Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup is an easy vegetable soup that’s great for healthy eating, but still flavorful and filling. Made in only 20 minutes!

This incredibly simple Soup Recipe is even healthier and easier than Classic Cabbage Soup and is also delicious and enjoyable, just like Vegetable Soup and Classic Chicken Noodle Soup. There’s a reason that soups are said to warm your soul. 

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup in bowl

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup is also known as Diet Soup, Wonder Soup, or GM Diet Wonder Soup. This Cabbage Soup is the central part of an eating plan that has been around for years enjoying unlimited Cabbage Soup throughout. (Note: we are not advocating to be nutrition professionals OR advocating that you follow a specific diet. We just wanted to offer the recipe and give you its background).

There are other cabbage soup diet recipes used for quick weight loss, but Wonder Soup makes a great starting point for healthy eating because it’s low in calories, nutrient-dense, fat-free, and sugar-free.

Hearing all that, you might be starting to picture an awfully bland soup, but luckily the flavorful ingredients like cabbage, garlic, tomatoes, basil, and oregano give this broth-based Cabbage Soup an excellent taste while remaining low-calorie. This is a delicious soup that you can enjoy for an easy healthy meal once in a while. If you just have Cabbage Soup as a regular dinner, you can make some Soft Rolls to go along with it for a comforting meal.

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup Collage

How to Make Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

One of the best things about soups is how easy they are to make and how amazing they are for a healthy diet. The process is literally just chop up all the veggies and add them to the seasoned soup base in your Dutch Oven.

  • Step One – Chop: Take your head of cabbage, cut in half. This will give you about 4 cups of shredded cabbage. Save the other half for another meal, unless you’re meal prepping. Chop all the other vegetables into 
  • Step Two – Cook: Add all of your ingredients to your soup pot and cook until the carrots are tender. Violà! Your healthy cabbage soup is ready to eat! 

More Soup Recipes

Frequently Asked Questions

How many calories are in Weight Loss Cabbage Soup?

If you’re counting your caloric intake, your calories per day is very important. Thankfully, this is a low calorie meal with only about 60 calories per serving (one cup).

Can I add meat to Wonder Soup?

There are a lot of ways you can change up the recipe. To make it more filling, try adding in some meat like chicken, turkey, or beef. It may not be as low in calories, but it will still be healthy and delicious. If you’re starting with raw meat, you’ll want to sauté it for a few minutes ahead of time to get it browned. If you don’t want to add meat, but still want to make the recipe more filling you could cook in some lentils and brown rice with your Cabbage Soup.

What kind of broth should I use for Cabbage Soup?

You can exchange the vegetable broth in the recipe for chicken broth or beef broth if you prefer. You can also use low-sodium broth if you’re trying to reduce sodium.

Should I use Purple Cabbage or Green Cabbage? 

You can use either, or a mix of both! This recipe uses green cabbage. 

What else could I add to Weight Loss Cabbage Soup?

There are lots of vegetable and spice/herb add-ins you can put in the soup if you’d like to change up the taste. Try adding some bell peppers, green beans, green peppers, or seasonings like red pepper flakes, paprika, and Italian seasoning.

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup in pot with ladle

Key Ingredients in Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

The greatest thing about a homemade cabbage soup diet is the sheer amount of vegetables in this soup. The ingredients are simple, easy to prep, and delicious to eat. You can add so many things to your healthy cabbage soup. But let’s look at what this recipe calls for. 

  • Soup Base: We’re using a vegetable broth as the base. You can easily find pre-made veggie broths in your local grocery store. 
  • Vegetables: Choose fresh and ripe vegetables when buying them. Bonus points if you can source them from your local farmer’s market! 
  • Cabbage: Yes, cabbage is a vegetable, but it’s the foundational veggie in our healthy cabbage soup. It’s a wonder vegetable that’s been cooked for thousands of years. It is an excellent source of vital nutrients and may be good for your blood pressure. There are two main types of cabbage: red or purple, and white or green. You can also use Savoy cabbage which is characterized by its crimped leaves, as compared to the smoother leaves of other cultivars. It truly makes this soup a Wonder Soup!

Alternative Cooking Methods for Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

No matter your soup pot used for cooking this healthy cabbage soup recipe will make it super easy to make. Just be sure to add plenty of water or broth of choice. 

  • Slow Cooker: This is a great slow cooker meal. Add all the ingredients, cover with the lid, and let it cook for 4 hours. If it cooks too long it might get too soggy. This is especially useful if you add roast beef or chicken to your soup. 
  • Dutch Oven: This is the method used in this recipe. It’s a great stovetop stock pot. 
  • Pressure Cooker: This one is quick and easy. Just add all the ingredients to the pot. Pressure cook on high for 3 minutes. Press the natural release valve and serve when ready! 

