Vegan unstuffed cabbage roll soup with sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, brown rice, tomato and meaty soy curls. Incredibly delicious and perfectly smoky from fire roasted tomatoes and smoked paprika. A whole food plant based no oil recipe, meatless, gluten and dairy free! (Crock pot instructions included).
How about some meatless lazy cabbage roll soup ?
I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted after all the holiday cooking. Easy lazy recipes that are filling and nutritious is what I am all about right now and this hearty and healthy soup hits the spot!
Vegan Cabbage Roll Filling
- Cabbage rolls are stuffed leaves of sauerkraut or fresh cabbage cooked in a tomato base broth seasoned with lots of fresh dill. The traditional filling consists of rice and some type of ground meat served with a heavy pouring of sour cream.
- Today’s version is cruelty-free vegan of course and way better than the original. It uses healthy protein rich meaty soy curls and brown rice then finished with a drizzle of homemade cashew cream. Seriously the best and without all the fuss of actually blanching then stuffing cabbage leaves. A true 1-Pot wonder if you ask me.
the Cabbage
I used a mix of sauerkraut and green cabbage for a sweet and tangy but savory final flavor profile. If using only fresh cabbage your soup will turn out on the sweeter side, so you might want to balance it out with more tomatoes or a splash of apple cider vinegar.
Variations
- The soy curls can be replaced with TVP, crumbled tofu, pan seared Beyond Meat Italian sausages instead or even chopped up mushrooms if you prefer.
- The brown rice can be replaced with wild rice, lentils, barley, amaranth, quinoa or farro. Remember to adjust the cooking times accordingly.
- Choose between making a Soup or a Stew by simply adjusting the amount of water or veggie broth in the recipe.
Can You Freeze Deconstructed Cabbage Soup ?
This soup is meant to feed a crowd and makes excellent leftovers. It can be stored in the fridge up to five days or frozen up to six months in freezer proof lidded containers. Remember to thaw it out in the fridge before re-heating.
drizzle of cashew cream.
How to make unstuffed cabbage roll soup:
- Start by soaking the soy curls in hot water to soften. Squeeze out as much of the water as possible and chop them up into small pieces.
- Sautee the onion with the caraway seeds until translucent then stir in the fresh cabbage. Cook until wilted.
- Add the sauerkraut, tomatoes, brown rice, herbs and spices.
- Pour in the water and bring the soup to a simmer. Cook until the rice is cooked through.Adjust seasonings to taste and serve with a drizzle of cashew cream and a chunk of bread.
Cabbage Recipes to Try:
Vegan Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Soup
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1/2 green cabbage thinly sliced (approximately 4+ cups)
- 1.5 - 2 cups sauerkraut
- 15 oz can fire roasted tomatoes diced
- 1/4 cup sliced pickled peperoncini (OPTIONAL)
- 8 oz soy curls
- 1 cup brown rice rinsed well
- 2 leaves bay
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 3 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 8 cups water or veggie stock
- sea salt + black pepper to taste
- 5 sprigs fresh dill + more for garnish
Instructions
- Soak the soy curls in a big bowl covered with hot water for 20 minutes. Drain and squeeze as much of the water out as possible. Use a sharp knife and chop up the soy curls into small pieces.
- Meanwhile saute the onion in a large heavy bottom stock pot over medium heat until translucent. Use a little splash of water or veggie broth (omit oil on WFPB diet). Stir in the caraway seeds and toast a minute or so until fragrant.
- Add the fresh cabbage and continue cooking until wilted. Stir in the brown rice and cook another minute or so.
- Add the sauerkraut ( and peperoncini if using), chopped soy curls, bay leaves, smoked paprika, onion, garlic, canned tomatoes and fresh dill.
- Pour in the veggie stock or water and bring to a simmer. Cook 45 minutes or until the rice is cooked through. (If using quick cook brown rice adjust cooking time according to the package directions.)
- Adjust seasonings with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper and serve with fresh dill and cashew cream.
Crock Pot Directions
- Sautee the onion, caraway and green cabbage. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 6 hours or on hight for 3 hours.
Notes
- As the soup sits the rice will continue to absorb more broth and turn it into a stew. You can thin it out with more veggie stock as desired when re-heating.
- For the cashew cream I used my cashew ricotta recipe thinned out with more lemon, lime or apple cider vinegar to your desired level of tanginess.
Nutrition
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Hi!
The recipe doesn’t say when to add the soy curls.
Sorry Tia, for some reason one line of the instructions didn’t get uploaded in the recipe card. All fixed now, you’ll need to soak the soy curls first so you can easily chop them up then add them to the soup with the brown rice, tomatoes and all the spice. Enjoy!
My favorite soup from my childhood, I can’t believe how amazing soy curls are and how perfectly they work in this recipe. Thank you for sharing, this one is also a keeper I’ll be making all winter long.
Made this, with lentils instead of soy curls. It’s delicious, and my non-vegetarian husband loved it!
That’s wonderful,lentils are such a nice hearty addition too!
I was not able to find “fire roasted tomatoes” in any of the stories in my neighborhood, but I do have cans of San Marzano tomatoes. How do I fire roast them? Or can I use them instead? Please advise.
Hi Esther, you can definitely use the San Marzano tomatoes they are my favorite actually. You’ll have enough smokiness from the smoked paprika here so it is most definitely going to be delicious.