Do you have a traditional recipe that was made in your household over and over again? My mother had many different things she’d make for us and cabbage rolls were one of them. I love old-fashioned recipes like these as they remind me of childhood. Plus, this cabbage roll recipe is Mennonite/German inspired, which makes it even tastier.
Cabbage rolls are one of my favorite meals. My mom used to make them all the time when I was growing up and I have continued the tradition with my own family.
Ingredients
1 large savoy cabbage
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 medium to large onions
2 tablespoons canola or Bertolli olive oil .. or even butter is fine
1 cup white or brown rice. . . and 2 cups water
3 Eggland’s Best eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Morton salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cans tomato soup
2 small bottles (individual serving sizes) tomato juice or vegetable cocktail . .like V8
1 can or small carton chicken broth
Ingredients
In the bag that you brought your savoy cabbage home. . .place the cabbage in the freezer and leave for 12 hours or overnight.. . .remove and leave to thaw at room temperature. .this will take awhile. . so I often take it the night before the day I want to make the cabbage rolls. The leaves will be soft and easy to use without having to boil them.
In a small saucepan or a microwave safe covered dish. . .cook the rice. . set aside to cool. The rice can be made the day ahead and kept chilled in the refrigerator overnight.
Chop the onions fine and saute them slowly until they are golden brown. . .set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, break apart the ground beef, add the salt, pepper, eggs, sauteed onions and the rice. . mix together until combined. . use your hands.
Remove the leaves from the cabbage, cutting away the tough part closest to the core.
Spray your large casserole or two small casserole dishes with cooking spray.
Put about a 1/3 to 1/2 cup meat mixture at the bottom of the leaf and roll up. . the meat amount varies depending on the size of the leaf. . repeat until all the meat is used up.
In a large mixing bowl. . .combine the tomato soup, juice, and broth. . pour evenly over the cabbage rolls. Cover with foil. . or the lid.
Bake the cabbage rolls slowly at 325 for two hours. . serve or cool on the counter. .remove the foil (if you don’t. . you will have little bits of foil on your cabbage rolls where ever it touches. .) cover with plastic wrap. .and either refrigerate or freeze.
For reheating . .thaw first if frozen . .remove the plastic wrap and cover with a lid or foil. . and just reheat in the oven. . for about an hour .. at 325. . . or if you want, they can be reheated beautifully in the microwave on sensor reheat.
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Quick Tip: Serve these cabbage rolls with fresh white bread and homemade applesauce for a truly authentic German experience.
Germans NEVER EVER eat white bread…other than that, recipe looks okay
Thank you for that clarification. Karen. Now, excuse me while I go throw out all the white bread in my house since I’m German 🙂
Good one Jessica….My husband is German and he eats white and brown bread…..
Love this answer! Of course they do!
I have German roots too but we ate white bread. I don’t know where that silly idea came from!!
Of course they do! Germans eat everything. I know this since Im one!
I didn’t see bread anywhere in the recipe.
oh yes we do
Sounds divine. Can’t wait to make it!
Made it for weekend meal. Cabbage was tough as a boot. Think it was because of freezing the cabbage. Tasted good but will make it next time the old fashioned way.
I think you have to use Savoy cabbage in the freeze method.
I spent two years in the kitchen of a Ukranian restaurant. We froze cases and cases of regular head cabbage and it worked BUT Savoy leaves are thinner and should be more tender in any case.
Why did you freeze cabbage?? I have never frozen cabbage. I usually use up a head of cabbage pretty quick. It doesn’t ruin the cabbage???
I freeze my cabbage for a good week or so then thaw and make cabbage rolls. Well, the reason is easy to handle another word when cooking the cabbage is difficult to handle. Mine was not tough!
freeze mine and the are still ok
I am not sure that traditional Mennonites would use tomato soup or V8.
Sounds fishy to me.
Welp, I’m a Mennonite raised by traditional Mennonites and we used canned soups and V8 quite a bit 🙂 Oh, and there isn’t any fish in this recipe. Good day to you, madame!
I stand corrected!
Although I was thinking more of recipes that are passed down from generations that didn’t have canned soup or V8. Nothing wrong with using what’s available, that’s for sure! Fish cabbage rolls sound gross…lol
I agree about the fish cabbage rolls lol!
