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.
Hi Holly,
Quick question relating to the tomato sauce. I’m in Australia and our tomato sauce is the equivalent of your ketchup. What should I be using?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Sonia, You can take a look at this tomato sauce recipe here to see what we mean but I think it would be similar to your Passata or Tomato puree.
Do you add the egg and all the filling items into the hot pan? Won’t that cook/ scramble the egg?
To avoid turning the egg into scrambled eggs you will want it to cool slightly. But with the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce being chilled/room temp they will help to bring the temperature of the overall mixture down to prevent this.
thank you great recipes I added a cr chicken also to Rice and Chicken dish and used 2 cups diced chicken instead it was really good. thanks again.
Also, the Had brown Casserole I use a cut up bunch of green onions and added 2 cups diced Chicken, it was great.
Yum! I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes Linda!
Hi Holly Thank you love for sharing all of your delicious recipes with us! My grandmother taught me how to roll golumpki when I was a little girl.Hers were always better than mine 😚 What great memories cooking with grandmother 😘 I am glad I’ve crossed your recipe, I’m going to make these up tomorrow morning and take them over to my friends,unfortunately his furbaby passed a few days ago hopefully these cabbage rolls will help his heart feel a little better 😊 Best wishes to you and please keep your recipes coming.. “Robin”
Thank you for sharing your memories Zofia. It’s nice to hear these from other people! How thoughtful to share this special dish with your friend. ❤️
can you use 80/20 ground beef
Yes, you can. After browning the meat, be sure to drain any fat.
Of course you can! You could use veal chicken,lamb any kind of meat you want..
I did try your recipe with a few adjustments
instead of cooking meat and rice I used minute rice and mixed everything together raw meat spices tomatoes and some sauce for the meat mixture then I layered tomato sauce,tomato soup and diced tomatoes on the bottom of the casserole dish with dill,parsley,garlic,salt and pepper rolled up my cabbage rolls put the sauce from the casserole dish all over them and they turned out great even my picky eaters loved it thank you
I don’t have an egg, can l make these cabbage rolls just for 2?
The egg helps hold it together but it will be just fine without. You can reduce down the recipe to make it for 2, but this recipe freezes really well! So you could always make the whole thing, bake half and freeze half.
Is their anywhere you have the ingredients in metric? I love the sound of this recipe and will make it this weekend
We don’t have the option to convert to metric currently. I recommend using an online converter to help determine the proper amounts. I hope that helps!