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 recipesyou 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.

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!!

Ingredient Notes

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Mistakes to Avoid

Of course this is subjective but if you don’t want the leaves to get mushy, check every 10 minutes or so near the end. I like it still a bit firm so it has a nice chew to it so 4 hours is just right. If you just want to soften a bit you can wait until the last 2 hours and submerge at that point too.

Something else to be careful of is if you add something to make it spicy do so a little at a time. It is almost impossible to tame the heat if you add too much so a little does it at the beginning and adjust before serving if you want more.

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.