Stuffed cabbage rolls are a traditional German comfort dish. They remain one of my all-time favourite dishes. Rolls of sweet-and-sour beef and rice in a cabbage leaf are then doused in a flavorful tomato sauce to finish the dish. It’s like making a meal in one pot. It’s easy to make.
Cooked cabbage leaves are wrapped around a variety of fillings to form a dish known as a cabbage roll. Northern, Eastern, Southeastern and Central European cuisines, as well as much of Western Asia, parts of North Africa and Northern China, all use it. Garlic, onion, and other seasonings are commonly used in traditional European meat dishes. Mushrooms and other vegetables, as well as grains like rice and oats, are frequently used. Southeastern Europeans love to tie their knots with fermented cabbage leaves. Asians love them with meat and fish as well as their tofu and their bamboo shoots mushrooms. As a covering, Chinese cabbage is frequently employed.
Before serving, the stuffing is placed inside the leaves of cabbage and baked, boiled, or microwaved. When it comes to the sauce, there is a lot of variety. In Sweden and Finland, steamed cabbage is served with lingonberry sauce, which is both sweet and sour. In Eastern Europe, tomato-based sauces and cream cheese are common. Cabbage is stuffed with rice and minced meat and rolled into a cigar shape in Lebanon. A lemon-and-olive-oil vinaigrette spiced with garlic and dried mint usually goes along with it as a side dish.
There are regional variations in the recipe and size of the cabbage roll, but it is a traditional Romanian dish that can take up to six hours to make from start to finish. Cooked in a tomato sauce with polenta and sour cream, and served with a side of spicy pickled peppers, it is one of the most popular Italian dishes.
Vegetarian rice and vegetable stuffings to beefy stuffings of beef, or mutton are some of the options for fillings. Whether roasted in the oven or cooked on the stovetop, cabbage rolls keep well in the freezer for future use. If you’re looking for the best way to eat kohlrouladen, it’s best served with mashed potatoes or spaetzle, but it’s also delicious on its own. Because the meat will form the basis of the rolls, it must be of the highest quality. Adding caraway or mustard seeds to the chilli powder and origanum seasoning can enhance the dish’s flavour. Crispy bacon adds a daring flavour to our filling, which is already delicious. For this recipe, you will need kitchen thread to bind the cabbage rolls. Cabbage rolls are among the best-slow-cooked dishes in the world today. Cabbage rolls may be a little more time-consuming than they appear to be. They’re not difficult, though.
TIPS AND TRICKS
Here are some fast tips for making stuffed cabbage rolls easier:
- For easy separation of cabbage leaves, try this quick trick. Use a sharp knife, score a large head of cabbage, then carefully place the entire head in a half-pot of simmering water. Cover. After about a minute, the leaves will begin to fall off.
- Also, don’t roll it into a tight ball! The looser the package, the better, as the rice will expand as it cooks in the cooking liquid.
- Make sure to add the pan juices and any additional ingredients. If you can’t even fit all of the rolls in one layer of a dish, you can still add a second layer.
- To prevent the rolls from unrolling or floating around in the pan juices, fill any gaps with additional cabbage leaves and wad them up to plug the holes. Finally, use more cabbage leaves to enclose the rolls.
- Keeping the rolls fresh and preventing scorching is made possible by wrapping them in cabbage leaves on both the bottom and the top.
- Remove the rolls from the oven when they are fork-tender, and then leave them to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature with the lid on.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS
There are so many ways to incorporate flavorful ingredients into a dish. The most important thing, in my opinion, is to find a way to preserve the meat’s natural juices while also bringing out the various flavours.
The size and shape of the vegetable will determine the size and shape of your cabbage rolls. If you can get your hands on a large head of cabbage, do so; if not, get two heads of cabbage.
Tomato Sauce:
½ yellow onion, finely diced
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp crushed red peppers
28 ounces fire-roasted tomatoes, canned
ounces tomato sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Vinegar
Cabbage Rolls:
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 ½ cups cooked white rice
½ cup finely diced yellow onion
2 tsp minced garlic
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
¼ cup parsley, freshly chopped
2 eggs
1 small head of cabbage
HOW TO MAKE STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS
Direction for sauce
To begin with, warm the oil in a pan on medium-high heat.
To this mixture, add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes, or until soft.
a)
b)
Add in the garlic and stir
Add the can of fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper
Mix everything and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add in the brown sugar and the vinegar
Stir and bring to a simmer
Let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently
Direction for rolls
Bring the water to a simmer in a huge pot.
