7-Day Cabbage Soup Diet for Weight Loss

By
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.
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Updated on 09/8/24
Tested by
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Tested by Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 60 mins
Total: 80 mins
Servings: 7 servings

The cabbage soup diet is often used to jump-start a long-term diet plan. It was one of the original "soup diets" that became popular in the 1980s, and if you're going to diet, you might as well have a delicious recipe. This basic cabbage soup is an excellent choice and can be made with beans, ground meat, or chicken if you're not dieting. Cook the soup on the stovetop for about an hour or combine everything in the slow cooker and cook all day on low.

Two bowls of cabbage soup, garnished with parsley

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

The diet plan centers around the cabbage soup, which is eaten throughout the week. In addition, it begins with a few days of fruit and vegetables and with little or no protein. Then, bananas and skim milk are added. Later in the week, beef or chicken and rice are added along with the soup.

By consuming low-calorie and low-fat foods, the diet burns fat fairly quickly. It's not recommended as a long-term diet but as a means to get you started. How much weight you lose will depend on your metabolism. If you have any special health concerns or dietary restrictions or issues, you should speak to your health care professional before starting any diet, including this one.

How Does the Cabbage Soup Diet Help You Lose Weight?

In general, soup diets focus on reducing calories and fat for several days. This can lead to quick weight loss and shedding a few pounds, helping some people stay motivated to eat healthier as they move on to a long-term diet. The cabbage soup provides many essential nutrients, and it can increase satiety, helping you feel fuller, so you eat less.2 However, diets like this should only be temporary because they do not include all food groups and can lead to nutrient deficiencies.3

Tip for Making Cabbage Soup Recipe

The recipe calls for curry powder "to taste," but if you're not familiar with cooking with curry powder, you might not know what sort of quantity to start with. If you're unsure, try 1/2 teaspoon initially, and add more later, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, if it needs it. 

"While I can't comment on how effective this soup is at producing weight loss, it is certainly a delicious and satisfying soup. If you were skeptical of soup made from canned vegetable juice, rest assured that vegetable juice is basically tomato soup anyway, so you’re just adding cabbage, celery, and the rest of the ingredients." —Danilo Alfaro

1-Week Cabbage Soup Diet recipe in a bowl
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Ingredients

  • 6 large scallions, sliced

  • 2 green bell peppers, chopped

  • 1 or 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes

  • 1 bunch celery, sliced

  • 1/2 head cabbage, chopped

  • 1 package dry onion soup mix (such as Lipton)

  • 1 or 2 cubes bouillon, optional

  • 1 (48-ounce) can tomato-based vegetable juice (or 6 cups water)

  • Kosher salt, to taste

  • Curry powder, to taste

  • Freshly ground black pepper, optional for seasoning

  • Parsley, optional for seasoning

  • Garlic powder, optional for seasoning

  • Paprika, optional for seasoning

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients to make one week cabbage soup diet soup

    The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

  2. Add 6 large scallions (sliced), 2 green bell peppers (chopped), 1 or 2 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, 1 bunch celery (sliced), 1/2 head cabbage (chopped), 1 package dry onion soup mix, and 1 or 2 cubes bouillon, if using, and 1 (48-ounce) can tomato-based vegetable juice to a soup pot or slow cooker. 

    A large pot with scallions, bell peppers, tomatoes, celery, cabbage, onion soup mix, bouillon and tomato-based vegetable juice

    The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

  3. Cover and cook on low in a soup pot on the stove for 1 hour or in a slow cooker for 5 hours.

    A large pot of simmering cabbage soup

    The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

  4. Add kosher salt, curry powder, freshly ground black pepper, parsley, garlic powder, or paprika, if using, and continue cooking for a few minutes on the stovetop or 1 to 2 hours more in a slow cooker. 

    A large pot of cabbage soup, topped with curry powder and pepper

    The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

  5. Eat all the soup you want. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.

    A bowl of one week cabbage soup diet soup, garnished with parsley

    The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

Feeling Adventurous? Try This:

To embellish this basic recipe, try adding an extra ingredient or two (diet permitting), such as:

  • Add protein - 1 pound browned ground beef or ground turkey. If you have leftover diced ham or corned beef, add that as well.
  • Add more veggies - Zucchini. summer squash, 1 cup chopped fresh spinach or kale, or 1/2 cup diced or thinly sliced carrots.
  • Add beans - 1 can drained Great Northern, navy, red, pinto, or black beans.
  • No bouillon, no problem - 1 can condensed (or double-strength) beef broth or condensed French onion soup instead of bouillon.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
83 Calories
1g Fat
18g Carbs
4g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 7
Amount per serving
Calories 83
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 1g 1%
Saturated Fat 0g 1%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 727mg 32%
Total Carbohydrate 18g 7%
Dietary Fiber 6g 22%
Total Sugars 8g
Protein 4g
Vitamin C 86mg 428%
Calcium 130mg 10%
Iron 2mg 9%
Potassium 696mg 15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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Article Sources
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  1. Navaro DA, Raz O, Gabriel S, Shriqui VK, Gonen E, Boaz M. Functional foods in fad diets: a review. Functional Foods in Health and Disease. 2017;7(9):702-715. doi:10.31989/ffhd.v7i9.346