Chef John’s cabbage roll soup tastes exactly like Polish-style cabbage rolls, because it has all the same ingredients. This delicious and comforting one-pot soup satisfies the exact same craving, but involves a fraction of the work.
Polish Cabbage Roll Soup
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 1/2 cups beef broth plus more as needed
- 3 cups canned crushed or puréed tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups water plus more as needed
- 2 1/2 pounds green cabbage cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 3/4 cup chopped Italian parsley divided
Instructions
- Set a soup pot over medium-high heat and melt butter. Add onion and salt, and cook, stirring, until onions turn soft and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add ground beef and cook, stirring and breaking up large clumps, until meat is browned and broken into small crumbles, about 5 minutes.
- Season with garlic, black pepper, cayenne, and bay leaf; cook and stir for 1 minute. Pour in beef broth, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Stir in cabbage, reduce heat to medium, and cook until cabbage is just tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Pour in tomatoes and water, and continue to simmer, 10 to 15 minutes more. Stir in rice and half the parsley; simmer over medium heat until rice is tender and soup thickens, about 20 minutes. If soup becomes too thick as it simmers, add a little more beef broth and/or water. Season to taste with salt.
