Cabbage Soup
Cabbage soup is about as comforting and healthy as they come! All you need to do is simmer a bunch of sliced cabbage with mirepoix vegetables, diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, and herbs for an easy and delicious, low calorie meal.
Because you all loved my lentil soup so much, I couldn’t wait to make this cabbage soup. It’s cozy, flavorful, and all sorts of healthy thanks to the nutritional powerhouse: cabbage! This vegetable shines bright with health benefits (which I’ll get to below) and is a great anti-inflammatory and low-carb veggie to include in your routine.
And while this soup is on the lighter side, there’s so many ways to make this the hearty, winter soup of your dreams. It’s truly one of the most adaptable soups! You can add in ground meat, plant-based proteins, extra veggies, different spices and the list goes on. Needless to say, this is a warming, soothing recipe you’ll want to keep up your sleeve during the cold winter months!
What’s In This Cabbage Soup?
While cabbage takes center stage in this soup, the supporting ingredients add tons of flavor and texture. Here’s what you’ll need.
- Cabbage: Green cabbage is best for its tenderness and sweetness when cooked, especially in soups.
- Mirepoix Vegetables: Chop up white onion, celery, and carrot for a nourishing veggie base.
- Garlic: Two cloves are great, but if you’re like me and love garlic, feel free to add a little more!
- Herbs: A combo of dried oregano, basil, and fresh parsley for herbal goodness.
- Diced Tomatoes: I’m using regular diced tomatoes, but feel free to use fire roasted tomatoes for extra flavor.
- Vegetable Broth: While this recipe uses 4 cups, you can add extra for a more brothy soup.
- Olive Oil: Gives the sautéed vegetables life in this soup recipe.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
Health Benefits Of Cabbage
Not only is this cruciferous vegetable easy on the wallet, but it’s chock-full of health benefits! The list is pretty extensive, but here’s a few notes that highlight why everyone raves about cabbage:
- Jam-packed with nutrients: These leaves have a mighty dose of Vitamin C (which is a great immune booster), along with fiber, potassium, magnesium, and a variety of other nutrients.
- Loaded with antioxidants: Aside from Vitamin C and manganese, cabbage really shines with phytonutrients, which are natural compounds that help prevent damage to your body’s cells.
- An anti-inflammatory superstar: With it’s strong strong anti-inflammatory agents such as sulforaphane and glutamine, cabbage can reduce irritation, pain, fever, and other bodily disorders.
- Great for digestion: Cabbage has 1 gram of fiber for every 10 calories. That helps fill you up, in a good way. It also keeps you regular, and it could help lower your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol and control your blood sugar.
- Helps with weight loss: Because cabbage is low in calories, the “cabbage soup diet” has been known to help shed a few pounds. But…you know I’m not a fan of detox diets and quick fixes. Your body still needs more nutrients from other foods. So just enjoy this soup for the vegetarian goodness that it offers.
How To Make The Best Cabbage Soup
If 30-minute meals are your jam, you’ll be happy to know this is one of them! Just quickly chop some vegetables, let it all simmer, and you’re ready to serve.
- Sauté the veggies: In a large pot, sauté the diced onions, carrot, and celery for about 5 minutes. Then stir in the garlic and spices.
- Load up the cabbage: Let the cabbage sweat for 5 minutes, while stirring frequently. It should get nice and soft.
- Add the rest: Pour in the vegetable broth, and diced tomatoes, and let it simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes until the veggies soften.
- Add the final touches. Remove the pot from heat, stir in lemon juice, parsley, pepper, and serve!
Flavorful Cabbage Soup Variations
The beauty of this soup is that it’s the perfect blank canvas. So if you want to make it extra flavorful or satiating, give these options a try!
- Beef it up with meat. You can add shredded chicken, diced baked chicken breast, carnitas, pulled pork, beef chunks, ground turkey, and the list goes on!
- Add in a vegan protein. For a vegetarian option, you can add in white beans, chickpeas, or lentils (just add a bit more broth for cooking).
- Load it up with extra vegetables. Whatever veggies you love, toss it in! A few favorites I love to add are bell peppers, zucchini slices, or leafy greens such as kale.
- Make it satiating with carbs. For an even heartier soup, add in chopped potato chunks or cooked rice.
- Add some heat. A dash of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes will add just the right amount of heat.
- Add more herbs. For a bigger herbal pop, add in fresh rosemary and thyme.
- Thicken the base up. Stir in some tomato paste to make the tomato broth a bit thicker.
How To Store And Reheat The Soup
- To store leftovers: Make sure to let your soup come to room temperature. Then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
- Ways to freeze: Once the soup is moderately cooled, pour it into a freezer safe container or silicone freezing tray for pre-made servings. It will stay good for several months in the freezer.
- How to reheat: To reheat a single serving, pour it into a bowl and microwave it for a few minutes until warmed through. And for a bigger batch, just pour it back into the pot and warm it up on the stovetop.
More Easy Cabbage Recipes
The beauty of cabbage is that it can take on so many forms! From raw to cooked, here’s a few delicious ideas to add to your list.
