Best Cabbage Soup Recipe 

The best cabbage soup recipe is an old recipe, which I learned in my youth from my grandmother. It is a substantial soup, with pork meat, full of flavours typical of the Transylvanian area.

During the colder periods of the year, autumn and winter, these recipes for soups are made with fresh or smoked meat and with a thickening. Such recipes would be for example white bean soup with smoked ribs or traditional Hungarian goulash.

This recipe is only with fresh pork and fresh cabbage and you will see step by step how easy it is to make.

What ingredients do we need?

We need cabbage first, I chose a medium-sized white autumn cabbage, about 1.5 kg. But it can also be made from summer cabbage, no problem.

We still need pork meat, I used about 700 g of pork shoulder because I consider it the most suitable for this recipe.

In addition to these two basic ingredients, I also used two medium-sized onions and a bunch of fresh dills.

How to Prepare the Ingredients?

First, clean and finely chop the onions, because with these we will start cooking.

We clean the meat from the very fatty parts if we don’t want to eat them, and we cut them into suitable cubes, not very large.

I cleaned the cabbage from the first more withered leaves, I cut it in four and then I sliced it.

I tried not to slice very thick because I don’t like having thick slices of cabbage on my plate.

And we still have to finely chop the dill, which we will add to the soup.

How to Make the Best Cabbage Soup Recipe?

The first time we make a pork stew which will be the basis of the dish. For this, in a soup pot heat 100 ml of sunflower oil (or a tablespoon of pork lard), in which we fry the finely chopped onion.

Season with a teaspoon of sea salt, a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper and a teaspoon of caraway powder ( or caraway seeds ).

Fry for about a minute until the onion becomes translucent, then add the diced meat.

Fry the meat, stirring, until it turns white, then add a tablespoon of sweet pepper paste.

Stir and cook over medium heat under the lid for about 10 minutes, in its own juice.

Then pour a little warm water on top to cover the meat and let it boil under the lid for about 30 minutes, until the meat is half cooked.

Now we add sliced cabbage over the stew.

Mix carefully, to receive the cabbage all the flavours of the stew.

Let the cabbage simmer for about a minute, then pour enough hot water to cover everything well. I actually filled the pot with water.

When the soup boiled, I added the chopped dill. I prefer to add it now, then at the end, when the soup is ready.

And now I add about 400 g of tomato paste, which adds extra flavour and acidity.

Boil everything for another 40-50 minutes, until the cabbage is done, then taste the soup and if necessary, season. I add one tablespoon of vegetable mix from soups.

At this point, we can say that the soup is ready and can be consumed as such. But I chose to make a thickening to make the soup more consistent. But whoever doesn’t want to, can stop here.

So I made a thickening from sunflower oil, wheat flour and paprika, whose recipe can be found in the smoked potato soup.

I poured this thickening to the soup, I let everything boil for another five minutes and that’s it, this is the best cabbage soup recipe, in my opinion.

Serving the Best Cabbage Soup Recipe

Leave the soup pot aside, let it cool a bit, then serve it in soup bowls with fresh bread.

You can also add a tablespoon of sour cream and a little hot pepper, to really feel the flavours of the best cabbage soup recipe.

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