Tomato juice. maybe home made. tomato sauce or tomato crushed or chopped. the real stuff and savoy cabbage best. If you freeze cabbage will be tuff even if just the extra put in to freeze for later.
huh??
My family has used tomato soup on stuffed cabbage for years. I have always used regular cabbage. I will try savoy and the freezer method. Thank you
I make this recipe a lot and I always put the head of cabbage in pre boiled water to soften the leaves. It is time consuming but much easier to work with
Sounds fishy to me too I’ve always used cans of tomatoes, chopped up a little. Or canned tomato sauce. And I’ve never frozen my cabbage!
Me too Elaine! Soften the cabbage leaves in boiled water so they are easy to roll. I always made my own sauce with tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes & seasonings…so hungry for it now, but not sure that preparing it fits in my schedule today! When I had kids at home I would always make stuffed peppers at the same time, because I use the same meat or meat & rice filling.
I learned a recipe from my landlady (Alsatian German who grew up in what is now Serbia around the First World War) many years ago when I was a university student — the cabbage (green or white is best) should be frozen for at least a week or more in order for the frost to reach to the core. I prepare it by first peeling off all the leaves and cutting the spines out of the big ones and trimming them to be the size of a flattened palm of your hand. The version I cook uses a half a kilo of both ground beef and port, one cup of un-cooked white rice (cooked as usual, but for only half the time), several slices of bacon, thinly sliced, one large onion finely chopped. You can fry up the bacon and cook it with the onions until they are glossy. Roll the mixture in the leaves burrito-style, tucking in the ends. Once nicely stacked in the roasting pan, cover with sauerkraut and then fill pan with V-8 juice or tomato juice, leaving at least an inch under the brim of the pan to avoid overflow. Bake @ 375 F for one hour, then three more at 325 F. These rolls freeze well.
I think I missed something. But why do you freeze the cabbage for a week. I have never heard of freezing cabbage at all.
Yep, you missed something. Re-read the instructions. I softens the Savoy cabbage leaves when defrosted, instead of boiling the cabbage
She freezes it for the week so it freezes all the way to the core. I think 3-4 days would be long enough!
Dot
Do you mean pork or port wine? It sounds yummy, but I’m a little confused.
we eat white and RYE mostly. I am German…90%. I don’t care for Wheat bread…but do like all others. And we use sauerkraut in ours also….My grandma used to make her own. SOOO GOOD.
Oh my gosh, that sounds so good. I love the addition of bacon. My mother made cabbage rolls the old fashioned way – fresh cabbage trimmed to get rid of the tough part. She blanched the leaves and rolled the meat and rice with the softened leaves…etc.
Raymond you caught my attention, your recipe sounds delish! Very close to my recipe, I add slices salt pork between the layers for the smokey flavor.
Wanda.. Plain old salt pork is not a smoked meat. It is just white fat. Smoked meat is like smoked ham hocks, smoked neck bones, smoked turkey legs, etc… to be smoked it has to go through the smoking process. Like for smoked ham. Differents woods are used for different flavors of smoke. Some people use their grills to smoke meat. My grill has 2 separate parts. One end you put your wood. You put your meat on the grill. It takes a while to smoke meat. You put charcoal in bottom of grill to grill your meat with direct heat.
I have been making cabbage rolls for years! Friends call me the Ukie cabbage roll Queen! I use crushed tomatoes and place the regular cabbage on a pie plate covered with a grocery bag for 15-20 minutes. Saves a lot of time
Kolton4444, I’m confused about you placing regular cabbage on a pie plate & covering w/ a grocery bag for 15-20 min. Is there magic involved? What does cabbage on a pie plate, sitting under a grocery bag do ???? Please explain. Thanks.
LOL— I guess Im lazy– I just add chopped cabbage, rice, and extra V8 to a meatloaf recipe!
This recipe is amazing we have been using this recipe since my grandmother and mother and now I make it but I blanch my cabbage so its workable I don’t cook it all the way just enough to kinda soften the leaves.
The recipe is just like I am use to except we add sauerkraut (Drained)
in between the layers of rolls !!!
