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Hearty and extremely delicious, my one pot hamburger cabbage soup recipe is easy to make and always a huge hit! This recipe has been a fan favorite on Sweet C’s since 2012 – and has recently been updated with a shorter simmer time, so you can make it on busy weeknights, and it works fabulously as a meal prep meal all week long. Pop it in the microwave with some Honey Butter Cornbread for a hearty from-home lunch!
I use simple, budget-friendly ingredients for a family favorite soup everyone loves – I designed this to be perfect for meal prep, big family meals, and it’s even great frozen and pre-portioned for a neighbor or new baby meal!
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
Table of contents
Why this soup works
- One pot. Brown, simmer, serve. Only one thing to wash.
- Cheap. Cabbage is one of the cheapest vegetables in the store and a little beef goes a long way.
- Gets better overnight. Seriously. Day two soup is the best soup.
- Freezer friendly. Make a double batch and stash half.
- Browning the veggies first. Letting the cabbage and celery get a little color before adding liquid makes the soup taste sweet and buttery instead of bitter.
What you need
- Ground beef. I like 85/15. Enough fat for flavor but not a greasy soup.
- Cabbage. Half a head of green cabbage, chopped. Savoy works too.
- Celery. Two stalks, diced. It adds that classic soup flavor.
- Diced tomatoes. Don’t drain them, the juice is part of the broth.
- Kidney beans. Drained. They make it hearty and stretch it further.
- Beef stock, dark beer and water. The beer is my secret. Any stout or porter works. Not a beer house? Swap it for more beef stock.
- Garlic powder, paprika, Celtic sea salt and pepper. Simple, but it’s plenty.
How to make hamburger cabbage soup
Brown the Beef
In a big Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, breaking it up, until browned and crumbly, about 8 minutes. Drain some of the fat if there’s a lot.
Brown the Veggies
Add the celery and cabbage. Season with the salt and pepper and cook about 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until softened with a few golden edges.
Let Brown
Let cabbage brown until its golden on the edges.
Add the Cans
Stir in the diced tomatoes with their juice and the drained kidney beans.
Simmer
Turn it down to low and let it simmer about 1 hour, until it thickens up a little and turns a deeper red.
Serve
Taste for salt and ladle it up. Or let it cool and eat it tomorrow when it’s even better.
My best tips For Perfect Cabbage Soup
- Let the cabbage get some color. That browning is where all the flavor comes from and it keeps the cabbage from tasting bitter.
- Taste at the end. Canned tomatoes and stock vary a lot in salt so adjust right before serving.
- Want it thicker? Simmer it uncovered for the last 20 minutes.
- Want it brothier? Add another cup of stock or water.
- Use good beef. Ground beef is basically the whole flavor base here, so get the good stuff if you can.
Slow Simmered Version
This recipe has been re-tooled from a longer, slowly simmered version that originally appeared on Sweet C’s – our original post called for an hour of simmering time, and now we’re calling for just 20 minutes.
What changed? Why less time? Well, honestly – not many people have time to have a soup simmering for an hour on a busy weeknight. If you’re making this soup on a weekend, or a day with an extra forty minutes to spare, increase the simmer time to 40-50 minutes.
Slow Cooker Hamburger Cabbage Soup
Brown the beef and the veggies on the stove first (please don’t skip this, it’s where the flavor is!!). Then dump everything into the slow cooker, stir, and cook on low for 4 hours. Perfect for busy days.
Instant Pot Hamburger Cabbage Soup
Use the sauté setting to brown the beef, then the cabbage and celery. Add everything else and stir, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom so you don’t get a burn warning. Pressure cook on high for 10 minutes and let it naturally release for 10 minutes.
Low Carb and Keto Version
The soup is already pretty low carb. To make it keto, just skip the kidney beans and swap the beer for more beef stock. Add a little extra cabbage or some diced zucchini to keep it hearty.
Easy Variations
- Unstuffed cabbage roll soup. Stir in a cup of cooked rice at the end and add a spoonful of tomato paste. Tastes just like cabbage rolls without all the rolling.
- Sausage and cabbage soup. Swap half the beef for Italian sausage.
- Extra hearty. Add 2 diced potatoes or carrots with the cabbage.
- Bacon. Cook 4 slices of chopped bacon first and brown the beef in the drippings. Oh my goodness.
- Ground turkey. Works great, just add a little olive oil when browning.
