Amazing Stuffed Cabbage Recipes

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Using a paring knife, remove center core of cabbage. In a large nonreactive stockpot, bring 2 quarts water to a boil. Add cabbage and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until outer leaves are bright green and tender. Lift cabbage from water, and remove outer leaves. Return cabbage to boiling water, and repeat brief cooking and removal of leaves until all leaves are cooked. Reserve 2 cups cabbage cooking water. Trim thick center vein from bottom of each leaf. Reserve four large outer leaves to line bottom of pan.
• In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook until golden and tender, about 8 minutes. In a large bowl, combine onion mixture, rice, beef, pork, salt, pepper, parsley flakes, green pepper, and celery. Stir to combine.
• Add about 1/3 cup rice filling to one cabbage leaf. Fold sides of cabbage over filling, and, starting with the stem end, roll the cabbage up. Repeat with remaining leaves and filling.
• Line a 5-quart Dutch oven with reserved outside leaves. Transfer stuffed cabbage leaves to Dutch oven.
• In a large bowl, combine tomato puree and the reserved 2 cups of cabbage cooking water. Pour some of the tomato sauce over cabbage to almost cover. Sprinkle apple over top of cabbage leaves. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce to a gentle simmer; cover. Cook for 1 hour or until cabbage is very tender, adding additional tomato sauce as needed.
• Place sour cream in a small bowl, and ladle in about 3/4 cup of tomato sauce from the cooked stuffed cabbage rolls. Whisk to combine. Add sour cream mixture back to Dutch oven, and stir to combine. Serve with additional sour cream.

GIANT STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Position a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Rub the inside of a 3-quart round soufflé dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Set aside.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the cabbage leaves for 2 minutes to soften (they will continue to cook in the oven). Gently nudge them into the water with a large spoon if they float to the top during cooking. Drain and set aside.
• Heat a medium nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil with the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently with a heatproof silicone spatula, until vegetables are softened but not browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
• Add the meat, parsley, rice, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to the vegetable mixture. Stir to combine well using the spatula.
• Layer enough of the cabbage leaves to cover the bottom and up the sides of the souffle dish in a single layer, overlapping as needed to fill any visible gaps. Use the larger leaves as the veins are more pronounced; the bottom will be the presentation side after it is cooked and flipped over.
• Gently spread about 1 1/4 cups of the meat mixture in the bottom of the dish in an even layer on top of the cabbage leaves. Evenly spread 4 tablespoons of marinara sauce over the meat mixture. Cover with a layer of cabbage leaves. Repeat with another layer of meat mixture, marinara sauce and cabbage leaves until all the meat mixture is used. Reserve the remaining marinara sauce for serving. Tuck the final layer of cabbage neatly into the sides, gently pressing down all around to compact it.
• Tightly cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake until the cabbage is tender and the rice is cooked through, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, but do not remove the foil. Allow to cool and set for at least 1 hour. Remove the foil and gently invert the stuffed cabbage onto a serving platter. Serve with the reserved warmed marinara sauce.

OLD-FASHIONED STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a large saucepan, combine the ground beef with the onion and 2 cloves of the garlic; cook and stir to break up the meat until the beef is browned and the onion and garlic are tender; drain well and set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the beef mixture, the cooked rice, mustard, egg, and salt and pepper until combined.
• Cut out the core end of the cabbage and remove and discard some of the exterior leaves. Then carefully remove 8 whole perfect leaves . Soak the leaves in hot water in a large bowl until they are limp and pliable.
• Chop half of the remaining cabbage and add this to the beef and rice mixture. Roll up about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture in each cabbage leaf. Reserve any remaining meat mixture. At this point, preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Then, in the same large skillet, sauté 2 cloves of garlic in the olive oil until tender, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the tomato puree, diced tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Simmer this sauce for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Then remove and discard the bay leaves.
• Place the stuffed cabbage rolls in a Dutch oven or large casserole. Top the rolls with any remaining meat mixture. Pour the tomato sauce mixture over all.
• Cover the casserole and bake for 80 to 90 minutes or until the cabbage rolls are tender.
• Serve the stuffed cabbage with the sauce. Enjoy.

