This traditional Polish Cabbage Soup {Kapusta} recipe is a staple in our home during the cold winter months. Rich in vitamins and full of flavor!
Do you remember the Cabbage Soup Diet fad from the 80’s? Apparently you were suppose to just eat cabbage soup for a week and lose 10 pounds.
If you ask me the best diet is eating a variety of healthy foods. Cabbage soup is certainly a great one to add to that list though. Cabbage is full of antioxidants known to fight breast, colon and prostate cancer and also helps reduce bad cholesterol levels. I’ll take 2 bowls please!
Grammie always had a pot of her Polish Cabbage Soup simmering on the stovetop when I was younger. You definitely knew it as soon as you walked into her house. There’s no mistaking the aroma of Kapusta! (That’s what Grammie always called it.)
She would always tell me how good it was for me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of Kapusta as a child but now that my tastebuds have matured I love it!
Polish Cabbage Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ,1-2 Pound package Country style spare ribs ,excess fat trimmed off.
- 1 ,32 ounce jar Sauerkraut, no sugar added ( We use Claussen.)
- 1 Small head of green cabbage ,shredded
- 1 Bay leaf
- 5-6 Whole peppercorns
- 1 Large Onion ,sliced
- 2 Sticks of celery
- 2 Carrots ,sliced
- 3 Cloves Garlic ,minced
- Salt to taste
- Pinch of red hot pepper flakes ,optional
- 1 ,16 ounce package Kielbasi sliced and quartered (optional)(Use as much or as little as you like)
Instructions
- Fill a large stock pot with about 8-10 cups of water. Bring to a boil and add spareribs. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. If any foam forms on surface, skim it off then add sauerkraut and cook for another 30 minutes.
- Add onion, celery sticks, carrots, garlic, bay leaf, crushed red pepper flakes, peppercorns and shredded cabbage. Cook for another 30 minutes longer.
- Remove ribs at this point and cut meat from the bone. Shred or cut meat into bite sized pieces and put back into soup. Discard bones.
- * If you are using kielbasi, add it in at about the last 5-10 minutes of cooking.
- *Add salt to taste at this point. If you are using the kielbasi it will already add a bit of salt to the soup so taste before you add.
- * If soup taste too sour you may add a pinch of sugar at the end. Sometimes this can vary depending on the type of sauerkraut you purchase.
Nutrition
Polish Cabbage Soup always seems to taste even better the next day. Store any extra in mason jars in your fridge so you can have soup handy all month long while you celebrate National Soup Month!
Here are some more soup recipes for you to keep warm with this winter. Just click the picture for the recipe.
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Sweet and Savoury Sundays
Cooked cabbage is so underrated. This is such a comforting looking bowl of soup.
This sounds like a lovely warming soup. Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!!
Hello! I just made this soup for the first time and it is absolutely delicious! thanks for the recipe!! 🙂 i added fresh parsley at the end mmm mmm mmm
we’re calling it “next level cabbage soup” hahah thanks again!!!
Thanks Carla! I’m so glad you like it and thank you for taking the time to write a comment!
Just fishing up……smells awesome !! I went with andouille and added potatoes. Can’t wait for this to sit overnight. Thank you for sharing……
Great idea Rick! Bet the andouille will give it a nice little kick.
I am interested in making this soup but I want to make sure I am reading this right.
The country pork ribs only cook for an hour. Is that correct? What do you do with them after the soup is done?
Hi Pam. I just updated the recipe for you to include instructions for the ribs. Yes one hours is correct.
I would like clarification on the sauerkraut. Do I add the entire 32 oz jar? Or should I drain and rinse the sauerkraut first?
Hi Mary, You can really do it either way. Mom says she does not drain and rinse hers. The cabbage will add a sweetness to your soup and the sauerkraut will counteract that. So it depends on your taste. If you would like a sweeter soup then you can rinse the sauerkraut we prefer it straight from the jar un-rinsed to add a little tartness.
Do you add ALL the liquid and the contents… OR just the unrinsed sauerkraut?
