This is our easy slow cooker stuffed cabbage soup with ground sausage recipe. Unstuffed cabbage that cooks on it’s own all day with super bold flavors. If you loved our slow cooker cabbage, this dish will bring you back to your childhood too.
This is one of our favorite meals. All of us just love it, that’s right…even the kids!! It’s comfort food in a bowl I serve with a side of rolls and reminds me of my Grandmother with every bite. It was such a hit with everyone it is now listed on our long list of crockpot recipes.
If you have never made any simple cabbage recipes you may be hesitant. I know I was at first. It took me into adulthood to really appreciate this vegetable but now I am obsessed. It has basically no calories but adds a ton of great texture to any dish.
I do love my slow cooker stuffed cabbage recipe but that is labor intensive. With this you get the same great flavors but with little to no prep. I generally buy whatever brand is on sale. This feeds all 5 of us easily so depending on whether you’re serving it as a main dish or a side dish it feeds a decent amount of people.
Nowadays I love all the things with this crunchy green veggie. I will even snack on air fryer cabbage from time to time. 😉 You don’t need to boil it first in this case as it will cook and soften with the soup ingredients with little to no prep at all.
I am not a huge salad lover and cabbage just felt like “an old person food”. Don’t know why it just did. But, I can tell you I am a lover of it now after a few recipes like this dish I was a believer. If you love cabbage rolls, you’re going to go crazy over this meal! This came out amazing!!
You will want to pick up a whole head of Cabbage. You will use only part of it but there are many other dishes you can make with the other. I hate leftovers too so I generally will make Instant Pot stuffed cabbage casserole with it the next week with it.
Can you make cabbage soup without rice?
You can leave it out but I think that it isn’t as hearty as if it is in there. We did and do add it to ours, always. Your Rice should be white and uncooked, we prefer Jasmine but long grain is cheaper and works just as well too if that is what you have in the pantry already.
For the liquid you will want some Beef broth or stock which will give it a lot more flavor than if you just used water.
You will get more moisture with the jar of Spaghetti sauce you will pour in there too. That is right, might sound odd but it is already seasoned really well so makes this dish a lot easier to make.
Tomato soup is another head scratcher to some people but I like it better than tomato sauce since that doesn’t have as much flavor. You could use diced tomatoes instead for a chunkier texture but would still need seasonings like Worcestershire sauce and others…so just use the soup
Best Meat for Stuffed Cabbage Soup
I like to add HOT Ground sausage from Jimmy Dean personally because it adds a ton of flavor and there isn’t really a need for a lot of other seasonings if you just use this from the get go. You could leave it vegetarian without protein but not in our house.
Do you need to precook meat?
Yes you will want to cook the protein in a pan on the stove until it is no longer pink before adding. That is a must and there is no way around it unless you follow our Crockpot ground beef, drain and then add all these other ingredients to continue to cook.
Can you use ground beef instead of sausage in stuffed cabbage soup?
Of course you can!! I love spicy Jimmy Dean ground sausage for some heat but 80/20 ground beef works well too. Or you could use half and half for just a bit of a kick to your meal. Ground chicken or turkey will be lowest in fat but with less flavor (not my favorite).
And I will generally dice up a yellow Onion but if your kids are super duper picky you can skip (though they will get really soft and hardly noticeable).
You should adjust the liquid as you’d like. Use less beef broth if you want it to be thicker (more unstuffed cabbage casserole style) or more for soupier.
How Long to Cook Stuffed Cabbage soup in Slow Cooker
You first need to precook the meat over medium heat on the stove. From the time you cover and cook the Crock pot, the timing in the recipe card reflects 4 hours on high. This will get everything tender but not a mushy texture. If you really want it super soft then you’d need to add maybe 30 minutes more on to the cook time, check, and add another 30 if you think it needs it. Stay close as this leafy vegetable doesn’t take long.
Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage Soup Recipe
Equipment
- 1 slow cooker
Ingredients
- 1/2 head cabbage, cut into small 1″ cubes/pcs.
- 2/3 cup rice, uncooked, not instant
- 42 oz beef broth
- 1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 23 oz or so
- 19 oz tomato soup
- 1 lb ground sausage, or ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 tbsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
Instructions
- Cook ground beef and onions in a skillet on the stovetop until meat is brown. Add to your slow cooker.
- Add all other ingredients except your cabbage into your crockpot and slowly stir together.
- Add cabbage pieces to the top and push down gently into soup mixture.
- Set slow cooker to high and cook for 4 hours, serve with a bit of parmesan cheese on top!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you’re ready to try the best unstuffed cabbage recipe this is it! Nutritional information such as saturated fat and calories are listed above where you can print recipe too. They will vary depending on the sausage or beef and onion you use of course.
Other slow cooker recipes you’ll love
You can make a healthier version of this without the tomato base, read Crockpot cabbage soup for that one. Slow cooker split pea soup is amazing and quite healthy. Slow cooker chicken and dumplings is a classic favorite. Potatoes are the perfect side dish with 5 ingredient chili inside.
This was fantastic! My picky husband likes it better then stuffed cabbage and my Polish Mother in law can’t wait until I make it again (which I will very soon!). I made it just as I would stuffed cabbage so I added diced potatoes and a small onion to it and some pumpernickel bread on the side and VIOLA! Love at first bite.
so so glad
The sodium content is over 2000 mg. Is that correct or is there a typo? How can I reduce it?
This recipe as is counts as 10 Weight Watchers points. I made some modifications to make it only 3 points: substitute beef with 1% fat ground turkey breast. Make sure your spaghetti sauce doesn’t have added sugar. Same goes for the tomato soup. Use brown rice. Finally, to make it authentic German like my grandma’s… add 1 Tbsp caraway seeds to the pot and Top each serving bowl with a slice of rye or pumpernickel bread. Feel free to share with other Weight Watchers and enjoy.
Thanks for the info., will be helpful for everyone!
My family loved this, I made it for the first time last week and they are already asking for it again. Thanks for sharing
Yeah!!