Name: Old-Fashioned Cabbage Rolls (Inspired by Nan)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 135 min
Total time: 195 min
Ingredients: 1 cup cooked long-grain rice (or similar variety (to yield 1 cup of cooked rice, you'll need about 1/3 cup of uncooked rice)); 1.5 pounds lean ground beef (or extra lean ground beef); 1.5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 1 large egg; 1 yellow onion (peeled and minced); 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley; 3 cloves garlic (minced); 1.5 teaspoons salt; 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon dried dill (dill weed); 1/2 teaspoon onion powder; 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red chili flakes (crushed red pepper flakes) (optional); 3 (13.5-ounce) cans tomato sauce; 1 medium head green cabbage; 1/2 cup water (leftover from boiling cabbage or regular water); Chopped fresh dill (garnish to taste (optional)); Cooking spray (to grease baking dish or roasting pan)

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These easy old-fashioned cabbage rolls are stuffed with a savoury ground beef mixture, coated in tomato sauce and are oh so scrumptious! Inspired by my grandmother, it’ll be the only stuffed cabbage roll recipe you’ll need!

Old-fashioned cabbage rolls with tomato sauce and dill garnish in a serving dish.

Hi friends! Today I’m sharing another family recipe with you.

I mentioned a while back that I would share this easy cabbage roll recipe with you guys one day and I couldn’t be more excited to do so!

These old-fashioned cabbage rolls are inspired by my grandmother or, as I call her, Nan. For as long as I can remember, Nan was known in our family for her stuffed cabbage rolls. She actually learned to make them from my grandfather (pop) when he was just a young fellow working and living in Toronto with his friend’s family, who were Polish.

When I attempted to get the recipe from Nan, I had to question some things she was telling me (or wasn’t telling me, LOL). I tease, I tease!

Did you ever watch Everybody Loves Raymond? There’s an episode where Debra gets her mother-in-law’s recipe for meatballs, but they didn’t quite turn out the same because her mother-in-law secretly replaced a bottle of basil with tarragon by disguising the label.

Nan laughed when I teased her about it, but I think she’s proud of how these turned out.

In all seriousness, though, I made a couple of tweaks to put my own spin on them but, at the heart, they’re Nan’s.

And when I cook them? All I think about is how much the house smells like hers when she makes them. Who would have thought that stuffed cabbage leaves could be so delicious? That smell and taste just makes me happy.

Cabbage Roll Ingredients

Cabbage (I use standard green cabbage, but you could use savoy)
Cooked rice
Egg
Aromatics, like onion and garlic
Herbs, like parsley and dill
Seasonings, like Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, onion powder, red chili flakes (chili flakes are optional)
Tomato sauce
Water

How To Make Cabbage Rolls

Full details are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:

Prepare the meat filling

In a bowl, combine ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, egg, cooked rice, minced onion, parsley, salt, pepper, dill, onion powder, red chili flakes (optional) and tomato sauce.
Next, simply mix to combine everything.

Collage of steps to make the ground meat filling for a stuffed cabbage roll recipe.

Prepare the cabbage

The easiest way to prepare cabbage for stuffed cabbage rolls is to carefully place the full head of clean cabbage in a pot of boiling water, cover with the lid ajar and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. You can carefully flip the cabbage over partway through.

Tip: Don’t fill your pot of water to the brim. When you place the head of cabbage in there, it will displace some of the water. To be sure how much water you’ll need, test it out before bringing the water to boil.

Next, remove cabbage leaves and core:

Once the cabbage is cool enough to handle, cut off the leaves (one at a time).
Then remove the core from each leaf.

Tip: As you get so far into removing the leaves, you will have to place the head of cabbage back into the boiling water to soften those leaves further in the centre of the cabbage.

Collage of steps to remove the leaves and core from cabbage.

Assemble the stuffed cabbage rolls in baking dish and bake

Place some cabbage leaves in the bottom of a greased baking dish.
Making one cabbage roll at a time, stuff each cabbage leaf with some of the ground beef mixture and place it in the prepared baking dish, seam side down.
Mix tomato sauce with a a little bit of water and pour over top.
Cover with more cabbage leaves, then tightly cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake until the cabbage rolls are fully cooked through. That’s it! You’ve made delicious old-fashioned cabbage rolls!

