Instant Pot Cabbage Soup Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (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
| Makes 8 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving (1.5 cups): |
| Calories 160 (43% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 7g | 11% |
| Saturated Fat 3g | 14% |
| Cholesterol 38mg | 13% |
| Sodium 1080mg | 45% |
| Net Carb 6g | |
| Total Carb 8g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 7% |
| Sugars 5g | |
| Protein 13g |
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.
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!
Delicious!!
I shredded my cauliflower with a food processor, and used Italian seasoning. I also added a few crushed red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, and subbed 93% lean ground turkey for the beef. It pressure cooked and naturally released as per the recipe. I will probably reduce the time under pressure by a minute or two next time (some of the vegetables just disappeared) and will add garlic and turmeric for additional healthiness.
This was very good!
I wonder if I can use cooked ham instead of beef?
That sounds like a reasonable substitution and I think it could work well. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out for you.
Just made this and it’s fantastic! Only addition I made was a clove of minced garlic. The flavor is SO good! My husband doesn’t like cabbage, or so he thought until I had him try this. He devoured it! Thank you, this is definitely a keeper!
What is cauliflower rice? Thanks.
Cauliflower rice is made from cauliflower florets that have been grated into rice-size pieces. You can get cauliflower rice by (1) manually using a cheese grater, (2) using a food processor, or (3) buying a package of pre-riced cauliflower. If you live in the U.S., nowadays cauliflower rice is available at nearly all major supermarkets in the fresh produce section and frozen foods aisle.
Can I double this in my ip?
Yep! Just verify that all of the ingredients will fit in your Instant Pot, within the MAX line. Even though you’re doubling the ingredients, the pressure cooking time should remain the same.
I’ve made a similar recipe in the crock pot and this recipe is a million times tastier. My husband loved it!
Could you sub vegan beef crumbles instead?
I don’t have any experience with vegan beef crumbles, but I think they would work well in this recipe as long as they don’t disintegrate or become mushy during pressure cooking. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out for you.
I used frozen “beef” crumbles and vegetable broth and it turned out great! They didn’t disintegrate at all.
Wonderful. Thank you for letting me know.
So savory and delicious! But instead of the cauliflower rice I added a few red diced potatoes.
This is so yummy! I will definitely make this again… just added garlic to it.
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
Thank you so much for sharing this! I did make this in my 4qrt Instant pot, so lessened the ingredients. Good clean eating for cold weather!! Yummy! Love cabbage and it was cooked so well!! Thanks!
Very good recipe that’s easy to make. I made some adjustments based on comments in reviews. I sauteed garlic before I added the beef, then doubled all the spices. I didn’t have any onions on hand so I used onion powder. I also used frozen cauliflower rice. I made it in a Dutch oven instead of the instant pot but it was still delicious. It was a hit with the whole family, including my kids. Will definitely make this again.
Great recipe. I def have had to reduce the pressure time waaaay down or all my cabbage is soft and mushy, but otherwise I totally enjoy it!
Are you using already cooked cabbage as opposed to raw?
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.
I AGREE I ADDED GARLIC SALT AND SOME CHEESE IN THE BOWL. DELICIOUS!
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.