Cabbage Rolls II

This recipe is excellent, I looked at the reviews and other recipes and made a few alterations; my family loved them. I quadrupled the sauce recipe. And I used 1# of hamburger and 1# of spicey italian sausage. I ended up with 2 casseroles (one for the freezer). Also, I steamed one head of lettuce and it went to long and ended up a mushy mess. I found a video on the internet with a different technique for the cabbage leaves and I'll never do it another way. Get a very large pot of water and bring up to a small boil; as you're waiting for the water to boil core the cabbage head with a fairly wide margin at the top and take off the outer leaves that are dirty. Once the water is hot, place the cabbage head into the boiling water. After about a minute or so, the outside leaves will start to separate from the head; approx every 45 seconds a leaf or two will separate. As they separate remove them from the water into a pie tin or bowl. This is fail proof and the leaves are the perfect softness to roll with ease.

I doubled the sauce also, and it was super. The batch I made produced more than 12 rolls (I guess European cabbages are smaller?) but it was still delicious. Something I'll try next time is chopping the remainder of the cabbage and placing that in the bottom of the pan, rolls atop it, to allow for people who really love their cabbage. The juices make everything taste fabulous.

i was shocked! being of ukranian descent and having married into polish heritage, i'd had 'piggies' as many times as i've had haluski but had no idea they were so simple! started them yesterday AM before we cleaned our basement and by the time we needed a break they were done! my husband LOVED them (and that's saying something) and my 3 y.o wolfed his down, eating even the cabbage! this one has earned its place in my recipe basket!

No problems at all with recipe. Of course, I've made this type of recipe before and knew how to properly cut the cabbage leaves. You need to trim the "spine" of the thickest center part, in order for it to cook, and to bend, when you roll them up. They were so delicious!

Made these tonight from company and everyone like them. I quadrupled the sauce too and I baked them covered with foil for 1 1/2 hrs at 325, then uncovered for 30 min at 300. They turned out great!

Very easy reipe to adjust to be more authentic. One, absolute must is to sub at least half of the ground beef for ground pork. Two, if more liquid is needed, use beef stock rather than additional tomato sauce. Three, prepare double tomato sauce for extra to be served on the side or with leftover (if there is any). Four, prepare sour cream sauce (white sauce) for over the top when served: one part full fat sour cream, one part canned tomato sauce, one part sweet hungarian paprika. Thin slightly with beef stock if necessary, add salt and preferrably white pepper to taste. Sometimes I like to use smoked paprika in this sauce if I have it. This white sauce really makes the recipe for me, and it doesn't have to be heated, just mix and serve in a gravy boat. Also I don't use a crockpot (you want it dry enough after baking that it will hold its shape on its own-- then add more sauce on your plate) for this, I like to bake in a 350 degree oven in a 9x13 dish (as many rolls as will fit per dish, every head of cabbage is different, and since this recipe is so time-consuming I make alot when I make it) for 1 hour and a half. Oh yeah, one other thing is I agree to reduce the brown sugar just slightly in this version (and get plain tomato sauce, not the seasoned variety otherwise it ends up tasting like spaghetti sauce). Enjoy! I hope this helps.

My boyfriend loved this recipe. It was WAY to much pepper for my taste...I reduced the amount to 1/4 instead of 1 1/4. Also, I quadrupled the sauce. Very good.

If you're making Polish cabbage rolls (galumki), 80/20 ground beef, white rice, s & p, add some sauce to the meat/rice mixture before rolling up and bake covered for at least 1-1/2 hours at 350. The cabbage is cored and boiled (add a little cider vinegar to the water). The sauce I use is 2 cans each of tomato soup and stewed tomatoes (chop them up) and bring to a boil, pour over rolls before baking. The sauce is sweet, not savory. Very good "piggies"! Leftover (small) cabbage leaves can be chopped up and fried in butter, then add cooked noodles, S&P (haluski or halupki).

MMM comfort food! I grew up in an Eastern European family and we had plenty of cabbage rolls over the years. My mom used to boil them in canned tomato soup and they were always bland and boring. Here is my variation on this recipe which is a great one, just needs a couple of additions. Use the slow cooker..boiling in a pot makes mushy rolls and baking them is good but you have to baste with sauce often..time consuming! I cut the core from my head of cabbage and boiled it for about 8 minutes. Put it in core side down first, then halfway thru cooking flip it over using a big spoon. That way when you dump it into the strainer it'll fall with the core side down and the water will drain out the bottom thru the core. I used half ground round and half ground pork, a cup of uncooked white jasmine rice, 3 cloves of minced garlic, 1 small onion, 1 egg, salt, pepper and lots of chopped fresh dill. Dill is the secret! I also used 1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes and added the other ingredients listed (lemon, brown sugar, salt and pepper) and again, more chopped dill. Place half the sauce in the bottom of the slow cooker. When your cabbage is cool enough to work with peel the leaves off one at a time and put an oval meatball at the stem end. Fold the sides over and then roll the meatball burrito style. No need for string or toothpicks to secure, just put them in cooker seam side down. Cover with remainder of sauce and cook on High for 5 hours making sure ro

