Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Recipe

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls is a classic comfort food recipe that is found in many homes throughout the world.

Many countries claim that this popular recipe originated in their culture, however there is no definite evidence of where cabbage rolls first emerged.

However, most stuffed cabbage rolls in the United States start with a filling made of ground meat, rice and chopped vegetables. The filling is stuffed into parboiled cabbage leaves and topped with a tomato-based sauce.

They are then baked until the meat is cooked and the cabbage leaves are tender.

When I was growing up I can remember my mother in the kitchen making cabbage rolls.

I remember her becoming frustrated when trying to roll the filling into the cabbage. The cabbage was either too stiff for it to roll easily, or the leaves would be too tender and it would tear and the filling would fall out.

This memory was enough for me to stick to cabbage roll casserole rather than making true, old fashioned, stuffed cabbage rolls.

But that all changed when I found a few tricks to making the rolling of the cabbage leaves easier.

How To Make Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

First of all, we find it helpful to boil the water before adding the cabbage to the pot.

Rather than pulling off individual leaves, we prefer to place the entire head in the water. It makes it much easier to pull off individual leaves from the core and prevent tearing.

We then remove the thick vein at the bottom of each leaf. This results in a v shaped cut which comes in handy when it comes time to roll the filling into the leaves.

We place the filling right above the v-cut. Then fold the cut ends of the cabbage on top of the filling and roll.

The remainder of the unused cabbage is then sliced and placed in the bottom of your Dutch oven or casserole pan.

The sliced cabbage helps to prevent the rolls from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Just a hint – don’t slice the remaining cabbage until all of the rolls have been prepared. You may need to an extra leaf or two during the rolling process.

The prepared stuffed cabbage rolls are placed seam side down in the pan and topped with a tomato sauce.

Once baked, we allow the cabbage rolls to sit and rest before serving. This allows the filling to set inside the leaves before serving.

Check out some of our other Favorite Comfort Food Recipes

Enjoy!

Mary and Jim

Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.

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