Slow Cooker Ground Beef Soup with Cabbage
(Slow Cooker Ground Beef Soup with Cabbage is an old recipe that’s been removed from the site, but I am leaving the printer-friendly recipe here in case anyone was a fan of the recipe. I’ve replaced this recipe with Ground Beef Vegetable Soup thatโs a similar but lower-carb stove-top version of this recipe that makes a big pot of soup so you can stash some in the freezer if youโd like.)
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 T crushed garlic (or more)
- 1 14.5 oz. can petite dice tomatoes with juice
- rinse the can of tomatoes with 1/2 can of water
- 4 cups homemade beef stock (see notes)
- 1 14 oz. can vegetable broth
- 1 T dried parsley
- 1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 2 tsp. Spike Seasoning (see notes)
- salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup frozen cauliflower rice (or a little more)
- 3 cups very thinly sliced and chopped green cabbage
- 2 cups chopped spinach
- pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 2 T sherry vinegar (or use any mild vinegar that you like)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy frying pan and cook ground beef until itโs well-browned, breaking apart with the turner as you cook.
- Chop the onion and celery.
- Put the ground beef, chopped onion, chopped celery, crushed garlic, canned tomatoes and water you rinse the cans with, beef stock, vegetable broth, dried parsley, dried thyme and Spike Seasoning into the slow cooker and cook about 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.
- While soup cooks, thinly slice the cabbage and chop the spinach. Take cauliflower rice out of the freezer, measure 1 1/2 cups, and let it thaw on the counter for an hour or so if possible.
- After soup has cooked 4 hours on high or 8-9 hours on low, add the cauliflower rice, cabbage, and spinach, turn the slow cooker to high if needed, and cook about 1 hour more, or until the cabbage and cauliflower rice is done. (Add the pinch of red pepper now if you’re using it.)
- Taste soup and add salt and fresh-ground black pepper as desired. (I added a tiny bit of each.)
- Stir in the sherry vinegar or other vinegar (start with 2 T and taste to see if you want to add more.) Serve hot, with sour cream or grated Parmesan cheese to add at the table.
- This freezes well. Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then heat in the microwave or in a small pan on the stove.
Notes
I used a Crock-Pot 5-Quart Smart-Pot Slow Cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe.
If you don’t have homemade beef stock use 2 cans beef broth and a little water.
Use any all-purpose seasoning blend if you don’t have Spike Seasoning (affiliate link).
If making this to cook all day, you might want to brown the ground beef, chop onions, chop celery, crush garlic, slice and chop cabbage, and chop the spinach the night before to make it easy to put the soup together in the morning. Store these prepped ingredients in containers in the fridge, not in the slow cooker crock.
47 Comments on “Slow Cooker Ground Beef Soup with Cabbage”
For the canned tomatoes would I be able to use an immersion blender on them or put them into a regular blender before adding it I’m not a fan of tomato chunks?
That will make the soup a bit thinner, but I think it will still be okay!
Sounds great. Anyone have ideas about how to make it in an instantpot (not on the slow cooker setting)?
I can’t say for sure, since I haven’t made it that way. But if you wanted to try it, I’d cook the ground beef in the IP until it’s browned, add the chopped onion, celery, and garlic and cook a few minutes. Then add the canned tomatoes and water you rinse the cans with, beef stock, vegetable broth, dried parsley, dried thyme and Spike Seasoning and cook on Manual, high pressure, about 10 minutes. While that comes to pressure, cooks, and releases pressure, chop the cabbage and spinach. When pressure is released switch to Saute and cook cabbage 5 minutes or so. Then add frozen cauliflower rice and spinach and cook another 15 minutes or so. Stir in vinegar and cook a few minutes more.
Personally I’d probably just make it on the stove rather than in the pressure cooker if you don’t want to use a slow cooker, but if you try it in the Instant Pot, I’d love to hear how it works.
Thanks Kalyn I probably will just try the stovetop. I’m a tad bit Instant pot obsessed!
Looking forward to making this. Not a fan of cauliflower rice, so I’ll use Miracle Noodle Rice instead! Thanks for sharing!
Hope you enjoy. I think that will work well in this recipe too!
I would love to try this soup as I have all the ingredients except for the cauliflower rice. Could I use regular rice in instead? Would it pre cook it and just add it in the end to warm it up?
Yes, if you don’t care if it’s a big higher in carbs you can definitely switch out the cauliflower rice for pre-cooked rice, and it should be added at the same time. Hope you enjoy!
Kaylyn, at 27g of carbs a serving that’s still a little too high for my 21 gram a day diet. Can you tell me your thoughts on how I could cut those grams? I was thinking the kidney beans would work but I don’t know how much more that would lower the carbs. Your thoughts. Thank you and love you recipes!
You are ahead of me! I just posted a Ground Beef Vegetable Soup that’s a low-carb version of this soup. I had a link from that one to this one, but now I need to add a link here to the low-carb version! Thanks for catching that; some days I just can’t keep up!
