Cabbage Soup {Low Calorie} (2024)

Why We Love Cabbage Soup

After all the richness of the holiday season, I steer clear of heavy comfort food and meat and potato meals and instead pick low-calorie chicken dishes, big entree salads, and light soups like today’s original recipe for Cabbage soup. My guess is you’re here because you agree!

This Cabbage Soup is chock-full of tender chunks of seasoned cabbage and vegetables and loaded with dietary fiber. It is the perfect light and low-calorie weight loss soup to make when you’re wanting a lighter meal. So even if you are not looking for the Cabbage Soup Diet recipe, you can follow along for a delicious low-calorie meal that everyone will love – no matter what your weight loss goals are.

Recipe Highlights

• Only 182 Calories per generous 2-cup serving!
• 6 Grams of fiber per serving to keep you fuller longer, which may aid weight loss.
• If you have done Noom, then you know that starting your meal with a broth-based soup is a great way to lose weight because you’ll end up eating fewer calories overall.
• This soup will up your daily vegetable servings with each bowlful!
• Can be made ahead – up to four days in advance.
• It can be adapted to add meat or potatoes to make it heartier.

Ingredients for this Weight Loss Cabbage Soup Recipe

• Cabbage: We’ve used regular green cabbage (also called white cabbage) for this recipe, and savoy is another option that works well. We don’t recommend purple or red cabbage as they will color the broth. And pass on the Napa cabbage because it will be too tender for the longer cook time. Here’s how to chop cabbage if you’re needing step by step photos.
• Vegetable Broth: You can either buy premade vegetable broth or use our homemade vegetable stock recipe. If you buy premade broth/stock, we’d suggest reduced sodium so you can control the amount that goes into your soup yourself.
• Vegetables: Onion (diced), garlic cloves, leek (white and light green parts only – here’s how to chop and clean leeks), carrot, celery.
• Seasonings: Salt, ground pepper, paprika. I have tested this with smoked paprika too, and it was delicious. So if you like smoky taste, use smoked paprika instead of regular paprika.
• Herbs: Thyme, caraway seeds (optional), fresh dill.
• Olive Oil: For cooking the veggies, you’ll want extra virgin olive oil or your preferred cooking oil. I also give the option of drizzling some on before serving. If you are counting calories, note that the nutritional values are based on no extra oil.
• Lemon: Juice and zest. Make sure to zest your lemon before you squeeze the juice. One tester added more zest and highly recommended the additional zesty boost.
• Diced Tomatoes: Canned diced tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted. When in season you can use fresh peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes.

How To Make Low Calorie Cabbage Soup

Step 1: Caramelize Veggies

Heat your oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and then add garlic, large onion, leek, carrot, and salt. Cook, stirring often until the vegetables start to brown, which will take about 5 minutes. Then, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking the veggies, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft and caramelized. That will take about 13 to 15 minutes.

Note: As the veggies cook, add 1 to 3 tablespoons of water if necessary to prevent the veggies from browning too much before they soften entirely. Allow the liquid to evaporate in the last three or four minutes so that the veggies can fully brown.

Step 2: Add Seasonings

Add the paprika, thyme, carraway and pepper and cook – stirring – until the spices are fragrant, 10 to 45 seconds.

Step 3: Deglaze

Deglaze the large pot with lemon juice, stirring and cooking until the liquid is evaporated, which will take 10 to 30 seconds.

Step 4: Add Remaining Ingredients

Add the canned tomatoes, stock or broth, raw cabbage, and celery. Increase the heat to high, cover, and bring the soup to a simmer.

Step 5: Simmer and Adjust Heat

Once the soup comes to a simmer, tilt the lid to an askew position, reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue simmering gently. All the while, stirring occasionally until the cabbage is meltingly tender – 30 to 40 minutes.

Step 6: Serve

Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and dill. Serve your cabbage soup drizzled with a little olive oil if desired.

FAQs For This Healthy Cabbage Soup

Is cabbage soup good for losing weight?

Low Calorie Density: Cabbage soup is one of the least calorie-dense meals you can eat because it is broth-based and made with low cal and low carb veggies containing essential nutrients. A relatively large serving (2 cups) fills you up for less than 200 calories making it a great addition to a low-calorie diet.

