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    Home » Recipes » Soup

    Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup {Stovetop or Crockpot}

    Published: Feb 7, 2023 by Tiffany Dahle · This post may contain affiliate links.

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    Jump to Recipe - Pin Recipe
    A photo collage shows the steps to make it alongside ingredients included.

    Sweet and sour cabbage soup is loaded with fresh vegetables including cabbage, carrots, celery, and onions. This meatless soup does use beef broth as a base but could be easily tweaked to be vegetarian-friendly.

    A white bowl of cabbage soup with a spoon on the side.

    During the winter soup season, we are always experimenting with new recipes because as much as I love chicken noodle soup, I love to have variety in my life.

    This sweet and sour cabbage soup might be my favorite soup I've made all winter. The unusual sweet and sour tang is a delicious twist from our classic soup recipes.

    The meatless soup features loads of fresh vegetables including cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, and tomatoes.

    The sweet and sour flavor comes from a mixture of brown sugar and lemon juice.

    The recipe makes a huge batch so thankfully it is freezer-friendly. You could simmer a pot this weekend and save the leftovers for an easy weeknight dinner down the road.

    Jump to:
    • Why This is the Best Recipe
    • Ingredients
    • The Best Soup Pot to Use
    • Soften the Veggies
    • Add the Cabbage
    • Make the Sweet and Sour Broth
    • Cook the Soup
    • Adjust the Seasonings
    • Crockpot Instructions
    • Make Ahead Tips
    • Freezer Friendly
    • Serving Suggestions
    • Easy Flavor Variation:
    • Leftover Cabbage Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe

    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.

    Ingredients

    The ingredients to make the cabbage soup are on the counter.

    This easy vegetable soup requires a few fresh things from the grocery store along with pantry staples you probably already have on hand:

    • Cabbage
    • Carrots
    • Onions
    • Celery
    • Lemons
    • Fresh Dill
    • Olive Oil
    • Beef Bouillon or Beef Stock
    • Canned Tomatoes
    • V8 Tomato Juice
    • Golden Raisins
    • Brown Sugar
    • Maple Syrup
    • Caraway Seeds

    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.

    The chopped vegetables have been added to a large pot.

    Add the Cabbage

    I preferred to chop my cabbage into small square-shaped chunks. If you prefer, you could also shred the cabbage into strips.

    Either way, just make sure the cabbage pieces are bite-sized friendly so that you don't feel like you're eating a bowl of spaghetti when you eat the soup.

    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:

    The raw cabbage looks like it won't fit in the pot, a wooden spoon shows height for reference.

    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.

    The cabbage has wilted down and the pot now shows several inches of space.

    Make the Sweet and Sour Broth

    Once you've got the veggies softened and the cabbage reduced, it is time to build the sweet and sour soup broth.

    The big flavor comes from a few fun ingredients:

    First we'll add some V8 vegetable juice. This is a great way to boost the tomato flavor.

    A bottle of V8 juice next to a measuring cup.

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

    The brown sugar, golden raisins, and maple syrup on the counter.

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

    A measuring cup of lemon juice next to a pile of squeezed lemons.

    The rest of the broth is made up of water plus some beef bouillon OR you could just go for a few boxes of beef stock if you prefer.

    Cook the Soup

    Once you've stirred together the broth, add the entire can of diced tomatoes and the caraway seeds and stir.

    Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium low.

    Simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring it occasionally.

    The large soup pot has caraway seeds and tomatoes mixed in.

    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!

    A wooden spoon over the top of the pot helps prevent it from boiling over.

    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.

    The finished soup is still in the soup pot with the wooden spoon off to the side.

    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.

    Serving Suggestions

    The sweet and sour cabbage soup is in a white soup bowl with a piece of cornbread on the side.

    I served our sweet and sour cabbage soup with homemade buttermilk cornbread and they were a wonderful pairing!

    You could also serve it with buttermilk biscuits, Italian bread, or slices of challah.

    Easy Flavor Variation:

    My husband and I both LOVE sweet and spicy foods. Add a dash or two of cayenne pepper to your bowl at the table for another fun way to eat the soup.

    • A white plate has a pile of fresh baked buttermilk drop biscuits.
      Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits {4 Flavor Variations}
    • A fresh baked challah loaf is in the bread machine pan cooling on a wire rack.
      Easy Bread Machine Challah
    • A white ruffled platter has large squares of homemade buttermilk cornbread.
      Grandma's Buttermilk Cornbread
    • A loaf of bread machine Italian bread sits in a basket next to a few sample wedges near a plate of olive oil for dipping.
      Bread Machine Italian Bread

    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.

    • A serving of crispy fried cabbage with caraway seeds is in a white serving bowl.
      Easy Fried Cabbage with Caraway Seeds
    • A serving of Irish Beef Hand Pies on a white platter.
      Irish Beef Hand Pies

    📖 Recipe

    A white bowl of cabbage soup with a spoon on the side.

    Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup

    5 from 1 vote
    This easy sweet and sour cabbage soup is a delicious meatless soup made with tons of fresh veggies and a rich and unique beef and tomato based broth. Sweetened with brown sugar and maple syrup and balanced with lots of fresh lemon juice for a fantastic sweet and sour flavor you'll love. Serve with warm, fresh bread for a healthy dinner and freeze the leftovers for a quick meal another time.
    TOTAL TIME 1 hour 45 minutes
    PREP TIME 15 minutes
    COOK TIME 1 hour 30 minutes
    YIELD 12 servings
    PIN RECIPE FOR LATER PRINT RECIPE NOW

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 2 onions, chopped
    • 3 celery stalks, chopped
    • 2 large or 3 medium carrots, chopped
    • 1 head of green cabbage, cored and chopped
    • 2 cups V8 juice
    • 16 cups water
    • 4 heaping tablespoons of Better Than Beef Bouillon OR Substitute 16 cups beef stock for the water above
    • 1 (12 oz) can diced tomatoes
    • ¾ cup golden raisins
    • 1 ½ cup brown sugar
    • ¼ cup maple syrup
    • 3 lemons, juiced
    • 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
    • ¼ cup fresh dill, minced

    Instructions

    • In a very large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, and carrots. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir. Cook for 5 minutes.
    • Add the chopped cabbage to the pot. It will seem like a LOT, but it will cook down. Stir and cook for 5 - 10 minutes or until the volume of cabbage has reduced.
    • Add the V8 juice to the pot and stir. Then add either the water & bouillon OR beef stock. Add the entire can of tomatoes, raisins, brown sugar, maple syrup, lemon juice and caraway seeds to the pot and stir. Bring to a boil.
    • Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the soup for 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings as needed to get the right balance between sweet and sour.
    • Stir in the chopped dill right before serving.

    Recipe Notes

    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.

    Freezer-Friendly

    You can make this sweet and sour cabbage soup and freeze it in smaller containers for easy lunches or dinners another time. 
    Simply thaw in the fridge overnight and heat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
    COURSESoup
    CUISINEJewish
    AUTHORTiffany Dahle

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    A photo collage shows the steps to make it alongside ingredients included.

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    Hi, I'm Tiffany!
    I believe a great family recipe is one that makes everyone at the table happy, not just the kids. I'm the author of two bestselling cookbooks for kids that are chock full of recipes everyone in your family will love. I'm also the hostess of the best online book club for moms.

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