomato juice. We live out in the country. The only thing I would do different is cutting the cabbage smaller. I also used ground beef.
Recipe doesn’t call for tomato juice.