Old Fashioned Cabbage Soup

This is my Grandma’s old fashioned cabbage soup in Instant Pot or on the stove. It’s a low carb comfort food in a bowl for St. Patricks Day or year round. If you love simple cabbage recipes this will become one of your favorites.

If you had old fashioned cabbage soup growing up, and are now reminiscing about it now…make it! Use chicken, sausage or ground beef to add protein and top it with all your favorite ingredients when served. Just one of the best Instant Pot recipes but can also be made the traditional way in a pot.

This one has homemade Basic Meatballs in it AND chicken breasts. I know, I bet you’re imagining how good this is right now. Both makes it nice and hearty but you could just add both or make it vegetarian without either one. You can choose either way because they’re both delicious.

I have made this green veggie so many ways. You can make a variety of Ninja Foodi cabbage recipes without adding anything else really. BUT if you want other ingredients in the mix it’s not too hard to mix things up. If you don’t have a pressure cooker not to worry, you can make this on your stove too.

Cabbage Soup with Ground Beef

Now let’s talk meat. If you’re looking for a super easy ground beef recipe, this is it. Ground turkey or chicken would typically be a good substitute but I would say they aren’t for this one. Reason being is that we are going to make it into meatballs this time. Without some fat content they will just fall apart.

Then I just form it into balls of the same size and go with that. 80/20 fat content is best so it doesn’t “unravel”. You’ll want to precook the outsides enough where they’re browned but the insides don’t need to be cooked completely. You could even defrost and just use frozen instead, that would make it really quick.

Add defrosted or fresh chicken breasts too if you want, or just use one of them. This is actually a great leftover chicken recipe.

Ingredient Notes

You want to start off with a small head of green cabbage chopped into slices. The smaller the pieces are the faster they will wilt and get tender so keep that in mind when cutting it up.

1. Meatballs homemade or frozen and/or chicken
2. Diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
3. Onions diced are optional
4. Chicken stock or chicken broth
5. Garlic powder is a great choice
6. Onion powder we like for seasonings
7. Paprika and cumin
8. Chili powder just a bit or more for spicy

Cabbage Soup with Frozen Meatballs

This is very similar to what my husband’s family used to make. Many times they would swap out these meats for kielbasa, spicy or mild. Sliced into 1″ pieces this version is great too and adds a whole different flavor profile. Saute the dials first to really bring out those flavors before adding all other ingredients. This is how to cook frozen meatballs just to defrost before adding if you want those.

As far as measuring I don’t usually actually measure out everything. If you want to use 3/4 of the head sliced then go for it. Just the more you add the less liquid you will have and it will become more of a casserole than a soup if you know what I mean.

Variations

I mean the seasonings are up to you and you might have a family recipe for it but what we used is listed below. You can certainly add other meats like we did with our Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup, or any leftovers you have.

We made this as an easy Instant Pot recipe so there is timing and pressure instructions below for that. If you are just using a pot you’ll do kinda’ the same thing except with a regular lid, stirring intermittently. I explain all of that for you below.

If you want a richer soup with more of a tomato base you can follow our pressure cooker cabbage soup recipe here. It is more of an Italian flavor than this one which is lighter.

Ninja Foodi Cabbage Soup

If you are using this brand of multi-cooker you will use the same directions as above except the lid that is not attached will be used to pressure cook.

Slow Cooker Method

If you want to make this in a slow cooker follow our Crockpot cabbage soup and add the meat. On the stovetop or dutch oven here are the differences. You’ll want to add your meat as stated below with olive oil brown on all sides still. You could add diced onion and celery together to soften them together.

Cabbage Soup Recipe on the Stove

Into your large stock pot on medium high heat add all other ingredients with leaves on the top. Season to taste with salt and black pepper too. If you wanted to add potato you could but I would cut them into small bite size pieces so they get done.

• Bring to a boil in your soup pot and cover for 5 minutes.
• Uncover, gently fold contents together and check for tenderness. Once your meat is cooked thru all you are doing is waiting until your veggies are as soft as you’d like them to be, then you’re done.

Serve with shredded parmesan or sliced avocado are my favorite choices. Season with salt to taste and enjoy your simple cabbage recipe.