This stuffed cabbage rolls recipe is cabbage leaves filled with beef and rice, coated in a homemade tomato sauce and baked to perfection. A comfort food classic that’s hearty, delicious and simple to make.
I’ve been eating stuffed cabbage since I was a child, and I’ve been working on this recipe for a long time to create the ultimate rendition of cabbage rolls. Serve your stuffed cabbage rolls with a side of Instant Pot mashed potatoes and parmesan roasted broccoli, and watch the rave reviews pour in!
I grew up eating cabbage rolls, and I’ve had enough in my time to know the difference between a good cabbage roll and a less than stellar cabbage roll. My version of cabbage rolls features a flavorful beef and rice filling, and the rolls are cooked in a simple homemade tomato sauce for fabulous results.
How do you make stuffed cabbage rolls?
The first step is to make your filling. The filling is a combination of ground beef, cooked rice, onions, garlic, egg and seasonings. Everything gets mixed together to form the base of your dish.
The meat mixture gets wrapped up inside cooked cabbage leaves, then the cabbage rolls are layered in a baking dish on top of homemade tomato sauce and baked. This dish takes over an hour to bake because to want to make sure your meat is cooked through, so plan accordingly!
How do you get cabbage leaves off the head?
If you try to remove raw cabbage leaves from the cabbage head, you’ll want to slice off the root end and very carefully peel the leaves off to avoid tearing. Sometimes tearing is inevitable no matter how careful you are, so I’ve found the best method is to cook the head of cabbage first. Cut off the root end, then submerge your cabbage head in a pot of boiling water until the leaves are tender and can easily be peeled away.
Tips for Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
- You’ll need to cut thick part of the cabbage leaves away before you start rolling them up. I’ve found it’s easiest to take a paring knife and cut a V-shape out of the bottom of each leaf to remove the tough rib.
- Place the cabbage rolls seam side down in the baking dish.
- The homemade tomato sauce does contain brown sugar and vinegar, as cabbage rolls are traditionally baked in sweet and sour style sauce. If you don’t want to use brown sugar, you can omit it, but the flavor won’t be as authentic.
- Cabbage rolls can be assembled and stored covered in the fridge for up to 8 hours before you plan to bake them.
How long do you bake stuffed cabbage rolls?
You’ll want to plan on baking your cabbage for a minimum of one hour. The cabbage should be tender and the meat cooked all the way through. I typically start checking at the hour mark, but have found that sometimes it can take as long as 1 hour 30 minutes for cabbage rolls to be ready.
Cabbage Roll Soup
Love cabbage rolls but don’t want to go through all the effort of peeling and folding and baking? Try my easy and wildly popular cabbage roll soup instead!
These stuffed cabbage rolls may be a little more work than your typical dinner, but they’re totally worth it the extra effort!
More great dinner options
- Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
- Pizza Stuffed Shells
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Beef Noodle Casserole
- Chicken Parmesan Pasta
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Video
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Ingredients
For the tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes do not drain
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
For the cabbage rolls
- 1 pound ground beef I use 90% lean
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1/2 cup onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves chopped, divided use
- 1 egg
- 1 head cabbage
- cooking spray
Instructions
- For the tomato sauce: Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes or until translucent.
- Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper to the pot.
- Stir in the brown sugar and red wine vinegar. Bring to a simmer.
- Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the sauce is simmering, assemble the cabbage rolls. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Immerse the cabbage head in the boiling water. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until cabbage leaves are pliable. Peel 12 large leaves off the cabbage.
- Place the ground beef, rice, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons of parsley and egg in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce to the bowl. Stir to combine.
- Lay each cabbage leaf on a flat surface. Use a small knife to cut a V-shaped notch to remove the thick part of the cabbage rib.
- Shape 1/3 of a cup of the meat mixture into a log shape and place in the center of a cabbage leaf. Roll the cabbage leaf around the meat mixture. Repeat with remaining meat and cabbage leaves.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Coat a 9"x13" pan with cooking spray. Place 1/2 of the tomato sauce in the bottom of the baking dish. Place the cabbage rolls, seam side down, in the dish. Top with remaining sauce.
- Cover with foil. Bake for 60-90 minutes or until cabbage is tender and meat is cooked through.
- Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, then serve.
This will be frequently used. Sauce is light, sweet and fresh tasting. Rolls are juicy, tender, tasteful. Whatever u reasonably add tastes well..duck egg, bit bacon, garden chard/herbs, (ferm) layered kraut/juice, Costco’s grass fed pasture raised beef..never go back to pork. Uncovered, the juice evaporated quick repeat with tomato juice but had a nice lite crisp top. Thanks for sharing lovely combo, yum!
Very good
Hands down the absolute best cabbage roll receive ever tried! I grew up eating them, made them my whole life and one compare to this!!’
First time I’ve ever made stuffed cabbage rolls. So glad I found this recipe, I followed it to the t!! Was so delicious! My husband loved them too. Thank you for another great recipe!!
Could you freeze this once assembled? Or after it’s cooked?
I want to make it for my mom to be able to cook/reheat when she wants it.
You can freeze it assembled!
Can these be made the night before, refrigerated and then baked the following day?
Yes that’s fine!
Delicious recipe! I liked it better than the recipe that uses the canned tomato soup. The sauce was wonderful and there was a good amount of it to pour over the cabbage rolls for serving.
Make filling same but cook in sauerkraut juice and beer,no tomato sauce!! Recipe from Finish Grandma 80 plus years ago
This sounds super good.
It’s a fine recipe but I didn’t realise you couldn’t use an entire cabbage, just a few green leaves on the surface.
Also, I don’t know why so many of these cooking websites continue to use the same API that simply multiplies measurements for all the ingredients to offer extra servings, it’s wrong and often ends with failure.
Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Posted earlier but forgot to leave my rating. This recipe is DELISH!
Great!!
Excellent recipe!!! I did add a fresh bay leaf to the sauce.
This was my first time making these from scratch and they turned out perfectly! The only changes I made were substituted red wine vinegar for white vinegar (I thought I already had it so I didn’t get any at the store) and used 85/15 ground beef because the store didn’t have 90/10. The recipe was easy to follow and the tips were a big help! 10/10 will be making these again!
You can also freeze the cabbage and take it out to thaw — the leaves will be limp but not have lost their vitamins!
can you freeze your stuffed cabbage rolls?…..best way?
I’d freeze the rolls uncooked separate from the sauce!
I’m single, so I always freeze the leftovers. I put each in a small freezer bag, along with a lot of the sauce, and then put all the small freezer bags in a large freezer bag and make sure to freeze them flat. Making this tomorrow! Always good. I use 1/2 ground pork and 1/2 ground beef. Great recipe!
Excellent recipe. I doubled the brown sugar and vinegar to make it more sweet/sour. It was good, not too strong.
I just assembled my cabbage rolls & realized I forgot the egg! Help! Will the recipe still work?
Yes it should still work, the filling might just be less firm!