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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.
Delicious! I added garlic to the meat mixture and cooked the carrots in some butter with garlic and tomato paste. I also doubled the sauce, which I was very happy about because it was so yummy! I used my pressure cooker to help with the cabbage….super easy to do. Thank you for sharing this recipe, it will be a new favorite in my house.
Stuffed with seasoned or season vegetables? Think you meant season as in the seasons vegetables and not seasoning. Also boiling is easy fete removing the core if you use tongs to remove the individual leaves. Who has space in their freezers for two large heads of cabbage?
I really don’t know what you mean, Paula. The rolls are “stuffed with a savoury combination of ground beef, pork, rice and vegetables, then cooked in the oven in a creamy tomato sauce”. I don’t know where you got “seasoned vegetables” but not in my recipe.
I love this recipe and will be making it today to serve some guests we will be having over for dinner. Have you ever tried cooking the golubtsi in an Instant Pot and if so, how long should I cook it?
I haven’t tested this recipe in the Instant Pot, so cannot advise on the timing.
I could not find 95% lean pork at my local grocery store, and ended up using 75% lean pork and 95% lean beef. This resulted in the sauce being a quite watery consistency after cooking, although it still tasted very good! If one runs into the same problem as I, it would probably be a good idea to reduce the amount of chicken stock.
This recipe looks delicious! How long would I need to cook on low or medium heat if I was to use my stovetop instead?
I would cook them just as long but on low heat. The issue with the stovetop method is the bottom tends to burn. If you can, I recommend using an oven for this recipe.
Tried cooking Russian food for the first time (inspired by my Russian friends) and my family loved this recipe so much.
Thanks for sharing!
I am thrilled you loved it, Sharon! Thank you for a great review!
Hello.
This recipe might come from Russia from but in Lebanon we do it all the time.
Stuff cabbage with meat, rice, salt and pepper only.
In the pot, cut the shredded leaves (the ones that are not too perfect to stuff) in small pieces. Fry with a bit of oil, add salt + cumin.
Once the base is done. Put the rolls nicely in the pot, you can add whole garlic cloves in between. And here comes the secret for very tasty cabbages.
Aside, smash some garlic add to them dried peppermint and…. grenadine syrup (the concentrated one made at home and boiled for like 12 hours). This what makes the whole story. Add this on top of the rolls. Cover with water + salt.
Cover the pot and wait until they get cooked. You will have the best cabbage rolls in your life.
Thank you for sharing your tasty recipe, Hala!
Delicious! I really enjoyed making and eating these cabbage rolls 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. Love the tip to freeze the cabbage, it worked like a charm. When I was at the supermarket they strangely had run out of green cabbage, only had purple. So I was a bit unsure, but decided to just try the purple cabbage. The dark purple color against the tomato and cream sauce make a nice contrast.
Also… loved the tomato sauce. It’s like a velvety, rich tomato soup, thanks to the creme fraiche. I also tried reducing some of the sauce as well, and wow. And the meat filling is delicious. I had some extra filling left over, so I made them into meatballs, pan fried them in some butter, then finished cooking them with some of the tomato sauce. I think this recipe will become a staple for my husband and I, can’t wait to make these again!
Wow, what an amazing response, Jen! I’ve never actually tried them with red cabbage but I made lazy cabbage rolls with it and yes, very delicious!
I have friends who immigrated from Russia. I would like to have them for dinner and serve this recipe. What are some sides that would be authentic to serve?
Hi Fred, you can add this recipe for mashed potatoes to serve alongside the cabbage rolls. If you are thinking to have them over in the summer, this simple tomato and cucumber salad is a classic. Another one is this Korean Carrot Salad, yes, it’s very Russian despite the name. 🙂 And to finish the meal you can serve Russian Honey Cake Medovik or this simple Apple Cake. There are many other options on my website. Simply enter Russian in the search bar at the top and you will get many results you can choose from. I hope this helps!!
I will be trying this recipe with Sour cabbage, I have a friend that uses all pork, very little rice and sour cabbage, no sauce. They were delicious!
My whole family loved this recipe and the borscht recipe too! Thank you for sharing. Both have become a staple in our home.
That is so great, Jenny!! I am so happy to hear that.