Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup {Stove Top instructions}
Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup is an easy, low carb meal, soup made with a blend of cabbage and hearty ground beef, in a savory tomato broth.
The colder temperatures of winter has me craving hearty, low carb, comfort food like this Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup. It’s a blend of tender cabbage, hearty ground beef, and a mix of carrots and onions, cooked in a savory tomato broth.
This is sometimes called a lazy man’s stuffed cabbage because it is basically an unstuffed cabbage roll or deconstructed cabbage roll with extra broth to make it a soup. No matter what name it goes by, you will definitely call it delicious!
Instant Pot soup is perfect for quick lunches and easy dinners. Make sure to try out a few of our other simple recipes like Instant Pot Navy Bean Soup, Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup, and Instant Pot White Chicken Chili.
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What You’ll Need
This cabbage roll soup recipe is basically an unstuffed cabbage roll simmered in a flavorful tomato-based broth. The ingredients include:
- Ground beef – You can use a lean ground beef for this recipe, such as 93/7. Regardless of the beef you use, you’ll want to drain the excess fat from the beef before make your soup.
- Onion – A medium yellow onion is best, but you can use a white onion if needed.
- Garlic – Garlic makes everything better! Use fresh garlic and mince it yourself or to save time, you can buy a jar of minced garlic.
- Cabbage – Regular green cabbage is best for this recipe. Cut it into bite sized pieces before cooking.
- Tomatoes – You’ll be using diced tomatoes and tomato sauce to make this simple. If you want this to be a keto recipe make sure you choose a brand that has no added sugars.
- Beef broth – Beef broth gives this dish a deeper depth of flavor but in a pinch you can use chicken broth.
- Carrot – Just a little bit of carrot is all you need!
- Worcestershire sauce – This is the secret to the distinct flavor of the beef in cabbage roll soup. Don’t skip it!
- Apple cider vinegar – Just a little vinegar helps to offset the acid in the tomatoes and brighten the flavors in the soup.
- Spices – You’ll use a blend of parsley, oregano, bay leaves, salt, & pepper
If you want to make the soup even heartier serve it over cauliflower rice (to keep it keto) or cooked long-grain white rice.
New to using an Instant Pot? Make sure you read our beginner’s guide on “How to Use an Instant Pot” to get started!
How to Make Cabbage Roll Soup in an Instant Pot:
Step 1 – Brown beef – Set the Instant Pot to sauté and add the ground beef, browning it for 7-10 minutes. Drain grease and set aside.
Step 2 – Add additional ingredients – Add olive oil, onions, and garlic to the Instant Pot and sauté for 5 minutes. Press CANCEL to turn off the sauté mode.
Step 3 – Add remaining ingredients – Place the ground beef, cabbage, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, carrot, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, parsley, oregano, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, into the Instant Pot with the onions and garlic. Lock lid in place and turn valve to SEALING.
Step 4 – Set pressure –Set to HIGH pressure for 15 minutes.
Step 5 – Release pressure – When timer goes off press CANCEL and let the Instant Pot do a 5 minute natural release before turning valve to VENTING and releasing the remaining pressure.
How to Make Cabbage Roll Soup on the Stove top:
Step 1 – Brown beef – In a large pot add the ground beef, browning it for 7-10 minutes. Drain grease and set aside.
Step 2 – Add additional ingredients – Add olive oil, onions, and garlic to the pot and sauté for 5 minutes.
Step 3 – Add remaining ingredients – Place the ground beef, cabbage, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, carrot, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, parsley, oregano, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, into the pot with the onions and garlic.
Step 4 – Cook – Cook over medium low heat for 1 hour, or until cabbage is cooked through.
What Meat Goes Well With Cabbage?
Any kind of meat you like will go well with cabbage. Ground beef, ground pork, even Italian sausage if you prefer. If you are cutting down on calories or avoiding red meat you could also use ground turkey or chicken.
Any of these meats will help you make a delicious crockpot cabbage roll soup.
What Kind of Cabbage Do You Use for Cabbage Rolls?
Green cabbage used most often. It is thick and hearty and holds up well to being simmered in the broth as the soup cooks. It also holds up to being reheated. Savoy cabbage is another cabbage that is often used for cabbage rolls. It has a ruffled texture that gives it a different mouth feel but it is also hearty enough to hold up to being simmered.
Red cabbage is not recommended as it has a different flavor that changes the dish.
Can You Freeze Cabbage Roll Soup?
Yes, you can! Let the soup cool completely and then place it in a freezer safe container, or freezer bag to save space, and place in the freezer. To reheat let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat in a saucepan over medium low heat until warmed through.
How to Store It
Store your leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container. It will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
This unstuffed cabbage roll soup freezes well. Let it cool completely, then place in a freezer safe container. When you’re ready to use it, thaw it in the fridge overnight and reheat in a saucepan on the stove.
Looking for More Instant Pot Recipes?
