A few years back, my great aunt gave me some cookbooks. They were mostly herbal/hippie books that didn’t have any pictures. I’m a sucker for a pretty recipe book. These were not pretty and the majority of the recipes looked weird…which is saying a lot coming from the girl who puts Swiss chard in everything. But one book caught my attention: The Green Thumb Cookbook. It organizes the recipes by garden produce. Seemed like a book worth keeping, considering the huge garden in the back yard.
Keeping that book was definitely worth it when I discovered this recipe. It’s by far our favorite way to eat cabbage. It’s so sweetly savory. The combination of tomatoes and cabbage, with a bit of beef in there too, is so tasty. I’ll also let you in on a little secret. There will be tomato-y juices leftover. Store those juices in a jar in the freezer, labeled “for soup”, and the next time you whip up a pot of stew, throw in those juices. Delicious. I actually do this with a lot of random leftover bits and juices. My soups are never the same!
I will not lie and say this dish is easy. While the steps aren’t complicated, it takes some time to remove the cabbage leaves and roll them up. But it’s well worth it. I think you’ll love it.
The green beans are in now. I’m off to find a recipe in that cookbook which features the crunchy things. I’ll let you know if I find one that’s not weird.
Savory Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Adapted from The Green Thumb Cookbook, page 63
1 medium head cabbage
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 T uncooked brown rice
2 T chopped fresh parsley (2 t dried)
2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 egg
1 3/4 cups plain tomato sauce
1 cup canned tomato chunks
2 T honey
1/2 cup grated Colby cheese, optional
Put the head of cabbage in a pot. Cover with water. Remove the cabbage and bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat. Submerge the whole head of cabbage in the boiling water and cover. Let sit for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, brown the beef and onion. Turn off the heat. Add the rice, parsley, salt, pepper, and egg.
When the cabbage is done “cooking”, remove it from the water onto a cookie sheet with sides (to catch any remaining water). Very carefully, remove 12 leaves. Cut the thickest part of center rib out of each leaf, about 1 or 2 inches. There will be a little V in the middle of each leave. Divide the meat filling between the leaves and roll up jelly roll fashion, but tucking in the ends so the filling stays put. Place the rolls in a deep casserole dish.
Pour the tomato sauce, tomato chunks, and honey over the rolls. Cover and bake at 350 for about an hour and a half. Remove the lid, sprinkle with cheese, and bake another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let set a few minutes before serving.
Serves: 4 – 6
Zoe, this looks great! I’ll leave out the ground beef, of course and use brown rice, but I’ve been looking for a stuffed cabbage recipe and I will definitely try this one. Also the idea about saving the juice for soups is terrific…I wonder why I never thought of that??? LOL I hate throwing food down the drain and try to use everything.
My order came yesterday, thanks. I didn’t talk to Mike yesterday but his probably got there, too. Blueberry Buckle today! YAY!
So glad your order arrived safely! And you know what? I think I might make a blueberry buckle today, too. Sounds perfect with some cold milk poured on top.
Oh, and I do use brown rice. Not sure why I typed plain rice! I’ll edit that. If you leave out the beef, you may wish to use more rice and a little more liquid. The beef is the bulk of the filling so there wouldn’t be anything to fill the cabbage with
I wonder if you couldn’t stuff them with a rice/bean mixture. That way you’d still have a complete protein. Let me know if you give it a try!
Thanks, a rice/ bean mixture is right up my alley. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I core the cabbage first to make it a bit quicker to cook and shave the tough end, rather than cutting. Makes them easier to roll. I also add whole grain rice & regular oatmail. so many different ways and the end is usually pretty darned tasty!
Coring it…good idea! Thanks!
Wait, are you saying it’s easy or not easy? It looks great.
well, I guess it’s easy but it’s just a little messy and time consuming.
I is time consuming, but the end product is well worth it.
The cabbage rolls look yummy! I just harvested a couple heads of cabbage this week. I can hardly wait until the green beans are ready. I planted my late on purpose because of an upcoming vacation so I won’t have any until mid-July. Anyway, we enjoy them lightly cooked then tossed with feta cheese and dill. A friend shared the idea, it’s easy and soooo delicious. Another favorite is the Hot German Green Bean Salad from Simply in Season.
These beans sound delicious! I’ll have to look up that SIS recipe, too. Thanks!
I made these cabbage rolls tonite for dinner……is it possible that the 2 teaspoons of salt is an error in your recipe? Mine were REALLY salty!!
We enjoyed them anyway, but in the future, I will cut way back on salt!
Oh no! I checked the recipe and the original calls for 3 teaspoons! What tomato products did you use? I don’t salt my home-canned ones very heavily. If you do, maybe cut back on the salt in any of my recipes that call for canned tomatoes
I ought to write about my home canned tomato products on my “About my Ingredients” page. Hopefully other people aren’t having the same issues 
I’m out of my own canned sauce, so I used unflavored tomato sauce from the good old GIANT!! Also bought canned tomato chunks. Neither was salted or flavored. Not to worry! I’ve made a note on the recipe for next time!
I saw these at the grocery store and thought “who eats these?!”
Ha! I guess only weirdos like myself
[...] Brad isn’t a huge fan of cooked cabbage (unless it’s rolled up with beef), he eats this without complaining. I’m sure my kids won’t say I fed it to them all of [...]
I do the quick version which is just cutting up the cabbage and throwing it in a pan, adding browned hamburger, seasonings, cooked rice, and diced tomatoes. Heat thru till cabbage is tender and serve. Of course the rolled up babies look better but the taste is the same.
