Grandma’s Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls with ground meat, rice and cabbage cooked in savory tomato sauce. This one pot meal is perfect for busy weeknights!
We are a Ukrainian-Russian household, so cabbage for dinner makes a frequent appearance at our table. Instant Pot cabbage rolls and grandma’s borscht recipe, adults and kids love them all!
I think you are going to love these unstuffed cabbage rolls! As much as the old fashioned cabbage rolls are worth the wait, sometimes we just don’t have the time or energy for “holubtsi”.
I was born and raised in Ukraine, and I never do roll cabbage rolls. Instead, I like to chop cabbage into coarse square chunks and cook with rice and meat in flavorful tomato sauce in one pot. And grandma did the same on busy days. Otherwise, she rolled the rolls before going to work. Can you imagine?!
Ingredients for Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
In Ukraine, cabbage rolls are made with ground beef or pork, white rice and tomato sauce. There are many Eastern European variations of this dish but here is what I use now.
Ingredients are simple and use what you have on hand:
- Onion and garlic: Chopped onion and minced garlic.
- Meat: Extra lean ground turkey but you can use ground pork or beef.
- Cabbage: Coarsely chopped. You can get away with using a variety of different types of cabbage like green, red, napa or even savoy cabbage in this recipe.
- Rice: Uncooked brown rice. Use white rice which cooks faster or leftover cooked brown rice which reduces total cooking time to 30 minutes.
- Liquids: Oil, low sodium tomato sauce, can of diced tomatoes, low sodium broth (or water), honey, or maple syrup to balance acidic ingredients, vinegar.
- Herbs: Dried oregano, thyme, bay leaves.
- Seasonings: Salt and pepper for taste.
- Garnish: Fresh dill or parsley or green onions, yogurt or sour cream.
How to Make Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
Start by chopping garlic, onion and cabbage before you begin to cook. Peel and mince the garlic, chop the onion not too finely, and peel a few outer leaves from the cabbage and chop into big chunks.
Time to saute it all. Preheat a deep non-stick pan or a 5-6 quart Dutch oven. I absolutely love my Lodge dutch oven and cook most one pot meals in it. Food doesn’t burn and cooks evenly!
Swirl oil to coat and add onion and garlic, stirring occasionally. Then add ground meat, uncooked brown rice, dried oregano and thyme, salt and pepper. Continue cooking, breaking the meat into pieces.
Sauteing rice now cuts back its cook time. If you are using white rice, the cook time will be approximately 30 minutes. For pre-cooked brown rice, use 3 cups of cooked rice, reduce the liquids to 1 cup and cut the cooking time to 30 minutes.
Now it’s time to add the broth, tomato sauce, vinegar, maple syrup, and cabbage. Stir well to combine and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, cover, reduce heat, and cook on low for about an hour. As tempting as it might be to open the lid to check on it! Not until it’s completely done.
Tips for Best Results
- If your rice is a bit firm at the end: If rice is not cooked by the end, add 1/4 cup water, cover, and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
- To feed smaller crowd: When I say this recipe feeds a hungry crowd, I mean it! It yields close to 14 cups of food. If you don’t need that much, cut the recipe in half and keep the same cook time.
- Use heavy duty pot: Otherwise you risk cabbage rolls burning on the bottom.
- Don’t open the lid: Cooking time will lengthen because steam releases.
Variations
- More protein: Feel free to add an extra 1 pound of ground turkey. Also ground beef, chicken or pork work great!
- Sauerkraut: You can replace some of fresh cabbage with sauerkraut but cut salt in half and then season to taste after, if necessary.
- White rice: Cooking time will be around 30 minutes.
- Cooked brown rice: Use 3 cups cooked brown rice, reduce liquids to 1 cup and cook for 30 minutes.
How We Serve Them in Ukraine
At home, we serve unstuffed cabbage rolls as a meal on its own. It is a true one pot meal. Serve warm almost hot, with a generous dollop of yogurt or sour cream for the most authentic flavor.
Add a lot of chopped fresh dill and freshly cracked ground pepper. A slice of a rye bread or whole grain toast is a must to sop up the sauces, juices and bit of meat and rice at the bottom of the plate. So good!
You can add hot sauce on top if you feel like things spicy.
If you would like a true Ukrainian side salad for this dish, make lettuce salad or cucumber and tomato salad.
How to Store
Store: You’ll have leftovers for days! Enjoy up for 4 days later, being kept in the fridge in an airtight container. This dish actually gets better with time.
Freeze: Once fully cooked, freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. If you have a ton leftover, might be wise to freeze individually and only take out what you need.
Reheat: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat in the microwave. You can also use the pot with a splash of water or broth to simmer while covered for 10 minutes.
FAQs
Yes. The advantage is that it will cook faster. However, the texture will be more mush. I prefer more bite and substance to the cabbage in this recipe.
While this recipe has not been tested in a slow cooker, you can make it in the oven or the Instant Pot! Slow cooker will require different amount of liquids and might burn the tomato sauce.
