Cabbage Lentil Soup
One soup, two mighty ingredients - lentils and cabbage, and carefully selected nourishing roots and herbs, all come together in one instant pot, in just 20 minutes!!
This recipe combines two of my favorite soups in one pot - creamy lentil soup and healthy filling cabbage soup.
It is like vegetarian cabbage soup getting a dose of lentil proteins. First in this recipe, I combined the good nutrition of both: protein of lentils and filling nature of cabbage soup. Then, I added thoughtfully selected herbs and roots in soup to make healing and warming from with-in.
With winter storms everywhere, this is a lentil soup recipe which is both satisfactory filling and without lots of fat or carb calories. No one will judge, soup has no cream or thickener. It is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and even nut-milk-free.
I would not call it a diet soup but this is definitely a low-oil, no-meat, and no-cream soup which makes complete meal. You can serve a bread on side. For me, it is a complete meal. I like to save some raw cabbage while chopping the cabbage head for soup. I top it on hot bowl of soup for some crunch and freshness.
Oh, and this lentil soup has been prepared in Instant Pot in just 20 minutes! However, don't worry if you don't have instant pot or pressure cooker because I'm also including instruction to make same soup in dutch oven and also in slow cooker.
Cooking lentils in instant pot is super fast. So any lentils recipes is ready in almost no time. Other methods are little time consuming.. but so worth for a flavorful and nourishing soup like this one.
Like I mentioned, every ingredient in this lentil soup is either nourishing or adds to flavor of the soup:
1. Cabbage: Cabbage makes it filling, and also adds a refreshing crunch.
2. Lentils: Lentils are good source of plant-protein. And are also filling.
3. Ginger, garlic, and Turmeric root: These mighty roots make this soup warm, and healing. There is very subtle flavor of ginger and turmeric in soup but it keeps a mighty punch. If you like gingery soup, feel free to add more.
4. Thyme, bay leaves, parsley: Herbs add lot of depth of flavor to the soup and also some natural anti-oxidants.
5. Tomatoes and Vinegar: These two are quintessential lentil-soup-base-ingredients which give tang to the soup and balance the earthy flavors of lentils.
6. Chili Flakes, Jalapeno, and Black Peppers: So many chili and peppers!!? Don't worry though because soup is not hot spicy. It carries a subtle heat of these pepper and chilies which only makes it flavorful. I love to sprinkle lots of pepper on all lentils soups before eating. Please be your own judge. Use as per your preference.
7. Vegetable Stock (if using): I mostly use water in lentil soups but you can replace water with good quality low-sodium vegetable stock. It will make soup more nutritious. (prefer to make a homemade batch. I have a recipe here)
Cabbage Soup Diet?
I'm sure you wondering if this soup will fit cabbage soup diet? My motto of sharing the recipe was to give you a warming and detoxifying soup with filling dose of cabbage and lentils. This can be a nice variation from eating only cabbage soup for dieting. It has very less oil and no creams.. plus lots of healthy nutrients which are must to survive in such cold winter weather.
If carbs of lentils concern you, add half cup lentils or add more stock and cabbage to keep the flavor and reduce calories.
Even if you are not planning a diet, I recommend trying it as simple - lentil vegetable soup. Add some carrots, beans, turnips. Make it your own. Serve a crusty bread or rice on side and weekday dinner is ready to devour.
One Soup, Three Cooking Methods:
One pot soups are really my sweethearts. I love the fact that I can cook these any ways without much change in recipe. I cooked this batch of lentil cabbage soup in Instant Pot on pressure cooker setting. You can even cook it in slow cooker or a simple dutch oven (heavy bottom deep pot).
For slow cooker, saute the aromatics in a pan until onions are slight brown at edges. Add to slow cooker pot with all other ingredients but vinegar and half of salt. Cook on low for 4 hours or until lentils are very tender. Add vinegar, adjust salt anf black pepper. Serve and enjoy!
For stove top, saute the aromatics in a deep bottom pan until onions are slight brown at edges. Add lentils with half of salt and water. Cook until lentils are soft. Then, add remaining ingredients including cabbage and cook for until cabbage is soft. Add vinegar, adjust salt and black pepper. Serve and enjoy!
Oh, don't forget top same some cabbage to serve over hot bowl of soup. It adds a refreshing crunch without need of croutons.
Cabbage Lentil Soup
(8 reviews)
Ingredients
Directions
- 1. Prepare Ingredients: In a food processor, add yellow onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, turmeric, 2 tbsp of parsley and grind to a coarse paste.