AMAZING STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• There are many ways that you can skin a cat, so let's tackle this cabbage.
• You can either pain stakingly score the head of cabbage around the root and try and free up some leaves (careful not to tear them), and then put them in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes to soften them up, carefully removing from pot and placing on a paper towel to cool --
• Or you can remove the root if any from the head, score the leaves around the root and drop the whole head into the boiling water for about 5-10 minutes and the leaves will come off more easily. If you use this method, remove the whole head of cabbage after you get your leaves off and place aside to cool, cuz you're gonna need it in a bit --
• You will need about 10 cabbage leaves to make 10 rolls --
• After the head of cabbage cools, shred it and discard any large pieces --
• In a large frying pan over med high heat, saute the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, add the tomato (with juice) the shredded cabbage, salt and pepper and the red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until the liquid almost all gone and the vegetables are soft -- about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool.
• In another large bowl, combine the ground beef, rice, cooled tomato mixture and bread crumbs. Mix well, but don't over mix the meat. The more you handle ground beef the tougher it will become -- It should be able to form into a little "meatloafs" if not, then add a little more bread crumbs.
• Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Working one at a time, take a small handful of the meat mixture and place towards the bottom (where the root is) of a cabbage leaf, now your gonna want to channel your Latino and roll those polish babies like a burrito. Tuck the bottom over a little and then bring in both sides, and then roll! Place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until your dish is full. They can be touching, and you're gonna want them to.
• Wisk the soup, water and honey together and pour evenly over cabbage rolls. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil and then top with a little of your mozzarella cheese and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Notes.
• Here are some tidbits and thoughts.
• 1.Some people don't like the vein of the cabbage so after you have cooked the leaves you can run your knife down the sides of the vein and discard. Or if you are like me and are an equal opportunity cabbage lover, you will keep it. It will get soft during cooking --
• 2.Some of you Polacks (and I say that lovingly, because I am part Litvak (Lithuanian)) out there are scoffing at the fact that it has cooked cabbage in the center and cheese on top -- But hey, it works. The cheese gets nice and golden brown and lovely and the cabbage in the meat mixture is just sublime.
• 3.I have made the meat mixture by making instant rice. 1 cup of uncooked instant rice is far more than 1 cup after you cook it. If you do this, it just makes more of the mixture and after 10 rolls I had enough mixture to set aside and freeze for another glorious Polish day in my household.

STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

Steps:

• Cook cabbage in boiling water only until leaves fall off head. Reserve 14-16 large leaves for rolls and set aside remaining cabbage. , In a bowl, combine rice, beef, onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup soup. Put 2 to 3 tablespoons meat mixture on each cabbage leaf. Fold in sides, then roll up leaves to completely enclose meat., Line a Dutch oven with leftover cabbage leaves. Combine remaining soup and water; pour over cabbage. Stack cabbage rolls on top of sauce. Cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer on low for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until rolls are tender. , Remove rolls and cabbage. If desired, sauce may be thickened by boiling over high heat. Spoon sauce over rolls and cabbage and serve immediately.

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• For the sauce: In a large bowl, combine the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, red chili flakes (if using), brown sugar, and red wine vinegar. With a microplane, grate the clove of garlic into the sauce and stir well to combine. (Alternatively, you can very finely chop the garlic.)
• For the filling: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut out the core from the base of the cabbage and remove the 1-2 outer leaves. Place the cabbage cut side down into the pot of boiling water. As you see leaves naturally start to separate from the head of cabbage, gently coax the leaf off with a pair of tongs and transfer it to a colander set over a bowl. You will need about 14 cabbage leaves. This process takes about 6-8 minutes. Rinse the leaves with cold water until cool enough to handle. Drain well and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel.
• Place the cabbage leaves on a cutting board and make a V-shaped cut at the bottom of each leaf, to cut out the thickest part of the center rib.
• In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, pork, onion, egg, milk or cream, breadcrumbs, rice, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix gently to combine.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch-by-13-inch casserole dish. Ladle 1 cup of sauce into the dish and spread all over. Starting with the largest, outer cabbage leaves, lay each cabbage leaf flat. Take about 1/3 cup of filling and roughly shape it into an oval shape, about 4-inches long. (For some of the larger leaves, use up to ½ cup of filling.) Place the oval in the center a cabbage leaf, just above where the rib was cut. Fold the sides of the cabbage leaf over the filling and roll up into a little bundle (start rolling at the cut side, over into the uncut side). Place seam side down over top of the sauce in the baking dish. Repeat until each cabbage leaf is used. Drizzle the remainder of the sauce all over.
• Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, until the meat is cooked through. Serve with a side of mashed potatoes, if you like.