We loved this soup, I added a jalapeno because we like a little spice and had to use chicken broth because I didn’t have beef,,,,fantastic!!!!
So glad you enjoyed it!
I don't have beef broth, but I do have vegetable, do you think that would work?!
Yes, I think vegetable broth will be fine, just slightly less beefy flavor in the finished soup.
Cabbage might hold up to cooking all day on low, but I think the spinach would be completely dissolved into the soup. You might like it that way, I've never tried it. But I can't say for sure how it will work.
Do you think it would be ok to throw cabbage & spinach in pot in the beginning so it's ready after work? That's generally why I use the crockpot. Don't want to wait an extra hour after I get home to eat.
I'm so glad I found this site!! Your recipes are the best, especially this soup!
Alexis, so glad you're enjoying the soup!
I have to say, I absolutely LOVE this recipe. its hearty, delicious, & filling! I'm on a huge cabbage craze right now & this is perfect! its a favorite for my husband & I, especially when we're health nuts. mostly me trying to make him healthier. ๐
How fun to hear from someone in Australia. Glad you enjoyed the soup!
Thanks for this fantastic recipe Kalyn!
This was devoured by 4 very hungry Australians last night! I'll be checking out your other recipes for sure!!!
This is cooking in my crock pot right now and smells wonderful. I thought I had all the ingredants until I came to the tomatos and had to sub 1 can with rotel…I had already added the red peppers flakes too so it will pretty spicy.
I think I will mix in some prcooked quinoa in my bowl befor I eat it for a filling dinner tonight….Thanks for the great recipes!!
This soup cooked in my slow cooker last night as I slept and I enjoyed it for dinner this evening ๐ Yumm!
Chrissy, both the beef broth and beans are standard 14-15 oz. cans.
Looks like a great recipe for new moms. A questions about quantities; when referring to "can" of stock and "can" of beans, what size can? Thanks!
Sarah, glad to hear you are enjoying the recipes.
I made a pot of this soup last Saturday. It was soooooo wonderful! I ate on it all week and was really impressed with how it kept me full! I just recently discovered your site on Pinterest and I've got to say…I am in LOVE! I am on a "DIY medifast" style diet and for those lean & green meals and soups I need inspiration. Your recipes are perfect!
Thanks for the spicy ground beef and bean soup recipe. It is great that you can just set it up in a Crockpot to cook while you work.
Looks Grrrrreat! Saved and will make this one next when I make soup. Thank you for sharing!
Shirley, I hope this will win him over. So many good things can be made from cabbage!
I'm all for this soup, Kalyn! For so many years, I avoided cabbage and then finally actually had it in soup and raw and, of course, love it. So silly that I waited so long to discover that. Hubby who adores cole slaw still thinks he doesn't like cabbage otherwise. Hehe. This recipe might be a good one to convince him AND make me happy. ๐
Thanks!
Shirley
Maria, its definitely the time of year for it!
This is a great soup for winter. I need to get out our crockpot more often.
Thanks Dara. I took some photos of the leftover Chickpea Soup and I'm going to feature it during the month of phase one recipes. (And just ate some of it for lunch!)
Seriously, you are the best soup maker every. This look like another one to add to my list of favorites, right alongside your chickpea and tomato soup.
Hi Claudia,
I haven't used canned collard greens but I bet they will work in this. I'd add the cabbage, cook 30 minutes and then add the collard greens since they are already cooked.
I haven't used salsify. Will look for it around here; sounds interesting.
Hi, another good recipe – I have almost everything in the house – but is there a possibility to sub collard greens (canned) for spinach? What do you think?
Another hint, did you ever cook with salsify?
Its called winter asparagus in Germany.
Andrea, my mom did too, I bet that's why I like them so much!
Baking mom, you could leave out the vinegar, or use a smaller amount of lemon juice.
Can something else be used instead of the vinegar since vinegar and my body DO NOT get along well. This sounds so yummy and I'd like to try it out.
I remember my mother used to make hamburger soups all the time when we were growing up. It was hearty and filling. This sounds good!
Thanks Kim!
Joanne, that's one of my goals too.
I was just having a twitter conversation with someone about how i need to slow cook more…and then you posted this! I take it as a sign.
Can't wait to try this soup! So glad I found your blog. I'll be dropping by often!
Lydia, I thought of you when you I added those red pepper flakes. They really added a lot!
Jeanette, it's just a guess but I'd say a little over an hour for the first part and then about 30 minutes more with the cabbage and spinach added.
Sounds like a nice hearty soup – I might try making this for our local seniors at our senior center. It's been so cold out already. If I make it stovetop, what's the minimum amount of time I need to cook it?
Ahhhh, that's my kind of soup (especially with those red pepper flakes!). I'm on the lookout for soups that freeze well, as our Soup Swap approaches later this month, and this soup really appeals to me.