🥬 Cabbage and Sausage Stew: A Hearty, Budget-Friendly Meal
Who doesn’t love a garden-fresh bowl of food when the seasons begin to change? This warm and hearty cabbage stew is packed with vegetables and protein while still being easy on the grocery budget.
The flavors are loosely inspired by the many cabbage soups and stews that have been made across generations. My version adds protein so it eats more like a complete meal than the cabbage soups people often associate with dieting.
I’ve been eating versions of this for breakfast or lunch for years. Sometimes I make it with sausage, and other times I swap in tilapia or chicken. My grandmother ate her own version in the mornings throughout her life. She prepared hers fresh each morning, used hot chilis instead of meat in the soup, and served it with a boiled egg on the side.
Cabbage Stew with Protein
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Start by preparing your protein choices according to package directions and set aside. You will need 2 to 3 pounds of any one of the choices found HERE. Or two cans of beans, drained and rinsed, of your choice. If using fish, make sure you check for bones before cooking and adding in to the pot. Ive even tripled the mushrooms and sautéed them instead of other protein choices. Set cooked and prepared protein choice aside in a covered dish until later.
- In your stock pan spray the bottom with cooking spray or rub with butter or lard and dust with a teaspoon of salt. Sautee onion and celery mixture with 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic until onions begin to caramelize, or turn brown on the edge.
- Add in mushrooms and carrots and continue to Sautee until peppers are desired doneness.
- Add in 1 pints of water, the entire carton of vegetable stock, 5 bay leaves, and two springs of rosemary. (Can substitute thyme for rosemary). Bring to a boil.
- While waiting for pot to come to a boil, wash green onions and cilantro and gently dry them. Gently slice green onions, set aside. Mince Parsley, set aside. These will be used as garnishes later.
- Find and remove bay leaves and rosemary. These are inedible and simply add flavor to the dish. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Wash and chop up entire cabbage into 1-inch cubes, remove inner stem, and Add to the pot. Add enough water to just touch the top of the leveled off cabbage in the pot. Bring back to a boil. Stirring occasionally and gently to prevent burning. Cook for 10+ minutes to soften cabbage.
- Once cabbage is soft and begins to turn slightly translucent, add in one or two 12-ounce bags of frozen vegetables of choice and canned tomatoes, if desired. Bring back to a low boil on medium heat until vegetables are desired doneness. Remember to occasionally stir gently every couple of minutes to prevent burning.
- Add in cooked protein of your choice, incorporating well and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat.
- Serve immediately or portion out into freezer containers and top with green onions, parsley, cheese or other topping of choice such as Furikai, seaweed, tuna flakes, or sunflower seeds! Store remainder in the fridge directly in the pan or divide into freezable lunch containers, top with fresh ingredients, and freeze for quick hot meals later. Enjoy!
Notes
- Feel free to substitute the water or vegetable stock for equal amounts of chicken or beef stock or other broth, stock, or dissolved bullion.
- And feel free to substitute the cooking spray with butter, lard, or coconut oil.
- The plain unseasoned canned tomatoes can be substituted with any flavor of canned tomatoes that appeal to you or even blanched, skinned and crushed fresh tomatoes.
- Consider also topping it with Creme Fresh or fresh parmesano cheese when serving for a bit of extra creaminess. adds calories
A Flexible Pot of Cabbage Stew
One of the things I love about this recipe is how easily it adapts to what I have available.
Sausage makes a rich and hearty version, but I’ve also made it with chicken or tilapia. The vegetables can make this a useful clean-out-the-refrigerator meal, too. A humble head of cabbage can stretch into a surprisingly generous pot of food.
That’s one of the reasons recipes like this have remained practical for generations: inexpensive staple ingredients can become a warm, filling meal for the whole family.
Make It Your Family’s Version
Don’t be afraid to treat this recipe as a starting point.
If your family likes heat, add more chilis. If you prefer a different protein, experiment with chicken or another option that works with the vegetables and broth. You can also adjust the vegetables according to what’s fresh, inexpensive, or already waiting in your refrigerator.
That’s essentially how this became my version in the first place.
The Long History of Cabbage
Cabbage has been feeding people for an extraordinarily long time, appearing in cuisines throughout Europe and eventually becoming a staple ingredient around the world.
I love learning where ordinary foods came from and how generations before us prepared them. The video below takes a look at some of that history and gives this humble bowl of cabbage stew a little historical company.
We are not affiliated with this YouTube channel. We included the video because we thought it was an interesting companion to the history behind this humble ingredient.
A Recipe Worth Keeping in Rotation
Cabbage is inexpensive, keeps remarkably well compared with many fresh vegetables, and can stretch a meal a long way.
For me, though, this isn’t simply a “diet cabbage soup.” It’s a real meal I’ve returned to for years and adapted according to what I have on hand.
There is something satisfying about recipes like that. They’re inexpensive, flexible, filling, and don’t require a special occasion. Sometimes you just need a big warm bowl of food that gets everybody fed.
Recent Grocery Deals