This is my favorite childhood dish from my grandparents farm. Our version is more savory (no lemon juice or brown sugar) but with the layering of sauerkraut and crushed tomatoes (grown on the farm and canned of course). Cabbage shortcut - microwave the entire head for 2-4 minutes depending on size. Let it cool a couple of minutes so you can handle it. The leaves just peel right off. Quick and easy.

We loved this dish- with some modification. I followed recommendations made by others and doubled the sauce, and added a little water. I upped the seasonings quite a lot, and used 1/2 fresh polish sausage (homemade) and 1/2 lean ground beef. I think this recipe would have been quite bland without those additional seasonings and changes. Will make again. Here's a tip by the way- don't bother to boil the cabbage. Just put the cored cabbage in a pie plate, loosely cover it with plastic wrap and microwave it for 5-6 minutes. It steams perfectly and cuts way down on time and hot boiling water. The leaves just peel right off. If the inner leaves are still too stiff, stick it back in the microwave for an additional 2 minutes or so. Super easy.

For easy whole cabbage leaves..cut the root end off the head, then plunge the whole head of cabbage in a pot of boiling water. As the leaves soften- lift the head with a long handled fork and peel the individule leaves of one by one.

I quadrupled the recipe and got 42 cabbage rolls. I used 4 lbs ground beef, 4 cups cooked brown rice, 2 large onions grated, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 4 tsps pepper, 4 tbsps minced garlic and 4 tbsps Worcestershire sauce for meat mixture. For the sauce I used tomato sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, V8 juice, brown sugar, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Needed 2 heads cabbage.

Perfect for the pressure cooker, I used this recipe in my pressure cooker, made the rolls and covered with sauce and 1 cup of water for extra liquid and pressure cooked over med heat for 15 mins. Tender perfectly done and easy. Loved it.

This is a good, reliable reference recipe, one you can put your own spin on and still feel confident about its basic structure. That said, I added fresh garlic and parsley, and cooked the rice in beef broth. I used a multi-purpose steak type seasoning in lieu of just salt and pepper. As for the sauce, I skipped the sugar and lemon juice and used my own tomato sauce put up from my garden, about three cups worth – plenty to spoon over the cabbage rolls as well as for the garlic horseradish mashed potatoes I served them with. Rather than the slow cooker, I baked them in the oven, about an hour and 15 minutes, covered, at 350 degrees. I had extra meat mixture which I just rolled into Porcupine Meatballs and baked alongside the cabbage rolls. This was nothing fancy, just plain good old–fashioned comfort food, but do add some seasoning.

It was a good recipe to start with as a base, But I always tweak to my families tastes. I added a little more brown sugar to the sauce to cut the acidity and make it sweeter it because that is how I have always had it.I used brown rice and ground turkey and I also added a little extra tomato sauce to cover multiple dishes and I froze a couple of pans for later. They turned out really well.

A GREAT recipe for bachelors who drink while cooking. This Polish / Ukrainian dish went well with a bottle of Riesling (didn’t the Germans conquer Eastern Europe?). I, also conquered, was very, very liberal with all ingredients. I quadrupled sauce, added diced tomatoes, added chopped carrots and bell pepper. Lebanese friends suggested allspice, too. What the heck, it’s almost Ramadan. Cabbage head was boiled 8 minutes, cored side down first 4 minutes, cored side up for the last 4, as per advice from another cook's comments, so as not to scald myself when dumping in strainer for draining. Good idea. But I should have boiled about 5 minutes longer. I also baked at 350 for 1 hour rather than slow cook. I didn’t eat until the next day, so it was really tasty, like everything that spends the night in the fridge. Men, you can't screw this up unless you drink an entire bottle of Riesling and add way too much pepper, salt, lemon juice or Worcester sauce. So take it easy. Or you can screw it up if your woman cooked it and you offer up no compliments or refuse to eat it "cause it aint meat ‘n taters". Again, take it easy. Don’t be a total pig. PS: my kids balked (nay, gagged) at the very description. And it looked even worse. But tasted GREAT! My advice: consider this an NC17 rated dinner. But by all means, use this recipe as a skeleton and then go wild and crazy with your spices, sauces, wine and intuition. Note: the total pig side of me is objecting to my last sentence

These rolls were great...I doubled the batch, and should have added just a touch more sugar, but it was easy to add it right before serving. I can say that Ive made cabbage rolls before and the only thing that was a little 'off' in this recipie was that the cabbage itself was too soft for my liking. I think the next time I make these, I shall bake them. Good flavor...the whole fam. liked them.

