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.
I make this recipe and it’s amazing. My only tweak is that I ad 1/2 cup of vinegar to the 2 cans of tomato soup and it makes the cabbage a little more sour and a little saucier. I’m thrilled I found this recipe. Thanks for sharing it.
I made this recipe today because of it’s high ratings. How it got so many stars is beyond my comprehension.
Argo I’m very sorry to report (not to mention waste all those ingredients and my time) that it was one of the most flavorless dishes I’d ever made and tasted. I wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy, and can not for the life of me see how you or anyone else can.
Not only was the sauce bland but the filling was tasteless as well.
I only have 2 thumbs and they’re both turned down!!
Oh how disappointing Rose. We love this recipe and have loved it for years. I can’t say for sure what went wrong for you, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it.
It is fine to not enjoy a recipe…to not have it suit your taste… but to leave such a rude review is what I find beyond my comprehension. Perhaps you could taste and add along the way. Use this as a base recipe and create something appealing to you.
I left a comment before and I see you took it down, ok I will say it again maybe you should write it more clearly in the recipe that the tomato sauce is divided
Your comment is still here. :) Hopefully, my suggestions help you to be able to enjoy the sauce.
I haven’t tasted this yet but it’s getting 1 star because there is obviously way too much tomato sauce ☹️1 1/2c plus 1/3? I’ve read the recipe 4 times and I see now 1/3c goes in the meat. I already put it all in the meat against my better judgement. Then tomato soup I can? How much is that? It’s it condensed? Idk The meat is like spaghetti sauce so the leftover meat sauce will go over pasta I guess.
I’m sorry you added all of the sauce to the meat, only ⅓ cup should go in as stated in step 4.
If you added all of the sauce, the recipe won’t work as the meat mixture won’t hold together and there won’t be sauce to cover the rolls.
As you’ve made the filling into a meat sauce already you could certainly cook the cabbage and layer it as lazy cabbage rolls or casserole style. It will still taste delicious! I hope that helps.
The directions are very clear. How rude to leave a comment like that when you’re the one who misread the clear directions.
Love cabbage rolls…….Just a question….do you drain the can of diced tomatoes????
The tomatoes do not need to be drained. Enjoy!
So delicious
Made this tonight for the 1st time and it was delicious! Thank you for sharing!!! My hubby loveee it! Cant wait to make it again!
My Grandmother was Polish too. She used only beef, tomato paste and soup and put all spice in her meat mixture. She put all spice in all her beef recipes. But this is pretty close to what she did. She would make a roaster full. And I can smell them…thanks for the memory.
That sounds delicious Cindy! So happy to hear this recipe brought back those happy memories.
Can a tray of this be frozen? And, if so, baked or unbaked?
Hi Ashley, you can freeze the leftovers or you can make them as directed and freeze before baking. I would defrost them in the refrigerator overnight before baking once frozen.
This recipe looks fabulous. Would it be possible to make the cabbage rolls without the rice? Thank you.
Hi Lynne, we have only made this recipe as listed. If you try making it without the rice we would love to hear how it turns out!
Hi Lynne. I made these substituting rice with cauliflower rice. They turned out delicious!
I make my stuffed cabbage like this only add veal also. Delicious recipe. Think I’ll make it this weekend. Love your site. Thank you.
Thank you :)
A bit more prep time, but the results were great!
This recipe is easy to follow and so delicious!! I used 1 lb of ground beef and 1/2 lb of ground pork. I had some small cabbage leaves that were too small for rolling so I put them in the bottom of the pan on top of the thin layer of sauce before I placed my cabbage rolls in the pan. This was a way of using the leftover cabbage and provided an additional tasty treat! I love this recipe and will keep it as my “go to” recipe for cabbage rolls.
Was amazing
Delicious!!! I added Worchestshire sauce, about 1 Tablespoon and used V8 juice as I didn’t have any tomato soup.
Hi Holly,
I was low on the tomato sauce and soup so I tried something a little different. I had quite a big head of cabbage and have never made them before. Your note on how to soften the cabbage leaves really helped.
I cooked up my rice and hamburger/pork separately, drained the meat and combined meat and rice together. I then opened up some mushroom soup, mixed it with sour cream and milk, seasoning salt, onion powder, and garlic powder, and some soya sauce and mixed it with my rice. Enough so that it wouldn’t be to dry. After making the cabbage rolls, put some more mushroom soup, milk and seasoning in the bottom of the roaster, placed the cabbage rolls on top. Then put some more mushroom soup on the top of it all. Baked it and we tried it. Very good.
Sounds delicious Ginette!
when I make these I use barley instead of rice ,nice chew and a little nutty flavor
My Ukraine grandmother always used ground beef and ground pork in the rice mixture equal amounts 1 lb ground beef, to 1 lb ground pork (grind your own pork chops if your store carry ground pork, to 1 cup rice). She also fried down salt pork to top the rolls when done (the best part). She topped the rolls with crushed tomatoes.) This is an all day recipe and so well worth it. They freeze great so make a lot.
love your cabbage roll recipe