Collage of steps to assemble cabbage rolls and tomato sauce in a baking dish.

How To Stuff the Cabbage Leaves

Curious how to form the cabbage rolls? It’s easy! If you can assemble a wrap or burrito, forming cabbage rolls is a similar process. For each cabbage roll, all you have to do is:

Place about ¼ cup of the meat filling in the centre of a cabbage leaf (I like to form it into somewhat of a log shape).
Fold over the sides of the cabbage leaf.
Roll up.

Collage of steps to stuff and roll cabbage rolls.

Can I Thicken the Cabbage Roll Sauce?

If you want things a little thicker, place the tomato sauce into a saucepan over medium heat.

Allow it to come to a low simmer and cook, uncovered, until it has reduced to the consistency that you like.

Stuffed cabbage rolls in a baking dish with tomato sauce on top.

Leftovers

Properly store leftover cabbage rolls in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within 3 to 4 days. Reheat before serving.

Old-fashioned cabbage rolls piled high with tomato sauce over them.

How to Reheat Cabbage Rolls

To reheat cabbage rolls, place them in a sauté pan (over medium heat) with a little tomato sauce and splash of water. Cover and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes or until heated through.

Alternatively, you can reheat them in the oven. To do so, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the cabbage rolls in a baking dish (with a some tomato sauce and splash of water) and loosely cover with aluminum foil. Cook for about 30 to 40 minutes or until heated through.

Cabbage roll with tomato sauce and dill, sitting on a spatula.

Serving Suggestions

These old-fashioned cabbage rolls are super hearty all on their own. However, if you want to make things even more substantial with garnish or sides, any of these work:

Sauerkraut (and, honestly (though not traditional), I love cabbage rolls with kimchi)
Sour cream
Homemade bread
Mashed potatoes
Skillet potatoes
Simple side salad
Splash of vinegar (I love a little touch of vinegar on my cabbage rolls). The little bite just works!

Close-up of a homemade cabbage roll with tomato sauce and dill garnish.

Tips for Making These Old Fashioned Cabbage Rolls

Use lean or extra lean ground beef. If the beef is too fatty, it will leak out into your tomato sauce and the end result will be too greasy.
Roll the cabbage leaves tight and place in the baking dish seam side down.
You can add a little brown or white sugar to your tomato sauce if you want less of a tomato bite.
If you use no salt added tomato sauce, you may have to add a little salt to the mix. Just add to taste.
Alternatively, you can replace some of the tomato sauce with canned tomatoes. Use diced or whole peeled tomatoes (crush whole canned tomatoes with your hands or a potato masher before using). If opting for this, use one (28-ounce) can of tomatoes, along with one (13 to 14 ounce) can of tomato sauce.
To add more richness to the tomato sauce, mix in 1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste into the sauce/water mixture when pouring over the stuffed cabbage rolls.

A stuffed cabbage roll on a plate, showing the meat filling interior.

Like This Stuffed Cabbage Roll Recipe? You May Enjoy These Too

Hope you love these easy cabbage rolls as much as we do! We think they’re the best cabbage rolls because they’re inspired by Nan.

If you make this stuffed cabbage roll recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!

Old-Fashioned Cabbage Rolls (Inspired by Nan)

Dawn | Girl Heart Food

These easy Old-Fashioned Cabbage Rolls are stuffed with a savoury ground beef mixture, coated in tomato sauce and are so scrumptious! Inspired by my grandmother, it'll be the only stuffed cabbage roll recipe you'll need!

