This stuffed cabbage rolls recipe is one I enjoyed from my grandma’s kitchen for years and years.
Tender cabbage leaves are filled with a beef and rice mixture and baked in with a simple tomato sauce.
This dish can be made ahead of time and reheats and freezes well.
Types of Cabbage Rolls
This cabbage rolls’ recipe comes from my grandma and my mom. My grandma immigrated from Poland so we have enjoyed many cabbage dishes or even just simple fried cabbage. Between pierogi and rouladen, Grandma’s kitchen always smelled incredible and there was always something amazing to eat!
There are many many different ways to make cabbage rolls based on family tradition and location. Polish cabbage rolls usually contain meat and rice while the Ukrainian version my friend Penny makes generally contain only rice.
While some add raw meat and rice and cook them with the cabbage, our family has always pre-cooked the rice and meat.
Ingredients in Cabbage Rolls
Cabbage
We use a head of regular green cabbage and boil it in a large pot of water to make it tender. Many people freeze the whole head of cabbage and thaw it to eliminate the boiling step but I find the cabbage isn’t as tender this way.
Meat Mixture
My grandmother always used pork in her cabbage rolls so I use a mixture of beef and pork. You can use just one or the other (or any ground meat). Cooked long-grain white rice is added to the meat along with an egg to help it hold together.
Sauce
Most Polish cabbage roll recipes are covered in tomato sauce or tomato juice. We love the addition of a can of tomato soup to tomato sauce. It may not be typical but it softens & sweetens the sauce slightly and tastes delicious!
How to Make Cabbage Rolls
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil cabbage until tender.
- Cook rice slightly undercooked per the recipe below. Brown the ground beef and pork while the rice is cooking. Combine remaining filling ingredients
- Add the filling to cabbage leaves and roll. Place seam side down in a casserole dish.
- Top with the sauce and bake.
Tips for Great Cabbage Rolls
- For the most tender cabbage leaves, boil them in salted water.
- Cut 1/2 inch off the head of cabbage, the leaves will fall off as they cook.
- Once boiled, use a small knife to cut the thick stem of the leaf (image above).
- Overlap smaller leaves and fill, even if they’re not pretty, they’ll cook perfectly.
- You may have leftover filling depending on the size of your cabbage. Extra filling can be added to tomato soup, or stuffed in zucchini or bell peppers.
- Cabbage rolls can be frozen before or after baking.
More From Grandma’s Kitchen
- Homemade Pierogi
- Cabbage and Noodles
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- American Goulash Recipe
- Beef Rouladen
- Homemade Borscht
Did you make these cabbage rolls? Leave a comment and rating below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 head green cabbage
- 1 cup long grain white rice uncooked
- 1 pound lean ground pork or ground turkey
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- 2 small yellow onions diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or, 1 tablespoons dried parsley
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 (14.5 ounce each) can diced tomatoes with juices
- 1 egg
- 1 ¾ cups tomato sauce divided
- 1 (10.75 ounce each) can condensed tomato soup
Instructions
- Boil cabbage leaves for about 2 minutes or until soft. (See note below for removing leaves). Set aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cook rice according to package directions but reduce cooking time by 5 minutes so the rice is slightly underdone. Set aside.
- Cook pork (or turkey), beef, onions, garlic, & seasonings in a pan until no pink remains. Drain any fat. Add in rice, diced tomatoes, and ⅓ cup of tomato sauce. Stir in egg.
- Mix the remaining tomato sauce and tomato soup in a bowl. Spread a very thin layer of the tomato sauce mixture in a 9x13 pan.
- Remove or thin any thick stem on cabbage leaves. Lay the cabbage leaf flat and add ¼ to ⅓ cup filling to the center of the leaf. Fold in the sides and roll the cabbage up. Place seam side down in the pan. (See note for small leaves). Repeat with remaining cabbage.
- Pour sauce over the cabbage and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 75-90 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Once boiled, use a small knife to cut the thick stem off the leaf (image above).
- Overlap smaller leaves and fill, even if they're not pretty, they'll cook perfectly.
- You may have leftover filling depending on the size of your cabbage. Extra filling can be added to tomato soup, or stuffed in zucchini or bell peppers.
- Cabbage rolls can be frozen before or after baking.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Casserole, Dinner
Cuisine Polish© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Made this a few weeks ago and making again tonight. LOVE!! I use passata with the tomato soup, and also put in petite diced tomato from a can. So delicious 💜💜
Hello #1. It’s a lot longer than your prepare time
#2. I would of needed 2 cabbage NOT ONE
It’s not true prep time!!!!
The prep time is accurate for me but can vary based on skill and your own equipment used. Depending on the size of the cabbage you can use more or less, I make about 12 rolls and find that I am easily able to get 12 leaves (with a couple of smaller ones overlapped) from one head of cabbage.
Not a great cabbage roll recipe in my opinion, tried it first as it had so many 5 stars. But in my opinion it needs more flavor in the filling, some spice or ingredient is missing, I thought the sauce should have a sweet and acidic tang but it doesn’t, and on reviewing other recipes since the filling is usually put into the leaves raw and cooks in the oven, so the process could be sped up with a different method. I am surprised this recipe has so many 5 star reviews. Other recipes of hers I have tried were better but this one did not hit my expectations on many levels.
