Strips of cabbage stand in for noodles and chickpeas for chicken in this low-fat, gluten-free vegan cabbage soup that is reminiscent of chicken noodle soup.
One of my daughter E’s favorite soups is a “Chick’n” Noodle Soup that starts with Imagine’s No-Chicken broth and includes, besides pasta, either Soy Curls or another packaged chicken substitute such as Lightlife Smart Strips. It’s one of those dishes that feel comforting on a chilly night or whenever our spirits need a lift, so my family asks for it a lot.
As someone who is trying to cut down on sodium and processed foods, I know in my head that this family favorite isn’t the most nutritious soup in the world, but I’m not immune to its charms. The stuff is addictive! Nevertheless, when I found myself craving it recently, I decided it was time to give it a nutrition-boosting makeover.
My new version uses no broth (the vegetables and seasonings create their own), substitutes chickpeas for “Chick’n,” and replaces the noodles with strips of cabbage. Though E still demands actual pasta in her soup, I found this a satisfying stand-in and almost as comforting as the original at a fraction of the calories.
Best of all, if you’re following Weight Watchers, one bowl is zero points under the Freestyle program (you’d have to eat 2 of them before it counts as 1 point.) And if you follow Eat to Live, this is perfect, except possibly for the salt and miso. But if you’d like to make it heartier, fell free to add pasta, as my daughter does, or potatoes. And extra veggies, such as green beans, can only make it more delicious.
For more cabbage goodness, check out my Vegan Cabbage Rolls, Irish White Bean and Cabbage Stew, and Vegan Chou Farci (Cabbage Stuffed with Barley and Lentils).
Cabbage "Noodle" Soup
Ingredients
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 carrots diced or sliced
- 2 ribs celery leaves included, diced
- 8 cups water
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/8 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1/4 head cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas --or 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas, drained
- generous grating of black pepper
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup parsley chopped
- 2 teaspoons mellow white miso (or 1 tsp. vegetable bouillon)
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat a large, non-stick pot. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook until onions soften. Add the water and all remaining ingredients except nutritional yeast, parsley, and miso. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until vegetables are tender and broth is flavorful (at least 30 minutes).
- Stir in the nutritional yeast and parsley. Place the miso in a small bowl and add some of the hot broth a little at a time, stirring, until the miso is dissolved in the broth. Add the miso broth back to the pot. Add salt to taste and serve.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share:
Inez
Mmmmmm…just figured out what I’m making for dinner tonight! Thanks 🙂
Maria
excellent Susan!
I would add some cooked brown rice maybe for a complete dinner
for three 🙂
julie
how much miso?
belardi
2 tsp?
julie
oh wait never mind I found it the third time I read the recipe. 🙂
SusanV
🙂
Suasn B
Yum- I have all the ingredients! Will make for dinner tonight!!
LC
looks fantastic! quick question: about how many cups would you say 1/4 cabbage is? my Trader Joe’s sells shredded cabbage in bags (not my preference, but for today it’s convenient) and I’m wondering how many to buy… Thanks!
SusanV
To answer your question, I just went in and sliced the 1/4 cabbage I had leftover and not only measured it but weighed it. It came to 4 heaping cups or 10.2 ounces. I know the soup could hold even more, so don’t be afraid to go up a couple of ounces.
Now that I’ve got it sliced, I’m going to make this soup again for lunch! Or maybe I’ll make this one with cabbage instead of kale: https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/11/north-african-chickpea-and-kale-soup.html
Stephanie
This sounds great. I’ll try it this weekend. Thanks as always for great tasting healthy recipes!
Fat Fudge
When I want to add fat free low calorie “noodles” to my soup, I use enoki mushrooms.
efimia moran
How can this recipe be labeled vegan if it has POULTRY SEASONING?
SusanV
Poultry seasoning is a combination of ground thyme, sage, rosemary, and several other completely plant-derived herbs. It is generally used to season poultry, but there is nothing non-vegan about the seasoning itself.
Ulrike Kersten
hi susan,
i don’t have poultry seasoning. can you make a suggestion as to what to replace it with? thank you!
uli
Ulrike Kersten
oops, didn’t see the last poster’s answer. thanks, that will do. sorry.
SusanV
I’m glad you found the answer, Ulrike. Also, if you search for “poultry seasoning” on Google, you can find an exact recipe that you can use.
Kaz
Thank you so much for this…it never occurred to me to google what was in this type of seasoning – i see “Chicken” and ignore it,lol!!
Anyway – i’ve now found a salt-free version and aim to make a batch today. Love it!
Andrea @ Vegvacious
My husband is sick with a bad cold and I’ve been trying to decide what kind of soup to make him that’s warm and comforting and soothing for his throat. This will be perfect!!
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner
I used to not like cabbage, but now I love it! I don’t know what I would do without it! 😀
I love this recipe!!! It looks absolutely delicious! 😀 I can’t wait to try it and all of your other recipes! 😀
xoxo
Kathleen
Valeria
Susan, what a fabulous blog you have! Question: do you think I can substitute red cabbage for green? I’ve never tried it in soups before, but it’s what I have on hand. Thank you!
SusanV
Sure! It’ll taste just the same and have an interesting color.
Grace
Hi Susan,
This recipe is making my mouth water!
Btw, I would like to add the pasta and I was wondering if you added raw or pre-cooked?
Have a great evening.