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt it generously.
• Core the cabbage. Gently peel away the leaves to expose the heart (by heart, I mean the ball of more yellowish leaves at the center which are too tightly packed to bother prying apart). Cut out that core of inner-most leaves and shred to add to the stuffing. Cut the thick ribs out of the remaining leaves (they will look like you've stolen a sliver from a pie). Set aside.
• Blanch the cabbage leaves for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, and refresh under ice-cold water. Drain and pat dry with a towel.
• Break the bread into crumbs in a bowl, pour over the milk and set aside to soften. Heat the butter and olive oil in a skillet and gently fry the onion and shallot until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped cabbage, mushrooms, garlic and thyme. Cook another 5 minutes. Add the bread and cook until the milk has evaporated. Stir through the quatre-epices and season generously with salt and pepper. Add this mixture to the sausage meat in a large bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork. Make a small ball and fry it in the frying pan. Taste it to check the seasonings. Adjust as needed.
• Lay a tea towel on the counter with a piece of cheesecloth or muslin large enough to wrap the cabbage in. You're going to reconstruct the cabbage, but with layers of stuffing between the leaves. So, first lay down the large outer leaves, in a circle, slightly overlapping with the prettiest side out. Spread over a layer of stuffing. Lay over another layer of leaves and repeat the action. Continue until you have run out of leaves. Pull up the edges of the cheesecloth, like a bag, and twist, as if making the head of a puppet, to shape the cabbage into a round loaf shape. Tie a string around the beard of cheesecloth where it meets the cabbage ball, to secure the package. The cabbage can be prepared to this stage in advance, refrigerated and then cooked before serving.
• To cook: Steam the cabbage over water or good chicken stock (about 2 cups/500 ml of it) for 45 minutes. The flavor from the stuffed cabbage will drip into the water or stock and give it the most amazing flavor. When the cabbage is done, boil down the cooking juices and serve a spoonful around each wedge of cabbage in a soup bowl.

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Place cabbage head in freezer and freeze overnight. Remove from freezer, thaw and peel away leaves.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Combine the beef, egg, onion, rice, salt and pepper. Mix together well. Take a small handful and form into a small roll or ball. Place into the center of a cabbage leaf. Fold the sides of the leaf over and roll the ball up into the leaf. Place seam side down in baking dish. Continue until all of the filling is used up.
• Mix together the soup with a 1/2 can water; pour over stuffed cabbage.
• Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour; baste often with the sauce.

DECONSTRUCTED STUFFED CABBAGE CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add cabbage strips to boiling water. Boil until tender. Drain.
• Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef and onion in the hot skillet until beef is browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and discard grease.
• Mix together meat and onion mixture with cooked rice, cabbage, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cabbage, salt, and pepper until well combined. Place mixture into a large glass baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until bubbly and heated through, 30 to 45 minutes.

AMAZING STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS RECIPE

Steps:

• 1. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a rolling boil. When the water comes to a boil, fill a large bowl with ice water. Cut out as much of the core as you can from the bottom of the cabbage, then drop the whole, cored head into the boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes. Once the leaves separate and are pliable, immediately remove and drop the blanched leaves that separated (keep the pot of water boiling) in the ice water. Once cooled down, remove and pat the leaves dry. Repeat with any leaves still attached to the head and not pliable, until you've gotten all the leaves off the head, and they are all soft and pliable.Alternatively, If you've got time on your hands, you can freeze the wrapped head of cabbage for two days then defrost. Cut out as much of the core as you can, then wrap tightly and freeze. When defrosted, the leaves will peel off easily and be soft enough to roll.Here's some other ideas from readers, although I have yet to try them so I cannot confirm that they work. 1. Place the cabbage in the microwave for 6 minutes. The core will slip right out and the leaves will be perfect for rolling. 2. Cut out the core, fill the hole with water, then tie it up tightly in a microwave safe plastic bag. Microwave it for 6 minutes, then remove it from the microwave and let it steam in the bag for about a half hour. 2. Set aside about 16 of the largest leaves (these will be your cabbage rolls. If you can only get 14 leaves, it's fine) and slice off any thick parts of the vein on each of them, or just cut out the thick vein since that part will be covered once the cabbage leaf is rolled. Chop some of the remaining cabbage leaves to make 1 cup of chopped cabbage, and reserve. 3. Make the sauce (recipe below). Set aside to let cool. IMPORTANT: Taste the sauce as you add the brown sugar, anywhere from 2 tablespoons to 3⁄4 cup as stated in the ingredient list above, starting with only 2 tablespoons so you sweeten it to YOUR preference. Some like it very sweet and sour, and some do not. 4. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef with the eggs, grated onion, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and rice. (If you use cooked rice, you can test the seasoning of the meat mixture to your liking by frying up or microwaving a piece of it and tasting, if desired). Divide the meat mixture into sixteen equal pieces, or 14 equal pieces, about 2 to 3 oz each, depending on whether you have 16 or 14 cabbage leaves. Using slightly moistened hands (or not, since it rarely sticks to my hands), form the pieces into thick cylinders. Place a cylinder of filling near the bottom of a cabbage leaf (if the vein in the leaf is really thick, shave it down with a knife before placing the beef on it, being careful not to cut a big hole through the leaf itself OR, cut the thick vein out completely in a narrow V. When you roll the cabbage, that V will be covered sufficiently, as mentioned above). 5. Roll the meat filled cabbage leaf up, folding both sides over the filling, (like you see in the above photos) and finish rolling to enclose the filling, like a burrito. Continue, filling and rolling all the cabbage leaves. Line the bottom of a 13 x 9 roasting pan or glass dish with a layer of sauce. Place cabbage rolls, seam side down, on top of sauce. 6. Top cabbage rolls with remaining sauce then cover the whole pan with tin foil. Bake for 2 hours in a preheated 350 F oven. Sauce Directions 1. Over medium heat, melt the butter and/or oil in a heavy, non-reactive saucepan. Sauté the second onion until soft and golden. Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes, then add the reserved 1 cup chopped cabbage and sauté for about 30 seconds to 1 minute more. 2. Add the tomato sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste, and stir to combine. Increase the heat until it comes to a boil, then lower it and simmer for 5 minutes. Add raisins now, if using. Set aside to cool while making the cabbage rolls. notes: * You can cook the rice before adding it to the meat mixture, if desired (just follow the rice manufacturer's directions for cooking 1⁄2 cup of rice, which should give you about 11⁄2 cups cooked rice), but my grandmother used uncooked rice, and I've never ended up with even one uncooked grain when my cabbage rolls are done. The rice always cooks to perfection. Either way, it's up to you! ** Sauce can be made 2 days ahead; just cover and chill. Also, if you like a lot of sauce, just double or add another half of the original recipe.

