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.
For people who do not tolerate tomatoes well the German version uses Savoy cabbage, which holds together better, raw meat in the stuffing, carraway in the blanching water, does not use tomatoes.
Instead, use high quality Hungarian Paprika, (Hot or sweet) it’s sprinkled over the cabbage rolls while they brown in a pan. After they’ve been turned and are all brown, more paprika, and a good broth is added to steam them covered for a few hours. Remove the rolls to a plate, thicken the remaining broth with sour cream. Fabulous dinner for a cold night!
That sounds delicious Amy! Thank you for sharing!
I have made this a few times and i love it. I made it for my Bunco night and everyone loved it as well and now I’ll make it for our Christmas Bunco. Thanks for sharing your treasures
So happy you loved it Shelly! Have fun at your Christmas Bunco night.
I am a vegetarian,but still like things I used to make with meat. I missed cabbage rolls so much. Most recipes for a veghead call for lintels and I really dislike the mush it makes. So I started making my own meats and also use Beyond Meat plant based ground “meat”.
YOUR recipe was perfect for this. Even my meat eating friends love these meatless cabbage rolls.
Thank you
That is so awesome Deasiree! So happy you loved them
I never made stuffed/Cabbage Rolls before so I followed the recipe pretty much as written and it was delicious! Everyone in the fam really enjoyed it and there wasn’t much left. We will definitely being enjoying this recipe again!
That being said, it took me more than a minute to figure out the best way to peel those cabbage leaves! Some add’l instructions within the recipe on the best way to do that would have been appreciated i.e. I found that peeling bottom to top was helpful and also that coring the cabbage got better results. Cutting 4 inches off the bottom seemed like losing a lot of leaf but using a sharp knife to cut right down into the cabbage – a square around the core area- yielded pretty good results. Next time, I am going to try freezing the cabbage overnight like another user suggested.
So glad your family enjoyed this recipe Lee Ann! Thank you for sharing your tips for others!
Hi! That is why she explained to boil the cabbage it comes off so easily! Hope this helps u next time!
Great recipe! I’m a Ukrainian, our cabbage rolls are always made with ground meat too! Never heard of rice and cabbage version before;)
They are so delicious Nadiya! Hope you enjoy!
Love the cabbage Rolls. Never had them before. Thank you
Oh boy! Cabbage rolls are one of my favorites! So happy you loved them Dennis.
Love these! Mama called them stuffed cabbage but they’re the same thing. Enjoy!
Thanks Barbara, we shall!
Being raised Polish my grandmother and mother NEVER precooked meat!! mix all togerher and put into leaves and roll up pour tomatoes, sauce and or tomato soup( your choice) over top.Bake as noted, much more flavor and tender!!!!!
Thanks for the tip Sylvia!
You’re right. The only thing you pre-cook is the rice.
What substitute can i use instead of pork and meat ?
You could use a ground meat substitute, or maybe try with lentils for a change. Enjoy Laetitia!
Hi do i add the parsley and dill into the meat mixture? And also the frozen cabbage and dethaw and peel trick worked like a dream.
So glad it worked out well for you! I add it to the mixture in step 4 as the seasonings. Enjoy!
Having trouble down loading recipe
I’m sorry for the trouble Robert. What type of trouble are you having so I can look into it? Are you on a mobile phone/ipad or computer?
Help! I have been making stuffed cabbage for many years using a mix of ground beef and pork. I prepared them on Sunday and put in the refrigerator and baked today for hours and they are PINK inside. My mom told me once never to mix the cold meat with hot rice or this will happen. I made sure all was cold when I prepared the mixture. What could the problem be? This never happened before. The only diffence is that I used ground beef that was 85% lean vvs the 93% I typlically use. They cooked for hours so they have to be done but the pink is making them very unappetizing!
I always cook the meat until no pink remains. I can’t say for sure why that may have happened Paula. You’re right, they’ll be fully cooked.
Have made many cabbage rolls with a girlfriend who grows the cabbage every year.. Never have we ever cooked the meat first.. we cook the onions add it and the rice and spices to the meat and fill them raw.. they bake about 2 1/2 hours in the oven..Always done and sooo good.. can’t figure why you would cook the meat itself first.
This is the way my grandmother and mother have always done it and it’s the method I grew up on. Your way sounds delicious too!
Hi Holly I made these cabbage rolls and they were fantastic. I added Bothwell Jalapeño Cheese on top of them and put them back in the oven for 5 minutes until the cheese was lightly browned and they we’re fantastic!
That sounds fantastic Paul! Great addition.
Amazing recipe, just wondering if this could be frozen and then baked again at a later time?
Definitely Katie, you can freeze the leftovers or you can make them as directed and freeze before baking. I would defrost them in the refrigerator overnight.
Excellent flavor, much lighter than the beef/pork version…….
They did not last long
Too tasty to resist! That’s awesome Dave!
Love all recepies….tthank you Rosemary
So happy to hear that Rosemary! Thanks!
Unbelievably amazing!! I had made this recipe for dinner yesterday and my husband who doesn’t really care for cabbage rolls couldn’t stop the complement’s. Thank you for the delicious recipe!
That makes my day Kristen! So glad that your husband loves these cabbage rolls!
OMG!! I have to say I will not ever have to search for a new recipe for cabbage rolls! I used ground pork and pork sausage instead of beef. Wonderful moist cabbage rolls. THANK YOU!!
I’m so glad you loved these cabbage rolls Maggi!
I love cabbage rolls. I really would like this recipe please send it to my email. Thank you
I hope you enjoy the recipe Carole!
What would you change in the recipe if you could only use ground turkey?
Ground turkey would be a delicious variation on this recipe Tamara!