Simple ingredients create a hearty Cabbage Bean Soup. Cooked on the stovetop in a Dutch oven or soup pot, this White Bean Cabbage Soup with Potatoes is a steamy one-pot recipe that will serve up cozy during the coldest months of the year. Get dinner on the table quickly with a simmer time of just 20 minutes, or cook up to 40 minutes for a softer, creamier texture. This recipe is vegetarian or vegan and easily gluten free.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: “I made this last night and was shocked at how flavourful and delicious it was. I used a can of mixed beans, Better Than Bouillion, and a tsp of thyme because that was what I had on hand. The simple, inexpensive ingredients and heartiness ticked all the boxes for me, so this will now become my go to comfort soup.” ~ Suzanne
White Bean and Cabbage Soup Comfort Food
It’s chilly outside, and the rain and wind has returned here in the Pacific Northwest. Comfort food like this Cabbage Bean Soup has entered our weekly rotation again.
I find soups and stews one of the simplest ways to deliver comfort during the chilliest seasons. Especially when there’s potatoes involved! Easy, too in that this cabbage bean soup comes together in one pot. With some cooking time flexibility, you can get dinner on the table quickly, or linger in the kitchen a little longer.
This Soup Is
- filling and hearty
- easy to make in one pot
- sooooo comforting
You’ll enjoy this simple yet flavorful soup if you love cozy homemade soup recipes.
About the Key Ingredients
- Leeks – with a similar but less bold flavor of onion, they provide texture and a bit of a sweet flavor in this soup. Slice lengthwise, then fan out under running water to rid any dirt. Cut off and discard the tough green top.
- Cabbage – use savoy or green cabbage. While I prefer green, either will work. Green tends to stand up more to longer cooking time, producing a more texture-rich soup, while tender savoy tends to cook down more. Pictured is green cabbage. See the recipe video for this soup made with savoy cabbage on the recipe card.
- Potatoes – use russet or yellow finn potatoes, leaving the skin on for nutrition and texture. The longer the soup cooks, the more the potatoes will cook down into the soup. If you prefer fork-tender potatoes, cook them for a shorter amount of time. Longer for a more creamy texture.
- Cooked White Beans – cannellini beans are also called white kidney beans. They have a mild, slightly nutty flavor and creamy texture. You can use canned or home cooked.
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How to Make Cabbage Bean Soup with Potatoes
step by step
The longer the soup cooks, the softer the potatoes get, creating an even creamier white bean cabbage soup.
What to Serve with Soup
White bean and cabbage soup is hearty enough on its own, but to round out the meal, share it with a big seasonal salad and crusty bread for dunking. Here are a few ideas:
- Apple Beet Salad
- Rustic Sourdough Bread
- Vegetarian Caesar Salad
Traci’s Tips
- Soup Pot: beautiful, functional, and durable my favorite Dutch oven cooks soup recipes and so much more. I love the 4-quart size, perfect for beans, stews, soups, and fried rice. It lives on my stovetop.
- Vegetarian or Vegan Cabbage Soup: this recipe is flexible. Use dairy butter, plant butter, olive oil, or a combination. I prefer the richness that unsalted dairy butter adds to this soup. For a dairy free or vegan soup, use olive oil or plant butter. If using salted plant butter, omit the salt in the recipe due to the salt content already in the butter and adjust the salt to taste near the end of cooking.
Hearty White Bean and Cabbage Soup with Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, *see note
- 5 cups (345 grams) Leeks, sliced thin, about two large leeks
- 8 cups (440 grams) Green or Savoy Cabbage, cut into bite size pieces or thinly sliced** (see note)
- 2 cups (285 grams) Russet or Yellow Finn Potatoes , skins on, cut into small cubes, about two small potatoes
- 8 cups (1.7 kilograms) Vegetable Broth, I use low sodium, ***see note
- 4 Fat Cloves of Garlic, minced, add up to 6 cloves for more garlicy flavor.
- 1/2 teaspoons Fine Sea Salt, + more to taste, reduce to 1/4 tsp if using plant butter and adjust to taste
- 1 3/4 cups (425 grams) Cooked Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed
- 4-5 Thyme Springs, tied
- Squeeze of Lemon, to taste
- Shaved Parmesan Cheese, for garnish (optional)
- Fresh Ground Pepper
Instructions
- In a large 4-quart (3.8 liters) Dutch Oven or stock-pot, add the olive oil (or butter and melt) and heat until shimmering. Add the leeks and cook, stirring frequently on medium-low until they're soft with a bit of golden color, about 10 minutes. Watch them close, as they can burn easily.
- Add the cabbage to the leeks. Cook on medium low stirring occasionally to cook down, about 9-10 minutes (the pot will be full).
- Add garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, broth, potatoes and thyme bundle. Bring to a simmer, then cook on a low simmer for about 20 minutes for a fork tender potato (this will vary depending on type of potato and size of cut, so test to taste), or 40 minutes to let the potatoes soften further (this time is flexible – cooking the potatoes longer will allow them to be more creamy and melt into the soup – yum!)
- Remove the thyme bundle, stir in the beans and a good squeeze of lemon (it brightens the soup). Warm through, about five minutes. Taste to adjust salt and pepper seasoning as needed. Due to variations in salt content in vegetable broth, add salt to taste. I'm pretty generous with it in this recipe (beyond the 1/2 teaspoon). If the soup tastes bland to you, it needs more salt. Garnish with shaved parmesan and fresh thyme leaves if desired.