You can actually do either. My grandmother would make it both ways. By draining the juice from the sauerkraut you will produce a sweeter soup. You can even drain it to a container and add a little bit to your soup and just keep tasting your soup until you have the desired flavor that you want.
one of my favorites. I always make a big batch so I can share it. I also freeze some in serving size containers and found it tastes just as first day I made it. Great to have on hand on a cold winter day. With a nice slice of dark rye or pumpernickel bread . So simple to prepare.
My mother used to make it the way she did in old country,then she passed it down to us.
My mother used make this when I was a small child( I’m 64 now!) Brought back a lot of childhood memories. Have really never seen a recipe for it before……I just remembered the name Kapusta!!!! Thanks for the recipe, will definitely be in my dinner lineup. I used less meat and it still tasted great!!!!
I’m so glad you found this recipe and that it brought you down memory lane! I love how recipes do that which is one of my favorite things about writing this blog. I get to reminisce all the time when I share my grandmother’s recipes.
Great cabbage soup recipe. I made it exactly as published including using the kielbasa except for adding an additional 2 cups of liquid after cooking the cabbage. It was a bit thick, more like a stew. I did keep it in the refrigerator over night to let the flavors meld. I would also suggest that the number of serving be increased from 8. It makes a lot of soup. Get yourself a loaf of unsliced artisan bread for sopping and you will have a great meal for a cold winter night.
This sounds delish my polish grandmother made her’s a little different so I’m anxious to give this a try. I do have a question, do you use fresh or smoked kielbasa?
Thanks Cathy. We’ve always used fully cooked Polish Kielbasa.
Surely one of my favorites! I always make a big pot of it, then separate some into serving containers to freeze for when I crave for a bowl on a cold day or just to have on hand, ( or share a jar with someone) Tastes just like day I made it when I defrost it. Wonderful!
This soup is a big hit in my house. Tasty and filling. I used chicken broth instead of water as a base and left out the hot pepper flakes (only because I don’t like them) but otherwise I followed the recipe as written. Served with pumpernickel bread. Soooo good! I’ll make this one again.
Thanks Karen! So glad it’s a hit in the Mercure houshold! I’m sure the chicken broth only enhances the flavor….great tip. The hot pepper flakes are totally optional…not everyone likes it spicy. Anyone who wants the spice can always add it to their own bowl once it’s served.
Oh how I love this soup. My mom made it so often. We are Lithuanian and don’t know if that’s the slight difference but she always added a large can of tomatoes (if whole just give them a good squeeze) and a good size apple, skin on cored and sliced. Delicious. My son is now working at a pub in Seattle and has become the Soup Maker, I sent the recipe with him and it’s a big hit.
The addition of the canned tomatoes and apple skin sounds amazing! Thanks for adding your version to the recipe! Can’t wait to try it!
I’ve never heard of country-style spareribs. Any meat you can substitute for them?
Hi Miriam…..Country-style ribs are cut from the blade end of the loin close to the pork shoulder. They are meatier than other rib cuts. They contain no rib bones, but instead contain parts of the shoulder blade (scapula). A good substitute would be pork chops. You could use any type of pork rib but maybe cut any excess fat off. Just keep in mind you they may not have as much meat on them. Also you will need to remove any bones after cooking them.
Does this freeze well?
Yes..Mom freezes it all the time.
Hi I just cook Cabbage soup. But I used speck and corinsos souges. But we never used Sauerkraut. Only Savoy Cabbage galig potatoes pepper Olivenöl. No it evening I kook the finish soup tomorrow. Cheers Karl
Don’t use canned sauerkraut many stores have fresh sauerkraut in the refridgerated sectipn, make sure it’s the ral thing no vinegar. Tjis makes a huge differenc in taste. Pretty much any meat works, though smoked meats work best.
Added some diced potato and it was just like babcia (granny) used to make
Thanks.
This sounds delicious ! I am going to brown the meat and try making this in the crockpot.
This looks delicious. I am going to adapt the recipe for the slow cooker.