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Cabbage leaves stuffed with a savoury combination of ground beef, pork, rice and vegetables, then cooked in the oven in a creamy tomato sauce. Making cabbage rolls at home is much easier than you think!
Serve these with our Herb and Garlic Mashed Potatoes for a satisfying and cozy dinner.
Cabbage Rolls
Stuffed Cabbage rolls is a dish that every Russian and Ukrainian family makes. It’s a true comfort food for us, while managing to be quite healthy! It might be a little fiddly but not difficult at all.
Do you ever wonder how Russians survive long and cold winters without constantly coming down with colds? The secret is eating a lot of cabbage in the winter.
How is it relevant? Cabbage has LOADS of vitamin C, more than oranges! We can eat it as a salad, in soups, braised, or many other ways as well!
How to Make Cabbage Rolls
The recipe I am sharing today is my mother’s. I might’ve tweaked it a bit to make it easier but the taste remained the same.
What cabbage to use
The most traditional cabbage to use in this recipe is green cabbage, however I’ve recently been experimenting with Savoy cabbage and loved the results.
Savoy cabbage is considered to be the sweetest of all cabbages. It also adds more texture to this dish and is a dream to work with as the leaves separate much easier.
Whatever type of cabbage you use make sure it’s fresh and crispy. I found that using cabbage later in the season (around March or April) produces cabbage rolls that could be a bit tough and stringy.
Cabbage roll stuffing
These rolls are stuffed with a mixture of extra lean proteins. Ground beef and pork, caramelized onions, carrots, lots of fresh parsley and rice.
After the cabbage leaves are stuffed and rolled they are baked in a sour cream tomato sauce. It’s a one pot dish, that takes a bit of time to prepare but once it’s in the oven, it cooks hands free!
How to Separate Cabbage Leaves
My mother never did that but I use a new method for separating cabbage leaves, which is much easier and faster.
According to the traditional method you have to boil a head of cabbage for a short time until the leaves soften enough to pull them apart. Sounds easy enough but it turns out to be a lot of pain!
You have to boil it long enough for the leaves to become pliable but not too long so they turn mushy.
Then you have to pull that cabbage out of boiling water, burn your fingers in the process, cut away the outer leaves, then put it back in the water, then take it out again. Pain!
I’ve heard that it’s possible to freeze cabbage instead of boiling it with the same results. Sure enough, I froze it for a couple of days, then defrosted it and the leaves were very easy to separate and perfect for rolling! Success.
This recipe yields 10-12 servings. Basically it makes enough for two full meals.
Can I freeze cabbage rolls?
Yes! They are very freezer friendly. Just pop them in freezer bags and they will keep for at least a month. This way you’ve got delicious dinner put away for a day in the future when you don’t feel like fussing in the kitchen.
More authentic Russian cabbage recipes to try
- Braised Cabbage with Bacon and Mushrooms
- Homemade Russian Sauerkraut (Kvashenaya Kapusta)
- Beef and Cabbage Soup Shchi
- Lazy Cabbage Rolls (Easy Version)
Cabbage Rolls “Golubtsi”
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Cast iron casserole dish
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 250ml/1 cup This is an affiliate link.chicken stock
- 250ml/1 cup sour cream or creme fraiche, full fat
- 500ml/2 cups This is an affiliate link.canned crushed tomatoes, or passata
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Freeze the cabbages 3 days before you need it. The night before defrost cabbage and keep them in the fridge until you are ready.
- Cook rice in plenty water the same way you would pasta until al dente for approximately 5 minutes after the water boils. It shouldn't be too soft. Drain and set aside.
- In a frying pan heat olive oil and cook onions over low heat for 7-10 minutes until tender.
- Grate carrots. In a large bowl combine beef, pork, parsley, onions, carrots, rice, salt and pepper.
- In a medium bowl whisk together stock, crushed tomatoes and creme fraiche, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Place your head of cabbage on a cutting board, cut off the bottom and pull the leaves away from the stalk. Repeat with the second head of cabbage.
- Preheat your oven to 350F/180C.
- Clear your work space, so all ingredients are within reach. Take a cabbage leaf and cut the rib down, so it's not too thick. Put 2 tbsp of filling at the bottom of the wide part of a leaf (see picture above) and roll it like a burrito, tucking sides in. Your cabbage rolls will vary in size slightly depending on the size of cabbage leaves. You will have approximately 30-32 cabbage rolls.
- Pour a cup of the sauce on the bottom of your cast iron casserole or any other heavy bottom casserole dish and start stacking your cabbage rolls. Half way through add a couple of bay leaves and 1/3 of the sauce and continue stacking until all cabbage rolls are gone.
- Pour the remaining sauce over cabbage rolls, cover with a lid and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Then take the lid off and bake for 30 more minutes. Serve with additional sour cream or creme fraiche and fresh herbs like dill and parsley.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
That is an amazing dish we’re sure we’ll enjoy. We adore dolmades (as we call rolls of vine leaves or cabbage leaves here in Greece). Those are called lahanodolmades here and are very similar to the Russian version. We use an avgolemono sauce to serve them, which is a simple Greek egg-lemon sauce. So your version is a fantastic alternative to the classic recipe we use!
We really can’t wait to try this amazing delicacy!
Great work Julia!
Panos and Mirella
I plan to make these for about 30-40 people. Would you double or triple the recipe? I don’t mind left-overs, but don’t want to unnecessary hours in the kitchen. What would you recommend?
Lena, I would triple the recipe.
Thanks 🙂 One more question- would a regular glass casserole dish work for this one?
Yes, a glass casserole is absolutely fine, Lena.
They came out AWESOME. I made them for an American church picnic and I had a couple elderly polish men come up to me and say that they were excellent…Thank you so much for the recipe!!
Oh, Lena, music to my ears! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
I’ve commented on these before but I must do it again. I made these for an international gathering and once again, people raved over them and kept on saying how GOOD they were… someone washing the casserole dishes afterward saved the sauce to eat before rinsing the dish lol. I also made vegetarian oned with lentils instead of meat. The fresh blast of parsel, sauteed union and spices had some peopke coming back for thirds. Oh, and I chopped up dill and mixed it into sour cream as the topping for the rolls…which was gone too quickly. I guess you can say it was a success!!!
That is such an amazing response from people, Lena! Thank you so much for sharing it with me. Now I am craving them myself! I love your idea for the vegetarian golubtsi. I must try making them with lentils.
I’m making these now, they’re in the oven as I type! I haven’t tried them yet but oh my goodness, if they taste as good as they smell, I might never eat anything else! Thank you for such a great recipe. I’m making this for my parents at their house and they’re just as excited as I am 🙂 I think I’ll toast a loaf of french bread to dip in the sauce!
I hope they tasted as fab as they smelled, Rebecca!
I used spring greens blanched first, used pork meat, the result was Yummy…
It does sound yummy, Brenda!
Cant wait to try this!! What do you typically serve these with?
I usually just serve them as they are. I feel like they are a meal in itself but mashed potatoes are also great on the side. 🙂
If I don’t have a cast iron pot, would you recommend putting them in a classic glass baking dish and cover with aluminum foil? Or could I possible cook them in a pot in the stove on low?
I would use a baking dish and cover it with foil, Jessica.
What do you do with all of the extra frozen/boiled cabbage leaves? Do you use them for another recipe?
Hi Becky, I usually buy a small-ish head of cabbage to avoid the problem.