A Simple Tasty Cabbage Soup Recipe

As I looked around the interwebs to find a good cabbage soup recipe, I noticed that it was sort of tough to find one that wasn't a "Cabbage Soup Diet" recipe. I don't even really know what the cabbage soup diet is, but it sounds gross. I'm guessing you just eat a ton of cabbage soup and nothing else. Ew!!

What I was looking for was the exact opposite of a diet soup. I'm trying to learn to cook some new things so that I don't get sick of the same old dishes I always make. Soup seems like a good option. Embarrassingly enough, my inspiration came from watching some trashy tv. There was an episode of The Girls Next Door on and they were talking about how Hef has soup every afternoon.

I wanted to make a soup that's hearty and filling and good to make on a cold winters night. Well, as cold as it gets here in southern California. ;) I also wanted to get away from the same ol' chicken soup or veggie soup recipes. I love them, but it's time to try something new.

Here's what I found and I thought it came out pretty good!!

I'm not huge into cooking bones to make soup, and by 'not huge into' I mean I'm going to avoid it at all costs. So, I searched around to find a recipe that looked good, looked easy and had great reviews. I didn't need it to be strictly vegetarian, but just not involving soup bones.

Also, I was looking for a smooth puree cabbage soup, which was tough to find. I just wanted a simple recipe. I did find it though and it's yummy! If you're looking for a non-puree cabbage soup, I'm going to try one of those next and I'll post another hub once I try it.

I found a great one that only involved canadian bacon, or Irish Bacon if you want to go to a specialty food shop. I stuck with the canadian bacon since I was just heading out to the local Ralph's to get my ingredients.

Shopping List:

• Canadian Bacon (1/3 pound)
• Unsalted Butter (I never know whether to by salted or unsalted so I'm glad they specified!) - 3 Tablespoons
• Medium sized Onion (chopped finely)
• 2 LG Yukon Gold Potatoes (peeled & diced)
• Chicken Broth or Stock (5 1/2 cups)
• Turkish Bay Leaves (4)
• Kosher Salt (2 teaspoons)
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
• CABBAGE! (1/2 small head, cored, sliced thin in 1/2 inch pieces

Here we go, this is super easy!

1. Put the bacon in a small saucepan with water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Skim the foam from surface. Reduct heat to low and simmer for seven minutes.
2. Drain and cool. Cut bacon into 1 inch chucks and put aside for later.
3. Use a heavy large stock pot. Melt butter over medium heat. Add onion. Sauté and stir until soft. About three minutes.
4. Add potatoes and sauté for two minutes.
5. Add chicken stock/broth, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to between low and medium, cover and simmer. Potatoes should be soft, usually about 8 - 10 minutes.
7. Add cabbage, simmer 5 more minutes.
8. Take out the bay leaves and throw away.
9. Use your blender to puree soup until smooth. You'll probably need to do it in multiple batches.
10. Return to pot. Stir in bacon and rewarm.
11. Serve it up!!

Let me know what you think!

• I'm going to guess it will still be delish without the turkish bay leaves. 
• As for the canadian bacon, I bet you could use any kind of bacon you want and cook it however you want.
• Use red cabbage if you want. It'll be a pretty purple!
• Next time I'll probably add some turnips.
• I saw on some reviews that people didn't puree it, so maybe I would try that next time. It did look pretty good pre-puree.