Stuffed Cabbage Recipe with Tomato

This Stuffed Cabbage with Tomato Sauce is rich and warmly spiced. Wilted cabbage leaves wrap around deeply flavored beef and rice, making for the most delicious comfort foods this winter!

My Grandmother was an excellent cook.

There are a few special dishes that will always remind me of family dinners at my grandparents' house, and the cabbage rolls are one of my favorites (along with Welsh Rarebit and Spicy Quick Pickled Broccoli).

My dad often talked about how my Grandmother followed every recipe to a T.

I wish I could give you a visual of my dad holding his finger in the air and motioning it sideways to show how she'd level off a ½ teaspoon measurement perfectly, so as not to add a speck too much or too little.

I'm so fortunate to have a collection of my Grandmother's recipes.

Some came from her friends, and some from family, and all were rewritten in her pretty handwriting.

Ingredient Notes

• Green cabbage: You'll need 8 large leaves from one head. Choose the biggest head of cabbage you can find, one that feels firm and heavy.
• Ground beef: I use 85% lean, grass-fed ground beef. The little bit of fat will make the filling juicier. Ground chicken or turkey work too (see Variations below).
• Yellow onion: Grated for the filling, and thinly sliced and slowly cooked until golden for the sauce. You can easily grate the onion in a food processor with the grater attachment, and a box grater works too.
• Tomato purée: Used in both the filling and the sauce.
• Whole peeled tomatoes in tomato juice: They're broken into smaller pieces as the sauce cooks.
• Long-grain rice: I use jasmine rice, but any long-grain white rice is great. It goes into the filling raw and cooks inside the rolls in the oven.
• Garlic
• Smoked paprika, allspice, ground mustard and salt: All of these spices together add warmth and depth to the recipe.
• Worcestershire sauce: Adds more savory depth to the filling and a slightly tangy flavor.
• Dry red wine: Use one you like! Most of the alcohol cooks off, but the flavor of the wine remains.
• Beef broth: Low-sodium if possible.
• Red wine vinegar, lemon juice and brown sugar: Together, they give the sauce a gentle sweet-and-sour balance.
• Olive oil: Use your favorite. It's for sautéing the onions and garlic.

Tomato Sauce for Stuffed Cabbage

• The sauce is what makes this stuffed cabbage so special. Instead of a plain tomato sauce, it starts with sliced onions and garlic, cooked slowly until they're soft and caramelized. The warming spices are in every bite, and add so much flavor.
• A splash of red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice and a little brown sugar balance it all with a gentle sweet-and-sour flavor. It simmers for just 10 minutes on the stove, then bakes with the cabbage rolls, so the flavors meld together beautifully.

How to Make Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

- Line a baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels and prepare a large bowl of ice water - it should be large enough to hold the cabbage and the water without overflowing. 


- Bring a large pot of water to a boil (also large enough to hold the cabbage without overflowing). Gently place a whole head of cabbage in water, root side up. Leave it in the boiling water for about 4 minutes. Remove it with tongs, and place it directly in the ice water. 


- Once it’s cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to remove the root. Pointing the knife away from you, cut around the root, in a cone shape, and then use the tip to “pop” it out.


- From where you’ve removed the root, gently pull the leaves up and off, until you have eight. If it gets more difficult to remove the leaves as you get further in, you can put it back in the water for another couple of minutes.

- Go slowly, and don’t worry if they tear a little bit. As you remove them, place them on the towel-covered baking sheet. Then place another paper towel on top before adding the remaining leaves. Set aside. (Save the rest of the cabbage for another use.)


- In a large mixing bowl, add the beef, grated onion, tomato purée, rice, salt, paprika and Worcestershire sauce. Use your hands to blend everything together, and do not continue to mix once everything is evenly incorporated. Cover with plastic and set aside.

- Preheat the oven to 325°F and adjust a rack to the center.

- Coat the bottom of a large sauté pan with olive oil and place it over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté, stirring every couple of minutes, until the onions are soft and golden, about 15 minutes.

- Add the allspice, mustard and paprika, mix and let it sauté until it's aromatic, about 30 seconds.

- Add the tomato purée, tomatoes, wine, broth, vinegar, lemon juice and sugar and stir to blend. Use a wooden spatula to break the tomatoes into smaller pieces and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.

- Add a few large spoonfuls of the sauce to the bottom of an (approximately) 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking dish.

- Lay the cabbage leaves, round side down, on a clean, dry surface, and use a paper towel to dry them if they're still damp. Use a paring knife to cut out the lower portion of the root if it's tough.

- Add about ½ cup of the meat mixture to the bottom of each leaf. Roll the cabbage leaf around the meat, folding in the sides as you go. You should have a nice, tight bundle once it's rolled. Seam side down, place each roll into the baking dish.

- Once you've made all of the rolls, pour all of the remaining sauce over them, cover the dish with foil, and place in the preheated 325°F oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 10 minutes.

- Remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before serving.

Variations

• Chicken or turkey. You can make a chicken or turkey version using ground chicken or turkey and chicken broth instead of beef broth.
• Vegetarian version. Use mushrooms instead of the beef. These Sherry Mushrooms would be fantastic. Replace the beef broth with vegetable broth.

Can You Make Stuffed Cabbage Ahead?

Yes! You can assemble the cabbage rolls in the baking dish, sauce and all, a day ahead. Cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate. When you're ready to bake, make sure it's covered with foil (not plastic wrap), and put it in a preheated 325°F oven about 1 hour and 45 minutes before you want to serve them. (Cooking time is about 1 hour and 30 minutes, so they'll have time to cool a bit.)

Do You Cook the Rice First?

No. The rice goes into the filling raw, and it cooks inside the cabbage rolls as they bake in the sauce.

I have to tell you, it was hard to stop eating this - right out of the baking dish. It's absolutely scrumptious.

More Must-Try Cabbage Recipes

I hope you love it!