NANA'S STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Boil cabbage in water about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and cool.
• In a bowl, mix the ground beef, rice, grated onion, ketchup and egg, and season with salt and pepper.
• In another bowl, combine canned tomatoes, tomato soup, brown sugar and lemon juice.
• Separate cabbage leaves and roll about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the beef mixture into each leaf, tucking in the sides. If you have leftover beef, roll it into tiny meatballs.
• Pour some of the tomato mixture into a deep pot. Crumble a handful of ginger snaps into it, then cover with a layer of rolled cabbage leaves (and tiny meatballs, if you have any), then one layer of sliced onion rings. Repeat until all cabbage rolls are used.
• Cook on low heat, covered, about 2 1/2 hours. When nearly finished, prepare buttered noodles, and serve with stuffed cabbage.

DELICIOUS BEEF STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Spray and 9x13 [3 quart] metal roasting pan with Pam or other oil spray.
• Fill large cooking pot [at least twice the size of the head of cabbage] 3/4 full with water. Add a dash of salt. Bring to a boil.
• While the water is coming to a boil,remove the core from the cabbage [this is the dense part at the top of the cabbage head] with a paring knife by cutting around it until you can pull it out. Put the cabbage in the boiling water with the core removed side down. Cover and cook for ten minutes.
• Remove the cover and carefully take out the cabbage head and put it in a drainer in the sink. Remove the loose cabbage leaves being careful not to tear them. When you get to leaves that won't easily come loose, return the cabbage to the hot water and let it sit for about ten minutes. Then you can remove more leaves. Continue this until all the leaves are removed and in the drainer. Do not discard the water.
• In a medium mixing bowl, add ground beef, soup mix, onion, garlic, rice, egg and 1 teaspoon of the dry beef bullion and 1/4 cup of the water. Mix very well with your hands making sure that all the ingredients blend together.
• Take a cabbage leaf and fill the center with the ground beef mix. Each leaf will be a different size so you will have to alter the amount you put in each leaf as you go along. A large leaf takes about 2 tablespoons and a small leaf about 1 tablespoon. When the leaf is filled with the ground beef, fold over the top and sides and roll up. Place the cabbage roll in the roasting pan with the end of the leaf face down.
• Continue this until all the filling is used up. Cover the cabbage rolls with remaining cabbage leaves. Surround the cabbage with sliced carrots.
• Mix tomato soup and sauce together with 1 tablespoon beef bullion. Add 1 3/4 cups of water from the cabbage pot and 1 cup of rich milk or cream. [It is best to mix a little of the water with the milk to warm it up before adding to sauce]. Mix this until there are no lumps and ingredients are well blended.
• Pour the sauce over the cabbage, carrots and cabbage rolls to about 1/2 inch from the top of the pan. If you have sauce left, save it for serving with the meal. Bring the leftover sauce to a boil in a small pot. Cook ten minutes, shut off and set to side.
• Cover the roasting pan with aluminum foil and place on a cookie sheet covered with foil. Place in center of oven and cook for 1 1/2 hours. You will know this is done when you can insert a fork into the cabbage or carrots and it comes out easily. This means everything is tender and cooked.
• To serve, place cabbage and cabbage rolls in a serving bowl surrounded by carrots. Serve sauce in a gravy boat. A nice big bowl of mashed potatoes rounds out the meal.
• If you made stove top sauce, add it to the gravy in the roasting pan.
• TIP: If sauce is thin, place the roasting pan on the stove, over a medium heat [small flame for gas or number5 on electric stove]. Mix 3 tablesoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup water. Add to sauce. Let cook for 10 minutes. If you like you sauce thicker, just add more cornstarch mix until it is the consistency you like for gravy.