Old Fashioned Cabbage Soup

Name: Old Fashioned Cabbage Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion, diced; 3 carrots, sliced; 2 celery stalks, sliced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 large head green cabbage (about 1.5 lbs), chopped; 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth; 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1 bay leaf; Salt, pepper, and a splash of vinegar to finish

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Old fashioned cabbage soup with vegetables in a clear broth

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Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6 servings

Old fashioned cabbage soup is peasant food in the proudest sense: half a head of cabbage, a few root vegetables, canned tomatoes, and broth turn into a pot that costs about six dollars and feeds a family for two days. It's the soup great-grandmothers made through hard winters and the one that still tastes like resilience — savory, faintly sweet from the cabbage, endlessly spoonable. Add ground beef to make it a full dinner, or keep it meatless and virtuous; the pot accepts both moods.

Ingredients

How to make old fashioned cabbage soup

Soften the onion, carrots, and celery in olive oil, 6 minutes; add the garlic and tomato paste for 1 more.
Add the cabbage in batches, stirring as it wilts down.
Add the tomatoes, broth, paprika, thyme, and bay leaf; bring to a boil.
Simmer 25–30 minutes until the cabbage is silky and sweet.
Discard the bay leaf; season with salt, pepper, and a small splash of vinegar to brighten. Serve with buttered rye or crusty bread.

Make it your own

Ingredient	Swap	Good to know
Meatless as written	1 lb ground beef, browned first	Turns it into cabbage-roll-soup dinner
Green cabbage	Savoy or napa	Softer, faster — trim 10 minutes
Smoked paprika	A ham hock in the simmer	The truly old-fashioned smoke source
Diced tomatoes	A pound of fresh tomatoes, chopped	August version

Storage & leftovers

Refrigerates 5 days — cabbage soup is famously better every single day it survives.

Freezes perfectly for 3 months. It's all vegetables and broth; nothing to lose, everything to reheat.

A few helpful answers

Is this the “cabbage soup diet” soup?

Same species, better cooking — ours has olive oil, real seasoning, and joy. Eat it because it's good, not as penance.

How do I keep the cabbage from getting sulfurous?

Don't overboil it — a moderate 25–30 minute simmer keeps it sweet. The smell of doom comes from hours of hard boiling.

What makes it “old fashioned”?

The formula: cheap vegetables, long-keeping pantry goods, one pot, no waste. Every grandmother on three continents has a version.

Can I add potatoes or beans?

Both — two diced potatoes with the broth, or a can of white beans in the last 10 minutes. It becomes fully dinner-shaped either way.

ESTIMATED NUTRITION · PER SERVING

160 calories · 5g protein · 22g carbohydrates · 7g fat · 720mg sodium