A cozy recipe for Instant Pot cabbage soup with ground beef and tomatoes. Like an unstuffed cabbage roll soup, and the pressure cooker makes it a breeze to cook.
I love cabbage, but it can be a pretty tough vegetable — making it an ideal candidate for the pressure cooker. Take Polish cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef and tomatoes, for instance; those can take hours to bake in the oven until they’re tender.
With the Instant Pot, it only takes 20 minutes at high pressure followed by a 15 minute natural release. You end up with fall-apart cabbage plus a rich and hearty flavor that’s super comforting. This is the kind of soup that you can curl up with on a cold day.
When I had gum surgery last year and could hardly chew, this cabbage soup would’ve been perfect for me. Everything’s so soft and tender that you can practically drink it.
This soup is also great for cleaning leftover vegetables out of your fridge. You can add whatever you like — onions, carrots, and celery are popular choices.
Since I follow a keto diet, I usually add low carb vegetables like riced cauliflower or celery, and keep the carbier vegetables like onions to a minimum. Each serving of soup only comes out to 6g net carbs.
I’m definitely adding this soup to my low carb soup rotation, along with Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup.
If you’ve never cut up a whole cabbage before, watch this short video below from Cookus Interruptus to see how it’s done. She shows the optimal way to carve up cabbage, although for the purposes of this soup, you don’t need to slice it up so finely. Just a rough chop will do.
Quick Tips for making successful Instant Pot cabbage soup:
- The minimum pressure cooker size for this recipe is 6 quarts. I use a 6 quart Instant Pot and the ingredients fit well, and I wouldn’t recommend a smaller size. Larger sizes like 8 quarts will work well.
- Use ground beef that’s 90% lean and 10% fat. If you use meat with a higher fat content, your soup will end up on the greasy side.
- After adding diced tomatoes, use a large wooden utensil to scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. These will add extra flavor to your soup.
Instant Pot Cabbage Soup With Beef (Pressure Cooker)
A cozy recipe for Instant Pot cabbage soup with ground beef and tomatoes. Like an unstuffed cabbage roll soup, and the pressure cooker makes it a breeze to cook.
Ingredients
- 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 pound 90% lean ground beef
- 1 pound chopped green cabbage (about 5 cups)
- 4 cups beef stock
- 1 cup riced cauliflower
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
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Select the saute mode on the pressure cooker for medium heat. When the display reads HOT, add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Add ground beef and cook for a few minutes until browned, breaking it apart as it cooks.
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Add onions and carrots. Cook for about 5 minutes to soften, stirring frequently. Turn off the saute mode.
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Add tomatoes (including liquid in the can), cabbage, beef stock, cauliflower, oregano, thyme, and salt. Briefly stir together.
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Secure the lid and seal the vent. Cook at high pressure for 20 minutes, followed by a 15 minute natural release. Manually release remaining pressure.
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Uncover and stir. Serve while hot.
Nutrition Info
This recipe yields 6 g net carbs per serving (1.5 cups).
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 160 | |
| Total Fat 7g | 11% |
| Saturated Fat 3g | 14% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 38mg | 13% |
| Sodium 1080mg | 45% |
| Potassium 110mg | 3% |
| Total Carb 8g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 7% |
| Sugars 5g | |
| Protein 13g |
I made this today and it’s absolutely delicious!! Thank you
Does this freeze well?
Yes, cabbage soup tends to freeze well. Store the soup in individual portions, cover, and freeze — great for thawing and reheating for quick lunches during the week.
This is a favorite in our house. I load up on the cauliflower and don’t rice it. If I feel we need a nutrition boost I’ll substitute one cup of beef broth with 1 cup beef bone broth. Delicious!!!
Awesome recipe, could have used a bit more flavoring though. I added some parmesan cheese and garlic to it.
If you are on Weight Watchers (Smart Points only) this recipe comes out to 5 points, but if you eliminate the olive oil and use ground turkey, the points will be less.
I found this recipe needing more seasoning. Next time, I will add some garlic in with the onions and carrots and season more generously with the other spices
I’d like to use regular rice instead of the cauliflower ~ with raw white long grain rice would I need to make any adjustments in cooking time?
Can I use organic ground turkey in place of beef? …will it still come out delicious?
I think that would work well as a substitute. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out.
Do you think I need to make an adjustment in the amount of broth if I use frozen riced cauliflower? I would add the cauliflower after cooking the soup.
I would reduce to 3 1/2 cups of broth.
I love this soup! I omitted the rice cauliflower , added celery, cilantro and Goya Saxon packets with achiote and it was yummy! I am Puerto Rican so I just added a little of our flavor to it.
I made this tonight but I left out the cauliflower and added a little more of the other veggies, It was delicious! I will definitely be making this again, thank you!!
This was really good! I don’t have an instant pot, but it was perfect made the old fashioned way on top of the stove. I used basil in place of the thyme, which I didn’t have, and served it with some Costco shredded parmesiano reggiano on top. Since I used the frozen cauliflower rice, I added 1/4 cup quinoa to absorb the extra moisture. I’m excited by your website. I had friends over – some are celiac, some diabetic and finding desserts to serve is challenging. I made your keto chocolate cake and keto 4 ingredient ice cream. They seemed… Read more »
Thanks for your feedback, Janet! Your friends are lucky to have you 🙂
How long will this last in the fridge?
I’ve made soup like this in past. I used a small can of sauerkraut and 2 bayleaves add 2 cloves of garlic but no oregano. At tbe time i always used a regular soup pot but the pressure cook pot is quicker. This is holubki style soup
Use bison not beef you will limit grease. Very eastern european. Enjoy!
My wife loves this! Always tells me, do this, do that, I never do anything other than the recipe and she loves it
I make this all the time! We all love it!
Made this today as my dinners for the week! #mealpreplife
Thank you for including the nutrition facts label as many do not!
I also appreciate how easy this recipe is for an Instant Pot newbie.