- 2. Saute Aromatics: Heat oil in instant pot on saute setting. Add onion mixture with thyme and saute for 3-4 minutes or until mixture is slightly brown.
- 3. Pressure Cook: Add washed lentils, bay leaf, 1/2 tsp salt, **chopped cabbage, and tomato sauce. Add 6 and 1/2 cups of water. Close the lid. Cook on lentil/chili setting or high pressure for *12 minutes. Once cooked, let instant pot auto release the pressure or switch to venting setting to release pressure.
- 4. Season Soup and Serve: After pressure has released, open the lid, add red wine vinegar, hot sauce, black pepper. Taste and adjust salt. Add remaining parsley. Serve with some fresh chopped cabbage on top. Enjoy!
Savita's Notes:
*Cooking time vary based on make and model of instant pot. Adjust time as per instructions on instant pot. Lentils should be tender. If soup gets thicker add 1/2 cup more. **If you like slightly crunchy cabbage in soup? then make soup with lentils only. Once lentils are cooked, add cabbage and extra 1 cup water/stock. Cook 1 minute under high pressure or simmer until cabbage is tender to your liking.© Chef De Home. Post content including video and photos are copyright protected.
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24 Responses
Dora
This soup turned out great. I used 3T red wine vinegar and 1T of hot sauce since I have picky eaters.Savita
Thanks for letting me know.Tara
Can this soup be frozen? It sounds like something Id love, but I try to batch cook a lot & freeze recipes bc the weekend is the only time I have to really cook. Thanks!Savita
Yes, absolutely! You can freeze this soup.David Johnson
The printed version of this recipe leaves a large (half page) blank gap and requires two pages to print, when it could easily have been printed on one page. Why??Savita
Thanks for bringing to my notice. We will fix it soon!Andrea Gold
I made this recipe in an Instant Pot. Easy to follow. Very tasty! Good consistency.Lars
I loved the soupP Johnson
For me, one tablespoon vinegar was plenty. I added a cube of veggie bullion, reduced water by a cup, and added 3/4 cup of coconut milk. Yum.Vivian
It was flavourful and full of comfort. I added some eggplant and zucchini and that addition worked too. Thanks for the recipe, will definitely be in my rotation of comfort foods.oonagg
i made this just now and had a bowl. its wonderfully warming. i didn’t have any jalepenos though so i popped in some peppers and user red chilli from a jar. i’ll definitely be making this again.Deanna
This was absolutely delicious exactly as written. It depends on how hot your jalapeño is for sure!Ron
Hi Savita, This recipe looks great. I too had issues with the print using MS Edge in Windows 10. Switched to Firefox browser and it worked fine. Thought this might help others that are having a problem. Thanks for the recipe, cant wait to try it!Savita
Hi Ron, thanks for sharing this useful information. I appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the soup. Happy cooking!Roberta
Awesome tasty soup - love the cabbage and looove the new search button, thank you for your unique recipes!111Savita
Hi Roberta, thank you so much for such sweet feedback. I'm delightful to know you like my recipes and using the New Search button. Such feedback helps me keep going. So thank you ones again. Cheers!Mary Anne
Made this tonight, it was delicious! Only complaint is that it was a bit too spicy. I had to put some heavy cream in it to make it more palatable for some family members, next time, I'll put in a bit less hot sauce, but it was very good and I succeeded in finding a dinner my 18 year old would enjoy that included cabbage.Savita
Thanks for the feedback, Mary. In my home, everyone eat a bit spicy. I hope you will be able to balance the heat next time. Also, happy to hear your family likes it. Sneaking in some veggies in every meal is my favorite.marge201
Unable to copy & paste the recipe part of this excellent piece. Using Chrome. I had to use snipping tool.Gail Kendall
Unable to print it out and I'd like to fix it! Very healthy ingredients and looks very tasty! Also could not copy paste onto a document in order to print it.Savita
Hi Gail, I regret the print did not work for you. Which browser are you using? May be I can help.Maryanne
This was very good. We used red lentils, a whole jalapeno, and ground turmeric since the store was out of fresh. My son had 3 bowls of it.Savita
Hi Maryanne, I'm glad your family enjoyed Lentil Cabbage Soup! Thanks for sharing sweet feedback! I appreciate it.teri
All of your recipes sound delicious, but how do I save them? I'm unable to copy them to my files :( BTW...I too, live in San Diego...any recommendations for a great Indian restaurant? Yum!!!