High Fiber: The vegetables and cabbage in this soup are high in fiber which slows digestion and promotes saitety.

Low Glycemic: This version of cabbage soup doesn’t contain potatoes or rice. The vegetables in this meal also are medium and low glycemic (not starchy) which may help regulate blood sugar.

In other words, cabbage soup is both low in calories and filling which makes it a veggie-packed way to keep your calories in check and therefore can be a healthy part of a weight loss plan. Check with your dietitian or doctor before following any weight loss program.

Is cabbage good for you?

Cabbage is a vegetable with a lot of different health benefits! It can lower cholesterol, blood pressure, reduce inflammation, and improve digestion, among other things.

What is the best kind of cabbage to use for cabbage soup?

Green cabbage or savoy tends to be the best variety for soup because it is the most sturdy. It can handle simmering in a soup for a while without falling apart – instead, it’ll result in perfectly tender chunks!

What is the cabbage soup diet?

The 7-day cabbage soup diet is a restrictive meal plan that results in quick weight loss. While we don’t necessarily recommend the diet itself, cabbage soup is a delicious recipe and healthy! Eating it in moderation can be an excellent addition to a balanced diet.

Note: Before starting any sort of restrictive diet, we recommend talking to your doctor about what’s best for you.

What To Serve With Vegetarian Cabbage Soup

Our low-calorie cabbage soup is a great recipe on its own, or you can serve it with a variety of complementary elements!

• Top your soup with homemade croutons.
• There’s nothing like soup with a good chunk of crusty bread – try our whole wheat bread or whole wheat dinner rolls.
• Sprinkle a little shredded Parmesan cheese on top!
• Soups and salads are served together for a reason. Try a classic caesar, spinach salad with bacon and eggs, or a traditional garden salad.
• For a more hearty meal, pair with our vegan chickpea tuna salad sandwich or turkey avocado sandwich.

Make Ahead, Storage, Freezing, Reheating

Cabbage soup is an excellent dish to make ahead – and the leftovers are just as delicious!

• Make Ahead: The healthy soup recipe itself will last four to five days in the fridge if you want to make it ahead of time, but you can also chop the veggies in advance and then cook the soup when you’re ready.
• Leftovers + Storage: Leftover cabbage soup can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to four days. We recommend you portion the soup out before storing it in single-serve containers to make for a quick lunch. You can also freeze your soup for up to three months.
• Reheating: Reheat on the stovetop until the soup is heated through.

Variations To Try and Substitutions

• You can substitute the carrot and celery for additional low-calorie, low-carbohydrate vegetables like red bell peppers, green beans, cauliflower, baby spinach, or zucchini. Or, add them to the soup with the carrot and celery for more variety in this flavorful vegetable soup!
• Add cubed sweet potatoes to create a heartier meal. The potatoes will make your cabbage soup higher in calories and carbohydrates so make sure that aligns with the meal plan you’re following.
• You can add crumbled cooked ground meat like ground turkey or Italian sausage. You can also use fully cooked linked sausage like Kielbasa or Andouille cut into half moons.
• On the other hand, you can increase the protein while keeping it vegan and part of a heart-healthy diet by adding kidney beans, navy beans, or chickpeas.
• In the last 5 minutes of simmering, add cooked ground beef and a little cooked leftover rice for a stuffed cabbage roll inspired soup!
• If you’re not worried about keeping this dish vegan/vegetarian, you can use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth/stock.
• How to make cabbage soup in a slow cooker: Follow through step 3 and then then scrape the mixture into the insert of a slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, broth, cabbage, and celery, and then cook on low for 4 hours. Add dill and zest to finish as directed.

More Cabbage Recipes

More Diet-Friendly Soups

• Try a simple and delicious minestrone soup for 222 calories per 2 cup serving.
• Our garden vegetable soup full of nourishing veggies is only 284 calories per 2 cup serving.
• Curry butternut squash soup is creamy, rich, and velvety, but it’s only 283 calories for 2 cups!
• This keto chicken soup is 196 calories per 1 ½ cup serving and takes only 40 minutes to make.
• Our vegan harvest vegetable soup highlights deliciously tender fall veggies for 228 calories per 2 cups of soup.
• The perfect mid-winter dish is carrot ginger soup with oregano croutons! It’ll warm you from the inside out, and it’s 246 calories per 2 cup serving.