Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup {Stovetop or Crockpot}

Why This is the Best Recipe

Our house smelled like heaven on the day I cooked this cabbage soup. I seriously couldn't wait for dinner.

This is the best sweet and sour cabbage soup recipe because:

1. Affordable: Anything that uses budget-friendly cabbage as a base is a big win in my book these days.
2. Healthy: Tons of veggies and no meat make this a perfect choice for Meatless Monday or a Friday during Lent.
3. Big Flavor: The sweet and sour broth is one of my new favorite things. I absolutely loved this flavorful soup.
4. Big Batch & Freezer Friendly: The recipe makes a nice big batch but is freezer friendly so you can save your leftovers for an easy dinner later.
5. Super Unique: If you're tired of eating chicken noodle soup over and over, this is a wildly different soup to add to your routine.

The Best Soup Pot to Use

The cabbage does cook down as the soup simmers but be warned before you start:

You're going to need a large soup pot to make this recipe.

As you'll see in the photos below, I started cooking it in my dutch oven which has a pretty large capacity.

But once I added the chopped cabbage, it was clear I wasn't going to have much room to add the beef broth or stir the soup very well.

I simply poured all the veggies into the largest soup pot I have and there was plenty of room to finish the soup.

Soften the Veggies

The first step is to add the chopped carrots, onions, and celery to the olive oil in your soup pot over medium-high heat.

Sprinkle them with a pinch of salt and pepper to season and cook until the onions have softened.

It is going to look like a LOT of cabbage when you add it to the pot, but cabbage really cooks down and reduces in volume pretty quickly.

This is the cabbage when I first added it to the pot:

This is how the cabbage cooked down after just 5 minutes.

It is still a large quantity but continued to reduce in volume the longer I simmered the soup.

To give the sweetness to the sweet and sour broth, we add a mixture of brown sugar, maple syrup, and sweet golden raisins:

To help cut the sweetness and boost the sour flavor, fresh squeezed lemon juice is added to the broth:

When you're simmering soup for a long time and you want to let it work while you do other things, I have the greatest trick for making sure your soup doesn't boil over!

Simply place a wooden spoon across the top of your soup pot like this, it will prevent the soup from boiling over. It's crazy but it works!

Adjust the Seasonings

Once the soup has simmered for an hour, be sure to sample the broth because you may need to adjust the seasonings.

If the soup isn't sweet enough: add just a little bit more brown sugar, a tablespoon or so at a time.

If the soup isn't sour enough: squeeze more lemon juice into the broth. I definitely liked my serving on the sour side of things.

If the soup doesn't have enough "punch": you might actually need a hefty pinch of kosher salt to bring out the flavor.

Crockpot Instructions

If you want to turn this into a slowcooker soup, you just need an easy tweak.

Start by softening the vegetables in a large pot on the stovetop. Then pour them into the bowl of your Crockpot.

Add all the broth ingredients to the bowl and stir.

Cover and cook for 6 - 7 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH.

Make Ahead Tips

This sweet and sour cabbage soup makes such a big batch and the leftovers reheat perfectly.

You can easily store the soup in your fridge for up to one week and reheat it over the stove top or in the microwave.

Freezer Friendly

You can freeze this soup for up to 12 months.

Simply thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat in a pot on the stove.

Leftover Cabbage Recipes

If you prefer to cut this recipe in half and want to use half of your cabbage head in a different way, you could also make fried cabbage or add it to my homemade Irish beef hand pies recipe.