This popular and easy Italian Sausage and Cabbage soup recipe is a delicious meal-in-a-bowl that only has 10 minutes of prep time and freezes great for future meals!
This sausage and cabbage soup was born out of convenience and the onset of chilly weather!
This past weekend, we had pretty much no groceries left in the house except for a head of cabbage, some carrots, and a couple of packages of Italian Sausage in the freezer. Since I always have garlic, onions, and canned tomatoes of some sort in my pantry, I am not counting those.
I had the idea to make this soup a while ago but I always imagined fresh parsley as part of the equation. When I realized that all I had left in my house were these ingredients (except for the parsley!), I decided to go for it anyway.
This is a hearty winter soup, loaded with vegetables and sausage in every bite. Mild in flavor but with a nice balance from the tomatoes, this will please everyone in the family and is kid-approved!
Since I prefer a bit of heat, I like to sprinkle some crushed red pepper flakes on mine but that is totally optional. If everyone you are serving likes a bit of heat, I highly recommend using spicy Italian sausage in place of the mild sausage!
Sausage and Cabbage Soup Ingredients:
- Mild Italian Sausage
- Olive Oil
- Yellow Onion
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Green Cabbage
- Spices (Salt, Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes)
- Canned Unsalted Diced Tomatoes
- Chicken Stock or Broth
Recipe Tips:
- What is Bulk Sausage? Bulk sausage is another way of saying “loose sausage” or sausage outside of casings. If you can only find Italian sausage in casings, make sure that it is uncooked. Use a paring knife to slice a slit down the length of the uncooked sausage, remove the casings and crumble into a bowl. On that note, whatever type of sausage you buy, make sure it is gluten-free, MSG-free, and free of anything artificial.
- To save time, buy already shredded green cabbage!
- You can substitute red cabbage but just know that the color of the soup will be purple.
- Substitute Spicy or Hot Italian Sausage for a kick and omit the optional crushed red pepper flakes.
- If you want to use Italian seasoned Chicken or Turkey Sausage, I suggest adding an additional Tablespoon of olive oil and using it for sauteeing the Chicken Sausage.
- This sausage and cabbage soup freezes and reheats GREAT.
- To reheat: place defrosted OR frozen soup in a pot, cover, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through.
More Gluten-Free Cabbage Recipes:
Roasted Vegetable Soup with Cabbage
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
This popular and easy Italian Sausage and Cabbage soup recipe is a delicious meal-in-a-bowl that only has 10 minutes of prep time and freezes great for future meals!
- 1.5 pounds bulk mild Italian sausage crumbled
- 1.5 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion halved and thinly sliced
- 6 medium garlic cloves finely chopped
- 4 medium carrots peeled and cut into 1/4" rounds
- 2 pounds green cabbage core removed and shredded
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt plus a few pinches for cooking
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes unsalted
- 6 cups chicken stock or broth
- crushed red pepper flakes for serving optional
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Crumble sausage into a bowl and set aside.
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Peel, halve, and thinly slice onion. Finely chop garlic. Peel carrots and cut into 1/4" rounds.
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Remove core from cabbage and shred. I used the food processor with the shredding blade inserted. Alternately, you could cut the cabbage into very thin slices.
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Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Once hot, add crumbled sausage. Cook, stirring occasionally, mostly to break up the sausage with a wooden spoon, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until most of the pink is gone.
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Remove sausage from pot and set aside.
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Keep the pot over medium heat and add olive oil. Once hot, toss in sliced onions along with a pinch of kosher salt and a couple turns of freshly ground pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, until onions are soft.
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Add in garlic and carrots, stir continuously for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.
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Raise heat to medium-high and add in cabbage along with 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Toss to combine and continue cooking for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until cabbage begins to wilt and release some moisture.
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Add cooked sausage back in along with diced tomatoes and broth. Bring to a boil.
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Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, remove from heat and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve with a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes and Enjoy!
