Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Cabbage Roll Soup
Tomato broth with tender cabbage and beef makes a hearty bowl to settle down with. The rice gives each spoonful a little more substance, while the vegetables soften into the savory soup. Finish with parsley and enjoy it hot, with plenty of broth around the filling.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 30 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Original yield
- Serves 6
- Ingredients
- 14 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Main course
- Primary protein
- Beef
- Cuisine
- American
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 31–60 minutes
- Dish type
- Soups · Soups & stews
A few quick notes
1. Crumble as it browns
Break up the ground beef with a spatula while it cooks so smaller pieces run through the finished soup.
2. Give onion a short turn
Add onion and garlic after the beef browns, cooking them briefly before the cabbage, broth and rice join the pot.
3. Check the rice
Simmer until the rice is tender, using that texture check before taking out the bay leaf and finishing the soup.
Get to know the ingredients
Coarse cabbage pieces
Coarsely chop the green cabbage before adding it to the pot with carrots, broth and tomato sauce for simmering.
Uncooked long-grain rice
The rice goes into the soup dry and cooks in the tomato broth, sharing the simmering stage with cabbage and carrots.
Prepared carrots
Peel, quarter and slice the carrots before adding them to the soup, ready to cook through alongside the rice.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 6. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 5 steps completeMake room for Cabbage Roll Soup
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Remove the bay leaf
Once the rice is tender, remove and discard the bay leaf, then sprinkle parsley over the soup and serve.
A little more help as you go
Season the beef first
Add salt and pepper when the ground beef first goes into the heated olive oil, before it begins browning.
Sugar in the broth
Add the brown sugar with the cabbage, broth, tomato sauce and rice before bringing the soup to its simmer.
A few questions you might have
Can I use ground turkey?
If you prefer ground turkey, you can use it instead of the ground beef.
Can I use brown rice?
You can use brown rice instead of white, with about twenty additional minutes of cooking to make it tender.
Do I drain or rinse cooked rice for this?
Use uncooked rice directly in the soup. It simmers with the broth, tomato sauce, cabbage and carrots until tender.
Does the parsley simmer with the vegetables?
Keep the parsley for the finish, sprinkling it over the soup after the rice cooks and the bay leaf is removed.
Which tomato product is listed?
Use the three cans of tomato sauce listed, adding them with beef broth and the other soup ingredients after the beef browns.
Any more cooking tips?
Recipe adapted from The Wholesome Dish. Not a fan of ground beef? Try ground turkey instead! You can substitute brown rice for white rice, but that will require about 20 more minutes of cook time.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: dinneratthezoo.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
