How To Make Old-Fashioned Cabbage Soup

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Cabbage Soup With Sausage And Potatoes

This hearty old-fashioned cabbage soup tastes like it simmered all day—but you can have it bubbling on the stove and ready to ladle into bowls in under an hour!

Smoky sausage, tender potatoes, sweet cabbage, and a deeply flavorful broth turn a handful of simple, inexpensive ingredients into one wonderfully satisfying meal. It’s warm, filling, easy to make, and even better reheated the next day.

This is honest, no-frills comfort food—the kind of soup generations of good cooks have made when they needed to stretch the grocery budget and feed hungry people well. Add some bread for dunking, and supper is handled!

Nothing chases away a cold day quite like wrapping your hands around a warm bowl of homemade cabbage soup. And when that savory broth tastes as though it came from an Old World kitchen? You’ll be very glad there’s enough for seconds.

This soup begins with sausage. I chose Hillshire Farms Beef Polska Kielbasa. One twelve-ounce ring, sliced thin, is enough to give the whole pot of cabbage soup a deep, rich flavor.

The vegetables are also simple and wholesome. Cabbage, leeks, carrots, celery, red potatoes, and garlic add a colorful, flavorful mix of textures and tastes to the soup. Leeks are related to onions but have a milder flavor and are often easier on your tummy if onions bother you.

Slice and dice all those yummy veggies. This step will take about as long as it takes to cook the soup! I always think vegetables are a thing of beauty! All the vivid colors remind us how nourishing they are!

The seasonings you use are simple and readily available, too. I wasn't sure about Italian seasoning, but it is absolutely perfect! You can buy it in the spice aisle, and here's a recipe to make homemade Italian seasoning! I would take it easy on the salt until the soup is put together, but this soup can take a lot of pepper; it really enhances all the flavors.

How To Make Old-Fashioned Cabbage Soup

Start by adding olive oil to a soup pot and lightly browning the sliced sausage. As you can see, some of my slices got a little browner than others, adding extra flavor. Remove the sausage and set aside for the next step.

Sauté the leeks, celery, garlic, and carrots for about five minutes in the oil remaining in the soup pot. The vegetables should soften and begin to get fragrant. I didn't have fresh garlic that day, so I used some from a jar, and it works well too, but fresh is always even better!

Now add your broth to the pot and stir up all the tasty browned bits of the bottom of the pot into the broth. I use a wooden spoon with a flat, straight edge.

You can use prepared vegetable broth or even chicken broth, but for the best flavor, I insist on Knorr brand vegetable soup base or bouillon cubes mixed with water.

I use this product in many things; I buy it in the restaurant pack that makes eleven gallons of broth! It has a long shelf life, and I share it with friends and family!

Add the bay leaf, potatoes, and cabbage to the broth and let it simmer until the potatoes are tender. It took about fifteen minutes, and the fabulous old-fashioned cabbage soup was ready to eat! Add back the browned sausage, then remove the bay leaf before serving!

The Verdict Is In On Old-Fashioned Cabbage Soup

My husband looked warily at the pot and wasn't sure about it at all. I think it was all the cabbage. He didn't say a word, but he was skeptical. After his first spoonful, he said, "Wow, I am pleasantly surprised! This soup is absolutely wonderful!"

Almost all soups taste even better the next day when you reheat them because the flavors have time to really get to know each other. This yummy cabbage soup is no exception!

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Yield: 8 servings

Old-Fashioned Cabbage Soup

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Here's a hearty soup that you can make in less than an hour with simple ingredients. So packed with yummy flavors, this is a great comfort food!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• One 12-ounce ring of Hillshire Farms Beef Polska Kielbasa
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium size leeks, thinly sliced. Use only the white and pale green parts.
• 3 carrots, scraped and sliced. About 2 cups.
• 6 small red potatoes (about one pound), scrubbed, skin-on, diced. About 2 cups
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced
• One small head of cabbage, shredded and cut into short pieces. About 4-5 cups
• 2 quarts of water
• scant 1/4 cup of Knorr Vegetable Flavor Base or 4 large cubes of Knorr Vegetable Bouillon
• 2 tsp minced garlic from a jar or equivalent
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• One bay leaf
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Slice the polska kielbasa sausage about 1/2" thick. In a large soup pot, brown it lightly in the olive oil and set it aside.
2. Add the leeks, carrots, and celery to the oil in the soup pot and saute it for four or five minutes.
3. Add the cabbage and garlic and continue to saute for another four or five minutes.
4. Add the water, potatoes, vegetable bouillon, bay leaf, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to the pot and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
5. Add black pepper if desired. This soup can take a lot of pepper. Add the sausage back to the pot and remove the bay leaf before serving.

Here are some of my most popular soup recipes.

Lasagna Soup - This soup tastes just like lasagna with none of the fuss. You can have it on the table in about an hour!

Split Pea and Ham Soup - This hearty soup is meaty enough to be a main dish entree. It tastes amazing, and it's loaded with protein and fiber. An excellent use for leftover ham!

Hamburger and Vegetable (Comfort) Soup - This version of hamburger vegetable soup is a recipe and not a recipe. I'd call it more of a guideline. Feel free to adjust the ingredients.

Soup makes such a wonderful meal on a cool fall evening! It makes the world seem brighter, doesn't it? What is your family's favorite soup?

If you liked how this recipe turned out, I'd love it if you left a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review or dropped me a note in the comments! It really helps my little business connect with people who cook and eat like us. Good food, minimal fuss. Thanks! ❤❤

Love, GB (Betty Streff)

Real food. Real kitchen. Real easy.

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