If you grew up in the Midwest or any area with German (or Eastern European) roots, you might have grown up with this hearty & healthy soup. And you already know that Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup is absolute comfort food. A bowl of this will warm you up from the inside out even on the coldest days.
Smoked Sausage & Cabbage Soup
You’ll find versions of Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup all over the Midwest, and just about everywhere immigrants from Germany, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia and those from surrounding areas settled. Every family, it seems, has their own little special touches.
About Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup:
Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup, has, of course, Smoked Sausage & Cabbage, but also has a melange of healthy veggies. There’s usually red potatoes, lots of celery & carrots and of course, onions and garlic. All good, hearty and common veggies – but the kicker is that this long-simmered soup (or quick instant pot version) tastes like so much more than the sum of its parts! All those flavors just meld together with the sausage, broth, and spices into a glorious and hearty meal.
Ever since I got back from Georgia (New & the Old 2017 covers the trip and the Top Ten most popular recipes in 2017) I’ve been making Smoked Sausage & Cabbage Soup over and over. I can’t seem to get enough. This recipe makes a good-sized pot and freezes well. It’s a great soup to make for a crowd after a winter activity and you can make and stash portions in the freezer if you’re into Food Prep.
Smoked Sausage & Cabbage Soup
Making Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup:
Some families use a touch of sugar in their Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup and others a little sauerkraut or vinegar. I’m a fan of vinegar, myself. The vinegar just wakes up those flavors and it’s kind of like magic. As far as spicing, there’s usually white pepper and/or black, celery seed and/or caraway and sometimes garlic. Me, I hedge my bets and use a little of each of the black pepper and white, and a little of each of the celery and caraway. And lots of garlic! Caraway is a strong, distinctive spice, a seed, and is often in cole-slaw, too. If you’ve never had it before, use a light hand with it until you see if you like the taste. Recently I’ve seen a lot of recipes for Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup that use Italian Seasoning (I’m just sayin’ so wrong, but if you like it, go for it. It’s your soup!)
Sausages can be varied; I’ve always used Smoked or Kielbasa, but my favorite pot of soup this year was made with Smoked Jalapeno Sausage. It was a mistake, really, but a fantastic one! I had it in the freezer and had thawed it out and didn’t notice what kind of sausage it was until I took it out to slice. I would highly recommend that Smoked Jalapeno Sausage for a little non-traditional twist. I’d say to stay away from any of the turkey sausages – they just aren’t great in this soup or in many long cooked recipes.
In the past, I’ve usually made Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup on the stove top in my big Dutch oven, and sometimes I made it in the slow cooker (I think it’s best on high for 3 to 4 hours but if you’re working all day, it’s still ok done on low for 8 or so.) It wasn’t long, though, before the Instant Pot got involved! Just a few hints for when you’re making Smoked Sausage & Cabbage Soup in the slow cooker or Instant Pot: follow the instructions for the slicing as closely as possible so everything cooks up just right. If the sausage is too thin, the texture will suffer and if the potatoes are too small, they won’t stand up to either the pressure cooking or the long cooking time in the slow cooker.
Saving Money on Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup:
I have just a few shopping tips: Look for any Smoked Sausage on sale and use coupons. You can pick it up for a song, so follow the coupon matching site for your store. Smoked Sausage can stay in the fridge for weeks, freezes well and doesn’t take a lot of room. Stock up, particularly in the fall when it’s usually at a low.
The rest of the ingredients are generally always inexpensive. Check Aldi for the best prices if you have one nearby, on the potatoes and carrots. I’ve noticed that sometimes Aldi doesn’t carry cabbage. If you don’t buy at Aldi, generally the larger packages of carrots and potatoes are cheaper. I tend to use any of the oddly shaped ones in things like soup and save the larger, more uniform ones for a side or if potatoes, for baking. Watch the prices on cabbage, by the way, and whether or not the pricing is per head or per pound. If your not careful, you can end up with a pricey head of cabbage.
Serve your Smoked Sausage and Cabbage Soup with a good hearty bread, and if you like the dark bread like pumpernickel or rye, you can’t go wrong with either. I like to make my easy, overnight Crusty Bread when I serve soup.
Smoked Sausage & Cabbage Soup
Smoked Sausage & Cabbage Soup - Stove-Top
- 1 package of kielbasa, Polish sausage, or smoked sausage of choice, sliced on the diagonal about 3/8ths inch thick
- 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil, divided
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon celery or caraway seeds or 1/2 teaspoon each
- 6 to 7 cups chicken broth
- 2 stalks celery, sliced about 3/8ths inch thick
- 3 large carrots, peeled & chopped in smallish dice
- 1 small or 1/2 head of large cabbage, coarsely chopped
- 4 medium red potatoes, peeled & cubed into 1″ pieces
- 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of salt to taste; don’t skimp
- 1/2 teaspoon or more of pepper or a combination of black and white pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons white or cider vinegar, more to taste
- Parsley for garnish, optional
In a large Dutch oven, add 1 tablespoon oil and heat to medium-high. Add smoked sausage and cook until golden brown, stirring as needed. Remove and add the onion, using an additional tablespoon oil if needed. Saute until tender. Add garlic and caraway or celery seed and cook for a minute longer, until garlic becomes fragrant.
Add the chicken broth, first about a cup or so and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze, then add the remainder. If you’d like your soup thick, hold back a cup until soup is finished and add it at the end if you’d like. Add the sausage back in along with celery, carrots, cabbage and potatoes, salt and pepper. Give it a stir.
Bring to a boil, then cover partially with a lid and reduce to a brisk simmer. Continue to simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender and soup is done to your liking.
Add vinegar, then taste and add more salt, pepper, and/or more vinegar if desired. Sprinkle with parsley if using.
Smoked Sausage & Cabbage Soup - Instant Pot
- 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
- 1 package of kielbasa, Polish sausage, or smoked sausage of choice, sliced on the diagonal about 3/8ths inch thick
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon celery or caraway seeds or 1/2 teaspoon each
- 6 to 7 cups chicken broth, divided
- 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of salt to taste; don’t skimp
- 1/2 teaspoon or more of pepper or a combination of black and white pepper
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 large carrots, peeled & chopped in smallish dice
- 2 stalks celery, sliced about 3/8ths inch thick
- 1 small or 1/2 head of cabbage, coarsely chopped
- 4 medium red potatoes, peeled & cubed into 1″ pieces
- 1 1/2 tablespoons white or cider vinegar, more to taste
- Parsley for garnish, optional
Add 1 tablespoon oil to Instant Pot and Heat Instant Pot on Saute, High. When hot, add smoked sausage and cook until golden brown, stirring as needed. Add garlic and caraway or celery seed and cook for a minute longer, until garlic becomes fragrant.
Add about a cup of the chicken broth and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze. Add onion, carrots, celery, and the remainder of the stock (hold back on a cup of the stock if you’d like a thick soup, then add at the end if you’d like) and salt & pepper to taste and stir.
Add cabbage and then potatoes, but don’t stir. Sprinkle the vinegar over the potatoes and a little bit more salt if you’d like.
Add ring to the lid and seal the pot. Cancel the Saute Function and set Instant Pot to Manual Pressure, 4 minutes. When finished, use Quick Release (it will take several minutes.)
Stir, taste and adjust any seasonings, add more vinegar, salt or pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley if using.
Note: this soup goes very fast if you chop as you go; start with the sausage, get it going and then continue. The pot will already be hot when it is sealed so it won’t take very long to come up to pressure.
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I’ll be linking up this week at Fiesta Friday #209, hosted this week by Monika @ Everyday Healthy Recipes and Laurena @ Life Diet Health.
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