- Pressure Cooker Taco Soup {Instant Pot}
- Low Carb Instant Pot Sausage and Kale Soup
- Pressure Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Low Carb Creamy Chicken Soup (Instant Pot)
- Instant Pot Big Mac Soup {Low Carb}
- Instant Pot Chili
- Instant Pot Loaded Cauliflower Soup {Keto}
- Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
- How to Make Chicken Bone Broth in an Instant Pot
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Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup (with stove top instructions)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds Ground beef
- 1 teaspoon Olive oil
- 1 cup Onion, diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 8 ounces Cabbage
- 14 ounces Canned diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces Canned Tomato sauce
- 4 cups Beef broth
- 1 Carrot, peeled, and sliced into rounds
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Apple cider vinegar
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons Parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
Instant Pot:
- Set the Instant Pot to SAUTE and add the ground beef, browning it for 7-10 minutes. Drain grease and set aside.
- Add olive oil,onions, and garlic to the Instant Pot and saute for 5 minutes. Press CANCEL to turn off the saute mode.
- Place the ground beef, cabbage, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, carrot, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, parsley, oregano, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, into the Instant Pot with the onions and garlic.
- Lock lid in place and turn valve to SEALING.
- Set to HIGH pressure for 15 minutes.
- When timer goes off press CANCEL and let the Instant Pot do a 5 minute natural release before turning valve to VENTING and releasing the remaining pressure.
Stove top:
- In a large pot add the ground beef, browning it for 7-10 minutes. Drain grease and set aside.
- Add olive oil,onions, and garlic to the pot and saute for 5 minutes.
- Place the ground beef, cabbage, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, carrot, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, parsley, oregano, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, into the pot with the onions and garlic.
- Cook over medium low heat for 1 hour, or until cabbage is cooked through.
What a great way to eat low carb!
I love inside out cabbage soup so I try all different recipes. This one is among the best. I absolutely loved it. I think the flavors all meld together so well, it’s very flavorful. This is a winner. Thank you.
Excellent soup! I made the recipe as written, but used Morning Star crumbles and vegetable broth to make the recipe vegetarian. I also used 15 ounces of tomato sauce so I wouldn’t have a partial can left over. The soup is rich and delicious. It’s even better the second day. I served the soup with sourdough cornbread and my family loved the meal. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Is the calories count for a bowl or a cup.
The recipe serves 8 and is 261 calories per serving. If you scroll to the bottom of the recipe card it has more nutritional information.
Amazing !!! Best recipe for this type of soup ! I didn’t save the recipe and took me 2 hours to find it again online !! I have it in a safe place now.
I did change a couple things because I only had 1lb of ground meat shook I used sweet Italian sausage for the other half pound. I did use 16 oz’s of uncooked cabbage …. loved it so much
Looks good. How Is the cabbage prepped — thin sliced or chopped or in wedges?
And if I want to use more than 8 ounces of cabbage, which is only about one quarter of a 2-lb head, should I increase the pressure amount? Thanks!
Hi Rose, I just chopped it roughly into pieces which were about 1×1 inch. If you add more cabbage you do not need to increase the time it just may take a little longer to come to pressure.
I made this again today, as I have numerous times before. I used homemade beef stock today and it took it to a new yum level. Make it for lunch then keep it warm because you’ll want to sip on it all day. So good.
Did you drain the diced tomatoes?
No you don’t drain the diced tomatoes
Would this recipe work with red and green cabbage mix?
I have never tried it with red cabbage. Red can be a little tougher than green so my only concern would be that it might need slightly longer to cook.
Could you add rice to this cabbage roll soup? If so how much would you recommend? I have made a WW low cal casserole for years with these ingredients would love to adapt it to the instant pot . Thanks
Hi Debra, I would recommend 1/2 to 1 cup of rice for this recipe.
It has great flavor but I was surprised you call this cabbage soup when you only add one cup of cabbage. I added a whole small head of cabbage in mine.
Hi Robin, glad you liked it! I’m all about more cabbage but we were trying to watch the carbs in this recipe so we added a little less. As you said you can always add more!!
Just to be clear 8 ounces weight of cabbage is much more than a 1 cup measurement of cabbage. 🙂
I love cabbage rolls and I love soup so this was an instant winner. Since I go low salt I used no added salt and low salt in all ingredients and used tomato paste instead of sauce. To add flavor back I added beef Herb-Ox, 5 pks. It adds potassium, not sodium. Also, increased the pepper to 1 tsp. and added 1 tsp basil. Thanks so much for a tasty meal!
I enjoyed this simple recipe but added 1/4 c of rice to make it a “true” cabbage roll. I also subbed fresh tomatoes since my garden had an over abundance and it was delicious
I haven’t made this recipe, YET. But how about adding frozen cauliflower rice to make it more cabbage roll like? Just a suggestion from someone that doesn’t strictly follow keto but loves a good bowl of soup and tries to eat lower carb.
This soup was amazing. Great recipe. My version wasn’t exactly low cal because my kids wanted me to add potatoes and farfalle pasta in the soup.