Stuffed cabbage rolls made from juicy pork and beef meatballs wrapped in tender fresh cabbage leaves and smothered in a tangy homemade tomato sauce. Make it ahead and pop it in the oven to bake for a quick and easy meal the whole family will love.
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Cabbage has to be one of my favourite vegetables. It’s so versatile – there is so much that you can do with it. For instance, you can shred it with carrots and cover with a tangy dressing to make a coleslaw.
I also like to boil it until it is just cooked and then drain and mix in a tablespoon of cornflour until there are no lumps. Then I add a cup of milk and a knob of butter and boil until thickened. Add plenty of ground black pepper, and there you have it – instant cabbage and creamy sauce in one pot – delicious served with a roast.
I even eat it steamed and topped with a knob of butter.
So you can imagine my disappointment when not one, but all three of my children hated cabbage and refused to eat it. Until I presented them with stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce that
If you are a lover of cabbage you also might to like to try this sautéed cabbage recipe from WellPlated.com.
Ingredients for stuffed cabbage rolls
You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions on how to make stuffed cabbage rolls on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Stuffed cabbage rolls in tomato sauce are really easy to make. You just form minced pork and beef into meatballs and roll them up in cabbage
To make it easy for you to draw up your shopping list, I’ve listed the ingredients here:
For the cabbage rolls
- Cabbage leaves
- Equal quantities of beef and pork mince (250g each)
- Cooked rice (1 cup)
- 1 egg
- Chopped onion
- Minced garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Chopped parsley
For the tomato sauce
- Sunflower oil
- Chopped onion
- Minced garlic
- Tomato pasata (not paste)
- Tin chopped tomatoes
- Brown Sugar
- Red Wine vinegar
- Chilli paste
- Salt and pepper to taste
This recipe uses rice instead of breadcrumbs as a filler for the meatballs. The rice helps to absorb the juices from the meat and tomato sauce as the dish cooks, and prevents it from being too watery.
How to make stuffed cabbage rolls
How long does it take?
This dish takes around 2 hours and 15 minutes to make and this may seem like a long time.
I’ve broken it down into the different steps so you can see where the time is used. You could also prepare this the day before and let it stand in the fridge overnight and then pop it in the oven the next day.
Some of the steps can be done simultaneously. For instance, you could start the sauce while the cabbage is softening, and roll the meatballs while the sauce is simmering.
- Prepare the cabbage – 15 minutes
- Mix ingredients for the meatballs – 5 minutes
- Roll the meatballs into the cabbage leaves – 20 minutes
- Prepare the tomato sauce – 30 minutes
- Put into a baking dish – 5 minutes
- Bake – 1 hour
Prepare the cabbage
- I used a savoy cabbage for this dish, but you can use any cabbage of your choice as long as the leaves are large enough to wrap around the meatballs.
- You can either steam the cabbage or you can boil the cabbage in a saucepan large enough to take the whole cabbage.
- The cabbage leaves need to be pliable enough to roll around a meatball. So you should just cook the cabbage just long enough for the outer leaves to pull away easily. If the inner leaves are still too hard to pull off, just continue cooking for another few minutes until they soften and pull away easily.
- To steam – place the whole cabbage in a steamer and let it steam for about 8 minutes.
- To boil – place the whole cabbage in a large saucepan of water and boil for about 8 minutes.
- You will need about 16 cabbage leaves. Be careful when pulling them off the cabbage, they will be very hot.
- If the inner leaves do not all come off steam or boil for a bit longer.
Assemble the cabbage rolls
Prepare the mince for the filling
- Chop the onions and place with the rest of the ingredients for the meatballs in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly to combine.
- I like to use half beef and half pork mince but you could use all beef if you prefer.
- Note – the onions are quite coarsely chopped. They do not have to be as finely chopped as they would be for regular meatballs.
Assemble the cabbage rolls
- Cabbage leaves have a thick vein running down the back which makes them difficult to roll. Just slice through this vein with a sharp knife to remove it (image 1 above).
- Take a spoonful of the mince mixture and form it into a short sausage shape.
- Place on the base of a cabbage leaf (image 2 above).
Tip – keep a bowl of clean cold water next to you so that you can dip your hands. The meat will not stick to your hands if they are wet.
- Fold the bottom of the cabbage leaf over the meat and then fold both sides in (image 3 above).
- Continue to roll until you have a sausage shape.
- Note – If you run out of large cabbage leaves, you can overlap 2 smaller ones. The result will be the same .