My family came from Russia as Volga Germans in early 1900’s. In Russia they did usually have rye bread because white was harder to come by. But, now in the US they do enjoy having white bread too. This recipe is just like my mom always made except she did slightly boil the cabbage, just until it was tender & soft but by no means, cooked. Since mom taught me how to cook, I make my cabbage rolls this same way. And, yes, I do par-boil the cabbage. Rice is best if cooked but can be added when not cooked. It needs to bake longer if not cooked because no one likes to eat crunchy rice. Mom never used brown rice, but it is delicious and I do use it sometimes.
Dad’s side of the family is German and Dutch. Grandma taught my French mama to cook cabbage rolls. They were so darn good. She used cooked white rice, good grounded beef and par-boiled cabbage. Everything else was similar to grandmother’s recipe.
Tips – I partially cook the rice, let cool slightly, and then add the rice AND water not absorbed, to the meat mixture. The gluten (from rice) tenderizes the meat mixture. I also like to add a can of whole stewed tomatoes, squeezed into smaller pieces, into sauce mixture or as topping. Sometimes, I place cabbage trimmings/leftover leaves, under and over cabbage rolls.
Acidity from tomatoes eats into the aluminum foil, used to cover your dish. Leaving remnants of unappealing black/silver spots. Remember also, that aluminum is a metal, and not safe to ingest. SOLUTION: Place a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper over whatever it is you are making, if it contains any acidic food, like tomatoes. Place foil covering over the top of the waxed paper. Neither waxed paper nor parchment will burn.
Had this many times as a kid and have made it many times now that I am the cook. Mom never precooked the rice. It always cooked just fine mixed in with the hamburger (two hours cook time is plenty time to cook rice). Also, we always cooked it in a soup pot on the stove, never in the oven. We also mixed in some sauerkraut with the recipe. Always a favorite of ours.
Add a little milk to the mix to make tender cabbage rolls lean ground meat makes tough rolls. You need the fat for flavor. Catsup also works. Have done freezer method and par-boiled. I like boiled best.
I boil the cabbage, fill with raw hamburger, raw rice, salt & pepper. Sauce is crushed, canned tomatoes; salt & pepper; chopped onion; white raisins; ginger snaps (broken up); and a touch of vinegar to counteract the sweetness of the raisins & the ginger snaps. Bake at 350 until meat and rice are done. I don’t use a recipe, just go by your taste. Don’t fill the rolls too full, because the rice will expand when cooked. Don’t make them too skimpy, either. Trial and error.
instead of regular salt my mother taught me to use sour salt (citric acid)
i was wondering how long u can leave in freezer like 1 month 2 months a year
My daughter loves cabbage rolls……but she invented the cabbage lasagna
Instead of rolling, she layered all the ingredients……. tomato sauce, cabbage, sauerkraut, cabbage, rice-precooked ground beef-sweated onion mixture……then layer cabbage again, sauerkraut again and top it off with more tomato sauce….
WOW, now that sounds like something I can do.:) I make cabbage rolls, but getting a little lazy lately.:) Thanks for the tip.:) I also love to make Lasagna.:)
No matter how good a recipe looks, as soon as I see brand-names attatched to ingredients I delete it!!!!!
Congratulations.
what kind of sauerkraut, the pickled kind ?
Sauerkraut isn’t pickled, it’s fermented 🙂 Feel free to use any kind you would like. I prefer Silver Floss or I make my own.
I am sorry, but tomato soup is not a good idea. I do not like tomato soup. A good tomato sauce would be so much better. Tomato soup is quick and easy, but it does not make a good “sauce”. If you want to be a great recipe, get rid of the tomato soup.
I made cabbage rolls before and this recipe also and it is very good. My mother thought me a different way to get the leaves off the cabbage roll. Put the cabbage roll in hot water and the leaves will separate slightly so you can take the cabbage out and remove a few leaves put it back in the pot on the stove and repeat. I keep the water with a low boil and it works fine. The process might be a bit longer but I find that the cabbage is also easier to manage and it does not crack. If you do not have success with the frozen cabbage this one works – just be careful when you remove the cabbage from the hot water so it does not splash back into the hot water (I use a large plastic spoon for the bottom and tongue at the head) safety first!