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.
Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup Recipe
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 ground beef recipes.
Carol says
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.
jane Harrison Fox says
This soup is delish!! Pretty close taste to my mamaw’s
Rolled cabbages! Loved it!
Debbie says
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!
Kell says
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.
Linda says
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.
Don S says
made this several times. I have found a can of diced tomatoes and green chili’s gives it a nice snap!
Brenda says
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!