4.84 from 25 votes

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Prep Time 40

Cook Time 2 15

Cooling Time 20

Total Time 3 15

Course Main Dish

Servings 18 cabbage rolls (approximately)

Ingredients

1 cup cooked long-grain rice, or similar variety (to yield 1 cup of cooked rice, you'll need about ⅓ cup of uncooked rice)
1.5 pounds lean ground beef, or extra lean ground beef
1.5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 large egg
1 yellow onion, peeled and minced
⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dried dill (dill weed)
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ to 1 teaspoon red chili flakes (crushed red pepper flakes), optional
3 (13.5-ounce) cans tomato sauce, divided (about three (398-millilitre) cans or 5 cups of tomato sauce. See point "5" below in recipe "Notes")
1 medium head green cabbage, you'll need about 18 cabbage leaves for the rolls and another 8 to 10 or so for the bottom of the dish and over top
½ cup water, leftover from boiling cabbage or regular water
Chopped fresh dill, garnish to taste (optional)
Cooking spray, to grease baking dish or roasting pan

Instructions

Preheat oven

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for use shortly.

Prepare meat filling

In a large bowl, combine ground beef with Worcestershire sauce, egg, cooked rice, onion, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, dill, onion powder, red chili flakes (if using) and ½ cup of tomato sauce. Mix until well combined. Set aside.

Boil cabbage and remove leaves

To a large pot of boiling water, carefully add the head of cabbage. Cover with the pot lid ajar and boil for 8 to 10 minutes until the outer leaves start to soften (carefully turn over partway through). Carefully remove. Don't discard the water because you will need to re-boil the cabbage as you start to peel off the leaves and you will need some of the water for your sauce.
Note: Don't fill the pot all the way up because the cabbage will displace some of the water. Before boiling water, test how much the water will displace by placing the head of cabbage in the pot.
Once the cabbage is cool enough to handle, carefully remove the leaves and cut out the core from each leaf. Once you start taking leaves off, you'll likely need to add the cabbage back to the boiling water (to soften more leaves). Just boil for another bit, let cool enough to handle and continue removing leaves. Repeat this process until you have enough leaves for the recipe. As mentioned, you'll need about 18 cabbage leaves for the cabbage rolls and another 8 to 10 cabbage leaves for the top and bottom of the baking dish.

Assemble cabbage rolls and sauce

Lightly grease a deep 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish or roasting pan with cooking spray. Then, place some cabbage leaves on the bottom of the baking dish or roasting pan.
To assemble/form the cabbage rolls, taking one leaf at a time, distribute about ¼ cup of the ground beef mixture in the centre and wrap up (fold in sides and roll up, placing in the prepared dish, seam side down). Continue with remaining ground beef mixture and cabbage leaves.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 4.5 cups of tomato sauce and ½ cup of water. Pour over top of the cabbage rolls. Top with more cabbage leaves.
Note: You could stir in about a tablespoon of white or brown sugar into the tomato sauce if you want less of a tomato bite. I like the brightness of tomatoes, so I skip this.

Bake cabbage rolls

Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil. Cover and bake in the preheated oven for 2 hours and 15 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes or until cabbage rolls are fully cooked through (the ground beef should be no longer be pink, it should be brown all the way through and the internal temperature of the cabbage rolls reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit when checked with an instant-read meat thermometer).
Once done, be careful removing foil covering as there will be steam. Discard the top cabbage leaves. Allow to cool for 20 minutes or so before serving. Garnish, if desired, with fresh dill. Enjoy!
Note: If you have any leftovers, properly store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within 3 to 4 days. Reheat before serving.

Notes

Use lean or extra lean ground beef. If the beef is too fatty, it will leak out into your tomato sauce and the end result will be too greasy.
Roll the cabbage leaves tight and place in the baking dish seam side down.
You can add a little brown or white sugar to your tomato sauce if you want less of a tomato bite.
If you use no salt added tomato sauce, you may have to add a little salt to the mix. Just add to taste.
Alternatively, you can replace some of the tomato sauce with canned tomatoes. Use diced or whole peeled tomatoes (crush whole peel canned tomatoes with your hands or a potato masher to break up before using). If opting for this, use one (28-ounce) can of tomatoes, along with one (13 to 14 ounce) can of tomato sauce.
To add more richness to the tomato sauce, mix in 1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste into the sauce/water mixture when pouring over the stuffed cabbage rolls.

A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.

Keyword cabbage roll recipe, old fashioned cabbage rolls

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If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!

Cabbage Roll Ingredients