I have upped my meal plan with the best slow cooker cabbage rolls.
Are you intimidated by cabbage? I admit cabbage scares me a little. What I loved about these is this meal did not have a strong cabbage flavor like you would expect. We could barely taste it. Only near the end of the roll, the thicker part of the cabbage, tasted like cabbage.
I have been looking for a few new go to meals to add to my meal plan for my family.
I will definitely be adding this to our meal plan on a monthly basis.
The Best Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls
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Ingredients for Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls
1 head of cabbage
1 lbs ground meat
1 medium diced onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 eggs
1 29oz can tomato sauce
1 cup uncooked rice
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
A slow cooker just like this one
Directions on how cook slow cooker cabbage rolls
Cut approx 1/4 inch off the bottom of the cabbage head and place the whole head in boiling water. Then boil about 2 minutes. Peel off the leaves as they soften. This goes pretty quick.
Place remaining head back in the boiling water and repeat until you have at least 8 large cabbage 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 meat, uncooked rice, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, minced garlic, pepper, salt, and diced onion.
Stir in egg and combine well.
Whisk together tomato sauce, paprika and Worcestershire sauce in another bowl.
Place 1/4 cup meat mixture in center of leaf and roll up like a burrito.
Pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of your slow cooker.
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.
Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours in your slow cooker.
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Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls Make Ahead Meal Idea
Deliciously easy, this Slow Cooker Cabbage Roll recipe cooks up all day. Make dinner with all of the flavor without any fuss!
Ingredients
- 1 head of cabbage
- 1 lbs ground meat
- 1 medium diced onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1 jar tomato sauce
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
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Cut approx 1/4 inch off the bottom of the cabbage head and place the whole head in boiling water. Then boil about 2 minutes. Peel off the leaves as they soften. This goes pretty quick.
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Place remaining head back in the boiling water and repeat until you have at least 8 large cabbage leaves.
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(You can freeze cabbage then thaw and skip the boiling part. We just need the leaves soft enough to roll)
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In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, uncooked rice, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, garlic powder, pepper, salt, onion.
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Stir in egg and combine well.
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Whisk together tomato sauce, paprika and Worcestershire sauce in another bowl.
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Place 1/4 cup meat mixture in center of leaf and roll up like a burrito.
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Pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of your slow cooker.
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Place cabbage rolls seam side down in slow cooker, in two layers so they are touching but not over crowded either.
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Mix all sauce ingredients together and pour over rolls.
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Cook on high for four hours or low for 8 hours.
Cabbage Roll Meal Ideas
These were so good. They remind me of slow cooker Italian meatloaf or a slow cooker meatballs recipe. Are you brave enough to give these a try? These are perfect since you don’t have to precook the meat or the rice. You can throw them together pretty quickly to create a meal to fix and forget. Make these on a Sunday for a make ahead meal idea and freeze them to have them ready to eat. This is a great scaleable meal for one or a large family. This meal is a terrific meal to cook for a lunch idea for the entire week. Are you looking for more lunch ideas? Visit my lunches for one Pinterest board for more inspiration, or try my slow cooker recipes board for easy slow cooker meals.
Half the ingredients on the list do not have measurements in front of them. What sz tomato sauce jar? Garlic powder is not even list as well as the Worcester sauce. What are the measurements?
Thank you so much for pointing that out. I must have missed this in my edits. I have added the correct measurements to make this amazing dish.
Hi Amy.
Quick question.Do you cook the hamburger meat first or just in the crockpot?My gut is telling me in the crock pot…thanks!
Great question Rob. Yes it is all cooked in the crock pot. My favorite kind of meal.
I have this going in my crockpot right now! I have a feeling my husband is going to love it. Thank you for sharing!
So glad to hear this Tiffany. I can’t wait to hear how it was. Please rate the recipe it helps me so much!!
Call I use uncooked minute rice?
Do you know how I could do this same recipe in a instapot?
