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!
MY LATEST RECIPESThis 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
I am trying to go “sugar free” and I’ve made this soup so many times. It is delicious and my husband who would prefer not to have soup for dinner even loves it! I’m wondering how you think it would be without brown sugar? I love the sweetness and flavor from brown sugar. I wonder if it’s better to use brown rice and just take my portion(s) out before adding sugar scaled back? Welcome your thoughts and thanks for a delicious recipe!
I’d replace it with Splendid Brown Sugar.
I just made this wonderful soup with no sugar. It was just perfect! Add a little crusty bread and it’s a keeper. ENJOY!
I just use Splenda Brown or Sukrin Brown. Its stiil a great flavor!
I see no reason to add any sugar at all.
This recipe looks great!
How would it be without the rice? I know rice is a staple in cabbage rolls, but we are trying to eat more low carb meals and I would like to try this soup minus the rice and brown sugar. Thoughts?
Ive made it that way and it tasted great!
Use riced cauliflower
I made this without the rice and it is fantastic……..sprinkle a little parm cheese on top …..sometime just make a low carb grilled cheese sandwich……………..If you want cook the rice seperatly and just add what you want if you so desire.
Absolutely love this soup! It makes so much so I generally cut the recipe in half and eyeball the ingredients. I usually always add a splash of white vinegar (in lieu of the lemon juice) and it comes out fabulous every time! As one commenter said, it’s a great idea to keep the rice separate and add to the bowl to avoid mush!
Tastes just like the last bowl of a huge pot of stuffed cabbage!
Why the lemon juice what does it do?
Thank you for a great recipe!
I have congestive heart failure so I make my own broth and instead of salt I added 1/4 each of marjoram, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, celery seed and red pepper flakes for a little kick. I don’t eat rice so I put riced cauliflower in the dish and poured the soup over it. It came out delicious!
I’m going to make this with the rice separate so it doesn’t explode and get mushy. I do the same thing for jambalaya. It always turns out great! Thank you for the recipe.
Can this be adapted to ground turkey instead of ground beef? Would I use chicken broth? What other alterations would be required?
I use ground turkey and it taste great. I still use the beef broth. I think it taste better than usin the chicken broth. I put in a splash of worcestershire sauce too.
Loved this recipe! It was so delicious & filling on a cold January night! We added a glop if sour cream right before serving & that went very well. Also, a sprinkling of caraway seed might add to the flavor.
I admit, I made some changes. I used the entire head of cabbage because I love cabbage and you can never have too much cabbage. It turned out to be … too much cabbage. I also used crushed tomatoes instead of sauce (28oz can) and added a good dash of worcestershire sauce (since I add that when I make the real deal) and I forgot to add the lemon at the end. So, small changes.
I was not exactly delighted with this. It was OK but the broth had too much of a tart/sharp taste for me. I couldn’t put a finger on it.
HOWEVER – it tastes fantastic as leftovers. I think the starch from the rice sort of oozed into the broth and thickened/mellowed it overnight. It went from being “Not sure why I am saving this” to “I’m going to heat up a second bowl!”
So it’s a keeper. I will 1 1/2 times the amount of broth/tomato next time so I can use the full head of cabbage. Because I love cabbage.
Anyone who doesn’t like this, be sure to try it again the 2nd day.
What if I Don’t have bay leafs what can I substitute
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Oregano or thyme about 1/4 tsp (or to taste) of either. Personally I use both in this kind of soup and add 1 bay leaf.
i used campbells tomato juice instead of the sauce…this is a keeper!
This is a wonderful recipe .. all the flavor of stuffed cabbage in a fraction of the time. This is going to be my ‘go-to’ (un)stuffed cabbage recipe. LOVED it!!
The soup is a bit sweet for my wife’s taste.
What can I do to “kill” the sweet taste?
Don’t want to have to throw this whole pot of soup away.
I loved it, but will not use but 1 TBSP of brown sugar, when I make it again.
Thanks
Sounds like your wife needs to be more accepting .
You can add some salt to it. Usually salt will balance sweet
Just making it for the first time but that reply made me lol hahah
Me too! I’ve been doing this recipe from my family’s vault, lol, for years! Slovak here!
I didn’t add the brown sugar to mine. The sugar is added to reduce the acid from the tomato sauce. If you get heart burn then you can add a tablespoon but if sauce doesn’t really bother you then you don’t really need to add it
You always add brown surgar to tomato sauces because of gerd and heartburn it does cut the acid I put it in every tomatoe sauce dish you learn how much is good and how much is to much.
Add a little ketchup and mustard to mellow out the sugar.
I made this and stuck to the recipe. I love it! I will probably add more broth when reheating just to make it more “soupy,” but definitely a keeper!
How long with the soup last in the fridge
This is a favorite in my house. I do change it up just a bit. I don’t add the brown sugar and instead of adding rice (my husband and daughter don’t like rice), I add orzo noodles. They look like rice so it doesn’t change the recipe.
This soup was delivious, but since I am Hungarian, I added 2 tbsp paprika. You cannot have stuffed cabbage without paprika!!!
Stuffed cabbage means paprika. I added 2 tblsp & that is exactly what it needed!