Grace
SusanV
Thanks, Grace! I usually just add uncooked pasta and cook it along with the soup, but you could also add cooked pasta, if that’s what you have on-hand. Either way, you’ll probably need to add some extra water, so watch it and add some if it seems too thick.
Suzie
Ooh, yummy! What a great alternative to chicken soup – and I bet it does an even better job of curing colds, no matter what my grand-mother says 😉
I’ve added it to my Recipe Box – I LOVE this feature. Thank you so much for making it even easier to use your wonderful recipes, and keep them handily available. You are WONDERFUL!
Leigh
Yum, this recipe looks good. I love cabbage and, from the picture and the ingredients list I think this will be making its way into my kitchen very soon. Could I suggest trying a Spiralizer to make ‘pasta/noodles’ from zucchini. You’d never know the difference. Or try the new Shiritaki noodles, made from yams. I’ve posted about them on my blog, if you are interested. Maria, great suggestion about the brown rice. I LOVE the dense, chewiness of it and it would be a perfect partner.
ti
Wild rice would lend a great “chewiness”, too! I like your idea about spiralized zooks in it! Now you’ve got me thinking about spiralzed carrots for a ramen type soup!
Get Skinny, Go Vegan.
Love this. Cabbage is great because it fights nasty diseases and is dirt cheap to buy organic! Plus it keeps next to forever in the fridge!
Susan B
I made this the other night and it was delish as written- this is a new fav- so nice not to have the pasta and yet feel very satisfied! YUM!
M.E.
Yum city!! i was just thinking about making cabbage soup, and bingo! here’s a swell recipe. can’t wait to try it. Thanks for this wonderful blog!!
Kaitlyn
I really liked this! I didn’t have the miso, and I used dulse flakes instead of salt! Very tasty, especially with Wasa flatbread crackers!
sandrajayne
Wow I made this today. Really good. I love the addition of the nooch and the miso 🙂
Susan
Susan – this is excellent! The nutritional yeast seasoning is a nice touch. I cooked up a pot of chick peas this morning and used 4 cups of the bean cooking water in the soup. Thank you for another delicious and easy recipe. I will be enjoying this soup for lunch this week.
Sara
So today I doubled this recipe so I would have enough soup for the week, although I just added 2 additional cups of water. It’s very comforting and tasty! I was worried about the broth not being brothy enough, but the miso and nooch made it perfect in the end!
This might actually replace my chickpea noodle soup that I use from Vegan with a Vengeance, just because it’s so much healthier!
Dyan
Eating this as I type. Perfect for the pesky cold I’ve been fighting (and the pesky cold outside). Added a bouillon cube and omitted the miso. Heavenly.
Laina
Susan, this is sooooooooooo delicious!!!!!! It’s actually better the next day and the next because then the flavors have time to meld. I tasted this before I added the miso hoping to avoid the sodium, but it lacked something; the miso adds so much flavor and not just sodium. Another winner in my book!!! Thanks again for all your wonderful recipes.
Megan
Sounds like a perfect dinner for tonight, during the last chilly evenings of winter.
Brenda
Is there a substitute for miso?
I don’t have any of that and am not sure where I’d find it in my peaceful valley here…
Thanks!
SusanV
You can just add a little vegetable bouillon or salt to replace the miso. Hope you enjoy it!
Jen
This looks awesome. I love the makeover because I don’t use broth or meat substitutes & prefer not to use pasta too often. I love the chick peas instead of chicken! This is great inspiration for use of my frozen garden veggies. I will be making some version of this soon!
cezara
Wow! That looks really good. I love cabbage so I will have to try this out 🙂
http://www.ourlivesinanutshell.com/living-with-a-vegan/
Michael Hines
Hi there Susan,
These are great ideas to substitude the chicken and noodles with chickpeas and cabbage! I think that is really good thinking and as you said, you probably reduced the calories tremendously.
Great inspiration and it just shows if you start thinking outside the box, you can still have delicious meals and have the figure you want.
Take care
Michael
Pearl (Crunch and Chew)
Replacing noodles with cabbage is genius! Definitely on my to-make list 😀
MO
I love this way to use cabbage. Thank you!
jocelyn
Using cabbage as noodles is a great idea! And this comforting meal is great for the end of winter.
wrotka_online
Soup looks tasty. Thank you for the inspiration.
Gena
I made something similar for the BF recently and he loved it! Great recipe 🙂
Donna Liebich
I have some soy curls languishing in my freezer because I don’t know what to do with them! You mentioned E’s chick’n soup. I searched and couldn’t find anything. Can you help?
I LOVE your blog and have made many, many of your recipes with great success! Thank you SO much, Susan!
SusanV
Donna, thanks for your kind words. The “chicken” soup is basically the same as this one, but instead of cabbage use about 4 ounces of noodles and instead of chickpeas, use 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the soy curls. You can also use “no-chicken” broth instead of water and add more if needed. Let me know how you like it!
Christopher Kandrat
I like cabbage a lot and it worked great in this soup, I recommend it!
Toni
What a great recipe! I’m really looking forward to try it! Thanks for sharing.
Laura Wedel
What could I substitute for miso?
BTW made the portabello, polenta kale lasagna yesterday – It was incredible !! Thanks for such great ideas 🙂
SusanV
You can just use a little extra salt instead of miso. Hope you enjoy it!
Lauren
Hi Susan! I have been following your blog for a while now and just wanted to delurk. You make amazing food!