Another head of cabbage, another cabbage soup. If you’re wondering about the name… well, we figured we would just start numbering them at this point. You may be thinking to yourself, “do they know how to make anything else with cabbage besides soup?” The answer is yes, we’ll have some of those listed at the bottom 😀 However, not today friends. Today we have Cabbage Soup #3 and this one features a savory, soul-warming flavor and it might just be our favorite.
Will we make other cabbage soups? Only time will tell. Our inspiration oftentimes comes from what we see in our kitchen and pantry and this one falls right in line. Cabbage Soup #3 is a little more colorful because our head of cabbage was purple this time. Feel free to use green if you choose – again, availability. This one is unique in a lot of ways so let’s show you how we did it.
Preparation: Cabbage Soup #3
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There is a little bit of prep in this one so pour a glass of wine, put some music on, and enjoy the process. It’s not overly painstaking but prepping out front always makes life easier. Prep according to the recipe card below.
We’ll break this up into 4 steps: browning the pork shoulder, cooking the bacon, making the base, and assembling the soup.
Browning the Pork Shoulder
Pat the pork shoulder dry with a paper towel. Cut into approximately 1″ chunks. Toss with some oil and coat generously with salt and pepper. Using the saute function on the Instant Pot (affiliate link) brown the pork shoulder chunks, working in batches (don’t crowd the pot and see recipe notes). This step may take up to 20 minutes depending on how many batches it takes. Remove the pork shoulder chunks and set aside on a plate as they brown.
Cook the Bacon
You can probably already tell a lot of flavor is going to stay in this pot. This will make the broth rich and savory which will really flavor the cabbage.
Cook the chopped bacon, stirring or tossing occasionally, approximately 10 minutes. Remove to a paper towel lined plate or bowl. Drain most of the grease up to a couple tablespoons needed to cook the soup base.
Make the Soup Base
Saute the onion and carrot mixture, stirring occasionally, for 8 – 10 minutes. Feel free to add celery for a true mirepoix. Add in the garlic and shallot and cook for another 2 – 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, and until fragrant. Note: you can help deglaze in this step as the vegetables release water by scraping as you stir. Nobody likes the dreaded “Burn” notice that any Instant Pot (affiliate link) veteran has undoubtedly encountered at some point.
Assemble the Soup
Deglaze the pot with a small amount of stock, scraping any bits stuck at the bottom (as mentioned, we don’t want that dreaded burn notice!). Hit cancel and remove from saute mode.
Add back the meat items plus the remaining ingredients. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Natural release for another 10 minutes (We don’t want the cabbage to turn into mush!). Quick release the remaining pressure. When the pressure is gone open the top and allow to cool for several minutes.
Ladle into bowls and serve. Bon Appetit! This one has flavor written all over it.
Equipment: Cabbage Soup #3
You can certainly read about our affinity for the Instant Pot here. It really is a time saver for all kinds of meals. We definitely love it for soups, especially on a weeknight. The one we use is below. There are certainly many other models to choose from but this is a good place to start. Well worth it in our opinion (affiliate link below)!
If you liked that, try this…
- Instant Pot Cabbage and White Bean Soup
- Instant Pot Cabbage and Vegetable Detox Soup
- Corned Beef and Cabbage
- Cajun 16-Bean Soup with Eckrich Polska Kielbasa
- Ham and White Bean Soup
- Rotkohl (Braised German Red Cabbage) – for those cabbage lovers seeking a non-soup recipe idea
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Cabbage Soup #3 (with Pork Shoulder and Bacon)
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
The Pork Shoulder
- 1 Pork Shoulder, bone-in or boneless, cubed Ours was bone-in so we threw the bone in the soup. It was 1.8 lbs. including the bone.
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
The Bacon
- 1 lb. Bacon, chopped
The Soup Base
- 1 Sweet Onion, diced
- 2 – 3 Carrots, Diced We used a couple dozen baby carrots that needed using
- 3 – 4 cloves Garlic, diced
- 1 small Shallot, diced
The Soup
- 8 – 10 cups Vegetable Stock We made ours from Better than Bouillon
- 1 cup Fresh Okra, chopped We used 6 whole ones from garden. Frozen would work, too.
- 2 – 3 Bay Leaves
- 8 – 12 Fresh Sage Leaves, stems trimmed, chopped
- 1 tbsp. Dried Rosemary
- 1 head Cabbage, green or purple, chunked
Instructions
Brown the Pork Shoulder
- Pat the pork shoulder dry with a paper towel. Cut into approx. 1" chunks. Toss with some oil and coat generously with salt and pepper. Using the saute function on the Instant Pot (or similar pressure cooker) brown the pork shoulder chunks, working in batches (don't crowd the pot and see notes). This step may take up to 20 minutes depending on how many batches it takes.
- Remove the pork shoulder chunks and set aside on a plate as they brown.
Cook the Bacon
- Cook the chopped bacon, stirring or tossing occasionally, approximately 10 minutes. Remove to a paper towel lined plate or bowl. Drain most of the grease up to a couple tablespoons needed to cook the soup base.
The Soup Base
- Saute the onion and carrot mixture, stirring occasionally, for 8 – 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and shallot and cook for another 2 – 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, and until fragrant. (Note; can help deglaze in this step as the vegetables release water by scraping as you stir)
Assemble the Soup
- Deglaze the pot with a small amount of stock, scraping any bits stuck at the bottom (We don't want that dreaded burn notice!). Hit cancel and remove from saute mode.
- Add back the meat items plus the remaining ingredients. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Natural release for another 10 minutes (We don't want the cabbage to turn into mush!). Quick release the remaining pressure.
- When pressure is gone open the top and allow to cool for several minutes.
- Ladle into bowls and serve.
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