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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I made this today. If I wouldn’t have used hot pork sausage and added some cayenne pepper, this would have been tasteless! It was with these changes.
Which recipe do you like the best – crock pot version or baked casserole version?
I like either depending on my time allowance. Crock pot is nice because I can set it and forget it.
I made this tonight and it was perfect! I cooked it on high for 5 hours. The rice was tender and flavor great. Makes lots for 3 people. Leftovers to freeze for another meal!
I want to make this for friends of mine. I love that the nutritional information is given. Could you tell me if it includes the mozzerella cheese?
Yes, the nutrition includes the cheese.
Super easy & super yummy!
It took 4 hours in my crockpot and was delicious! Will definitely make again. Followed recipe exactly.
Tried the cabbage casserole and did it exactly as printed..the rice never cooked it was crunchy and I didn’t like that if I make it again I will cool the rice first
I am not sure what went wrong Bridget, we have never had that problem with this casserole. Did you use long-grain white rice?
Excited to try
Will try cabbage casserole. Looks delicious!
Haven’t tried yet…will let you know.
Please do Jacquiline! Can’t wait to hear what you think :)
After 6 hours the cabbage was still not cooked through. Otherwise, it was a bland, gloopy mush. No taste, and weird pasty texture. Not enough rice, as well. We ate it so not to waste all that food, but didn’t enjoy. Not sure what happened….followed recipe to a T. Maybe my crockpot is off…..
So sorry that this recipe didn’t turn out for you Twigany. We have made this recipe many times with great succes. You can test your crockpot following this method here.
Love your recipes!!
Many thanks Beverly!
I would like to know what I can sub for the tomato soup, please and thank you?
I have only made this as written with the soup. You can try leaving it out if you prefer although it may change the flavor slightly.
Just use a can of tomato sauce
I make this often but I never put rice in it. Instead, I make double the sauce for the top and I make rice on the side and serve it over rice! We easily get two dinners for four people and two lunches for my husband out of it that way!
Great idea Erin! Definitely a good way to stretch this recipe out. Love it!
I work out of the house. How bad would it be if it cooks 8 hours on low?
That shouldn’t be a problem Diane. Just set your crockpot to switch to the warm setting after 4-6 hours so it will be ready for when you come home.
This look so delicious
So happy you think so Pehhy!
What is your last green topping
We garnished it with some fresh parsley at the end Thelma :)
years ago I had a recipe for cabbage rolls that were the best I’ve ever had. I think the recipe came from Rival crock pot cook book, unfortunately it went garage sale in a fit of clean out. Does anyone have that book and recipe.? Please share.
Hopefully another reader has the book. This is the cabbage roll recipe I have.
Hi Sharon-
It’s a bit late, I know, but I DO have the original Crock Pot cookbook!! Printed in 1975.
12 Lg. Cabbage Leaves, 1 Lb. ground beef or lamb,1/2 cup cooked rice,1/2 tsp. salt,1/8 tsp. pepper,1/4 tsp. leaf thyme,1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1-6 oz. can tomato paste, 3/4 cup water. Prepare cabbage leaves, drain & cool. Combine remaining ingredients except tomato paste and water. Place 2 TBSP mixture on each leaf & roll firmly. Stack in crock pot. Combine tomato paste & water & pour over stuffed cabbage. Cover & cook on low setting for 8>10 hours.
Believe it or not, I still have an original 3.5 Qt Rival Crock Pot. I have the red one. The crock is not removable. It does still work, albeit a bit slow to heat up. (Well, it’s a slow cooker, right?)
Fond memories of family dinners. My mother gave it to me along with the Rival Crock Pot Cookbook many many years ago on Valentines Day.
I was so excited to find this recipe and was anxious to try it. My only issue with it is that as a novice cook, I am not familiar with all of the flavors of the spices. In this recipe the 1 t of thyme was way too much and it overpowered the entire dish. It was essentially a really good meal but when making next time I will either be omitting or drastically reducing the amount of thyme used. Lesson learned.
.Ty
Thanks for your feedback C! We totally get it, experimenting with spices is a challenge in the beginning. If you found it too strong, you can definitely reduce it to under a teaspoon! Maybe add a little at a time, checking the flavor as you go. Hope that helps!
You probably used ground thyme instead of leaves .Just use 1/2 or1/3 next time
I made this today, without cheese, and it is incredible. I used 1 lb. Pork and 1 beef. Just crushed tomatoes and chicken stock instead of tomato soup.
Yummmmm!
Those sound like delicious additions Erika!!
Love these recipes, never stop
Thank you Emma!