- Store in a lidded container in the refrigerator for up to three days. This soup is freezer friendly. Freeze in individual containers for lunch portion servings or a larger family size container. Thaw overnight in the fridge and gently rewarm on the stovetop.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
Made it? Leave a comment below!
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Delicious but added carrots.
Hiii Tracey! Love the carrot addition – thank you for sharing 😄
Delicious! I made as written except I used dried thyme instead of fresh thyme. Easy and quick. Will be part of the soups I make throughout fall and winter.
Do you can this. Or has anyone tried canning it?
Hi Tracey… I’ve never canned this soup.
I love making soup! Our church has Friday night soup suppers during Lent. At least over 120 people, from elders to toddlers.So each week we need three “soupers” After building up a colllection of meat-free soups this is going on my list. Oh! And I’ll be saving this for the week of St. Patrick’s Day.
Thank you for all the recipes you create and that I’ve saved through the years. You are my go-to when entertaining vegetarian friends….or when I really, really want to have a smashed chickpea sandwich.
With smile on my face writing this,Loretta
Hii Hi Lucida! Hooray! What a delicious way to gather. Thank you for allowing V&B to be a part of it and sending a smile!
Will you share your other favorite meat-free soups with me?
Sadly this was not one of my favorite recipes on this site although many have been such as the smashed chickpea salad sandwiches and some others. I love every ingredient used but they did not work well together. Perhaps if it had called for onion instead of garlic. I don’t know. Followed the recipe exactly and I have a vat of soup that I will eat because I don’t like to waste food but will not enjoy.
Hi Denise! I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work for you. Thank you for giving it a try and letting me know.
Hi Denise,
I can’t imagine eating a soup that you dislike for the sake of saving some inexpensive potatoes and cabbage! The leek are expensive, however, and one does hate to use them and then not eat them. But really, don’t punish yourself.
I plan to make this recipe today, Jan 7th, 2026, and incorporate some ingredients to spice it up to make sure it isn’t just a hot bowl of bland potatoes and cabbage in broth. I’m Italian, not Irish! We savor spices in our food, although I do apprecciate subtelty in a dish, but I agree that this recipe may need a boost. I will try incorporating an Itlaian Soffritto, a dried seasoning blend of garlic, onions, crushed chile peppers, regular red peppers, rosemary, parsley, tomato flakes, sea salt and pepper. It’s delicious especially in soups and stews. Available at Trader Joes. I will report back to the blog and let everyone know how it turns out. Happy New Year, everyone!
Loved it! I added some carrot and parsnip just because I really wanted to lean into the fall hearty soup feel! Probably used 6 cloves of garlic and added a healthy amount of lemon juice to my bowl. Ate it with half of a toasted everything bagel—the caraway and other seasonings were a perfect pairing with the cabbage, leeks and potatoes!! Your recipes never disappoint, Traci!
Hi Maureen! Hooray for a tasty soup… I’m all in on the 6 cloves of garlic. I often add more too! The everything bagel is a perfect pairing. Thank you for your note and star rating!
This soup was very good. It was very easy to make and my friends loved it. We had this while we waited out Hurricaine Hilary. Perfect for a cold rainy day.
Hi Linda… I was with SOCAL in heart… I hope y’all are safe. Thank you for your note, five star review and giving the soup a go! A perfect soup to bring comfort.
For both salad and soup! So good as is. So easy to tweek. I like to keep baggies of chopped salad goodies in fridge to top, the best looking greens at the ‘farmers market’.I have given up on grocery store produce! Always have nuts and dried fruits, too. I make vegan salad dressings or, just lemon juice&evoo. I do freeze leftover soup. When cooking a steak , chop
ham steak with a bone, I save the bone and some of the au jus for soup starters. The ham steak bones are great for a pot of beans. If I have a little leftover cooked meat or veggies I just add to the warming leftover soup. The posibilites are endless!! Thanx Traci! Happy Healthy Holidaze!raf
Traci, this is fabulous !! I enjoyed this several days. Until it was all gone! Love the flexibility of your recipes! I used butter, green cabbage and the yellow potatoes. Still loving the “better than boulion” vegetable broth that you taught me about. The thyme really sets this off as well! Another “keeper” recipe from you! Everything you make looks (and is) sooooo good!! Thank you again for sharing!!
Hiii Laura! SO happy to hear you’re enjoying the blog and this soup (a personal favorite). That BTB really helps make it super tasty… ah, and the thyme is so lovely. I truly appreciate your feedback and giving so many V&B recipes a go!
Always love a cabbage recipe and this one turned out very good. I used partially cooked dried beans and added them early with an extra cup because they were there HAA. Served with sourdough bread. I will freeze individual servings which will be perfect after a morning of birding in the snow.
Hiii Carolyn! Thank you for your note and giving the recipe a go. Birding in the snow, then coming home to hot cabbage soup sounds like a day well spent!
Thank you so much for the soup recipe! I have lots of Swanson low sodium chicken broth, so I used that instead although your Better Than Bouillon looks so much better. I halved the recipe. I added Litehouse freeze-dried thyme instead of a thyme bundle. It turned out nice & tasty still, even though it looks nothing like your photo! My picky mom even liked it! I’ll definitely be making this soup again. It was my first time cooking leeks and possibly eating leeks.
Hooray for leeks, Angel Lisa! Thank you for your note and giving the soup a go (it’s a favorite around here!). And that your mom enjoyed it too, it’s a win-win!