Best Stuffed Cabbage Recipe with Tomato

Two cabbage rolls covered with tomato sauce in a blue and white-rimmed bowl.

5 from 6 votes

Best Stuffed Cabbage Recipe with Tomato

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

Prep Time45

Cook Time1 30

Total Time2 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Eastern European

Keyword: comfort food recipes for fall and winter

Servings:

Calories: 257kcal

Author: Valentina K. Wein

Equipment

Ingredients

For the cabbage

1 head green cabbage
1 pound ground beef
½ cup grated yellow onion
⅓ cup tomato purée
½ cup raw long grain rice
1 teaspoon kosher salt if you use table salt, use half the amount
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

For the sauce

olive oil for the pan
3 cups thinly sliced yellow onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1½ teaspoons allspice
1¼ teaspoons ground mustard
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1½ cups canned peeled tomatoes in tomato juice
¾ cup tomato purée
¼ cup dry red wine
½ cup beef broth
2½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the cabbage

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 8. 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.)

For the filling

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

For the sauce

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.

Assembly

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.
Bake. 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.

Notes

Make ahead: Assemble the cabbage rolls in the baking dish, sauce and all, up to a day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. When you're ready to bake, make sure it's covered with foil (not plastic wrap), and put it in the preheated 325°F oven about 1 hour and 45 minutes before you want to serve them. It bakes for about 1½ hours, so they'll have time to cool a bit.

Variations: For chicken or turkey cabbage rolls, use ground chicken or turkey and chicken broth instead of beef broth. For a vegetarian version, use mushrooms instead of the beef, and vegetable broth instead of beef broth.

Nutritional information is automatically calculated, so it should only be used as an estimate.

Nutrition