This easy Red Cabbage Soup is hearty, delicious and packed with all sorts of nutritious vegetables. It's great for a weeknight dinner (ready in about 45 minutes) and it's a great way to use up the head of cabbage in your fridge!
If you're familiar with our website, you'll know that my mom (Beth) does all of our recipe development and I (Lexi) do all of our photography. When she first mentioned she was developing a recipe for cabbage soup, I was a bit skeptical.
Much to my surprise, I absolutely loved this recipe! The cabbage loses most of its intense flavor when it cooks, and instead becomes sweeter, tender, but still with a bit of crunch.
I'm fully converted to the idea that cabbage does indeed belong in soup, and I hope you will be too once you try this recipe!
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy: This red cabbage soup is as easy as prepping the vegetables, adding everything to a pot and letting it simmer. It's definitely weeknight friendly!
- Lots of vegetables: We're talking onion, garlic, celery, carrot, cabbage and potatoes! And if you so desire, you can add in even more vegetables – this soup works well with just about anything.
- Vegan friendly: This red cabbage soup is naturally vegan, with no added dairy or meat. It's a great option for everyone, no matter your dietary preferences!
- Great way to use up cabbage: Have you ever bought a massive head of cabbage only to use ⅛ of it in a recipe? Yep, same. This red cabbage soup is a great way to use up the rest. (And yes, you can also use green cabbage if that's what you have on hand!)
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make this red cabbage soup:
Ingredient Notes
- Cabbage: We're using red (or purple, as some say) cabbage in this soup. You can also use green cabbage. Be sure to slice the cabbage into thin strips that are no longer than 2 inches. If the strips are too long, they'll be pretty hard to eat with a spoon!
- Potatoes: We used yukon gold (or yellow) potatoes, which hold their shape nicely and have a buttery flavor and fluffy texture. You can also use russet potatoes, fingerlings, or baby potatoes.
- Dill: You can also use parsley if preferred.
- Beans: We use navy beans, as they tend not to fall apart quite as much as other white beans. You can also use cannellini beans, great northern beans, lima beans or even chickpeas.
- Vinegar: A small amount balances the acidity of this soup. We used apple cider vinegar, but you can also use white wine vinegar.
- Dijon mustard: Mustard pairs very well with cabbage – the sharp flavor helps tame the bitterness of the vegetable. Be sure to use dijon, not yellow mustard (like you would use on a hot dog).
- Flour: A small amount of all purpose flour helps slightly thicken this soup without having to add heavy cream. You can use regular all purpose or gluten free all purpose flour.
Instructions
(1) Add oil to a large pot over medium heat. Add in onions and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
(2) Add in cabbage, potatoes, carrots, celery, dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Stir well and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften.
Reserve ¼ cup of the vegetable broth and set aside.
(3) Add the remaining vegetable broth to the pot with the apple cider vinegar. Increase heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
(4) In a small bowl, whisk together the ¼ cup of vegetable broth with the flour until smooth. Add to the soup and stir well.
(5) Add the navy beans and dill and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the soup is slightly thickened. Serve warm.
Tips and FAQs
- Add a protein: For an even more filling red cabbage soup, feel free to add in a protein of your choice. Shredded chicken or sausage would be great options, or to keep it vegan, try our poultry seasoned tofu in this recipe.
- Storage: let soup cool to room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 5 days. Reheat in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Freezer storage: Let the soup cool completely before transferring to an airtight, freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 6 months. To reheat, defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then heat over medium in a saucepan.
- Make it gluten free: Simply swap regular all purpose flour with a gluten free alternative.
- Serve with:
Start by slicing the cabbage in half through the stem. Cut each half into half again. Slice off the tough stem on each quarter, then thinly slice the cabbage. You can also use a mandoline to slice the cabbage, or even a food processor fitted with a shredding attachment.
Yes, absolutely! Start by sautéing the onion and garlic, then add everything but the flour, beans and dill and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Stir in the flour + ¼ cup vegetable broth, beans and dill at the end and continue cooking for 15 minutes before serving.