Because we are not rolling cabbage, this recipe is pretty forgiving. Use green, red, napa or even savoy cabbage. Cook time will be a bit less for napa and savoy cabbage.
More Cabbage Recipes to Try
Ukrainian Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 lb ground turkey extra lean
- 1 cup brown rice uncooked
- 3 lbs cabbage coarsely chopped
- 28 oz can tomato sauce low sodium
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes low sodium
- 2 cups water or any low sodium stock
- 1 tbsp oregano dried
- 1 tsp thyme dried
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
- 1 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 3 bay leaves
- Fresh dill, parsley, green onions and yogurt/sour cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat large and very deep non-stick skillet or 5-6 quart Dutch oven on medium-high heat and swirl oil to coat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add turkey, rice, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper; cook for 10 more minutes, breaking into small pieces and stirring often.
- Add broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, vinegar, maple syrup, cabbage, bay leaves and stir well. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 60-70 minutes. Do not open!
- After check if rice is cooked and if not (mine was) add 1/4 cup water, cover and cook for another 5 – 10 minutes.
- Serve warm topped with Greek yogurt and herbs.
Video
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Fully cook, cool completely, and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in a refrigerator overnight. Reheat in a microwave or in the oven at 375 F for 10 minutes.
This is AMAZING. not sure how big of a skillet you have though, I had to use a Dutch oven lol. I used beef (drained and rinsed) rather than turkey, a multigrain rice blend and found it slightly bland the first time so I use two cans of tomato sauce now. I don’t use the toppings, I use it for freezer lunches. It is incredible!! I had to share it on Facebook and I don’t do that very often! Thank you! Will definitely be a staple in my freezer from now on! Healthy, filling and super tasty!!
Hi Megan. You should use deep skillet. Not the frying pancake skillet but rather with tall edges. I used wide dutch oven/skillet you see in pictures. Glad you enjoyed my lazy man cabbage rolls (man, am I ever “lazy” to stuff anything into anything these days)! You might also like the stuffed pepper casserole then. Fresh off the stove.:)
Thanks!! ?
This tastes just like stuffed cabbage. So much less work. I was wondering if I could make them in a crock pot. Have you tried?
I know, right?! Why wouldn’t it since it has all the components and cabbage rolls become am use once on your plate anyways. At least that is how I like to eat cabbage rolls.
No, I haven’t tried. I know meat has to be pre-browned for sure. What will happen to rice I don’t know. I just wonder if it is too big of amount of cabbage to fit in a slow cooker before it cooks down. Maybe I will test one day. Sorry I wish I had a better answer for you, Carol.
Hands down the best lazy cabbage rolls I’ve tried. Forgot to pick up sour cream or greek yogurt but even without I loved it! Will get some to have with the leftovers!
That is awesome to hear, Sue! We love it too!
I can’t wait to try this. But I would love to make it in the crockpot instead. Do you have any recommendation? Could this cook all the on low for 6-8 hours? Or 4 hours on high?
Hmm. I honesty don’t remember the last time I cooked rice in s crock pot how long it took. Low for 8 hours should be enough. 6 might be too short.
Hi Olena,
I just made this and it is SO good! Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome, Dee!
I have had this it is so good.
This was a huge hit! My husband wanted stuffed cabbages and I didn’t wand to make them since it takes a lot of time. This was so easy to make and the family loved it. Thank you for a great recipe.
You are welcome! What’s the difference, right?! It all becomes one big mess on a plate anyways.
I am going to make this and try it with chorizo for a little extra kick. Looks great!
That would work like a charm!!!
Made this today for dinner. Only change I made was to cut the recipe in half and omit the yogurt. My fiancé and I both loved it, and he’s super picky! We’ll be having this one again, for sure. I think I just found my new go-to recipe site. ?
Oh my. Comment of the week. Really? So happy to hear I helped someone to please a picky eater. Those picky eaters…I want to give them limes for dinner sometimes.
Hi! Sorry if this is a silly question, but I’m just learning about “clean eating” and read that if it’s canned, it’s not clean. But, you used caned tomatoes, so is that only true for certain things? This recipe looks amazing, btw. Can’t wait to try.
Hi Melissa. Nothing silly. It is more relative to canned processed meals like soup, stew etc. Again, organic Amy’s soup has only clean ingredients vs. Campbell’s ones full of chemicals, preservatives and GMOs. Canned tomato sauce, tomatoes etc. is just a form of preservation of ingredients.
At the end of the day, the goal of clean eating is to eat real food which includes pickles and canned tomatoes, and excludes fries from a package but includes homemade baked fries.
Awesome, thank you for the information. ?
My mummo made the best cabbage rolls, but, they are a lot of work. I love the combination of all the ingredients in a one pot deal!! Such a comfort food. Since I haven’t been eating meat… I wonder how I can veganize this 🙂
I would crumble medium tofu. Maybe you will need a bit more seasoning too.