If you’ve never been a lover of cabbage, these crock pot stuffed cabbage rolls just may make you one. It’s converted many!
I have to admit something to you….my mother makes the best stuffed cabbage rolls in the world.
To me, this recipe was the one and only and as very young I didn’t understand how special it was. And then other people tried it, praised it and kept having another roll, and another one…they praised them with their mouths full.
And that is how I understood that this flavor that I got used to was the best possible, and by no means average or ordinary.
My mother says that the student surpassed the teacher, and I take that as an immeasurably great compliment. In fact, she is a person who always manages to find a needle in a haystack, all with the aim of improving quality.
So, I confidently present to you my mom’s my recipe for stuffed cabbage rolls 🙂
p.s. I’ll let you know a secret…the more you reheat it, the tastier it gets.
If you’ve never been a lover of cabbage, these crock pot stuffed cabbage rolls just may make you one. It’s converted many!
Ingredients
- For the cabbage rolls
- 12 cabbage leaves + leftover
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup water, broth or tomato sauce
- 1?4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- For the sauce (If you like lots of sauce, feel free to double this, I’ve done it both ways)
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 can tomato soup
Instructions
- Cut approx 1/4 inch off the bottom of the cabbage head and place the whole head in boiling water.
- Boil about 2 minutes. Peel off the softened leaves.
- Place remaining head back in the boiling water and repeat until all of the leaves are removed.
- Remove any tough stems from cooked leaves.
- (You can freeze cabbage then thaw and skip the boiling part. We just need the leaves soft enough to roll)
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, uncooked rice, 1/4 cup water/broth or tomato sauce, garlic powder,pepper, salt, sugar, onion.
- Stir in egg and combine well.
- Whisk together tomato sauce, tomato soup, paprika and Worcestershire sauce in another bowl.
- Use the left over cabbage to cover the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Place 1/3 cup meat mixture in center of leaf and roll up like a burrito.
- Place cabbage rolls seam side down in slow cooker, in two layers so they are touching but not over crowded either.
- Mix all sauce ingredients together and pour over rolls.
- Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours.
- Let cool 15 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with chopped fresh parsley, and drizzle with tomato sauce.
- * You can cook the rice prior to adding it to the meat mixture,
- if desired (just follow the rice manufacturer's directions for cooking),
- but raw rice is how my mother made it, and the rice has always cooked through perfectly for me.
Notes
These look so good. Love crock pot cooking….perfect recipe for this weekend. Pinned. Thanks.
I’ve just made this and it was totally delicious, but far too much for my husband and I. Can I freeze the leftovers without sauce and then re-cook them in sauce next time I want them?
I LOVE THE SUFF YOU SHOW
This sounds like great, I have a tip for the cabbage, If you cut deep all around the core and wrap and freeze. Take it out to thaw, no boiling required. the leaves fall off.
I freeze mine as well…easier than boiling it…
I have softened the cabbage both ways. It takes a couple of days for the head of cabbage to freeze through. Then it takes a couple of days to thaw completely…..and while defrosting, it gives up a lot of water. so be prepared. I make my cabbage rolls plainer, as my mom and grandmothers did…but basically the same way. BTW – we pour a bit of browned butter over the rolls when served.
I microwave the cabbage. Cut out the core, hold the head under running water, into the core. Let as much water get in there and between the leaves. Place into a plastic bag, twist and seal tight and microwave for about 5 min. Take it out (very very hot) and let it steam for about 30 min in the bag(do not open bag). Then it will be cooled down and soft and pliable. Easy to roll.
What an awesome idea! I’ve always boiled whole cored head in a giant pot…but I’m sure this steaming in the microwave will work just as well AND without heating up the kitchen so bad…thanks so much for sharing!
Hurray! My mom always used tomato soup. Makes a nice gravy without added sugar. We always served it with sour cream.
These look so amazing! I’ve never had stuffed cabbage before so I’ll have to try it out!
These were so good, love cabbage cooked any way .
I see it says to mix sauce and soup together, but I don’t see in the ingredients soup. I don’t like it with sauce, so I want to use all soup. Would anyone have an idea on how much soup to use?
