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.
Love it! Easy, cheap, and delicious. My American husband did not care for any sour cream (and he ate two bowls of this as is), but I (Russian) of course added some and it all tasted just like the cabbage rolls I remember from childhood. Thank you so much! I look forward to eating this dish for the next few days. Please keep such easy and nutritious recipes coming. Time is of the essence, always.
So happy to read this! My pleasure.
Really good. I was looking for a lazy cabbage roll recipe that didn’t call for condensed soup, and this one did not disappoint! Of course, we all season according to our own tastes, but it’s a solid recipe I’ll definitely make again. Thanks!!
Yep! No condensed soup here! You are very welcome!
I made this once a few weeks ago and we really loved it. It was enough to have for dinner three nights! The flavors are so good, especially the fresh dill on top.
I am planning to make it again soon, but was thinking about substituting buckwheat for the rice. Would that change the amount of water needed or the cook time?
Water would be the same but buckwheat cooks in 15 mins, so plan accordingly. I would braise cabbage for 15 mins before adding buckwheat.
We made this last night with buckwheat. We followed the recipe ingredients and instructions except we omitted the rice in Step #2. Then we added the buckwheat with 15 minutes of time remaining on the cooking time. It was just as delicious as the first time we made it!
I made it according to the recipe using ground beef & riced cauliflower instead of rice! My wife loves it & so do I! Outstanding flavor!👍
What a great idea to use cauliflower rice! Thanks for sharing Patrick!
I had a craving for cabbage rolls but didn’t feel like making them from scratch. I was told to search for “lazy man cabbage rolls” for a quick way to get the cabbage roll flavour I was seeking.
I found your recipe and it looked interesting. I made it exactly as written. Its wonderful especially with the fresh dill and sour cream. I will freeze some in lunch-sized portions. Will definitely make it again, thanks for posting it!
You are so welcome, Ramon! Glad it satisfied your craving for cabbage rolls!
Hi Olena,
Polish-Ukrainian Canadian living in USA. I grew up on UKR style cabbage rolls; rice with lighly sauteed white onion, bacon bits, rolled tight & small, baked with tomato juice on top, baked in oven. I was skeptical but they turned out very well!
Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed my cabbage roll recipe!
This is exactly how we make our cabbage rolls too (polish roots). Making these lazy ones tonight and we are excited to try them!
Can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Made this tonight, and husband and I both really liked it. I cut it almost in half. Used a full lb of turkey, and low sodium tomato ingredients, plus low sodium beef broth. Used a half cup of brown basmati rice. To finish it off, I put shredded Mexican cheese on top and let it melt. We added parmesan cheese at the table. I only used a tiny pinch of salt. My husband has CHF and is diabetic. Leftovers tomorrow! Thanks for a great recipe!
You are very welcome Jane 🙂
Hi, I made this recipe on the weekend and it is really, really good! I should of used a heavy duty Dutch oven like you instructed though. My stock pot is not a thick pot and burned a bit on the bottom. Not a big deal as I salvaged most of it and it was very yummy! just sending a friendly reminder. Can you send me your shredded cabbage roll casserole recipe? Many thanks!
Yes, Dutch oven is way better. Glad you enjoyed it, Beth-Anne! Just emailed you.
Hi Olena, this sounds delicious! I haven’t tried it yet though. I would like to try it with shredded cabbage. Can you send or post the cabbage roll casserole recipe that another reviewer raved about? Thanks!
Hello. This recipe uses shredded cabbage too. It’s pretty much the same. That recipe I can email you on Monday when I am back at the office.:)
My husband is half Polish and remembers cabbage rolls his grandma made when he was a child, however two attempts over the years had us underwhelmed and they were highly rated on Serious Eats and Epicurious, so we just decided some foods we adored as children just don’t taste as good as adults. I decided to try this last night thinking the cabbage chopped would probably be better than a soggy roll you have to cut into. Well, we loved these. It’s always a thumbs up when he nods after biting into a dish and say, “this is great.” It does make a ton for just two of us so we will have a couple freezer meals for the future after having it for dinner again tonight.
Oh Rochelle! I am so happy that my cabbage rolls got a thumbs up from your husband. It can be discouraging when we try to replicate a recipe that we loved as children and it doesn’t turn out how we remembered.