Meal Prepping Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

If you’re on a cabbage soup diet and meal prepping this soup for the whole week, it’s a great idea to get the soup prepped in advance. The last thing you want is to have to chop up all the vegetables then wait for the soup to heat up when you’re already hungry. Make all your batches of cabbage soup in one go and just reheat them when ready.

  • Prep Extra: Start by cutting up all your vegetables. This recipe will be enough for several servings, but you may want to double up if you’re eating it for the whole week.
  • Store Extra: You can combine the full recipe right way, or divide the ingredients into serving-sized containers to store in the fridge. Then you can just add broth and heat up one serving at a time.
  • Cool First: If you make all the soup right away, then let it cool to room temperature and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. You can heat each serving in the microwave or on the stovetop for a few minutes.
Weight Loss Cabbage Soup ladled in bowl

Variations on Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

There’s a lot you can do with this healthy soup recipe. Adapt to your favorite style! 

  • Vegan (Pure Veg): This recipe defaults to being a pure vegan recipe as it is made from 100% plants. 
  • Vegetarian (Veg): You can make it a creamy soup by adding a cup of milk or half and half to your cooking pot. 
  • Pescatarian (Non-veg): White fish would go really nicely with this recipe, like cod or halibut. Give the fish a good pan sear in olive oil before adding it to the soup. 
  • Meatarian (Non-veg): You can add chicken, pork, or even lamb to the soup. Steak would be amazing too. If you really want to step it up, cook pork sausage or chorizo with the meat to add a ton of flavor! 

How to Serve Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

  • Serve the soup in a bowl with a side of baked potato with butter. The flavor will go good with the garlic cloves in the soup. 
  • Top the soup with freshly chopped green onion and a sprinkling of fresh parsley or cilantro (fresh coriander) for a vibrant pop of color. 
  • To give it a little kick, cook with a tablespoon of red pepper flakes. 

More Yummy Cabbage Recipes

How to Store Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

  • Serve: You can keep this Cabbage Soup recipe at room temperature for 2 hours before you’ll want to store it. Keep a lid on it when not being served.
  • Store: To store Wonder Soup, let it cool to room temperature then put it in an airtight container. This recipe can keep well in the fridge for up to a week.
  • Freeze: You can also store Wonder Soup in the freezer. It will store well for up to 3 months.
Weight Loss Cabbage Soup in bowl

Pin this recipe now to remember it later

Pin Recipe

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup is an easy vegetable soup that's great for healthy eating, but still flavorful and filling. Made in only 20 minutes!
Yield 8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 8 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 yellow onion , chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic , minced
  • 4 cups cabbage , cut into 1 inch chunks
  • 3 carrots , sliced
  • 3 stalks celery , sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 28 ounces diced tomatoes , do not drain

Instructions

  • Add the vegetable broth, onion, garlic, cabbage, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and diced tomatoes then stir well.
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes until cabbage and carrots are tender.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 57kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 0.3g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Sodium: 1130mg | Potassium: 388mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 4543IU | Vitamin C: 25mg | Calcium: 68mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Weight Loss Cabbage Soup
Weight Loss Cabbage Soup Pin 1

Photos used in a previous version of this post.

Weight Loss Cabbage Soup Collage
Weight Loss Cabbage Soup in pot
Weight Loss Cabbage Soup ingredients in pot
Weight Loss Cabbage Soup serving in ladle
Weight Loss Cabbage Soup collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

Categories

Leave a comment & rating

Have you checked the FAQ section above to see if your question has already been answered? View previous questions.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

    1. Haven’t tried that with this recipe. If you do, let us know what you think! I love me a good short cut!

  1. I noticed you said you could make this recipe in a slow cooker for 4hrs. However, you do not specify high or low.

    1. Depends on how much time you have to prepare the soup. High if you’re in a hurry and low if you are not.

      1. Oh my gosh this simple soup has so much flavor. Delicious and will make it every week. Thank you for this recipe.
        So versatile. I could make it with rice meatballs or chicken.

    1. Serving sizes become an issue because people will have ingredients of different sizes. Packaged products are weighed and measured at the time of creation which makes their measurements accurate. The only way to accurately know the measurements of meals is to weigh and divide.

  2. EZ recipe. Used no salt beef broth. Added 1 zucchini, quartered and sliced in 1/2″ slices and 8 oz regular mushrooms, quartered. Added marjoram, worchestershire with other listed herbs to taste. Needed more salt for me.
    Very filling and healthy, especially after Christmas.

