A soothing Cabbage Rice Soup with lemon and ginger - light, nourishing, and thoughtfully balanced. Finish with chili crisp if you like heat. Make a batch for the week ahead, and you’ll have a healthy vegan meal at the ready.
After all the holiday feasting, my body is crying out for gentle, soothing meals. Yes, I love to indulge a bit – but try to balance it out with nourishing everyday meals like this simple cabbage rice soup. What I love about this soup, besides its wholesomeness and affordability, is how simple the ingredients are. Yet the flavor of lemon and ginger has me coming back for more! Finish it with chili crisp for a bit of heat and crunchy texture.
Why You’ll Love This
- Simple ingredients. It’s amazing how frugal ingredients, like cabbage, rice, onion, and broth, can come together to create a comforting, cozy, steaming bowl of soup.
- Quick & easy. Only 15 minutes of hands-on prep time, it comes together in about half an hour.
- Wholesome & nutritious! Vitamin-rich vegetables and broth make this a nourishing soup for a boost during the winter months.
- Freezer-friendly. Perfect for meal prep.
Ingredients
- Cabbage: Use shredded green cabbage, savoy cabbage, or red cabbage.
- Rice: Use a sturdy white rice like Basmati rice or Jasmine rice. You can use brown rice, but you’ll need to increase the cooking time.
- Onion, garlic, and ginger: Sautéed onion, garlic clove, and fresh ginger impart deep, savory, and aromatic flavor. You can substitute ginger paste.
- Red pepper flakes: For a hint of heat!
- Vegetable broth: Or use chicken broth. Try our homemade vegetable broth or homemade chicken stock for the deepest flavor. Or use veggie bouillon paste (see notes).
- Bay leaves: Optional, but adds a lovely fragrant, herbal taste.
- Lemon: Fresh lemon juice brightens the soup with vibrant, citrus flavor.
- Scallions: Adds a touch of pungent, aromatic flavor for a bold finish.
- Garnishes: Scallions, cilantro, crispy shallots, a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, a spoonful of chili crisp, or a drizzle of sriracha.
Variations
- Add meat: Add shredded chicken or any browned ground meat for extra protein.
- Add plant-based protein: For plant-based protein, add chickpeas, white beans, or lentils.
- Add potatoes: For a hearty soup, diced Yukon gold potatoes make a nice addition.
- Add more veggies: Boost the veggie content with carrots, celery, or tomatoes.
How to Make Cabbage Rice Soup
1. Sauté the aromatics. Add olive oil to a large soup pot and turn to medium-high heat. Sauté the yellow onion, garlic, and ginger until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Reduce to medium heat and stir for a few more minutes, until tender. Stir in the chili flakes.
2. Add cabbage, rice, and broth, and simmer. Shred the whole head of cabbage, then add the shredded cabbage, rice, vegetable broth, sea salt, black pepper, and optional bay leaf to the pot. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. When ready, the cabbage and rice should be tender. Stir in 2/3 of the scallions.
3. Add lemon juice and taste and adjust. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Taste and adjust, adding more salt and lemon to taste. If it tastes too salty, add a little water.
4. Serve and garnish. Divide the soup into bowls and top with desired garnishes, such as scallions, cilantro, crispy shallots, a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, a spoonful of chili crisp (my favorite!), or a drizzle of sriracha.
Chef’s Tips
- Don’t be tempted to add more rice. Adding too much rice will result in rice porridge- trust me.
- Taste and adjust. When adding lemon juice, taste the soup to adjust the lemon, salt, pepper, and chili flakes to your preference. This is where the magic happens!
- Don’t skip the garnishes! The garnishes really elevate the soup, adding extra flavor and texture. Add scallions or cilantro for something fresh and herby, crispy shallots for crunchy texture, toasted sesame oil for depth and complexity, and chili crisp or sriracha for heat.
- Make a double batch and freeze the rest for later. This soup freezes beautifully (for 3 months). Make a double batch so that you have a quick and nutritious meal for when life gets busy.
Serving Suggestions
After you load your soup up with garnishes (scallions, cilantro, crispy shallots, toasted sesame oil, chili crisp, or sriracha), serve this cozy soup with warm, crusty bread, like sourdough or a baguette, or serve with scallion pancakes!