Do you know if you can use bok choy cabbage?
I don’t know much about bok choy! I doubt it would be terrible…probably just different!
[...] Savory Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, Green [...]
Hi… would you be able to give me the info on that Green thumb cook book please as I have searched and there are a few from different authors and think that I would love to see if I can get a copy…
Sure!
Title: The Green Thumb Cookbook
Author: the editors of Organic Gardening and Farming, edited by Anne Moyer
Published by Rodale Press, Emmaus PA in 1977
Here’s an Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Green-Thumb-Cookbook-Anne-Moyer/dp/087857168X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351798831&sr=8-1&keywords=the+green+thumb+cookbook
[...] Savory Stuffed Cabbage, Aussie Potatoes, Green Beans, [...]
This are called Goulpokies in my worls! I am of Polish decent, my maiden name is Kielbasa!!!
*world
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
thanks soo much for the book details…
ok im a begginer cook and the single T confuses me not sure if its Teaspoon or Tablespoon!!!!!
Capital T is a tablespoon, lowercase t is a teaspoon
[...] Stuffed Cabbage Casserole (this, except instead of rolls, I just use chopped up cooked cabbage and mix it all together), Aussie [...]
In most cabbage roll recipes (also called Holubkys) sauerkraut is placed on top of the tomato. It is delicious if you like sauerkraut. Don’t be scared to add that ingredient. It makes all the difference.
Really?! We LOVE sauerkraut but it does sound strange to put fermented cabbage on top of fresh cabbage
[...] 4 – 6Adapted by ZoeDawn(http://zoedawn.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/savory-stuffed-cabbage-rolls/) from The Green Thumb Cookbook, page [...]
I’ve read that if you want to make cabbage rolls, instead of cooking the cabbage beforehand you can put the whole head in the freezer. Once it’s frozen through, thaw it out and the leaves will be wilted enough to roll them.
Now that is a worthwhile tip! Thank you!
If you freeze the head of cabbage then drop in boiling water then straight into an ice bath the leaves come right off. This doesn’t cook the cabbage so when you bake it, then it cooks and your cabbage is less rubbery.
being a 4th generation Polish cook, I boil the cabbage till a fork can be put into the core easily. take it out and run under cold water as you core it. Then shave the spines off so they are easier to roll. I use the spines at the bottom of the pot to keep the bottom row of cabbage rolls from burning. I stuff them with a mixture of meats beef, pork and lamb ground (RAW) and mix with rice cooked. Jasmine rice gives it a great flavor! Add 1 tsp salt 1/4 pepper and a WHOLE lot of chopped garlic! mix all together and stuff the cabbage leaves. put into a pot by layering (or crock pot) when pot is full add 1/2 water over the cabbage rolls (in Polish Golumpki). when done we serve them plain with rye bread and boiled potatoes. try the different blends of meat, delicious!
There are so many ways of getting that cabbage off of the head! Thanks for your input!
Do you combine the honey, tomato chunks & tomato sauce all together before you pour them over the rolls or do them individually?
You could combine them but I just dump them on top. As they cook, they get all mixed together.
WOW! this is totally Romanian! my mother in law makes this all the time. so delicious!
[...] Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, Green [...]
can’t wait to try these tonight! thanks for posting
I make this but don’t brown the beef. Make it like I would meatloaf and stuff the cabbage. Might take a bit longer to cook, but it sure is yummy!
You know, I was wondering if that would work. So interesting!
Dish similar to this is called sarma all over south-eastern Europe. The biggest difference is that the cabbage leaves used are pickled, so it doesn’t need any pre-cooking. Since pickled cabbage is really salty, it doesn’t need big amounts of tomatoes or cheese. Also my grandma would not use any honey, and as she is the master of cabbage rolls, I wouldn’t dare to mess with family recipe, but it’s great option
. Smells like childhood!
Hello and thanks for the comment! It is really interesting to read all of the variations for these cabbage rolls! If I ever get to south-eastern Europe, I really need to look into eating some of the authentic stuff. I’m sure I’d love it!
What about leaving out the rice to make it low carb? The recipe sounds delicious and I would love to try it, but my boyfriend and I are on a low carb diet.
There is really hardly any rice in this dish. It would still be very low carb with the bit of rice but if you want to leave it out, you should drain the tomatoes or it will be very juicy.
We tried these a few weeks back and they were amazing! Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
Do you cook rice first?
Nope – it goes in raw.
[...] Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, [...]
Can you make them a few hours before and refrigerate?
Definitely!
Hey this looks great. It is a very familiar dish in my birthplace (Romania). If you ever want to try a twist on this, add some bacon, sub the beef for ground pork, and – if you find them at specialty stores maybe – use pickled cabbage.
i think i’m going to have to replace the beef with paneer (ricotta/cottage cheese) may be and skip the eggs to make a vegetarian version of these cabbage rolls. the tomatoes with a hint of honey sounds good. and the cheese on top, ah.
Go for it! We love the honey in tomato. And skipping the egg will not be a big deal. I’m not entirely sure it’s necessary but the original recipe called for it so I use it
[...] Stuffed Cabbage Casserole, Salad (with Italian dressing), Jelly [...]
Not the original ones sorry. Just plain rice (preferably ‘carolina’), RARE ground veal ( if the best quality),dill and some green onion, boil in water just covering them for about 1h 15′ in medium heat to prevent leaves from opening (NOT OVEN). Squeeze a lemon over them when ready and keep the remaining water to dip in bread! Great aunt’s recipe.
P.S. for god’s sake no honey
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