  3. Thank you so much for posting this recipe! This is the closest to the original recipe I had made many times years ago. It’s super easy – just throw it all in a large soup pot, boil it up, and you’re good to go. Plus, you can customize it by adding more veg/chicken broth (fat-free), spices, cabbage, celery, onions as well as put in some additional vegs – broccoli, cauliflower, spinach – and it can still be used with the cabbage soup diet plan. I simply like this soup as is and the idea you can eat a ton of it, it’s healthy, and will fill you up without a lot of calories also helps when trying to lose a few pounds!

  4. This soup is really good! I’ve been making it for years learned it from “weight watchers” Good with ground turkey added as well if you want to switch it up.

    1. Absolutely!! Actually for liquids I use half low sodium chicken stock and half low sodium V-8 juice. Works very well.

    1. I know I’m late in responding but we just use the green standard head of cabbage in your produce department.

  5. I am happy to see the recipe for the cabbage soup. I remembered it from weight watchers but couldn’t remember the ingredients. Thanx. Jeanne

  6. Pretty yummy and healthy. I added a can of drained/rinsed garbanzo beans. My can of tomatoes were fire roasted-added some nice flavor. I look forward to reaping the benefits of weight loss from this over the week. 😉

  7. My mother made a ‘version’ of this soup that she called “Sewer Soup” because it was a little smelly while cooking!! THIS soup is NOT that soup. This soup smells and tastes delicious. I misread the recipe and put in the whole head of cabbage and will do that in the future because it makes the soup so hearty. I added a little bit more spice, to taste and also added a can of spicy V8. I served it with a spoonful of Pecorino Romano… Chef’s Kiss.

    1. Just made it today, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Very delicious, when I make my next batch I’m thinking of adding some kidney beans!

  8. I make this soup almost weekly and it’s not to loose weight, it’s because it is soooo tasty. It’s the most amazing soup, we love it! Thank you so much Sabrina.

  9. This is a great recipe! I added the cabbage last and just let it simmer for a while as to not let the cabbage get soggy. Soggy cabbage is nasty plus, it removes all the nutritional factor out of it.

  10. Thank you, this recipe looks absolutely delicious and I plan on including it as a staple in my weekly rotation. Can you please specify what the volume/amount is for one serving? Is it 1 measured cup of cooked soup?

    1. Serving sizes become an issue because people will have ingredients of different sizes. Packaged products are weighed and measured at the time of creation which makes their measurements accurate. The only way to accurately know the measurements of meals is to weigh and divide.

  11. This soup greeted us home from a cruise by our sweet daughter. I just made a double batch and looking forward to chowing down. I did make this 25 years ago but didn’t remember it tasting this good.

    1. I’ve been making this soup for years but instead of carrots I add zucchini! Love, love, love this soup! And it freezes really well too!

  12. This is the most delicious vegetable soup I think I’ve ever had. I didn’t have any vegetable broth so I used the chicken bouillon paste that comes in a jar. This was soooooo good! Omgosh you won’t be disappointed. The seasoning was perfect for me. Thank you!

  13. Hi. I starting making this soup in 1978 when I wanted to lose 115 pounds. I made two pots of soup each week. One pot had meat added for dinner (now I use rotissere chicken) and the other was veggies only for lunch. I did add kale or spinach from the neighbor’s garden sometimes for extra vitamins. My version calls for a large onion and 3 Tbsp. Italian seasoning. I lost 120 pounds in 6 months. I’ve used this recipe as needed since then. But if you are doing this long term add protein drinks or other protein sources. I still love this soup!

      1. I do intermittent fasting, so I wait until 11-12:00 before I eat. Then try to eat dinner by 6:00 pm. I am not the author of this post though. I notice they have not answered yet though, so I wrote what I do.

  14. The only thing I dislike about this recipe is the canned diced tomatoes. Their taste and smell puts me off. I will use fresh diced tomatoes next time, it will make a huge difference and will make the soup satisfying to eat.

    1. Per Serving. The issue is that people will have ingredients of different sizes. Packaged products are weighed and measured at the time of creation which makes their measurements accurate. The only way to accurately know the measurements of meals is to weigh and divide.

  15. I have made this before it was a weigh watchers recipe I added bay leaves to mine it gives it a good flavor as well and I added no salt tomatoes to it if you want protein you could put extra lean hamburger meat or beef stew meat I cut mine up in small pieces

  16. I made this soup..delicious!
    I’m on my third day and I only lost a pound ? wat the hell..maybe I drank alot water! Last nite I had a small baked potato with some butter. I guess I’ll just have to be patient and not weigh til 7th day ?