Freezer Meal Prep
Let the soup cool completely, then ladle it into freezer bags or quart containers, leaving an inch of space at the top. Freeze flat so they stack. It keeps up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and warm it on the stove. This is exactly how I make soup to drop off for neighbors and new parents.
What to Serve With It
This soup is excellent with a bread like Mediterranean Focaccia Bread or dilly bread, some fresh baked parker house rolls, and a simple salad.
How to store and reheat
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat on the stove over medium heat or in the microwave. Add a splash of stock if it thickened up overnight.
Cabbage Hamburger Soup FAQ
This recipe was designed to taste great with or without the beans – we often skip them when trying for lower carb meals, and it still tastes fantastic.
Of course! This recipe doesn’t call for fresh garlic because it’s an old family recipe and powder was often easier. For fresh, add 2-4 cloves garlic, minced, then cooked and softened to fragrant when cooking cabbage for soup.
Yes! This soup is super adaptable – you can add other vegetables or meat to this soup.
Absolutely! Ground turkey is a leaner option but will change the flavor profile slightly.
Yes! Swap the beef for a plant-based ground meat substitute and use vegetable stock instead of beef stock.
Green cabbage is usually the go-to, but feel free to experiment with Savoy or Napa cabbage.
Skip the kidney beans and use a keto-friendly beer or more beef stock, and you’re good to go!
If you love this One Pot Hamburger and Cabbage Soup Recipe as much as I do, please write a five star review, and be sure to help me share on facebook and Pinterest!
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One Pot Hamburger Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef, ground
- 2 Celery, rinsed well and diced
- ½ cabbage, diced
- 1 8 oz tomatoes, Can and diced, do not drain
- 1 8 oz kidney beans
- 4 oz beef stock
- 4 oz dark beer, or your favorite beer
- 4 cups water
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- 2 tsp celtic sea salt
- 2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven, brown ground beef and cook into crumbles (about 8 minutes).
- Add diced celery and cabbage, cook until soft (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- Add salt and pepper.
- Add diced tomatoes (with the liquid from the can- don't drain it off!) and kidney beans (go ahead and drain these off).
- Stir to incorporate.
- Add garlic and paprika, mix.
- Add beer or stock and water, stir.
- Let simmer on low until soup has thickened and turned a darker red, 1 hour (or 4 hours on low in a slow cooker).
- Serve immediately, soup tastes even better the next day!
Video
Notes
- 30 minute version: Use a 14 oz bag of coleslaw mix instead of chopped cabbage and simmer 20 minutes instead of 1 hour.
- Slow cooker: Brown the beef, cabbage and celery on the stove first, then add everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours.
- Instant Pot: Brown the beef and veggies on sauté, add the rest, and scrape the bottom. Pressure cook on high for 10 minutes, then natural release for 10 minutes.
- No beer: Replace the dark beer with an equal amount of beef stock.
- Keto / low carb: Leave out the kidney beans and use beef stock instead of beer.
- Thicker or thinner: Simmer uncovered the last 20 minutes to thicken, or add a cup of stock to thin.
- Storage: Refrigerate up to 4 days. Freeze up to 3 months in freezer bags or quart containers, leaving 1 inch of space at the top. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Best the next day: The flavors deepen overnight, so it’s great made ahead.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I followed your recipe but found that I could probably cut back on the amount of water added by 1 1/4 cup or simply stick with the beef stock. It was good though! And soo simple to make! Thank you!
That is a good note to make – I am at high altitude and tend to have a lot of boil off. I’ll add it to the notes, thanks!
I made this, but changed it a bit…I used different measurements as we don’t have 8oz cans of stuff, we have 14oz (or larger) cans. I used two lbs of meat, used Fennel instead of Celery (which I always do when a recipe called for Celery), I used fresh Chicken of the Woods instead of beans (I’m eat Low Carb) and two cloves of fresh garlic instead of powdered and finally added 6oz of cream cheese in the last 15 min of cooking for a creamy slightly thicker base. It is AWESOME. Thanks for the basic start!
I put lots of other vegetables in mine! Delicious!
My family loved it! I have several recipes for Cabbage soup but I believe that this may be their favorite. I added fresh garlic and onions,did saute everything and really liked the flavor of them.
I used spicy pork sausage instead of ground beef. Yum !!
I found your recipe for cabbage hamburger soup. It is simmering now. I have doubled everything. I took the extra time needed to brown all the veggies. Hoping to share with family and neighbors. It smells amazing! I did add just a teaspoon of ketchup to cut the acidic taste of the tomatoes. Wow, I can’t wait to eat it. Thanks for sharing.