Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup made with chopped cabbage, ground beef, pork, rice and tomato soup is quick and easy unstuffed halupki.
So many of the Instant Pot recipes I’m making right now are soups and stews — like this Instant Pot cabbage roll soup. It’s definitely cold weather comfort food, and so much easier than traditional stuffed cabbage rolls. If you like cabbage rolls, you’ll love this easy unstuffed cabbage soup!
Growing up, my mom and grandma made traditional Russian/Ukrainian cabbage rolls — halupki or holubki. We even had them for Christmas dinner. If you’re Polish, you may call them golumpki.
But no matter what you call them, they’re delicious — and definitely time consuming. But unstuffed cabbage rolls let you enjoy the same taste of authentic cabbage rolls without all the work!
Simple Ingredients
If you’ve never had a cabbage roll, it’s simply a mix of ground beef, pork sausage and rice all rolled up in cabbage leaves and cooked in tomato sauce or tomato soup. It’s really simple peasant food, but that’s the absolute best food — in my humble opinion!
Unstuffed cabbage rolls or lazy cabbage rolls use the same ingredients. The big difference is you throw everything in the pot and cook it. Quick and easy!
I should note that just about every village in Eastern Europe has their own version, so when you combine that with different family recipes, no two recipes for cabbage rolls or cabbage roll soup will be alike!
How to Make Cabbage Roll Soup in the Instant Pot
Unstuffed cabbage roll soup is so easy to make in the Instant Pot. First, you brown the ground beef and sausage with some chopped onions. And then, you season the mix with sea salt, pepper and garlic powder.
I sometimes like to add some smoked paprika for a little heat. This is optional, though. It adds warmth to the soup, but you can definitely leave it out.
Next, you add beef broth, rice, chopped cabbage, diced tomatoes and tomato soup. Yes, soup. It’s what my grandma used, and cabbage rolls don’t taste the same without it!
I used jasmine rice in this recipe because it’s what I usually make. You can use your favorite uncooked white rice here.
Pressure cook it, and you have amazing, delicious cabbage roll soup that tastes a lot like grandma used to make! I won’t say exactly, because like I said, everyone’s grandma had a different recipe!
This is a very thick soup — almost like a stew, but my family likes it this way. You can add more liquid if you like thinner soup. Fill up the empty soup can with water, once or twice, and add that in.
For even thinner soup, use a large 32-ounce can of the diced tomatoes. This will give you a normal soup consistency with more tomato flavor.
We like to eat cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes, so I like to serve this soup over Instant Pot mashed potatoes. Not necessary, but oh, so good!
Freeze Leftovers for Later
This makes a lot of food, and we always have leftovers. The soup will keep in the refrigerator for about 4 days.
For longer storage, freeze the leftover cabbage roll soup in a tightly covered freezer safe container or zip top freezer bags. It heats up perfectly well in the microwave or on the stove.
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Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika or regular paprika optional
- 1 medium head of cabbage, chopped
- 1 32-ounce carton low sodium beef broth
- ½ cup uncooked jasmine rice or any long grain rice
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 10 ¾ ounce can tomato soup
- 1 soup can water optional for thinner soup
Instructions
- Hit SAUTE on the Instant Pot, and when it reads Hot, add the olive oil, onion, ground beef and sausage. Stir and break up meat with spatula or wooden spoon, stir in sea salt, pepper and garlic powder, and cook until no longer pink
- Hit CANCEL, then add rice, beef broth and chopped cabbage. Pour diced tomatoes and tomato soup on top, but do NOT stir.
- Place lid on pressure cooker, turn vent knob to Sealing position and hit PRESSURE COOK for 5 minutes
- Pot will take several minutes to reach pressure, then begin counting down and cook. Allow a 10 minute natural release, then turn vent knob to venting for to quick release remaining pressure
- When pin drops, open lid, stir well, and serve immediately
Notes
Nutrition
More easy Instant Pot soup recipes
- Instant Pot Kielbasa Cabbage Soup
- Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Instant Pot chicken noodle soup
- Instant Pot hamburger soup
- Instant Pot chicken enchilada soup
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Recipe was first published in 2018 and updated in 2020.
I ran out of beef broth . Do you want think chicken wil work?
No problem! Chicken broth is fine.