Hearty and extremely delicious, this one pot hamburger cabbage soup recipe is easy to make and always a huge hit! Simple ingredients for a family favorite soup everyone loves!
I'm going to start out this recipe with an admission - I don't love cabbage soup - which is sort of a funny thing to say at the start of a recipe for cabbage soup.
I like sautéed cabbage, and I LOVE fresh shredded cabbage on tacos and in salads - but the cabbage soups I've had (excluding some I've had in Ireland and Poland which were amazing) didn't really leave me with warm and fuzzy feelings.
If I'm honest, most of the cabbage soups I've had are overly bitter and a bit thin - not something I crave on the regular - but this soup? So good.
It is so incredibly good - it's made me a believer!
Rich, full of flavor, and not the least bit bitter.
And while I don't usually put beans in non-chili soups, the addition of kidney beans make this soup's texture fantastic - not too thick, not too thin.
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This cabbage soup has tons of meaty flavor, and the cabbage cooks down with the meat for a rich buttery taste, without the bitterness cabbage can sometimes have.
It is so easy and simple - seriously anybody can make this soup!
This soup can also be made in the slow cooker for an easy soup you can place in the crockpot and come home to after a long day - or can be made in big batches to be frozen as individual serving meals.
This is an incredibly versatile soup too - you can swap out the beans or vegetables if you don't love them and try out other flavors you love to make your own delicious hamburger soup recipe that you'll cherish for years and years.
I hope you love this hearty soup as much as I do!
Tips to Perfect Hamburger Cabbage Soup
Let vegetables brown
Cooking the meat, celery, and cabbage before adding stock helps give the cabbage a buttery, rich flavor and take away bitterness.
This is an extra step, sure, but the difference it makes on the flavor is what makes this soup so special and crave-able.
Take a few extra minutes to pre-brown your cabbage and don't rush it - it really is worth the payoff!
How To Freeze Hamburger Cabbage Soup
If you'd like to make a big batch of this soup and save some for later - or you can't finish all of this recipe, this soup can easily be frozen for later using some simple and easy tips and tricks:
-Place soup in ziploc bags that hold roughly the serving you'd like to reheat. If you can only eat about 1-2 cups of soup at a time, don't put all of your soup in a huge gallon bag, since you'll have to thaw and re-freeze some soup.
-Portioning out soup in smaller bags isn't just convenient for managing your portion, it also helps prevent freezer burn and helps to thaw evenly.
-Freeze soup by laying plastic bags flat in your refrigerator so it doesn't bunch up into a big "ball" shape - the soup will thaw more evenly if first frozen to lay flat, making it a longer and thinner shape.
-Let soup thaw naturally in the refrigerator overnight.
-Reheat soup by placing in a pot on the stove and bringing to a quick boil, remove and serve when piping hot.
Slow Cooker Hamburger Cabbage Soup
To make this deliciously easy cabbage soup in the slow cooker, I suggest browning all of the vegetables and the meat, and then tossing it in the slow cooker to cook. This will give your soup SO much more flavor and a better texture.
While it is an extra step to pre-brown vegetables and meat when tossing this soup in the slow cooker, it is totally worth the flavor that you get.
This can also be made in an Instant Pot, by browning everything then sealing and cooking about 5 minutes with a natural release.
Other One Pot Recipes You'll Love:
The following easy, delicious one pot recipes are comfort food classics your family is sure to love!
Click to follow the links to the printable recipes for each easy one pot dinner!
Spicy Sausage Vegetable Soup Recipe
Easy One Pot Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
Recipe FAQ's
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.
One Pot Hamburger and Cabbage Soup Recipe
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
Hearty and extremely delicious, this one pot hamburger cabbage soup is easy to make and always a huge hit! Simple ingredients for a family favorite soup everyone loves!
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
- 8 oz beef stock or 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!