- If you are having difficulty in getting the cabbage rolls to keep their shape, you can secure them with a toothpick. Just remember to remove the toothpicks before serving.
Make the tomato sauce and assemble the dish
- Heat the oil in a saucepan (use a saucepan that has a lid).
- Fry the onions gently in the oil until they start to soften. Do not allow to brown.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes with the saucepan lid on.
- The sauce should be quite thick and chunky (image 1 above).
Assemble the dish
- Spoon half of tomato sauce into a baking dish.
- Arrange a layer of cabbage rolls on the tomato sauce (image 2 above).
- Cover with the remaining tomato sauce.
- If you only have a small baking dish, you can make more than one layer. Just cover each layer of cabbage rolls with tomato sauce and ensure you leave sufficient sauce to cover the final layer of cabbage rolls.
Bake the cabbage rolls
- Cover the baking dish with a layer of aluminium foil and bake in a medium oven 175C / 350F for about an hour.
- The cabbage should be soft and juicy (image 3 above) and the meat should be cooked through. You can test by cutting one of the rolls in half. The meat should not be pink.
Your questions answered
You can assemble the dish and freeze before baking.
Cook from frozen, but allow an additional 30 minutes of cooking time. You can also allow the cabbage rolls to defrost in the fridge and then cook as per the recipe instructions.
Yes, you can freeze the leftovers and then defrost and reheat in the microwave.
I always use a mixture of beef and pork when I make meatballs because I think that pork adds a lot of
Yes, you can, provided you have a pan large enough to make sure the cabbage rolls are submerged in the tomato sauce. In this case I would simmer with the lid on for at least 45 minutes. Also you would need to watch that it does not dry out.
If it does start to dry out, top up the liquid with beef or vegetable stock made with a stock cube.
Other ground beef recipes
I love cooking with mince or ground beef – there’s so much you can do with it.
- Meatloaf wrapped in bacon – juicy mince rolled around a layer of gooey cheese and wrapped in bacon
- Spicy meatballs with tomato sauce – homemade meatballs with a tangy tomato and mushroom sauce
- Vetkoek and curried mince – a traditional South African dish of vetkoek (deep fried balls of bread dough) filled with spicy curried mince
- Crepe cannelloni with meat sauce and cheese – a new twist on cannelloni
Or why not just have a browse through my section on main meals for more inspiration.
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Convert grams to cups
To help you convert your recipes, I have created a handy Cookery Conversion Calculator which will convert ingredients between grams, ounces, tablespoons, cups and millilitres. I hope you will find it useful.
If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read about how to do this in this post on baking at high altitudes.
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Recipe – Stuffed Cabbage Rolls in Tomato Sauce
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- Vegetable steamer or large saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping Board
- Baking dish
Ingredients
For the Cabbage Rolls
- 1 large cabbage
- 250 g beef mince
- 250 g pork mince
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup chopped parlsey
For the Tomato Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Sunflower Oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 cup Pasata
- 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Chilli Paste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the cabbage Rolls
- Place the head of cabbage in a steamer and steam for about 8 minutes until the outer leaves are soft enough to remove. Alternatively, boil the cabbage for about 8 minutes.
- Pull off about 16 cabbage leaves.
- Remove the vein from the cabbage leaves with a sharp knife
- Place all the ingredients for the meatballs in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly to combine.
- Take a spoonful of the mince mixture and form it into a short sausage shape.
Place on the base of a cabbage leaf. - Fold the bottom of the cabbage leaf over the meat and then fold both sides in.
Then continue to roll until you have a sausage shape.
For the tomato sauce
- Heat the oil in a saucepan (use a saucepan that has a lid).
Fry the onions gently in the oil until they start to soften. Do not allow to brown. - Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes with the saucepan lid on
Assemble and bake
- Place a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.
- Arrange a layer of cabbage rolls on the tomato sauce.
- Cover each layer of cabbage rolls with tomato sauce.
- Cover the baking dish with a layer of aluminium foil and bake in a medium oven 175C / 350F for about an hour.
Notes
The cabbage leaves need to be pliable enough to roll around a meatball. If the inner cabbage leaves do not all come off steam or boil for a bit longer. Don’t forget to slice the back of the large vein away using a sharp knife. This makes it much easier to roll the cabbage leaves. If you have difficulty in forming the rolls, secure the cabbage with a toothpick. Just remember to remove the toothpick before serving. I like to use half beef and half pork mince but you could use all beef if you prefer. The cabbage rolls should be well-covered with the tomato sauce. The calorie count may vary depending on the fat content of your mince and also on the size of the serving portions, and has been calculated per cabbage roll.
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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