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)
DESCRIPTION
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
- 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.
- Add onions and carrots. Cook for about 5 minutes to soften, stirring frequently. Turn off the saute mode.
- Add tomatoes (including liquid in the can), cabbage, beef stock, cauliflower, oregano, thyme, and salt. Briefly stir together.
- 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.
- Uncover and stir. Serve while hot.
NUTRITION
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 |
Delicious recipe!!
I did add Ginger paste, tumeric, and roasted red peppers. Frozen cauliflower rice was used as well. Added it in at step 3. This soup had so many dimensions of flavor. Definitely one of my top 3 recipes for the IP now!
Making this tomorrow. I have Frozen cauliflower rice. Would I just add it in after? I see the post about reducing broth, but was unsure if I should just add the cauliflower after?
Anna, I would add the frozen cauliflower rice at the same time as the beef stock. That means you’ll be adding it in Step 3 along with several other ingredients (like tomatoes and cabbage). Please let me know how that works out for you.
Turned out delicious!! I added Ginger paste, tumeric, and roasted red peppers too.
We made this and love it! We did make some substitutions…
sub: 28 oz Mild Green Enchilada sauce for the tomatoes – just because we love it
sub: leftover Ham just cause we had
sub: bell pepper instead of carrot
added 1 T roasted granulated garlic
and we garnished with slices of raw radishes and a small spoon of sour cream