Made-From-Scratch Cabbage Rolls Are A Process, But Not If You Turn Them Into A Soup

When you need a plate of pure comfort during the colder months, it's hard to pass up cabbage rolls. They tick all the boxes in terms of rich flavor and heartiness, with the added reassurance that you're getting some of your "5 A Day." The problem is that it's not a quick dish to throw together, which is why this recipe for cabbage roll soup may be a great weeknight alternative instead. Although you could argue that some of the comfort comes from the ritual of preparation, made-from-scratch cabbage rolls are not always realistic. Soup, on the other hand, is simpler to put together.

By making cabbage roll soup, you'll be rewarded with the same warm, filling flavors, but with less than half the time in the kitchen. Between the rolling and the baking, cabbage rolls can take upwards of two hours to make, compared to around 50 minutes for the soup. As well as being less fussy to put together, cabbage roll soup has the added bonus of being a simple one-pot meal recipe, so you'll be cutting down on cleaning. Soup is also much easier to portion out when it comes to serving or freezing for later — there's no more cutting a roll in half and hoping that the contents stay intact.

Making cabbage roll soup requires the same ingredients you'd use for cabbage rolls; you're just going to prepare them a little differently. First, skip that whole time-consuming process of parboiling the cabbage and separating the best leaves for rolling. Instead, just chop the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Likewise, there's no need to prepare the meat filling separately. Once you've sautéed the aromatics and the meat, it's just a matter of throwing everything in the same pot with some beef stock. Rather than worrying about creating a mix that will hold together when rolled, you can make this soup as thick or as brothy as you like.

The flexibility of a soup allows you to recreate the flavors of different types of cabbage rolls, particularly if you're worried about getting the different rolling techniques right. The addition of barberries and buckwheat groats will give you a cabbage soup with a taste reminiscent of Ukrainian holubtsi, while a Polish gołąbki soup might include mushrooms and smoked sausage. Not even the fresh cabbage needs to be a staple of this soup. It's not uncommon for cabbage rolls to be made with pickled leaves — a flavor you could emulate with sauerkraut. However you put your cabbage roll soup together, be sure to get creative with it.