In high school, I worked at Scandia Bakery in Stanwood, Washington. One thing that impressed me most while working there was watching the lunch counter ladies make homemade cabbage patch soup. There’s just something about little tiny ladies lifting very large pots of ground meat and slicing vegetables by hand that just says love. Add to that, bakers dressed in white with huge pot holders in hand pulling trays of hot Swedish Rye Bread out of the oven – an oven that was the size of Rhode Island – and you have, what I decided, would be my home forever. And it is. In my heart.
Thankfully, I have the ingredients listed on a guest check that is straight from the bakery in the 1980s.
Cabbage Patch Soup
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 20 ounces ground chicken, turkey, or beef (replace with more veggies or beans for vegan, pescetarian, or vegetarian options)
- 1 – 32-ounce box of organic chicken broth (use vegetable broth for vegan, pescetarian, or vegetarian option)
- 1 – 28 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 – 46 ounce can V8 Vegetable Juice
- 1 – 12 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 – 15-ounce cans kidney beans
- 1 – 15 ounce can black beans
- 1/2 a head of green cabbage, shredded
- 1 cup frozen (or fresh) peas and carrots
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Sea salt
- Coarse ground pepper
Heat olive oil in a medium-large soup pot. Cook onions over medium heat until golden brown or translucent. When onions are done cooking, remove & set aside. Add meat to the pot and cook until done (skip this step if vegan or vegetarian). If using ground beef, drain excess grease a bit if needed before moving on with the recipe. Add remaining ingredients and allow soup to simmer for up to an hour, depending on how cooked you enjoy your cabbage. If soup doesn’t seem flavorful enough, gradually add salt until you can enjoy all the flavors.
Through the years, I’ve tweaked the recipe here and there but this is the version my family adores. Hopefully, when they see this tiny lady making cabbage patch soup in a medium-large pot, it says love.
I follow your blog and love it. What a surprise to see my favorite soup recipe shared. My Mom worked for the bank of Stanwood for years and this was our favorite lunch stop. Well, soup and lefsa…Thank you for the recipe, I will use it often.
My in laws all live in stanwood, can’t wait to try this today!
Of all the cabbage soup recipes first one I clicked on was yours! I also grew up in stanwood and remember going every Saturday to that bakery and this was one of my favorite soups along with the swedish Rye bread and of course lefsa. Thank you for this recipe. Making the bread next.
Hi Rachell, Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Oh, my goodness. I love that! Scandia Bakery was such a fantastic place. I can never seem to explain how awesome it was so I always love hearing about how special it was to you too. I have just updated the Swedish Rye recipe to be sure it’s up to par. So, if you’ve printed it out, be sure to replace your copy with a current one. Much love and happy baking! <3
How warming to search for cabbage patch recipe and come across one from the Scandia bakery we still own a house in Stanwood right up the street from where the bakery was on the hill on Cedarhome Drive. We live in Alaska and have fun memories of my kids growing up there. it was always so much fun to go get soup and Swedish rye bread with my mom and dad .Thank for sharing this recipe!