Cabbage, barley, and kielbasa soup

candidate 28.8 attention-min · 57 min total · hardy
Leaves 2 lunches (home only)

Smoked sausage is already cooked, so it only needs browning for flavor. Caraway is the Polish tell; skip it if you don't like it.

Ingredients

12 oz kielbasa

0.75 cup pearl barley

0.5 green cabbage

1 yellow onion

2 carrots

3 garlic cloves

6 cup chicken broth

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tbsp neutral oil

1. Slice kielbasa into coins; chop onion and carrots; mince garlic · 8 min · hands-on

2. Brown the kielbasa in oil, then soften onion and carrots in the fat · 8 min · nearby

3. Add garlic, caraway, rinsed barley, and broth; simmer · 20 min · earshot

4. Core and slice the cabbage · 5 min · hands-on

5. Add cabbage and keep simmering until barley and cabbage are tender · 20 min · earshot

6. Adjust salt · 1 min · hands-on

Source: Claude draft (2026-10-14) — unvetted