More Soup Recipes to Enjoy
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📖 Recipe
Red Cabbage Soup
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 servings
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This easy Red Cabbage Soup is hearty, delicious and packed with all sorts of nutritious vegetables. It's great for a weeknight dinner (ready in about 45 minutes) and it's a great way to use up the head of cabbage in your fridge!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced (~1 ½ cups)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (~2 large cloves)
- 4 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
- 2 cups diced yellow potatoes, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1-1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
- 1 15 ounce can navy beans, drained and rinsed
Instructions
- Add oil to a large pot over medium heat. Add in onions and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add in cabbage, potatoes, carrots, celery, dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Stir well and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften.
- Reserve ¼ cup of the vegetable broth and set aside.
- Add the remaining vegetable broth to the pot with the apple cider vinegar. Increase heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ¼ cup of vegetable broth with the flour until smooth. Add to the soup and stir well.
- Add the navy beans and dill and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the soup is slightly thickened. Serve warm.
Notes
Storage: let soup cool to room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 5 days. Reheat in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Freezer storage: Let the soup cool completely before transferring to an airtight, freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 6 months. To reheat, defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then heat over medium in a saucepan.
Beans: We use navy beans, as they tend not to fall apart quite as much as other white beans. You can also use cannellini beans, great northern beans, lima beans or even chickpeas.
Make it gluten free: Simply swap regular all purpose flour with a gluten free alternative.
Potatoes: We used yukon gold (or yellow) potatoes, which hold their shape nicely and have a buttery flavor and fluffy texture. You can also use russet potatoes, fingerlings, or baby potatoes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Soups
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 313
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 420.8 mg
- Fat: 11.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 13.4 g
Mishi says
Omitted potatoes ans added mild italian sausage and leftover ground turkey. Added diced tomatoes and bell peppers. I sautéed the cabbage separately from the soup and added once cooked so it didn't turn the whole soup purple. Husband loved. Wish I could post a picture.
Diane Zorn says
Delicious! And so easy. I skipped adding flour bc the broth is delightful. 13+ gr protein 👍. It’s a winner.
Jashergord says
This soup has great flavor but definitely needed a little more salt. Fairly easy to make, especially if you have a vegetable chopper. On the second day the flavors had improved and we added some sautéed kielbasa. That put it over the top. GREAT?!!!!
Marianne Mitchell says
I've made this soup twice and we really liked it. How do you keep the potatoes and carrots from turning purple? The end result does not look anything like your photo.
Lexi says
Sometimes it just depends on how long it simmers! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Melissa says
The taste was wonderful. I will put this in the repeat recipe pile but how did you keep your soup looking so pretty? The red cabbage turned everything in my soup purple, it looks like a Halloween experiment LOL
Lexi says
Hey Melissa, so glad you enjoyed!! I think it just depends on how long you simmer the soup. We took ours off on the early side so it looked halfway decent for the photo 🙂 But still delicious no matter the color!
Pam says
This was really good! The vegetables were all done just right. My husband wanted some meat and tomatoes with his so we split it up and added browned pork sausage, tomatoes with fennel seed and a sprinkle of dill weed. He said it was phenomenal and to save the recipe with notes to add pork sausage and tomatoes.
Lexi says
So glad to hear that and love that you made those additions - I bet it was delicious!
Carrie Anne says
My husband couldn't stop raving about this soup! I did add 2 links of sausage (for him) which he appreciated. I love red cabbage in any thing.
Lexi says
So glad you both enjoyed! Thanks so much!
Christiana says
So my husband and I have this thing where we make the same soup and use different recipes. Suffice to say I won the soup challenge. This recipe was so good and it came out so yummy. It's not too acidic from the apple cider vinegar and it has really good flavor. A bonus is that you can add either sausage or even shredded chicken to it for added protein and it still tastes really good.
Lexi says
That's the best compliment! So glad you enjoyed. Thank you so much!
Wayne Minett says
Absolutely delicious 😋
Lexi says
Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed!