Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe with Protein Added (2024)

When you want to eat a ton of food without a ton of calories, you need this cabbage soup diet recipe. This is a modified cabbage soup diet recipe, based on the original Cabbage Soup Diet recipe. You’ll love this cabbage soup diet recipe with protein added from lean beef and bone broth. It’s delicious, under 500 calories, and SO FILLING!

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Have you heard of the Cabbage Soup Diet plan (AKA Weight Loss Wonder Soup)? (This one’s an old one.)

On this diet, a person mostly eats a special cabbage soup recipe to aid in weight loss. This is meant to be a temporary eating plan, not a strategy for long-term weight loss.

I’ve seen several versions of the “original” weight loss cabbage soup recipe online. Something that they all share in common is that they are packed with non-starchy veggies and not much else. They are kind of like the soup version of a dressing-free, minimal protein salad.

And just like if you were eating a dry salad, the soup is lacking in certain essential nutrients and is (IMHO) pretty boring. Eating the original cabbage soup is about as close as you can get to consuming no calories while still consuming food. (Remember that though foods like celery are very low-calorie, they are not zero calorie foods.)

I first found the diet cabbage soup recipe around St. Patrick’s Day when I had cabbage on the brain. In my search for cabbage recipes, I came across this Food.com version of the “original” cabbage soup.

Instead of practically living on that soup as a temporary diet, likely resulting in temporary weight loss, why not try my recipe revamp?

The changes I made turns the original into a full meal. Your family won’t know this started as a “diet soup” recipe.

🍲 What is the Cabbage Soup Diet?

So, you might be wondering when the Cabbage Soup Diet started. Where did it come from?

Here’s the interesting thing... no one seems to know for sure.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics claims the Cabbage Soup Diet started in the 1950s. However, other sources claim that it’s based on Doughboy Cabbage Soup, a dish used in World War I when few vegetables were available.

The Cabbage Soup Diet became popular in the 1980s, when it was incorporated into the General Motors Diet plan (GM Diet). Most of the information you can currently find on the one week Cabbage Soup Diet lives on blogs. On many sites, the “7-Day Cabbage Soup Diet” is actually a just a variation of the GM Diet that includes low protein cabbage soup (AKA GM Diet Soup).

So, what do you eat each day on the Cabbage Soup Diet? Here’s a typical 7-day cabbage soup diet chart. (Note that there is some variation on these diet rules between sources.)

I don’t recommend doing the cabbage soup diet for 2 weeks. I actually don’t recommend this diet at all; it’s unnecessarily restrictive and may put you at risk for deficiencies if used long-term. Why not use the soup recipe for a single meal rather than as part of the Cabbage Soup 7-day plan?

🥄 How are the Cabbage Soup Diet results?

You can find claims online that the Cabbage Soup Diet can help you lose up to 10 lbs (or even 15 lbs) in a week. Unfortunately, most of this quick weight loss is likely to be water weight.

Hot tip! The general recommendation for safe weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week.

Since it’s a short-term diet, you won’t see long-term benefits to your cholesterol, blood pressure, or heart health. Also, you are likely to regain any weight you lose on the diet after you go off the diet. (Unless you adopt some new healthy lifestyle changes, that is.)

Most health professionals would consider the cabbage soup diet to be a rigid fad diet. The diet is too low in protein and calories for most people. It's also low in carbs, though low carb diets work well as a weight loss strategy for some.

In summary, I don’t recommend using this diet without medical supervision. This is especially true if you have a medical condition (such as diabetes) that is influenced by diet changes. Your health team may have better (i.e., longer lasting and more sustainable) suggestions to lose weight.

⭐ Why This is the Best Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe

I switched up the original diet cabbage soup recipe to turn it into a complete and filling meal. Here are some nutritional benefits of cabbage diet soup (this version, anyway):

• Protein: Unlike most cabbage soup diet recipes, this is a cabbage soup diet with meat. You’re getting enough high-quality protein here to make this a one-pot meal.
• Vegetable-packed: Even if your goal isn’t weight loss, this is an excellent recipe that helps you eat more veggies. There are soooo many vegetables here. So many that even my Dutch oven could not contain them. Haha
• Fluid volume: Water and other drinks aren’t the only contributors to your hydration. The fluid-filled veggies and broth base in this soup may help as well. In addition, the fluid provides a weighty meal that can help keep you full.
• High fiber: This heart-healthy soup is low fat and high in fiber. You get 13.3 grams of fiber per serving of soup.
• Essential nutrients: This cabbage soup is also an excellent source of many essential vitamins and minerals. This includes potassium, iron, provitamin A, and vitamin C. The tomatoes are rich in beneficial but non-essential lycopene.
• Special diets: The combination of non-starchy veggies and lean protein in this soup is compatible with a variety of special diets. This includes some low carb and Paleo diets, whole30, low calorie, and Weight Watchers.
• Delicious: Many versions of the cabbage soup diet are pretty bland. I flavored this one up with a savory bone broth, herbs, and some balsamic vinegar to make it tasty.

🥘 Cabbage Soup Diet Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make the cabbage soup diet recipe:

• Lean ground beef
• Shredded cabbage
• Chopped onions
• Diced bell peppers
• Chopped celery
• Sliced scallions
• Beef bone broth (homemade bone broth or from a store)
• Balsamic vinegar
• Canned chopped tomatoes
• Finely chopped garlic
• Fresh lemon juice
• Dried thyme
• Dried basil
• Tomato paste (double-concentrated)
• Cilantro or parsley, chopped

See Also

Herbal Root Beer Kombucha RecipeGerman Sauerkraut Recipe | Homemade From Scratch! - ElaveganBest Keto Recipes: 25 of the Highest Rated Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and DinnerWeight Loss After 40: Weight Loss Tips, Recipes, and Workouts!

Quantities of all ingredients are listed in the recipe card at the end of the article!

As mentioned above, one of the most significant changes I made to the original cabbage soup is that I added more protein! The bone broth here and lean beef add flavor as well as protein to help you feel satiated. This cabbage soup just got an upgrade from a side dish or snack to a full entrée.

Using some flavorful bone broth allowed me to nix the ultra-processed foods in the original recipe. The balsamic vinegar also adds deliciousness to the soup’s broth. So goodbye, powdered onion soup mix and chicken bouillon cubes, there is no need for you here.

There is also no need to purchase special Cabbage Soup Diet spice blends like you’ll find for sale on the web. Regular dried herbs will work just fine.

Another change I made was to adjust the vegetables to improve the flavor. I love onions, but six seemed like a lot to put in a soup (other than a French onion soup).

🍽 Equipment

All you need to make this cabbage soup are a good knife and a large stockpot. I have a stock pot that I pretty much only use for the occasional crab boil. The pot has finally found an additional purpose here.

This recipe makes quite a lot of soup! I quickly learned that my sizeable Dutch oven was not going to be sufficient to hold all of this veggie goodness. I told you that you are getting a ton of food with this recipe, and I was not kidding!

🔪 How to Make Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe with Protein Added

To make this cabbage soup diet recipe, begin by prepping your veggies. Roughly chop the cabbage into small slices or shreds about ¼-inch (0.6 cm) thick. Cut the onions, bell peppers, and celery into ½-inch dice (1.27 cm).

Slice the scallions and mince the garlic. Now you’re ready to cook!

Brown the ground beef in the stockpot over medium heat on the stovetop. Break it up with a spatula as it cooks. It will take about 10 minutes to brown.

Put all of the ingredients into the stockpot with the cooked ground beef, except the parsley or cilantro. Give it a stir. Let the soup come to a simmer over medium heat with the lid off.

Allow the soup to simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. Turn the heat down to medium-low for the final 30 minutes of cooking. Some recipes only have you cook the soup for 15 minutes, but I find this leaves the cabbage too tough.

After the soup is cooked and all the veggies are tender, ladle it into bowls. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or cilantro, and enjoy.

You can also cook this cabbage soup diet recipe in a slow cooker. Put it in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours if you don’t want to use the stove.

🌡️ Leftovers

This cabbage diet soup with protein can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. It also freezes very well. The soup mellows out a lot with freezing, so you may want to add more vinegar after it thaws.

Reheat individual servings of soup in a microwave safe bowl on high for 5-6 minutes. Keep the bowl covered with a paper towel and stir it halfway through heating time. You can add more beef broth if the soup is getting dried out.

📋 Calories, Net Carbs, Protein

One serving of cabbage soup diet with added protein has 401 calories, 37.3 grams net carbs, and 32.5 grams protein. This recipe has too many net carbohydrates for keto (unless you decrease the portion size).

You can make this recipe low in added sodium by using no added salt tomatoes and homemade broth. Also (of course) don’t add salt! Canned soups and broth from the store are not generally good fits for low sodium diets (unless labeled low sodium).

Does cabbage have protein? Most foods have some protein, including cabbage, but that doesn’t mean they all count as protein group foods. Per Cronometer, cabbage only has 1 gram of protein per 1 cup chopped. Cabbage is not a significant source of protein.

FAQs

Can you lose weight by just eating cabbage soup?

How does the cabbage soup diet help you lose weight? The cabbage soup diet works the way most other weight loss diets work. The diet keeps you in a calorie deficit that leads to weight loss. Yes, you can lose weight by just eating low calorie cabbage soup, but is that a realistic long-term strategy? (Nope!)

Can you do the cabbage soup diet for 5 days?

Yes, but your time may be better spent working on adopting healthy lifestyle changes that you maintain long-term. If you are on a medical nutrition therapy (such as for diabetes), consult your physician before making major dietary changes.

What does the cabbage soup diet do to your body?

You may lose water weight quickly on the cabbage soup diet, which can lead to a lower number on the scale. However, you may also experience fatigue or dizziness from undereating. Some sources say flatulence is a common side effect of this diet.

What do you eat for breakfast on the cabbage soup diet?

Can you eat eggs on the Cabbage Soup Diet? Some sources allow additional sources of protein aside from occasional beef and dairy on the cabbage soup diet. In general, the rules for breakfast are that you can have cabbage soup and whatever other foods that are allowed that day.

How to make keto cabbage soup vegetarian?

You can make this a vegetarian keto cabbage soup! Use low carb legumes in place of the beef, and veggie broth in place of the bone broth. Tofu, tempeh, or black soy beans are some options for keto legumes. Keep in mind that these changes will alter the nutrition information for the recipe.

👩🏻‍🍳 Other Low Calorie Soup Recipes for Weight Loss

If you dig soups, check out my other low-calorie soup recipes, such as the Fat Flush soup recipe. Mixing things up can help you keep your healthy diet from feeling boring! Here are a few more ideas:

• Air Fryer Soup (black bean)
• Instant Pot Italian Sausage Soup
• Chicken Feet Soup

Broth-based soups can be a fantastic option for fat burning, but many other foods are great as well. I have a whole section of low-calorie, tasty, and satisfying recipes over in my Recipe Finder that may interest you. If you prefer to focus on reducing carbs rather than calories, I have a low-carb section as well.

📖 Recipe Card

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