Hi
My grandmother was Polish and my grandfather from Ukraine. She just made these with cooked white rice mixed with hamberg. Add salt to taste when mixing. Stuff each cabbage and roll. Stack each on top of one another. then, the best part was adding salt pork cubed and sprinkled (find with lots of bacon meat attached). As it cooks, it melts and that is what adds the flavor. She used tomato soup only mixed with can of water. Depending on how much you make equals number of cans of soup/water mixture. As you cook, add more water to keep top of cabbage covered and moist. Try to make at least a day advance, as they are better the next day and day after that. We always had these at Easter. Good luck!
Attempting but No ground pork (didn’t feel or smell right coming from freezer). Only making for 1, me. First attempt. t has to taste better than the store bought. Slovak from western Pa.
Yes I use tomato soup in place of tomato sauce. That’s the way my mom made it.
Sounds delicious, but wondering what time I would have to get up to prepare the cabbage rolls and have them in the crock pot in order to cook for 7-9 hrs. Would like to try them though.
You can always prepare the stuffed cabbage the day before, keep in the fridge overnight, put in the crockpot the next day when you would had the sauce or tomato soup and cook. Enjoy. We just made a similar recipe for Easter and I prepared the cabbage rolls the night before came out perfect.
I am making these today but i have no soup on hand and no cabbage, however, i have brussels sprouts leaves. This sounds so good i have to try it with what i have… wish me luck! 🙂
My word! Just how large are those Brussels sprouts?
This is my new go-to recipe for cabbage rolls! So good even our 11 year old loved them. Using a slow cooker made it much easier to make during the work week so we can have them more often. Thank you,
I made these on Sunday and they were fabulous! So easy to make, but I would probably only use 1/2 Cup of rice the next time I make them. These cabbage rolls were the same that my Mom used to make when I was a child. Will definitely again and again.
I made these yesterday. I subbed brown rice and used turkey sausage in place of the pork and they are amazing!!! Thank you!
Yum
Have you ever frozen these after they were made?
I use cream of mushroom soup instead of tomato sauce. Yummy!!
If you boil your cabbage- use that water for flavor with the soup and/ or sauce in stead of just water!!
Do you have to use pork and do u have to use soup. would marinara sauce work?
I was thinking of trying bison (ground buffalo) or lamb. Pork gives more flavor. Marinara wouldn’t make it taste like traditional stuffed cabbage, which is supposed to be sweet n’ sour. You might as well just stick to meatballs and pasta, or ground beef and pasta dishes like ziti and lasagne.
Instead of tomato sauce flavor, use cream of mushroom soup and add sauteed sliced mushrooms on top,
My mom used to make cabbage rolls when I was growing up. It was always my intention to get her recipes ‘someday’. Unfortunately, my mom diagnosed with Alzheimers before that ‘someday’ ever came so she could never tell me her secret recipes. I wanted to make cabbage rolls and this was first recipe I tried. While these are not my moms..as no recipe ever is…they are AMAZING. I substituted barley for rice but other than that, followed recipe. I will be writing recipe down to share with my daughter.
My moms recipe is similar but we also add sourkraut Under around the rolls once placed in the pot. Want to try to make them in crock pot usually bake in over old Lithuanian way. By the way mom is Italian but learned from my dads mom because he was such a picky eater
My mother and now I always topped them off with a layer of sauerkraut and poured some tomato sauce over the kraut. We also used some of the juice along with the sauce. My husband of 54 years loves these more than anything I cook. And fried potatoes with onion for the side dish.
My mom also cooked cabbage rolls with sauerkraut. Instead of tomato soup, she usedfacebook crushed canned tomatoes. Also Lithuanian
I’m making these a second time! They’re in the slow cooker now! I surprised my husband with them last week and he hasn’t stopped raving about them so, another surprise tonight!! These are super easy to whip up and they are the best SCR’s i have ever had! Thank you for sharing your moms/your recipe!! It’s simply delicious!!
Hi. This may be a dumb question but for the crock pot cabbage rolls. Do we cook the ground beef and ground pork before we mix all together?
My Cabbage Rolls are better and simpler made. I just use my home-canned tomatoes and I don’t uses all that other stuff to make a sauce. I use Brown sugar instead of white, too.