Stuffed Cabbage Roll Soup is everything you love about stuffed cabbage rolls... with no assembly! Made in one pot, this cheap, nourishing, and flavorful recipe freezes well and is a complete meal in a bowl. Don't skimp on the added salt and butter... cabbage needs fat and seasoning to really shine!
Melt half the butter (2 tablespoons) in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and sauté for about 5 minutes, until softened and starting to brown. Add the ground beef (1 lb.) and minced garlic (3 cloves) and brown the beef, breaking apart with a wooden spoon as needed until fully cooked.
Add the cabbage to the pot (roughly 4 cups, give or take), and stir to coat. Let the cabbage soften up a bit for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chopped fresh parsley (¼ cup), dried oregano (1 teaspoon), dried mint (2 teaspoons), crushed red pepper, if using (½ teaspoon), kosher salt (1 teaspoon), black pepper (½ teaspoon), canned diced tomatoes (15 oz.), and red wine, if using (½ cup). Stir together, then pour in the chicken broth (6 cups) and bring to a boil.
Once the soup is boiling, stir in the rice (1 cup). Turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for approximately 30 minutes, or until the rice is fully cooked (this may take less time depending on the kind of rice you use).
Turn off the heat. Add the remaining butter (2 tablespoons) to the pot and stir in until it's melted. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If the soup is too thick, you can add more water or broth until it's thinned to your liking.
Serve, topped with Romano or parmesan cheese, crushed red pepper, and/or more herbs if desired.
Notes
For the butter: You can use olive oil instead for a dairy-free version. You can also take the amount down to two tablespoons if you really want to reduce the amount of added fat, using one tablespoon to sauté the onion and one tablespoon to stir in at the end, though you will end up with a less rich tasting result.
For the beef: Lean beef if best, but if you want to use a fattier kind, just spoon some of the grease out from the bottom of the pan after it browns, otherwise your soup may taste greasy. You can also use another ground meat, like turkey or pork. Ground sausage may also be used, but it will add flavor and salt, so keep that in mind when adding extra salt and herbs/spices to the soup.
About the salt: many people make recipes for cabbage soup and think it tastes bland. Chances are, they haven't added enough salt! This soup has a base of fairly bland ingredients - plain rice, beef, and cabbage - that need a lot of seasoning to shine. If your soup tastes bland, try adding more salt. But do be careful of adding extra salt if you are using a chicken broth or chicken bouillon with lots of salt already in it (you may need less than the 1 teaspoon in this case).
Italian seasoning may be used in place of the herbs and spices in this soup.
I usually recommend converted (parboiled) rice in soups, such as Ben's Original. The reason for this is that it's less starchy, and it holds its shape more when submerged in liquid for a long time. This makes it easy to freeze and store leftovers without needing to cook the rice separately so it doesn't turn mushy. That said, a long grain white or brown rice, or even a wild rice blend, would work in this soup as well.
Make it vegetarian by using a vegetarian substitute for the ground beef and using vegetable broth instead of chicken.