Thanks for asking Olivia. Unfortunately I do not own an Instantpot to test this recipe. My only suggestion would be to use the slow cooker feature on your Instantpot.
5 star definitely
Would this work with uncooked quinoa?
Great question Sarah. I have never done this, but I bet it would. If you try it take a picture and post it to my Facebook page or tag me with @mainlyhomemade or #mainlyhomemade. I would love to see it.
I found the meat mixture made far more volume for the 8 cabbage leaves…even when bumping it up to about 1/3 cup, it easily made 12? Did anyone else mention this? Sure looks good in the slow cooker!
Great question Sue. Mine made 10 for this recipe. The original recipe I had said 8, so that is what I put on here. As long as they come out and taste good then it is OK to have more.
When you say ground meat, do you use a mixtire of meat or do you simply use ground beef? Thank you!!
Great question Anna. Ground meat can be ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken or ground pork. It would depend on any dietary restrictions you may have as to what type of meat you want to use.
An alternative to using cabbage, I use collard greens. Just boil them for a shot while, and trim off the end of the stem and the trim the thick part of the stem. They taste the same, and hold up well.
Great tip Priscilla. Thank you for sharing!
Hello! Does the rice need to be uncooked or cooked when making the filling? Or does it just cook while in the crock pot?
Thanks!
Great question Laila. I use uncooked rice and it turns out just fine. There should be enough moisture in the dish to cook the rice.
Can I ask what you do with the cabbage that’s left from the head?
We usually just cook it and eat it. I like to cut it up and use it in Asian dishes we like to eat.
Or, cut it up and put it in the crock pot with everything else that is in there. It really adds to the sauce you have in it.
I have this cooking right now. It was so quick and easy to put together and I definitely will make this again. One tip that I use for the cabbage, is after you cut off a quarter inch of the top, you wrap the cabbage completely in very damp paper towels and place it in the microwave for between 12 and 18 minutes depending on the size of your head of cabbage. It’s steams beautifully it comes right off the head. Much easier than boiling water.
That is an excellent tip Barbara. Thank you so much for sharing!
If wanted to freeze these, can I put them all together and then freeze them, uncooked?
Any freezing tips?
Great question Sue. I have not done this. I would suggest cooking them on low at the 6-8 hour time if you are taking them from the freezer to the slow cooker. If you thaw them, before you cook them, you could use the shorter time of four hours. I don’t see why this wouldn’t work. Please let me know if you try.
Thanks,
Any freezing tips?
CN you use minute rice?
Great question Mary. I have not tried minute rice, but I would think it might be a little more sticky and mushy if you did. If you try this please let me know. Using regular rice allows the rice to soak up the flavors as it cooks and stays firm.
My mother is Polish and has made these “piggies” my whole life. Similar to yours. Doesn’t mix sauce into the raw meat mixture. The meat will be moist and delicious from the sauce in the pot. To answer a couple questions for you: minute rice works very well and does not get mushy.
The cooked cabbage rolls do not freeze well. The cabbage turns to mush when thawed. We’ve always done them in a 6-8 qt pot on the stove. But I look forward to your idea of using the crock pot.
This was so good! I have 4 young kids and they all loved it too! I am putting it into my regular meal rotation.
Yay!! I am so glad you like this meal Brea. It is so good. Please share with all your friends.
Oh my goodness! This recipe just took me back 40 years to my grandma’s table. I miss her so much. I have thought about her and this dish countless times over the years… I wish you could have seen my face when this came across my phone! 🥰 I will definitely be trying it. I’m certain it won’t be as good as Mamaw’s (only because she’s not making it) but I can’t wait to eat this again! Thank you for sharing. You just never know when something you say or do (even a simple recipe) will impact someone’s life. 😊
Just stumbled onto this and it’s cooking now! We typically make this without a red sauce and small potatoes (not rice) as one of our March family dinners celebrating our Irish history, but I’ve alway struggled breaking the cabbage. My elders aren’t around and I’ve had to figure out most of my childhood meals by winging it. However this was so simple that my kids cut the cabbage spines while I rolled! We followed this exactly and we are all excited to try it tonight, “Thank you” for posting this and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This warms my heart Collins Family! Thank you so much for trying and sharing this recipe. I am sure your potato version is just as good.