I’m sorry to hear this didn’t turn out as expected Keri. The sauce gets the sweet and acidic tang from the tomato soup, did you use regular condensed tomato soup undiluted?
Thank you for trying it.
What can you sub the tomato soup with? I have to eat relatively low sodium and that is chalk full unfortunately
I have only tried the recipe as written so I can’t say for sure what would work as a substitute. You could try making your own condensed tomato soup though to control the sodium!
I love the recipes you offer I am not a cook so following your recipes help me.
Thank you my Chef
I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes Linda!
wonderful recipe I love it.
From Brazil…
I am so happy to hear you loved this recipe! Thank you for joining from Brazil!
what if you only have purple cabbage? can I use it in place of green cabbage w/o disrupting the flavor?
My father was czechoslovakian and my mom made a lot of cabbage dishes….grew up on cabbage rolls. Yum
You should be able to without any changes. Enjoy Michelle!
Followed the recipe exactly and turned out perfect. Tasted like my grandmothers stuffed cabbage. Thank you!
Great recipe! I’ve been making cabbage rolls for years using similar ingredients and always turn out wonderful. I’ve never used an egg before or cut the end off the cabbage, both great recommendations. Our family never cooks the meat but mixes with par cooked rice and spices. I usually have tomatoes in the freezer & use those chopped up instead of canned. I used about 350g of pork and 600g of beef as that is what I had. I mixed the soup, sauce & tomatoes & used about a cup in with the filling, the rest on top of the rolls. This made 15 large delicious cabbage rolls. Baked at 350 for about 1 hr. covered, removed cover for last 1/2 hr, perfection! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Made it and put in 80% beef 20% ground hot Italian sausage meat and recipe was perfect wouldnt change a thing. Ingredient quantities bang on.
made this yesterday and it was probably one of the worst recipes we’ve ever made, not to mention it took 2 hours. we followed the recipe exactly too
what was so bad about it?
Should probably learn how to cook
LOVE THIS RECIPE! I used lamb and beef I will DEFINITELY MAKE THIS AGAIN!!
looks delicious. husband lives cabbage rolls, can’t wait to try
Can I refrigerate my extra filling until the next day to add to a different recipe?
Yes, that should work well. I would love to hear what you use it in, Kim!
I hope you made stuffed peppers! It would work well!
Freezing cabbage overnight so much easier than par-boiling. That was always the worst part of cabbage rolls. Just freeze head of cabbage overnight in plastic bag. Take out and let defrost. Leaves come right off
Does freezing it change the texture of the leaves?
It will make the cabbage leaves softer similar to par-boiling them, Penny.
Very vague recipe,doesn’t even tell you what temperature or how long in the oven ,Then you have to reference back to pictures to see that you’ve got all the ingredients. Better taste good
Stephen, if you scroll down the full recipe is near the bottom of the post. This includes ingredients, cooking temperatures and cooking time. I hope that helps.
It’s not complicated
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
The baking temp and time is in the directions. This recipe is very good, we’ve make this multiple times in our home. Please read thoroughly before commenting rudely. Have a nice day!
Learn how to read??
Curious why you cook the meat beforehand? Tried this and seemed to struggle wrapping it since it’s so lose. Everywhere else i’ve looked used the raw meat inside the cabbage, sorta meatball/loaf esque.
Hi DD, great question. We find this provides a better texture and flavor when making cabbage rolls. Both work well, but if cooking with raw meat you will need to increase the cooking time and ensure it reaches a safe internal temperature before serving.
definitely with the temp and the amount of time the meat will be fully cooked inside
DD, I was wondering the same thing since it is in the overn for over an hour in this recipe and I was thinking, “How can that not cook that little bit of meat?”
My Ukrainian mom always used cooked meat (beef, pork or bacon) and never added an egg. She never had issues rolling her cabbage rolls but the cabbage could have been different. Some types are more flexible. You will note, Holly says to drain excess fat. If the meat isn’t precooked, all that unhealthy saturated fat is cooked into the cabbage rolls
Best ever recipe!!!
Why do my cabbage rolls always come out tuff. I bake them 2 hours and it’s still tough cabbage. ?
In step one, we boil cabbage leaves for about 2 minutes or until soft. If yours are coming out tough, you may not be boiling them long enough before filling them. I hope that helps!
We made a slight adjustment and swapped the white rice for quinoa instead. Also did a red, low cal, enchilada sauce. So good! boiled the whole thing and peeled and rolled. Definitely doing again! Healthy!
I swapped the rice for cauliflower rice and worked really well!!
Can you please tell me the instructions to cook from frozen. I placed a pan in the freezer pre cooked. temp and length please! I always enjoy your recipies. you’re my go to website!!!
Thanks so much John, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes! I recommend thawing the cabbage rolls in the fridge overnight. They can be baked as directed adding about 20 minutes to the cooking time.