Carefully lower the cabbage head into the boiling water
Cook for 7 to 8 minutes until the leaves are soft
Remove the cabbage from the water and set it on a tray
Peel 12 leaves off the head
In another large bowl add the ground beef, onion, cooked rice, salt, pepper and other seasonings and the eggs
Use your hands to combine altogether
Place the cabbage leaves on a flat surface, cut off the thick portion of each one
Pull some of the meat mixes and shape it into a log and place it in the centre of the cabbage leaf
Roll up as you would a burrito, sides first
Repeat until all are rolled up
Pour half of the sauce mix into the bottom of a 9×13 pan
Lay the cabbage rolls on top, seam side down
Top with the remaining sauce and cover the pan with aluminium foil
Place in a preheated 350* oven and bake for 60 minutes
Pour the tomato sauce over all the cabbage rolls. Make sure to cover all of them. Add enough sauce to cover the cabbage rolls by half or more
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between German and Polish cabbage rolls?
Braised cabbage, or Golabki in Polish, is a popular dish in the country. It’s made with gently smooth cabbages coated all over with roughly chopped pork or beef, green onions, and rice, and it can be baked in a casserole, cooked on the cooktop, or even cooked in a slow cooker. One is more of a sweet sauce, while the other is more of a savoury flavour.
- Could I just layer this in a pan?
That is an option. On the other hand, the rolls of beef mince and rice are rolled into the cabbage leaf to keep them together. You might give it a shot; I’m sure it would work well as a lasagna-style dish.
- How do I store these rolls?
They can be carefully wrapped in packaging and refrigerated for up to 3 days after they have cooled. You can also freeze them by firmly folding them in plastic wrap and putting them in freezer-safe bags.
- Why are my cabbage rolls tough?
Cooking your cabbage rolls for an insufficient amount of time will result in a tough roll. To begin with, I leave the cabbage out overnight to soften it up a little bit. Even after cooking, you may need to revert to them in the oven and cook them for an additional period if they aren’t soft enough.
- How else to avoid overcooking cabbage?
A huge pot of boiled salted water should be brought. Cook for 10 minutes after carefully adding the cabbage heads to the boiling water. Toward the end of the cooking time, keep an eye on the sprouts to prevent them from becoming overcooked. Sprouts are ready to eat after about six to ten minutes of cooking time.
- Why is my cabbage mushy?
Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from shredded cabbage after mixing it with 1 tbsp of salt and letting it sit in a sieve for at least an hour. This helps to get rid of a lot of the cabbage’s hidden moisture, which makes the slaw dry.
- Why does cabbage give you gas?
When bacteria in your gut ferment the sugar raffinose, which is found in green leafy vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and cabbage, it makes gas and bloating.
CONCLUSION
For most of us, stuffed cabbage rolls evoke flashbacks of family gatherings and meals. After a long day of work, you deserve this!
Old Fashioned Cabbage Stuffers

Ingredients
- Tomato Sauce:
- ½ yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp crushed red peppers
- 28 ounces fire-roasted tomatoes, canned
- ounces tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
- Cabbage Rolls:
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 ½ cups cooked white rice
- ½ cup finely diced yellow onion
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- ¼ cup parsley, freshly chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1 small head of cabbage
Instructions
Direction for sauce
To begin with, warm the oil in a pan on medium-high heat.
To this mixture, add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes, or until soft.
Add in the garlic and stir
Add the can of fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper
Mix everything and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add in the brown sugar and the vinegar
Stir and bring to a simmer
Let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently
Direction for rolls
Bring the water to a simmer in a huge pot.
Carefully lower the cabbage head into the boiling water
Cook for 7 to 8 minutes until the leaves are soft
Remove the cabbage from the water and set it on a tray
Peel 12 leaves off the head
In another large bowl add the ground beef, onion, cooked rice, salt, pepper and other seasonings and the eggs
Use your hands to combine altogether
Place the cabbage leaves on a flat surface, cut off the thick portion of each one
Pull some of the meat mixes and shape it into a log and place it in the centre of the cabbage leaf
Roll up as you would a burrito, sides first
Repeat until all are rolled up
Pour half of the sauce mix into the bottom of a 9×13 pan
Lay the cabbage rolls on top, seam side down
Top with the remaining sauce and cover the pan with aluminium foil
Place in a preheated 350* oven and bake for 60 minutes
Pour the tomato sauce over all the cabbage rolls. Make sure to cover all of them. Add enough sauce to cover the cabbage rolls by half or more.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 531Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 197mgSodium: 727mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 49g
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