We are fans of stuffed cabbage, but honestly, the hassle factor is so high! Hence, this easy Stuffed Cabbage Soup recipe was born. Just toss the ingredients into the slow cooker, and the homey, savory, satisfying goodness of stuffed cabbage is yours—but in a convenient soup that needs no rolling, stuffing, sauce-making or tending.
Now that we are legitimately into cooler fall weather here in Maine, it’s time to start making soup again. Nothing says cozy like a bowl of homemade soup on a chilly evening—and it’s even better when that soup cooks away all day on its own. Such is the case with our Stuffed Cabbage Soup.
If you’ve been following us for a while, you may notice that this particular soup looks pretty familiar…and you’d be right. We’ve had a version of this soup on the site for years, and in the interim I’ve tweaked it a couple of times. Now, I’ve finally taken a few pictures of it, too—not sure why it took so long to do that, but at least I got there.
If you’ve made our previous version of this recipe, you’ll notice that for this Stuffed Cabbage soup I’ve swapped in brown rice for the barley that was originally called for—and if you prefer the former, click this link. Of course, you could also use a different grain if you prefer (avoid instant-cook grains, the long-cooking grains work better here). Sodium-watchers may want to cut the bouillon in half and/or use reduced-sodium broth.
This is a great recipe to freeze because it has a generous yield and the soup stands up to freezing well.
With just a little prep you can get this soup on its way in your slow cooker and then just walk away until dinner time.
Stuffed Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
- 1 - 1 1/4 pounds ground beef
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 14.5 ounce can stewed tomatoes
- 1-2 cubes beef bouillon, optional (or 2 teaspoons beef bouillon paste)
- 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
- 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (about 2 shakes)
- 1/2 head green cabbage (about 1 1/2 pounds), roughly chopped
- 6 cups gluten-free beef broth
- Grated Parmesan cheese, optional garnish
Instructions
- Warm a medium stock pot over medium heat. Add beef and onion to the pot and cook until onions are soft and meat is browned throughout; about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and drain the fat off the meat mixture.
- Add the cans of tomatoes, bouillon, rice, sugar, garlic, pepper and Tabasco to the beef. Mix all ingredients well and set aside.
- Place the chopped cabbage in the slow cooker crock. Top with the reserved beef mixture; do not stir! Pour the beef broth over the top and again, do not stir.
- Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours. Stir the soup well and continue to cook 1 hour more.
Looks great! Going to make this tomorrow. How important is the beef bullion? Can I omit?
Hi Mimi
The bouillon is not crucial, although it does make the broth richer. You may want to add some extra salt to the mixture if you choose to omit it. Hope you like it!