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.
How do I adjust the cooking time for white rice?
Unfortunately you can’t use white rice with this recipe. Brown and white rice require different cooking time and amount of liquid. I don’t cook white rice so I won’t know.
Good to know. I did use long grain brown rice, cooked it too long and it dissolved! Guess I didn’t account for carry-over time. I don’t feel bad because the same thing has happened with long grain white rice.
None of it mattered. It was DELICIOUS and my family wanted to take leftovers home!
Sounds perfect! So-so happy to hear you made it work for you.:)
Love this recipe. Easy and delicious:)
Hi Olena,
Can I reheat the frozen cooked lazy cabbage rolls in a crock pot on low after defrosting then overnight in the fridge instead of reheating them in the microwave or oven?? Thanks ☺
Hi Helen. Depends how long. Tomato sauce tends to burn when cooked for too long in the slow cooker. 1-2 hours should be OK but not longer.
I wanted something healthy and different. I stumbled across this and decided to give it a try. Never having eaten authentic stuffed cabbage, I’m not sure what it is supposed to taste like. But it was pretty good. My husband liked it too. Although next time I think I’ll add some hot sauce, or maybe red pepper flakes.
The very first iFoodReal recipe I made years ago and still am making it to this day. A definite staple in our house and likely a generations long tradition!!
This looks so delicious!! Do you happen to know the Smart points value on it??
Sorry I don’t.
It comes to 1 freestyle point!!
I had a cabbage and was planning on making cabbage rolls but just didn’t have the energy and time to do. Someone mentioned lazy cabbage rolls — i wanted them to taste like my mom’s . Mom always used beef and pork. I followed your recipe except for the turkey and was very pleased with the results!! My neighbour tasted it and loved it too so i sent her the recipe. Thank you for a simple recipe. All i had to go out and get was the meat, i had everything else, yippee !!
You are welcome, Nancy Ann. My mom and grandma used pork too, ground turkey and chicken were not common. Glad you enjoyed. It is a simple recipe indeed.
This recipe is absolutely wonderful. I am used to making the traditional cabbage rolls like my Baba used to. This recipe has the goodness of traditional without all the tedious time consuming work. This will be my second time making your wonderful recipe. Double batch this time so I can freeze for leftovers. I decided to try half chopped cabbage, and half shredded (food processor makes it quick and easy) I also added a can of tomato paste, some crushed garlic, and a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce. The fresh dill on top, to die for! This recipe will be written down in our family recipe book for generations to enjoy. Thank you very much for sharing!
Hi Brittany. Wow, I’m honoured – family recipe book. What attachment do you use to shred the cabbage? All your additions sound wonderful.
I just use the blades in the food processor. A few short pulses and it shreds the cabbage perfectly.
Do you cut it in what size chunks?
Great dish! Not exactly a quick meal, but makes a huge portion so should last us a few meals.
My husband does not eat meat, would it be okay to use Morning Star Farms Griller Crumbles instead? If okay, is it best to add the crumbles toward the end of the cooking time?
Thank you for your help!
Hi Karen. If crumbles are mostly cooked (I assume they are) add them towards the end. I’m sure you are more experienced with them so whatever time you think they need to get flavoured.