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Cabbage Roll Casserole is a super easy meal that you can prepare any day of the week.
Cabbage Rolls are delicious! I grew up on cabbage rolls made by my mom and grandma!
Recently, I’ve been making a cabbage roll casserole… so much quicker than rolling up the rolls themselves and equally delicious!
Here is one of my favorite things about recipes! You start with one thing and along the way the recipe gets tried and modified and shared and passed on. Finally, you may end up with something else that was just as wonderful or sometimes even better!
Last week, a reader had asked me if my Cabbage Roll Casserole recipe would work in the slow cooker… I hadn’t tried it! Well, Sue tested it out and I knew I had to try it out right away! I had a couple of different items in my pantry so I modified it a tiny bit further but let me tell you, the results were AMAZING!! This is my favorite cabbage roll dish yet! So a special thank you to Sue for inspiring this yummy recipe, you won’t be disappointed!
If you’re looking for another hearty dinner idea, be sure to check out my Cabbage Roll Soup recipe!
Cabbage Roll Casserole (Crock Pot Version)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef or ground pork, or a mixture of the two
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 onion diced
- 15 ounces tomato sauce divided
- 1 cup water
- 10.75 ounces condensed tomato soup 1 can
- 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juices
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¾ cup long grain white rice uncooked
- 1 medium head cabbage
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese optional
Instructions
- Brown beef or pork, onion, garlic and seasonings over medium heat until no pink remains. Drain.
- Add 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 cup water and ½ can of tomato soup and diced tomatoes to the beef.
- Stir in rice, and mix well until heated through. Remove from heat.
- Chop cabbage into 4 wedges and remove core. Chop into chunks (mine were about ¾"x1 ½").
- Layer ½ of the meat mixture and ½ of the cabbage in the slow cooker. Repeat layers. Place half the meat and then half the cabbage in cooker.
- Combine the remaining tomato soup, remaining tomato sauce and ⅓ cup water. Pour over top of cabbage.
- Cook on low 4-6 hours or just until rice is cooked. Once done, turn slow cooker off, sprinkle cheese on top and let sit 10 minutes to set and melt cheese.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole
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Does it ever take longer for the cabbage to get done? I feel like the rice got done way before the cabbage but not sure exactly how the cabbage is supposed to be as this is the first time I have made cabbage anything..
I haven’t had any problems with the rice cooking too fast. Did you use uncooked regular long grain rice?
I’m so excited to try this but my family is starving and the rice isnt cooked yet! It’s been in for 4 hours and I turned it up to high 2 hours ago. Just wanted to comment because I wish I would have known this before. Dinner will be really really late….
I’m sorry to hear that, it’s frustrating when that happens Jennifer! I haven’t had problems with the cook time so I can’t say for sure why yours didn’t cook in time. I hope once it was ready you enjoyed it!
That recipe was so delicious, I have all guy roommates and they loved it. I will definitely make this again. Thank you for sharing this recipe ♡♡
Yay!! So glad everyone loved it Brittany!
My family would like to try to make this sometime soon, we are a cabbage family but my dad wanted to know if we can substitute the cabbage with anything else?
I have only made the recipe as written. Maybe some other readers have some ideas for you Dana!
Green peppers
Yes you could go with Green peppers too .Thinking the same. That would be my second option. stuffed peppers.
This can be made with bell peppers in place of cabbage as a stuffed peppers alternative. How little or much is dependent upon how much you like peppers.
Can I prep this in the crockpot the night before and store it in the fridge until I’m ready to cook?
I haven’t prepped it the night before so can’t say for sure. It may take longer to cook if you start it from the fridge. Let us know how it works if you try it Jen!
I made this but the rice is not cooked! I then cooked it on high for another hour and it’s still not cooked! I just added two cups of water, and I’m cooking it on high for another hour. Any tips on what happened with my rice?
I can’t say for sure what happened to your rice, it should definitely cook in 4-6 hours and especially if you’ve added 2 extra hours. Perhaps you might like to test the temperature of your slow cooker and see if that’s a factor.
Delicious recipe that I’ve usually baked in the oven. I looked to your crock pot guidance and the timing worked well! I throw this together in the morning and my husband can turn it on in the afternoon. Quick tip – I use pre chopped coleslaw mix when my time is pinched.
Great tip Amy, I am so glad you loved it!
Been making nearly the same recipe for years, I use Organic Farro instead of rice. Farro is a traditional grain of the Mediterranean, just insure you rinse the Farro thoroughly before use it.
Sounds great Wayne!
Cooked 4 hours on high. Stirred halfway through. Added another can of tomato soup near the end to make it more tomato-y. Very good.
Happy to hear you loved it Cindy!
Mine took four hours on high in my Hamilton Beach 6 quart slow cooker. Added in another can of tomato soup (undiluted) near the end to make it more tomato-y. Yummy.
Thank for this recipe!
I made a couple humorous mistakes that I might’ve avoided if I read these comments first!
1) I used while grain brown rice, and expected it to be cooked in the usual time. Nope….
Crunchy rice! I’ll try cooking it longer with more liquid.
2) I discovered that my crock pot is only 3.5 qts! It overflowed the pot…luckily I had pan under it. Next time I’ll halve the recipe.
Tasty, though!
I am glad you enjoyed the recipe, despite the hiccups!
Hi! I came across this little gem and made it today. I used ground chicken. I’m not sure what happened to my rice though. It dissolved almost. Was I not supposed to Stir it? I did stir a lot so probably pulverized it. Still yummy. Thanks!
I can’t say for sure why that happened. We stir the rice in at step 3, then no more stirring. So glad you loved this recipe!
This was very tasty I just made it I did not have any tomato juice on hand so I ended up just using about 60 g of catch-up and it was very very good I also did not use any cheese just because I forgot LOL And I added kielbasa / sausage to it because I needed to use it up
I made the crockpot version of cabbage roll casserole for s unday dinner with my family. Only one person could eat it. The thyme absolutely ruined the entire dish. That was all you could taste and I didnt even use the whole amount the recipe called for.
Sorry this didn’t work out for you, we love it exactly as written. Was your thyme dried or fresh?
I’m still cooking this recipe at 5 hours on high. The cabbage is still not to a tinder state. So 4-6 hours on low isn’t holding true for me.
I am cooking this today. 9 hours on low and my rice is still not cooked! I used the rice specified. If I ever make this recipe again I will have to pre-cook the rice.
Hey Holly!! First off, I’m not a big fan, but a HUGE fan! I follow of your recipes! For the new year, I really need to loose weight and look for low carb recipes. Any ideas how I can modify this recipe besides the rice?
Aww, thanks so much Christi! In addition to modifying the rice, I might suggest double checking that your tomato products don’t contain sugars
Christi, you can check out Holly’s Easy Low Carb website for more low carb recipes!
just like stuffed cabbage without all the fuss of boiling cabbage & rolling.great fall & winter dish.never make enough
I am so glad you liked this recipe Mikki!
I did make this and sent a review but can’t find it. This is an amazing dish and i can’t wait to fix it when company comes. It was easy to do and the crock pot version is handy to have.
NO Cheese!! Just as delicious as my homemade cabbage rolls but less work. This is what I will do from now on.
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe!
Why do all the recipes call for 1 1/2 # of hamburger? Hamburger comes 1# or 2#?????
To accommodate serving sizes.