Cabbage roll soup is a win-win - all of the flavour of traditional cabbage rolls without the effort of rolling! The rice meatballs are a fun addition - they have a nice firm bite that turns plain cabbage soup into something you'll be excited to eat.
As a Romanian I've been eating cabbage rolls all my life but this 'deconstructed' cousin of the classic dish was really a surprise to me.
Cabbage roll soup combines the best of both worlds: the flavor of cabbage rolls with the ease of soup.
When we first tasted this dish, my husband and I had the same reaction - "it's just like cabbage rolls ...but it's also soup!". We looove soup in this household so it was a perfect marriage of flavour and concept. 10/10 highly recommend.
Ingredients for Cabbage Roll Soup
- Rice meatballs: Rice meatballs (also known as porcupine meatballs) are made with rice as the binder. They pay homage to the filling in cabbage rolls and add some nice textural nuance to the soup. If you're short on time or energy you can just add the meatball ingredients to the soup as they are, just be sure to mix them in well so there aren't ground meat clumps.
- Cabbage: This recipe is made with one head of green cabbage which, when finely diced, is equal to about 6 cups of cabbage.
- Oil: The oil is for sautéing the cabbage - without oil it would stick.
- Onion: Onion adds sweetness and complexity.
- Bacon: Bacon is a key ingredient in traditional Romanian cabbage rolls. It adds some nice smokiness and heartiness to the soup.
- Tomato paste: Tomato paste makes up the tomato base of the soup and adds depth of flavor. You could also substitute crushed tomatoes, tomato puree or a couple fresh tomatoes diced finely.
- Flour: The flour makes the soup broth a bit thicker and richer. You can also just skip it and it won't have a huge impact on the recipe.
- Seasoning: This recipe is made with traditional cabbage roll seasonings: black pepper, summery savory (also known as cimbru in Romania), smoked paprika, and bay leaves.
Instructions: How to Make Cabbage Roll Soup
Sauté the cabbage first before adding the other ingredients. By sautéing the cabbage first until it's reduced, it forces some of the water out of the cell structure so that the cooked cabbage is denser and maintains its bite.
If you simply cover it with water, the water in the cabbage won't be forced out and the cabbage will be much softer and could get mushy.
After reducing the cabbage add the bacon and onion and sauté until the bacon renders a bit (about 5 minutes). You can also add the bacon at the same time as the cabbage - it will render while the cabbage reduces.
Finally, you can add all the seasonings and two liters / half a gallon of water. Bring to a gentle simmer, and add the rice meatballs.
To make the rice meatballs
While the cabbage is reducing mix and shape the meatballs - this only takes 10 minutes or so.
Just mix all the ingredients together and shape into approximately 24-25 meatballs.
Gently put the meatballs in the simmering liquid, add more water to cover and then simmer for about 30 minutes or until the rice in the meatballs is cooked.
Serving Suggestion
This soup is delicious served with crème fraiche or sour cream. Sour cream is the traditional accompaniment to cabbage rolls, but I've always found crème fraiche to taste more like the sour cream of my childhood than actual sour cream does.
Anyway it's up to you, either will be a very tasty addition.
Recipe
Cabbage Roll Soup with Rice Meatballs
Ingredients
for the meatballs
- 600 grams ground pork you can substitute other ground meat like beef or chicken
- 6 tablespoons rice
- 1 egg
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
for the soup
- 6 cups green cabbage very thinly sliced
- 0.25 cup oil for sauteing the cabbage
- 2 yellow onion finely diced
- 1 cup bacon cut into small strips
- 5 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons flour
- 1.5 teaspoons salt or to taste
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon dried summer savoury dried thyme
- 0.5 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 liters water half a gallon (or more to cover)
for garnish
- 0.5 cup crème fraiche or sour cream
Instructions
meatballs
- In a bowl combine the ingredients for the meatballs until the mixture is smooth and evenly mixed.
- Shape into approx. 24 balls (keeping in mind they will expand in size as the rice cooks).
soup
- Heat oil over high heat in a large soup pot or pan.
- Add the cabbage and bacon. Sauté over high heat until the bacon renders and the cabbage gets soft and reduced in volume significantly (10-15 minutes).
- Add the tomato paste, flour and seasonings and mix to evenly coat the cabbage.
- Pour in 2 liters / half a gallon of water and heat over medium-high until the liquid is simmering.
- Gently add the meatballs into the soup making sure they are at least half submerged.
- Add more water to cover.
- Simmer about 30 minutes, rotating the meatballs halfway through.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Garnish with crème fraiche or sour cream and serve hot.
Ole
i’m making this today. sounds so good and as a romanian myself, i loove cabbage rolls. yuuum. P.S: can you share the brand of you white pot/pan, please?
Cristina
Hey 🙂 the pot is a Le Creuset 30cm enamelled cast iron saucier. Just got it over the holidays and loving it. Even used it for fries the other night and they didn't stick. https://www.lecreuset.nl/nl_NL/p/campagnard-in-geemailleerd-gietijzer/CI1180.html?dwvar_CI1180_color=meringue Hope you enjoy the soup! Curious if you'll react like I did haha 😛
Ole
so: it was really yummy but interestingly enough it didn’t remind me of cabbage rolls in taste nor texture ..🤔 Actually i was missing potatoes in this beucase i usually put potatoes in both ciorba de varza and ciorba de perisoare..also some “afumatura” because i also put it in both 😜 I’m from Ardeal, we put afumatura, boia and sour cream in everything…
Cristina
Hey! Sorry for the delay and thank you for the feedback! I know what you mean - it definitely reminds me more of like Polish or German cabbage rolls than Romanian. We also love our afumatura, slanina and boia in Dobrogea 😛 that being said I find a good smoked paprika can go a looong way and I use it in everything to the point my husband has said 'maybe not everything needs smoked paprika?' haha in my world it does. As for afumatura in ciorba de perisoare - I tried it once but it was more by accident - didn't know that was a thing! Do you just mix it into the meatball mixture? And is it bacon or something else? Thanks again for the feedback and hope you enjoyed the soup nonetheless!
John-Paul LaPré
Sorry, the recipe confuses me. The list of ingredients suggests a 1/4 cup of finely minced parsley, and that all of it be used making the soup. However, it also says to use 203 tablespoons of it when making the meatballs! Really? That's 12 cups! Please let me know if I'm wrong, ASAP. I want to make it.
Cristina
Hey there sorry for the confusion. It's meant to say '2-3 teaspoons'. I've corrected it now. Hope you enjoy the soup!
Jack LaPre
Thanks for the correction, and the recipe! It came out great, and we loved it. I will prepare it again, soon.
Lois Roberts
do you cook beef before u add to meat balls
Cristina
Hi Lois. No, the meat should be raw or the meatballs won't bind together properly.
Daria Doering
Hi Cristina, is the rice in the meatballs dry or cooked? Thank you.
Cristina
Hi Daria. The rice is not cooked. It cooks once put into the soup. Hope that helps.
tammy
Thank for this recipe! M freezer thawed and I needed something to do with the ground pork but didn't have much time and only 3/4 a head of cabbage!. The only subsitution I made was that I used instant rice, it worked out - my grandmother had a recipe for meatloaf in which she used instant rice as a binder, so I figured it would work out.
Again, thank you so much, it tastes delicious!
Cristina
Thank you so kindly for sharing your experience Tammy <3 Really glad you enjoyed it. And rice in meatloaf sounds so good!