- What is Bulk Sausage? Bulk sausage is another way of saying "loose sausage" or sausage outside of casings. If you can only find Italian sausage in casings, make sure that it is uncooked. Use a paring knife to slice a slit down the length of the uncooked sausage, remove the casings and crumble into a bowl. On that note, whatever type of sausage you buy, make sure it is gluten-free, MSG-free, and free of anything artificial.
- To save time, buy already shredded green cabbage!
- You can substitute red cabbage but just know that the color of the soup will be purple.
- Substitute Spicy or Hot Italian Sausage for a kick and omit the optional crushed red pepper flakes.
- If you want to use Italian seasoned Chicken or Turkey Sausage, I suggest adding an additional Tablespoon of olive oil and using it for sauteeing the Chicken Sausage.
- This sausage and cabbage soup freezes and reheats GREAT.
- To reheat: place defrosted OR frozen soup in a pot, cover, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through.
Did you make this recipe? Tag @EverydayMaven on Instagram with the hashtag #EveryDayMaven and please give a star rating below.
UPDATE NOTES: This sausage and cabbage soup recipe was originally published in February 2014 and was most recently updated in September 2024.
Can this be adapted to the pressure cooker?
Definitely! The only thing I would be cautious with is that the cabbage doesn’t get overcooked.
Made this and it was so good. I tweaked the recipe a little added some Italian spices and kale. At the end I put pecorino cheese on top for garnish. Such easy but tasty soup!
Hi Sarah, Love those additions!! So glad you liked it 🙂
Super delicious!! I will be making this several more times. I left it in the Dutch oven for several hours in the oven at 170f and it was amazing!
Awesome Taylor! So glad you liked it 🙂
My husband and I loved this soup. I halved the recipe and added chopped kale and oregano from my garden plus 1 Tbs of balsamic vinegar. We don’t like spicy, so instead of pepper flakes I topped it with parmesan cheese. So good. Thank you for posting.
Thank you so much Judy! Love the addition of balsamic vinegar and parm!
Soup is all I eat for dinner these days. This one is great. It is now permanently in my rotation.
Hi Kevin! So glad you like this one. Thanks for taking the time to let me know 🙂
Absolutely delicious. This will be my go to cabbage soup. Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you so much Sirpa!! What a complement 🙂
What do you think of adding a small amount of cumin?
I think that would be a great addition!
I want to make this soup it sounds wonderful. I was wanting to know if
You can add some small pasta. I also freeze some homemade pasta sauce in small batches a little of that and fresh Parmesan cheese on top would be good more “Italian”.
Hi Jeanne, Absolutely – the pasta and fresh parm cheese are great additions – hope you love it!
Amazing as is but I also prefer the heat of the Hot Italian sausage and heave shake of Italian seasoning
I usually do mild for my kids but I am with you on the hot sausage – that is almost always my preference!
I made this soup with spicy Italian sausage and beef stock since I didn’t have chicken stock. It came out wonderfully! It is a cold and blustery east coast day and so worth it!!
Hi Barbara! That sounds amazing and perfect for a cold day 🙂
delicious soup, made it w/out the sausage, did not have any, added beans and it was perfect, thank you for sharing your recipes.
Awesome Marcy! So happy you liked it without the sausage 🙂
Snow days here! May do with what I had in the cupboard also. This included one packet of sauerkraut, 4 in of pepperoni removed from the casing and diced, two heaping tablespoons of tomato paste, half a white onion, three garlic cloves and two heaping tablespoons Korean gochujang hot pepper paste, and hicken base for stock. I skipped the added salt and relied instead on the pepperoni seasoning and the hot pepper paste for all the flavor. I felt there was enough sodium contributed from the chicken base and the pepperoni. Caramelized the onions and fried the tomato paste. I then added garlic and the rest of the ingredients. Yours was a great inspiration! This turned out great I was just what I needed after shoveling snow! LOL TY!