Do you remember the cabbage soup diet? It was one of those crazy fad diets where you were supposed to eat as much as you want of just one thing (in this case cabbage soup) and you’d supposedly lose weight without trying. While I’m not a fan of that type of diet, I am a big fan of the cabbage soup recipe that the diet featured. Why? For one simple reason—it’s absolutely DELICIOUS. Yeah, I was surprised too. The first time I had the famed diet cabbage soup I expected it to be boring and bland, but I was pleasantly surprised by how extremely flavorful and comforting the soup was. I actually ended up eating it over and over again just because I wanted to. And it became a winter comfort food staple for me ever since. 😅
Is Cabbage Soup Healthy?
I’m not going to tell you this cabbage soup will “detox” you or make you lose weight, but this soup is chock-full of a lot of the one thing that almost all of us are guilty of not getting enough of—vegetables.
I’m nicknamed this soup All You Can Eat Cabbage Soup as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the old fad diet, but seriously, eat as much as you want. The more the better, really. You’ll just be getting more of the good stuff. And guess what? This cabbage soup is insanely inexpensive, too! So even more reason to feel free to eat as much as you want!
What’s in Cabbage Soup?
The classic “cabbage soup diet” cabbage soup has taken many forms over the years, but they all have one thing in common—they’re stuffed full of non-starchy vegetables swimming in a flavorful herb-filled broth. I like my broth a bit more tomatoey, so I added some tomato sauce to thicken it up. Some people use V8 instead, but tomato sauce is much less expensive, especially when only a small amount is needed. I also added a bit of smoked paprika (because that’s my fav), and a splash of lemon juice at the end to brighten it up.
How to Store Leftovers
This recipe does make a really large batch, so it’s a good idea to freeze about half of it, just in case you can’t eat all of it within about five days. To freeze this soup, divide it into single-serving portions, chill it completely in the refrigerator first, then transfer to the freezer for longer storage. Keep in the freezer for up to three months.
Add More Protien
Soup recipes in general are very flexible, so you could always add a little extra protein to this soup to make it more filling. Here are some other great ingredients you can add:
- Beans (cannellini, chickpeas, kidney beans)
- Ground beef (or check out my Beef and Cabbage Soup)
- Italian sausage
- Cubed tofu (extra firm)
- Shredded chicken
Shown with Homemade Garlic Bread.
Cabbage Soup
Servings 6 2 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 4 carrots ($0.57)
- 4 ribs celery ($0.50)
- 1 green bell pepper ($0.69)
- 1 28oz. can diced tomatoes ($1.00)
- 1 8oz. can tomato sauce ($0.34)
- 1/2 lb. frozen green beans ($0.67)
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley ($0.23)
- 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika ($0.15)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 6 cups chopped cabbage (½ head) ($1.14)
- 6 cups vegetable broth ($0.78)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.04)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and olive oil to a large soup pot and sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft.
- While the onion and garlic are sautéing, peel and slice the carrots, chop the celery, and dice the bell pepper. Add the carrot, celery, and bell pepper to the pot. Continue to sauté as you measure the rest of the ingredients.
- Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), tomato sauce, frozen green beans, chopped parsley, smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, and pepper. Continue to stir and cook while you chop the cabbage.
- Chop the cabbage into 1-inch pieces. Add the cabbage to the pot along with the vegetable broth and stir to combine.
- Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the soup to come to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and allow it to continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes or until the cabbage is to your desired tenderness.
- Once the cabbage is tender, season the soup with salt, starting with ½ tsp and adding more to your liking. Finish the soup by adding the lemon juice and stirring to combine. Serve hot with crusty bread for dipping.
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How to Make Cabbage Soup – Step by Step Photos
Start by mincing four cloves of garlic and dicing one large onion. Add them both to a large soup pot with one tablespoon olive oil. Sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
While the onion and garlic are sautéing, peel and slice 4 carrots, slice 4 stalks of celery, and dice one green bell pepper. Add the carrots, celery, and bell pepper to the pot. Continue to sauté over medium.
Add one 28oz. can diced tomatoes (I used petite diced), one 8oz. can tomato sauce, ½ lb. frozen green beans, ¼ cup chopped parsley, ½ Tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp oregano, ½ tsp thyme, and ¼ tsp pepper. Stir to combine.
Chop 1/2 head of cabbage into one-inch pieces (about 5-6 cups once chopped). Add the chopped cabbage to the pot along with 6 cups of vegetable broth.
Stir everything together, place a lid on the pot, and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the soup to come to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Let the soup simmer over medium-low, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes, or until the cabbage is to your desired tenderness.
Once the cabbage is tender, season the soup with salt, starting with 1/2 teaspoon, then adding more to taste (I used 1 tsp total). Next, add one tablespoon of lemon juice, which really helps brighten the flavors.
And then slurp down all that vegetable-y goodness! I garnished with a little more fresh parsley, but it’s not needed for extra flavor.
This soup goes great with some crusty bread (garlic or not) to soak up that delicious broth!
I was wondering about using this soup as a way to get more daily vegetables, so thank you. Question: would red bell peppers mess up the flavor much? My housemate doesn’t like green pepper.
I think red bell peppers would be great in this. :)
The “Cabbage Soup Diet” [which also includes eating fruits and veggies as well as an occasional “heavy carb” (i.e., a potato) plus a few proteins tossed in — towards the end of the week – for good measure] is ALIVE and WELL! And this Soup made our7-day adventure to the tip of the abyss not only bearable, but actually quite pleasant (IOWs, it’s as DELICIOUS as a Cabbage Soup can be!) My adult-Daughter and I have a Wedding we’ll be attending mid-next month and, for whatever reason (???) Keto just wasn’t “dong it” for us :( . But THIS SOUP — in coordination with other of “The Cabbage Soup Diet” directives caused ME to lose 9 lbs. in a week and my Daughter to lose 12. We’ll be going back onto our Keto regimen starting 2morrow and then (after 2weeks) doing the “Cabbage Soup Diet” once again for another week. While the immediate objective is that the Dresses will fit, I can see myself using this recipe to make THIS Cabbage Soup many times during the current Autumn and upcoming Winter seasons. It really IS that GOOD! Thank you, Bth, for this delightful recipe.
This is great stuff!
Can you recommend what I can substitute for the tomatoes and tomato sauce? I am allergic to them unfortunately.
Unfortunately, the tomato ingredients are a big part of this recipe, and replacing them would change it quite a bit. So I’d need to reformulate and test options before offering a suggestion.