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.
I made a vegetarian version of this using Impossible Meat, Beyond Sausage Hot Italian and rolled them in blanched large Brussel sprout leaves instead of cabbage. The Beyond Sausage added some other flavor to the stuffing but I doubt changed much except to add heat. I had homemade marinara sauce very close in ingredients to the recipe’s sauce so I used that. It was incredibly good. The thing to know is you can make this without using real meat and it will hold together and taste delicious .
These were the absolute BEST stuffed cabbages I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot here in Pittsburgh, PA, where “hunky” food is extremely common and present at almost every get-together and event. I made the sauce and cooked the rice the night before to make the next day prep easier. I added extra garlic to both the sauce and meat (garlic is life), and a few big dashes of worcestershire sauce to the meat, plus a pinch of cayenne for a little zip. I don’t think my additions changed much, and this will forever be my recipe for cabbage rolls. I loved the sauce and the fact that there was enough of it to pour over mashed potatoes. This was my 1st time making these – it’s always seemed intimidating to me – but your instructions made things super easy and my husband is a happy man, so thank you so much for a perfect recipe!
Lisa, I am also from Pittsburgh and legit laughed out loud at the use of the term “hunky”. I wondering if you have to be from Pgh to appreciate it. But given you are and you complimented the recipe, I’ll give it a try – though my Ukrainian grandmother set an enormously high bar.
Cabbage rolls were delicious!!!
Thank you for this recipe!!!
First time to ever cook cabbage rolls. We loved them. They were better at 1.5 hr cooking time. The sauce was delicious … just enough sweetness. Definitely very close to the rolls we just had at a authentic Mediterranean restaurant on Saturday. I will make these again!
Love love love it! I make a big batch and I eat it for the rest of the week for lunch and dinner so I don’t have to run out for and get lunch thank you so much for this delicious recipe in your lifesaver
Today was my first time to make stuffed cabbage rolls, and they were absolutely delicious!
This recipe is a keeper! ❤️
Why cook the rice beforehand? It seems to me the rice would cook having been in the oven for 60-90 minutes?
Rice needs to be able to absorb a good amount of liquid to soften, and I pre-cook the rice because that way you don’t need to worry about putting extra liquid into the filling in hopes that the rice will cook properly.
I never use eggs I have been making these for years I also use 5min rice I do not cook it first I just throw it into the meat mixture.
My grandparents were Hungarian and they also added slightly cooked bacon in with the meat and /2 cup tomato sauce.
Should have read 1/2 cup tomato sauce.
Fantastic recipe!!! I had never prepared Stuffed Cabbage before, and followed the recipe , no modifications. My husband raved about it. Thank you!
Hi! Would flax egg work as an egg substitute (allergy)?
I think it should be fine but I haven’t tested it this way, you could also probably just omit the egg.
This recipe is beyond amazing. Especially the sauce. I wouldn’t have thought such a simple sauce could have such an awesome, mild, balanced flavor but it just blew me away. It is definitely a project to make this, but it’s so worth it. It’s not just dinner, it’s a TREAT!
Great recipe. I used venison for the chopmeat. Even the kids cleaned their plates.
These turned out great. Thank you for the recipe. Can the leftovers be frozen? And if so for how long?
You can freeze for 2 months!
Before or after cooking can you freeze?
I freeze after cooking!
Hi , I just finished assembling these beautiful stuffed cabbage, is it possible to freeze these uncooked?
I doubled the recipe and have over 2 dozen. If so, do I put the sauce on it before freezing?
Yes you can freeze them uncooked and you could either store the sauce in a separate container or just pour it over the top of the rolls.
Yummy! This is a beautifully tasty dish! We had mashed sweet potato with ours which went well with it too. We couldn’t believe how filling this dish is, we only had a small serving of potato with 2 and a half rolls each but we were absolutely stuffed, thank you for a fantastic recipe.
Do you cook the rice first before assembling the Cabbage Rolls?
Yes the rice is cooked!
I fried the Hamburg with onion n garlic in butter just
Stirred around a couple times for like 3 mins then mixed in with cooked rice n stuffed the cabbage rolls n wrapped each one with a slice of bacon !! I love bacon wrapped galumpkis, they are phenomenal!!!!
Can I make these ahead of time and freeze? If so, is it better to freeze before or after baking?
Yes you can, I typically freeze after baking!
Is there any reason why I couldn’t cook the rolls in a crockpot under low temperature for 8 hours?
Yes that should be fine!
This recipe was delicious. My cabbage rolls looked more like covered meatballs. I doubled the meat using half beef and half venison. I also added 3 tsp of Italian seasoning to the meat mixture. My 3 year old daughter scarfed it down!
Hello there! Could I substitute ground chicken or turkey for the ground beef? Thank you!
Yes either will work fine!
Hello I have cooked this receipe before it was delicious thank you. I am thinking of cooking it for a party of 20 people. Would It still taste the same if I l prepared it the day before hand and cooked it later the next day.
Yes that should work fine!