Nutrition Information
Amount Per Serving Calories 219Saturated Fat 4gCholesterol 40mgSodium 122mgCarbohydrates 14gFiber 4gSugar 3gProtein 14g
Dee
Delicious soup. I did change it up a bit. I cooked the celery, ( added one onion chopped), cabbage in a very small amount of olive oil. Also added a small amount of orzo and put in a bay leaf. It is a keeper! Thanks for sharing!
Melanie
I made this for my family tonight. I used ground turkey and chicken stock. Everyone loved it! I will definitely make this again.
Anita W.
Made a similar soup without meat and beans back in 2003 while on popular diet plan. Along came Hurricane Isabel and power was out for a week. All I had was the soup and I lost 30 pounds that week. This tastes even better with ground chicken and low sodium chicken stock (I'm not a beef eater). This tastes really good!
Sue Thompson
Love this soup! I made it last week and now I am making it for a luncheon tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe.
Chris
Thank you for such a great recipe! made this twice already. This one is a keeper.
Cris
Easy recipe, great tasting. Shared some with the people at my sisters place of work now everyone wants the recipe. Your site is my go to for wonderful recipes, thanks so much.
Glenna
Sounds great. I need to get the ingredients to make this. I'm alone, so will freeze it in servings. Adding some onions and green peppers sounds like a good idea too (reviews). I'm sure it will be fantastic.
Tara
Soup in crockpot right now!
Used onion, fresh garlic, added extra can of tomatoes & added some turkey sausage with the beef! Just tasted it! And can’t wait for dinner 🙂
Thank you for sharing!!
Hope Laura has a Happy New Year! Please try & be nicer, you will be happier!!!
Barbara G Gregg
Can you substitute meatless ground meat for the ground beef?
Courtney ODell
That should be just fine Barbara - but I would brown it in the pan and then remove from the pan and set to the side until a bit later, since it might get a bit soggy if you let it cook in the broth as long as the hamburger beef.
Carrie
I had 14 oz cans of kidney beans and diced tomatoes, so I just used the whole cans, it worked out well because my half head of cabbage was pretty big. I also added some onion. TIP: I also added about a TBSP of bacon grease to the beef, celery, onion and cabbage mixture as it cooked down. It immediately added wonderful aroma and HAS to enhance the flavor. It's all simmering now and smells delicious...can't wait to try it!
Ruth
What a wonderful soup. Great recipe. Had no trouble reading the recipe at all. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Josh
So I have this cooking in the Crock-Pot as I write this. Didn't have paprika so I used chili powder as a sub. I would like to thank you for sharing this healthy recipe. It smells amazing.
William
This was perfect for my rainy day blues, on the couch with a blanket, and my favorite show. Thanks for making my day awesome with this recipe!! So delicious!
Jill
Simmering right now. Added onion like some others, smoked Paprika and I didn't have diced tomatoes on hand so I used leftover spaghetti sauce. It smells amazing, hope it tastes even better! Thanks for a great fall soup on a cool day!
Katie
I usually don’t leave reviews, but this is absolutely delicious! I literally could not stop eating it. I did adjust the garlic, but I saw she stated to adjust to your taste. So yummy!! Running to the store to make a bigger batch to freeze and to eat! Go out and make today you won’t regret it!!!
Sam
This was so delicious I can't believe I had never thought of a hamburger soup before, hit my burger cravings perfectly! Thanks for sharing!
JEANETTE LALOR
WOW! laura must have had a bad day. However, YOU, YOU AND YOU were so gracious and KIND in your response. Perhaps Laura should proof read her message (misspelled words, etc.) Now she must carry through with her last line. It's women like HER that makes me appreciate YOU even more! The cabbage soup was so yummy, I am going to make it again for my sister, Marie, who just turned 100!! My love, Jeanette
Lora
Well, this recipe nailed it! This was my first soup recipe, mostly because we aren't big soup fans, especially if its healthy. I made homemade bone broth, used fresh garlic, added onion and a rehydrated, fancy mushroom blend to replace the beans. My family loved it! The mushrooms stole the show and made it feel more meaty. Will definitely make again!!
Thank you for the great recipe.
Carole
I will add some sharp cheddar cheese when I serve this. Can’t wait!