First of all, I love green cabbage. It is sweet and crunchy and goes with everything. Second, I love a warming bowl of soup during the winter. Combined, that makes this smoky cabbage soup my new favorite comfort food!
I have read about cabbage soup and kind-of thought it would just be another vegetable soup. Well, not in my kitchen! I amped up the flavors in so many ways because I wanted to make this soup a little different.
I have been in love with smoked paprika as of lately; I’m a little late to the game, I know! This soup is made smoky with both the paprika and some fire roasted diced tomatoes.
Also, I wanted to play up the sweetness of the cabbage, so I added sweet potato to the soup. I kept things balanced with some dry white wine for acidity and red pepper flake for a little extra heat.
Variations to the Smoky Cabbage Soup recipe:
- Simple Swaps: Use chickpeas or kidney beans for white beans, parsnips or gold potatoes for sweet potato, a variety of dried herbs for the Italian seasoning, leek for the onion, etc.
- Red Cabbage: I don’t recommend making this soup with red cabbage. Red cabbage has more flavor than green, but the tannins in the red cabbage can become bitter when your leftover soup sits, and the red color will leach out into the soup.
- Why use fresh garlic and garlic powder? The two have different flavor profiles, so using them together increases the garlicky flavor in the soup. The powder is more intense of a garlic flavor because it becomes concentrated when dried. The fresh garlic has a more subtle flavor, but lends more spicy and earthy notes to the soup.
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp each: salt, garlic powder and smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp red pepper flake
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 28 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 6 cups sliced or chopped green cabbage, from about ½ a medium head
- 1 large sweet potato, ½ inch cubed
- 15 oz can white beans
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- Saute the onion, celery, and carrot in olive oil over medium low heat until it starts to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Stir in the garlic, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, smoked paprika, salt, and red pepper flake. Saute 1 minute to toast the spices. Deglaze the pan with the dry white wine.
- Mix in the tomatoes, cabbage, sweet potato, white beans, and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the potato is tender.
