These traditional cabbage rolls are a comfort family recipe that’s hearty and filling for special holidays or weeknight dinners and meal prepping.
If you have a weakness for traditional European recipes, these comforting stuffed cabbage rolls are for you. Wholesome goodness all baked in one pan, making it easy to cover and bring to a holiday dinner, or store individually in containers for easy meal prepping.
Traditional Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
The mouthwatering flavours in the recipe will have everything coming back for seconds! The best part is that it uses simple ingredients, healthier alternatives (like replacing sugar with a substitute), and a whole of lot protein and fibre.
Why You’ll Love These Cabbage Rolls
- Made with no sugar (using Swerve instead of brown sugar)
- Made with naturally gluten-free rice
- High in Protein and Fibre
- Easy to meal prep or make ahead of time for a holiday dinner
- Comforting and irresistible flavours of rice, tomato sauce, and mix of ground beef and pork
Kitchen Tools You’ll Need
To make the most perfect cabbage rolls, you’ll need a large roasting pan. I use my deep Hexclad roasting pan, the same one I used for oven-roasted chicken or turkey.
You’ll also need a large mixing bowl, knife, cutting board, spoon, pot for cooking the rice, large pot for boiling cabbage and a non-stick, non-toxic frying pan for browning the beef.
How To Make Traditional Cabbage Rolls
- Cook The Rice and Ground Beef: Be sure to dedicate 20-25 minutes to cooking the rice and then also sauté the onion and garlic in butter with salt and pepper.
- Prepare The Cabbage: Core the cabbage and carefully place in a pot of boiling water, to simmer for 2-3 minutes until tender. Scoop out and drain.
- Mix The Filling: In a large bowl, combine the ground beef and pork, rice, cooked onions, crumbled chicken bouillon cubes, and seasoning.
- Assemble The Rolls: Spoon a portion of the beef filling into the centre of a cabbage leaf. Fold the side in, the bottom up, and roll upwards.
- Arrange and Bake: In the deep roasting pan, arrange the rolls one after another, tightly to not unravel, and pour tomato sauce mixed with water on top to evenly coat rolls. Sprinkle with brown sugar substitute.
- Bake In The Oven: Cover the roasting pan with foil and bake for 1.5 to 2 hours or until tender and fully cooked through.
- Serve: Scoop individual rolls out and serve hot, pouring extra sauce on top for added flavour. Enjoy!
How to Get Perfect Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
- Choose a fresh cabbage. Make sure the cabbage head is nice and heavy, with firm leaves
- Pre-cook the rice until perfectly fluffy. This allows the rice to fully absorb all of the comforting flavours while baking.
- Season generously. Don’t be afraid to season generously with salt and pepper, and a lot of bouillon to add that irresistible flavour.
- Roll tightly. For larger leaves, you can use more filling, but remember to roll them nice and tight so that they stay together while baking. No need toothpicks, simple place them side by side tightly in the roasting pan.
Side Dishes to Serve With Cabbage Rolls:
- The Best Oven-Baked Crispy Parmesan Potato Wedges (Gluten-Free)
- Roasted Crispy Italian Broccoli (GF, Keto, Vegan, Paleo, Whole 30)
- Easy and Healthy Greek Salad (Gluten-Free, Low Carb, Keto)
- Bacon and Cheddar Loaded Potato Salad Recipe
- Crispy Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries (GF, Vegan, Paleo, Whole 30)
Meal Prepping and Storing Tips
Section off the cabbage rolls into glass meal prepping containers (let’s say 5 containers for each day of the week) and add in a side of vegetables of choice. For example, each container would have two cabbage rolls and a serving of green beans or mashed potatoes. They also go great with a fresh salad.
These are my favourite glass containers that are the perfect portion sizes and can also be used in the freezer. You can freeze your cabbage rolls for up to six months.
Otherwise, leftovers can be stored in the fridge for four days, reheated as needed.
How to Reheat Cabbage Rolls
In The Oven – Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and place desired amount of cabbage rolls in a baking with added sauce. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes to thoroughly heat through.
In The Microwave – On a microwave safe dish, heat for 2-3 minutes flipping halfway to fully reheat.
On The Stove – Heat a pan with olive oil and add in the rolls with extra sauce. Cook for 10-15 minutes, carefully flipping halfway through.
Traditional Cabbage Rolls (Sugar Free & Gluten-Free)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 head green cabbage (1 large or 2 medium)
- 1 cup basmati rice cooked in 2 cups of water
- 2 lbs ground pork
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 large onion finely diced
- ⅓ cup butter
- 3 cubes chicken bouillon crushed
- salt and pepper
- 2 cans condensed tomato soup
- ¼ cup brown sugar substitute or sweetener of choice
Instructions
- Cook rice as per package instructions (about 20 minutes), fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.
- Sauté diced onion in butter with salt and pepper until soft and caramelized. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Wash head of cabbage and remove its core (about 2 inches deep) using a kitchen knife. Bring a large pot of water 2/3 full to a boil. While waiting, make the filling.
- Make the filling by combing the beef, pork, cooked rice, caramelized onion, crushed chicken bouillon cubes and a generous amount of salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Mix well by hand or with a hand mixer for a minute or two.
- Blanch the cabbage head by placing it in the boiling water carefully. Boil for 2-3 minutes until leaves are tender. You may have to reboil the cabbage during the peeling process. Remove the cabbage using a strainer and place in a colander or towel and gently remove the leaves using tongs.
- Use a knife to trim down the centre vein of the leaves to make rolling easier.
- Pour the canned tomato sauce in a pot, fill the can with water and also add to the pot. Bring to a simmer and stir well, then remove from heat.
- To fill each leaf, start with 2 heaping tablespoons of the filling in an oval shape in the centre of the leaf (portion sizes can be adjusted depending on the size of the leaf). Fold the sides inwards, fold the bottom up, and roll upwards. Roll tightly and place each roll tightly side by side in a deep baking dish. Continue for all the leaves, using two leaves if they're getting smaller in size.
- Sprinkle brown sugar (substitute) on top of the rolls and then pour the tomato sauce on top to evenly coat the rolls. Be sure to coat the rolls before layering rolls. Use any extra broken leaves to layer on top of the rolls, to protect them from burning.
- Cover the pan with lid or foil and bake for 1.5 hours at 350℉ or 2 hours at 325℉. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
More Dinner Recipes to Try:
- One Pan Asparagus and Salmon Dinner (Keto, Low Carb, GF, Paleo)
- Easy One Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe (Gluten-Free)
- Oven Roasted Stuffed Turkey (Easy, Keto, Low Carb, Gluten-Free)
- Baked Ricotta Chicken (Gluten-Free, Paleo)
- One Pan Cranberry Rosemary Chicken (Keto, Paleo, Whole 30)
- Gluten-Free Cranberry Stuffing Recipe
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