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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.
I’m excited to try this recipe, bought all the ingredients today. Question: do you brown the meat beforehand or does it just just cook during the cooking process?
You don’t need to brown the meat mixture before putting it in cabbage leaves as the rolls get braised in liquid for 1 hour 30 minutes.
This is excellent. “golub” means pigeon in several languages. When the cabbage is rolled up from the wide part to the top, the roll resembles a pigeon breast.
Love this recipe the frozen cabbage leaf method worked beautifully as I would always boil then wrap then fry . Too messy and a lot of effort. This was truly effortless thank you so much for sharing.
I love to be able to simplify some labour intensive, traditional recipes. So glad this recipe made your life easier and tastier, Veronica!
Trying to go low carb. Do you think replacing the rice with cauliflower rice would work? Not sure what that would do to the overall structure.
I haven’t tried, so can’t be certain but I have made them without the rice for the same reason. They are still delicious but I think using cauliflower rice is worth a try, Sara.
This is a wonderful recipe! Have you ever tried this recipe with sour cabbage?
Hi Joni, I haven’t. Do you mean cabbage fermented whole? I’ve never actually seen such a thing!
It’s a winter staple here in Serbia. Minced meat, rice and chopped onions make the filling for the cabbage leaves. It’s cooked very slowly on low heat and ham and bacon are added to the pot. And there’s plenty for freezer, too.
Mmm… now that I think about it, I should make a batch for my freezer. ๐
Hey there. Do you freeze them cooked or uncooked?
I usually freeze them cooked, Charlene.
Valinka, sour cabbage is otherwise known as BRINED CABBAGE, there are recipes for making it if you can;t find it in the store.
Hi Susan, I actually have a recipe on my site for brined cabbage aka sauerkraut as I grew up eating it. ๐ What I meant is I never saw fermented cabbage being used for cabbage rolls. In Russia and Ukraine we use fresh cabbage leaves for that.
Hi there! My family has a Ukrainian background and we do definitely use fermented cabbage for our rolls which we call Sarma. My mum ferments large amounts of whole cabbage heads in a barrel in the garage just for sarma!! ๐ We also do it in a massive pot and cook it very slow on the stovetop. In order for the sarma not to burn, we put a layer of cabbage on the bottom of the pot. We also add in some smoked meats to get a bit of a smoky flavour.
Hi Cyzana, it’s great to hear of your family tradition, however sarma is not Ukrainian in origin, it comes from the Balkans, Turkey, Moldova and Romania. They are all countries close to Ukraine and as we know there is lots of crossover in food influence. Stuffed cabbage is called “holubtsi” in Ukrainian. Fermented cabbage is also used but this method is quite old and often only kept in remotes villages. What I meant is I never saw it myself but I know it exists from cookbooks.
I am looking forward to trying your recipe for cabbage rolls tomorrow. The only thing I will be doing different is something my friend tried this week, which is cooking the cabbage in the Instant Pot! She said it just took 5 minutes at pressure but will do 10 minutes next time, as the cabbage leaves in the middle of the head were not quite softened enough.
Oh I would love to hear your feedback, Sandra. It’s a brilliant idea to cook the cabbage in a pressure cooker! I would actually experiment at cooking the cabbage rolls in the Instant Pot as well.
I actually did this yesterday. The first cabbage I did at 5 minutes and it wasn’t quite soft enough. Second cabbage I did 7 minutes and it was perfect.
Excellent! Thank you for sharing, Diana!
I’m so happy someone has finally shared the freezing cabbage method. I’ve used this method for the past 25 years or so. I like to buy my cabbage from my farmers market. There are 2 primary types of cabbage grown. Summer cabbage and winter cabbage. I prefer summer cabbage, it has a softer texture and makes more tender rolls. I pick them up when they are a fantastic price. Put in freezer and pull out when ready to make my rolls, which is not usually until Thanksgiving and again at Christmas (if I’m not smart enough to make them all at the same time). I do cook my cabbage rolls longer when using the frozen cabbage method since the cabbage is not cooked at all as it would have been with the boiled leaf mllethod. Because of the extra cooking time I use raw rice and raw meet but I add some tomato soup to my stuffing mix so there’s moisture for the rice to absorb. Image the extra flavour as you don’t loose the meat juices as they are also favouring the rice as it cooks. I can 1 can of soup for a recipe this size. I also cook in a saucy sauce which again is simply a mixture of equal canned tomato soup to water and a bit of salt and pepper. Enough to cover the rolls. Easy peasy.
Great tips, Tammy!! Thank you for sharing!
I have cooked your rolls three times now.There is a fresh batch now in the oven every one loves them saying the best ever!!
Fantastic! Enjoy your cabbage rolls, Randy! I need to make a batch or two made asap!
My first time making cabbage rolls and absolutely delicious!
Thank you Vikalinka! My whole family loved them and these are by far the best I’ve ever tasted!
A keeper!
So happy to hear it, Wendoline! It feels great when you ace something the first time around, isn’t it?!
What size quart cast iron dish did you use for this recipe?
I’ve used a 5 quart dish, Amanda.
Dear Vikalinka, thank you for the cabbage roll recipe. I am in a book club and when we read books based in other countries we make their food. Everyone loved the cabbage rolls and no one said anything, but I thought the leaves were not as tender as they should be. Do you think it could be because I packed them too tightly in the pan? Was I supposed to cut off the thicker part of the leaf at the bottom? I donโt know if you have any suggestions for me because I really liked them, but I know they can be better if I figure out why part of the roll didnโt cut through very easily. Thank you, Julie
Hi Julie, I always cut away thicker parts to ensure the entire leaf is the same thickness. Aslo, they do need to be submerged in the cooking liquid the entire time. I do like my cabbage leaves to have a bit of texture but if yours were a bit tough for your liking, you could always increase the cooking time to 2 hours total! I hope it works slightly better next time. Best, Julia