- Sauteed Cabbage
- Fried Cabbage
- Pulled Pork, Cabbage, and Arugula Salad
- Warm Sweet Potato Noodles, Cabbage, and Lentil Salad
And if you’re looking for more cozy winter soups, check out my selection of soup recipes!
Cabbage Soup Recipe Video
Want to see how I make this recipe? Watch the video below!
If you make this cabbage soup, let me know how it turned out! I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.
BEST Cabbage Soup
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cabbage, chopped
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 4-6 cups vegetable broth, depending how thick or brothy you'd like it
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- cracked black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, and add the diced onions, carrot, and celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and spices and stir for another minute.
- Add the cabbage and let it sweat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Pour in the vegetable broth and diced tomatoes and let it simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened to your liking.
- Remove the cabbage soup from the heat and add the lemon juice, parsley, and cracked black pepper. Give it another stir, then serve.
Lisa's Tips
- If you love my big soup pot, it's this Le Creuset round Dutch oven.
I love this soup and make it frequently. The only change I make is a bit more stock than listed here. So healthy, easy and delicious!
This was fantastic! I spiced it up by adding some diced jalapeños and ginger.
This is one of my favorite recipes and I have prepared it a number of times. It is easy to make, great for meal prep and for me it was foolproof. What do you think about adding a can of beans? I don’t know if that is a good idea, but it would add some protein if it went well with the recipe. Thank you.
You can definitely add a can of beans to this soup!
Make this very often! Always add in some diced ham for extra protein. Soo good and so versatile
Glad you’re loving this cabbage soup Beth!
This was really good and easy to make!
Happy to hear you enjoyed this cabbage soup Debbie!
Loved this recipe. I did two carrots instead of one. I also substituted the oregano for thyme.
I have always find hard to use all the cabbage head when I buy one, but finding this recipe was game-changer.
I’m now able to use cabbage in a different and delicious way that makes, specially winterdays, warm
Thanks you!
I’m so glad this recipe worked out perfectly!
Hi, I made this recipe as per video, and it taste, yum yum yummy.
I just followed this recipe exactly as posted and it came out so amazing! Usually I need to add something to give more flavor but I didn’t have to with this one. Thank you for such a nice healthy recipe that I can make frequently.
You’re more than welcome, Amber! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I made this but instead of chopped tomatoes I used salsa and instead of parsley I used cilantro. When I dished it up I added chopped avocados. Delicious!
Half of a cabbage? I have an eight pound and a two pound cabbage. How many cups?
This recipe is phenomenal! I had all the ingredients on hand (even a zucchini) and it’s such a healthy dish. I’ll make this again.
Love this recipe! So yummy! I added ground cooked lamb first time was so delish. Now just trying with no meat, white beans. One container with Diced tomatoe and the other with tomatoe sauce as my husband doesn’t like stew type tomatoes. No matter what I will eat it all if he doesn’t. Lol
I have made this twice and am very pleased with the results. First it is super easy, quick and flavorful. The second batch I did not add the salt, lemon juice or parsley but did add a 1/4 cup of diced butternut squash that I had on hand. As a ‘senior’ living alone, it sometimes isn’t always easy to get motivated to cook the way I used to and I don’t generally enjoy eating the same meal several days in a row. This is not boring and can be modified as you suggested by adding protein.
Happy to hear you’re loving this cabbage soup Barbara!
This soup was even better the next day and we enjoyed with some crusty gluten-free sourdough bread on a chilly winter evening. Very easy and simply delicious!
The perfect winter soup! Glad you enjoyed this Amy :)
Very good!! I added asparagus green peppers and of course more garlic. The next thing for it, so my family will eat more veggies is to blend it up after a few days into a tomato sauce for my Lasagna, adding even more veggies then too!
Glad you enjoyed this cabbage soup!
Wonderful cabbage soup, healthy and filling!
Happy to hear you’re loving this cabbage soup Lilia!
So easy to make, but very flavorful. I made this quite a few and freeze it. So convenient to have when I need something between meetings.
Making it now….wondering about adding the lemon juice though. Does it add lemon flavor or just intensify the flavors of the other veggies? Thanks!
It adds a hint of lemon :)
Hi Lisa,
This recipe looks amazing. I only have Nappa Cabbage. Think it’ll work in your recipe, and if so, how much should I use?
I’d say use about 1/2 of your nappa cabbage, or a little less depending on how much cabbage you’d like in your soup!
This soup is delicious! Made it exactly as written, might have put an extra carrot or two! I used Better than Bouillon Vegetable. I can’t stop eating it! Thank you for sharing…
Happy you loved it Robin!
Delicious! Loved by all.
A little longer prep for me. Looking forward to upping my speed!
Glad everyone enjoyed this cabbage soup Rosalie!
Thus recipe is on serious repeat for me I us the better than veg bullion and put red kidney beans in it!!!! Love love ❤!!
I tried this recipe and shared it with friends to rave reviews!! I will definitely be making it again.
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe love! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I topped it with a little grated Romano cheese and it’s delicious!!
Love this soup! I added zucchini, broccoli, and a little red pepper. Super yummy! Left the veggies a little crunchy.
Love those additions Cyndi!