Cabbage Tomato Soup

Seven ingredients, one pot, one hour. This is the kind of brothy cabbage soup that earned its reputation as a fridge-clearing weeknight bowl long before it got rebranded as a diet recipe. Cabbage and tomato juice are the workhorses; everything else is supporting cast.

Shred the cabbage thin so it cooks down evenly across the full hour. Coarse chunks stay tough and crunchy. Sliced carrots and a diced onion go in raw with the rest; there’s no saute step here. The cabbage releases enough natural sweetness as it softens to balance the acidic tomato juice without adding sugar.

Six bouillon cubes runs heavy on the salt side, so consider knocking it back to four if you’re sodium-conscious. The bay leaf does quiet aromatic work in the background. Pull it before serving.

Kitchen Tips

• Use V8 or a higher-quality tomato juice for fuller flavor than basic store brands
• Taste before adding salt at the end; the bouillon may have it covered already
• Add a splash of cider vinegar at the table for brightness, especially on day two
• This freezes well; portion into containers and pull a bowl whenever you need a quick meal

Variations

• Stir in a can of white beans for protein and body
• Brown a half pound of ground beef and add at the start for a heartier pot
• Sub low-sodium vegetable broth for the bouillon and water for a vegetarian version