Serve with a side salad like Bok Choy Salad or Fennel Orange Salad.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating on the stovetop.
FAQs
Any cabbage works for this recipe! You can use green cabbage, savoy cabbage, or red cabbage.
We keep it simple here, adding red pepper flakes, bay leaves, salt, and black pepper. These spices enhance the natural flavors of the veggies, letting the cabbage and onion be the stars of the recipe.
Yes! If desired, you can add shredded chicken or ground beef for extra heartiness and protein.
More Soup RECIPES You Might Like
⭐️ After you try this Cabbage Rice Soup recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Sylvia
Cabbage Rice Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: fall soup, soup recipe, winter soup
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A soothing Cabbage Rice Soup with lemon and ginger-light, nourishing, and comforting. Finish with chili crisp for a spicy, cozy bowl.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4–8 cloves garlic ( I like 8), minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated or chopped (or use ginger paste)
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes ( more or less to taste)
- 1 1/2 lbs shredded cabbage (6 cups) -green cabbage or savoy cabbage
- 1/2 cup basmati rice (or jasmine rice)
- 6 cups veggie broth (or chicken stock)
- 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 bay leaves, optional
- One lemon, add juice to taste ( 2-ish tablespoons)
- 3 scallions, sliced
- Garnishes: scallions, cilantro or crispy shallots, a drizzle ot toasted sesame oil, or spoon on chili crisp for heat and color.
Instructions
- Sauté: Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in the olive oil over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Lower the heat to medium, and continue stirring for 4 more minutes, until tender. Stir in the chili flakes for 1 minute.
- Simmer: Add the shredded cabbage, rice, veggie broth, salt, pepper, and bay leaves, give a stir, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer gently over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until cabbage and rice are both tender. Stir in ⅔ of the scallions.
- Season: Squeeze with lemon juice, taste, and adjust the broth with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. You want it flavorful- adding more salt and lemon to taste. If you make it too salty, add a little water.
- Serve: Ladle into bowls, top with more scallions (or cilantro), a drizzle of toasted sesame oil if you like, or chili crisp (my favorite) or a little sriracha.
Notes
Tip: Garnishes really elevate this soup- the chili crisp adds great texture too.
Broth: I used 6 cups of water and 3 teaspoons of Veggie Bouillon paste. You can make the soup more brothy at the end if you like.
Rice- do not be tempted to add more rice- you will end up with rice porridge. You can use brown rice, but you will have to increase cooking time.
Storage. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ½ cup
- Calories: 164
- Sugar: 7.9 g
- Sodium: 972 mg
- Fat: 5.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.5 g
- Fiber: 3.4 g
- Protein: 3.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Hello! Is there any reason you don’t recommend we use red cabbage? We have two heads to use up!
Hi Megan, Yes feel free to use red or purple cabbage, I think I just forgot to mention it.
I was a bit puzzled by the combination – ginger sounded oriental, but lemon and olive oil Greek. Still, I had all the ingredients and more – added carrots and leeks – and it was a good, more-ish recipe. The rice balances the cabbage nicely…
Glad you gave it a try Susan! Appreciate you taking time to review.
It seemed to be missing something, so I added boiled potatoes and adjusted salt and lemon and got that nice balance. I recommend adding the boiled potatoes! Thanks!
Appreciate your feedback Megan -potatoes do sound lovely here. Yes, adjust lemon and salt to taste.
For some reason my longer review a couple days ago did not go through. Long story short: a terrific soup for the heart of Winter here in the Northeast!!!
Glad you enjoyed this Anthony!
Definitely a “… gentle, soothing meal …”. I made some the day after the big snowstorm hit us here in New England, and used lots of ginger. So the first nite was pretty intense on the palate, but I toned it down with more water/broth for the following days. But that ginger infusion really helped in the aftermath of my snow shoveling lol.
All in all, beautifully balanced, and I especially liked the uniform texture of the grated cabbage; normally I would just cut it up which has a different feel.
Highly recommended!
This is a delicious, easy and healthy soup. How could such simple and few ingredients taste so good and be this nutritious… then again all of your recipes are amazing! Thank you. You are the best!
Thanks Liza! Glad you are enjoying.
forgot to rate too! a wonderful soup for a cold day, and we used up old rice with it the second time, was great.
Thanks so much!