Beautiful, creamy red cabbage soup, packed with nutritious ingredients, perfect for a weeknight dinner or for serving to guests.

RED CABBAGE SOUP
You will not believe how good this red cabbage soup is! It tastes just as good as it looks! 🙂 I must say I totally enjoy that deep purple color. Not to mention my daughter, she was delighted to get to eat such a purple soup.
Soup is what I cook the most, I think I make soup 2 or 3 times every week. Either for lunch or dinner, soup is warming, healthy, nourishing and filling.
I make any kind of soup, from creamy soups like today's red cabbage soup or our old-time favorite carrot soup to chunky vegetable soups, chicken soups, bean soups and so on... . We never seem to get tired of eating soup.
INGREDIENTS FOR CABBAGE SOUP
Red cabbage:
- Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables, yet I often have the feeling it is a slightly underrated vegetable. Most people I know don't really eat cabbage on a regular basis, they buy it to make a salad in summer maybe or they make a soup every once in a while.
- I really don't understand why! Cabbage is so tasty, so economical and there are hundreds of ways you can cook it.
- Not only soup or salad but stewed cabbage, cabbage rolls, cabbage casserole, sauerkraut, pancakes or pies and so on.
- Cabbage can be cooked as a main meal or as a side dish. I have even seen a recipe for a chocolate cake made with sauerkraut once, but I have to admit that I've never tried that.
- And there are so many different sorts of cabbage and each of them is delicious: white cabbage, green cabbage, red cabbage, pointed cabbage, savoy cabbage, napa cabbage... you could even count the Brussels sprouts, which look like mini-cabbages.
- For this recipe, you will need a small head or half a regular head of red cabbage, about 750 g/ 1.7 lbs.
Spices:
- I use the same spices I use when making German red cabbage: cloves, juniper berries and bay leaves.
- I also use a small amount of cinnamon, a tiny pinch, and some balsamic vinegar to adjust the taste of the red cabbage soup.
Apple:
- Also, a typical ingredient to combine with red cabbage.
Potatoes:
- They add creaminess to the cabbage soup, allowing you to use less cream.
Dairy:
- Some single or heavy cream.
- If you want to make vegan red cabbage soup, replace the dairy with a vegan alternative, like soy cream or any other kind of vegan cream.
- Coconut cream is also great, but it changes the taste slightly.
Toppings:
- The toppings are optional but very nice. You will need:
- Half a very crisp red apple, very thinly sliced.
- Some chopped pistachios.
- Some chopped parsley.
HOW TO MAKE A CREAMY RED CABBAGE SOUP?
- Chop the cabbage finely. I almost always do that in the food processor (Thermomix), it takes seconds.
- Cook the chopped onion until translucent.
- In the meantime peel and chop the potatoes, add them to the pot together with the red cabbage.
- Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes.
- Add the cloves, juniper berries, bay leaves, and stock.
- Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Add the finely chopped apple and simmer for 10-15 more minutes until everything is soft.
- Remove the bay leaves and blend the soup. I leave the cloves and juniper berries in the soup, they will get blended as well.
- I prefer to blend the soup in the food processor, that makes it really smooth. If you use the food processor, blend the soup in several batches.
- You can also use an immersion blender to blend the soup.
- Return the soup to the pot, add the cream or vegan alternative, salt and pepper to taste and a tiny pinch of cinnamon. Add about 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.
- Stir well, and adjust the taste again with salt, pepper and maybe a little more balsamic vinegar.
WHAT SIDES FOR RED CABBAGE SOUP?
- The most obvious choice would be a slice of good bread with some salted butter.
- Crispbread or crackers are always a good idea too, I love to make some fresh crackers of any sort and serve them with soups.
- Or how about some mozzarella and garlic stuffed rolls, some simple rolls or baked cheese rolls?
PIN IT FOR LATER!
Red Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
- 750 g/ 1.7 lbs red cabbage about ½ medium red cabbage
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 200 g/ 7 oz potatoes 1 medium to large potato
- 3 cloves
- 6 juniper berries
- 3 bay leaves
- 1,5 liter/ 51 fl.oz/ 6 ¼ cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 medium apple
- 150 ml single or heavy cream or vegan alternative
- 1 tiny pinch of cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- fine sea salt and black pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped parsley optional
- ½ apple optional
- 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios optional
Instructions
- Chop the cabbage finely. You can use a food processor. Chop the onion.
- Heat the oil in a large soup pot and cook the onion until translucent.
- In the meantime peel and chop the potatoes. Add the potatoes and the red cabbage to the pot. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes.
- Add the cloves, juniper berries, bay leaves, and stock. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Add the finely chopped apple and simmer for 10-15 more minutes or until everything is soft.
- Remove the bay leaves and blend the soup until smooth.
- Add the cream or vegan alternative, salt and pepper to taste and a tiny pinch of cinnamon. Add about 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.
- Stir well, and adjust the taste again with salt, pepper and maybe a little more balsamic vinegar.
- Decorate the soup with very thinly cut apple slices, chopped pistachios, and some parsley.
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