Do you think I could use cauliflower rice?
Great question Anastasia! Yes you can. We have used cauliflower rice before and it turned out great.
So the recipe has garlic cloves in it, but the recipe doesn’t say when to add them. 🤷🏻♀️ Just wondering if I use them or just use garlic powder?
Thanks for your question Krista. You put the garlic in meat mixture. You are more than welcome to use garlic powder if that is what you have.
Hi there! I’ve made your recipe before and it is delicious! Is this able to be cooked in the oven?
Great question Valerie. Yes it can be cooked in the oven at 350 degrees covered for one hour.
I made these today for my family and everyone loved them. I used more meat than the recipe calls for so I tweaked everything else and they turned out fantastic. I did 3 layers of cabbage rolls and had no issues with cooking time or doneness. Love when I get to use my slow cooker and this was definitely a winner. Perfect cabbage rolls. 😊 Thanks!
That sounds Great Nicole. I am so glad you and your family liked them.
So how much sauce? I’m ready to try this recipe tomorrow.
1 – 29oz can tomato sauce
Which is better. Cooking on Hi or Low
Whenever using the slow cooker, I always like to cook on low because it usually has the best flavor.
How many ounce of tomato sauce?
Thanks
1 29oz can tomato sauce
Reading the recipe it said to combine the ground beef and the ground pork. I don’t see the ground pork listed. How much ground pork for this recipe?
You may use one pound of ground meat of your choice.
Can I use brown rice? Also, growing up my grandma would make these, we called them “pigs in a blanket”
I’m doing WW and brown rice is on my free point foods. Wonder how it would work?
Yes you can use brown rice Caprice. That is a great substitution.
It says ground beef and ground pork in the recipe but at the top it just says 1 lb ground meat. Is that half a pound of each or can I just use one or the other? Thank you! I’m looking forward to trying this tomorrow.
Just use one pound of any ground meat you wish.
My rice did not cook and I followed these directions but cooked on High for 4 hours. Do you think it should be Low-8 or some moisture of either the tomato sauce of broth added before rolling in the cabbage?
I am so sorry to hear this Dee. When cooking in the slow cooker be sure to never lift the lid until the 4 hours are up. Lifting the lid releases heat as well as steam. Both are needed in order to cook the rice. You could try more liquid, but the most important is to never lift the lid.
Amy, I have to thank you for this post and bringing me back to childhood memories in my Mama’s kitchen. I am now in my 70s and it has been more than a few years since I have had Mama’s “cabbage balls”. Your recipe sounds pretty much the same as hers, except she cooked them on top of the stove in a huge stock pot (for a family of 7, maybe 16 or 18 qt(?). The recipe was from her Mama and her Grandma. Most Mondays she would fix them, because this was her “wash” day. She’d get up before daylight and start mixing the meat and rolling the cabbage and placing them in the big pot until it was full. Then she would add water until it was half way up the inside of the pot and cook it covered on low most of the day. (If there were crock pots back then, she was unaware.) Then she’d roll out our wringer washer and hook it up to the kitchen sink and commence to washing. Kids job were to hang the clothes up on the outside clotheslines and when dry, take them down and fold them and put them away or prepare them to be ironed the next day. For the sauce, she cooked it separate (tomato sauce and a stick of margarine). Years later she ‘modernized’ her sauce when Ragu came out with jarred spaghetti sauce (warm it up and spoon it on). Our hard work ended with plates full of cabbage balls, along with saltine crackers and sweet tea. On a really good day we were surprised with a yellow cake frosted with brown sugar fudge frosting. Amy, thanks again for bringing back some really sweet memories.
This just warms my heart. Thank you so much for sharing this story. It is wonderful to think of a recipe being able to bring back all these memories.