I made this into a casserole. I steamed the chopped cabbage. I then put half of it into a casserole dish, topped it with the meat mixture, added the remaining cabbage. I topped it all off with double the amount of sauce mixed with 1/2 cup water. I baked it until it was all tender. Turned out great.

When making cabbage rolls mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, cover and put in fridge overnight to let all flavors mingle. Instead of steaming or boiling cabbage a much easier way is to put cabbage in your freezer for two or three days thaw and use.

This recipe was excellent!! I did listen to other people's reviews and doubled the sauce recipe (and really I found that, that was the perfect amount). I added some garlic cloves on top and threw the "scrap" pieces of cabbage on top (just to add even more moisture), and the cabbage rolls were absolutely perfect. The worst thing you can do to a cabbage roll is make it dry and tasteless. These cabbage rolls were full of sooo much flavour and moisture, I would have to say I have honestly never had any as good as this. Even my husband was impressed (and that takes a lot! lol) 5 stars all the way! I will definitely be making this again!

This is a wonderful recipe! As someone suggested earlier, I added a package of onion soup mix to the hamburger. It was wonderful! Also (thanks to my grandmother), the cabbage leaves came off a lot easier once I steamed the head of cabbage in boiling water. They peeled right off! There was no need to boil them again afterwards.

I've made this several times, and it's always a hit. I double the sauce portion, as we like a lot of tomato sauce with our cabbage rolls. The recipe is easy, and I freeze the cabbage the day before, as the leaves will be wilted when thawed- no reason to have to boil the cabbage to soften the leaves. Thanks for a great recipe!

This was delicious, but there wasn't enough sauce. Next time I'll try doubling it. Otherwise, great flavor! Thanks. Edited - I made this again and used a 29oz can of tomato sauce and tripled the other sauce ingredients. It was the perfect amount of sauce and the flavor was amazing.

Although these were good they were way too sweet for my taste. I grew up eating more traditional cabbage rolls that were cooked in tomato juice but like to try different versions. I would make these again but not use so much brown sugar

i'm sure this is ok as far as cabbage rolls are concerned. i did use the advice of using a28 oz can of diced tomatos and 28 oz can of tomato sauce for the rolls. it was too much sauce as far as i was concerned. Doubling or at the most tripling the sauce recipe is plenty. Do add 1/8 t garlic powder. these are bland enough, i cant imagine them without the garlic. and the cabbage - i would recommend steaming the entire head of cabbage for your leaves. made them much easier to handle. i just cant get past the texture of cooked cabbage, a bit slimey for my taste. I even chopped the extra cabbage for the bottom of the pan to lay the rolls on. I dont quite know how people got so many rolls out of this recipe unless you make them meatball sized. wow that would have been even MORE cabbage per roll Not for me. i made 6 serving sized rolls with this recipe. they were a bit better the next day. basically these are porcupine meatballs wrapped in cooked cabbage leaves smothered in tomato sauce. ok but nothing spectacular. they are what they are. just not my thing i guess.

These are great cabbage rolls. I made twice-the 2nd time making because I wanted to use the base meat/sauce in Stuffed Bell Peppers too but give them that extra kick that was a little creamier! (Use Red, Green & Yellow peppers if you decide to do that) Use fresh minced garlic or garlic powder in your sauce. Double, even triple your sauce and freeze leftover to use later for cabbage rolls or stuffed peppers! Use Swanson' only low sodium chicken broth to cook your rice for more flavor (store brand broths & soups have too much soidum-check the labels). Reduce the pepper to 1 teaspoon. Buy a microwave steamer like Tupperware! You can cut the spine out of the cabbage, sprinkle with some salt and steam in 5 minutes if you don't want to use freezer method (which is a great way) as an easy alternative if you're ready to cook right away! You can omit the egg if you want, it will still bind. For a variation you can also omit the milk and stir in a bit of cream cheese or sour cream and as it melts, it binds the mixture. I used Campbell's tomato soup instead of tomato sauce as a variation. All this adds for more calories but the end result in flavor is delicious. As a certified chef that teaches creative cooking for the homemaker it's fun to see how you can make a fantastic recipe even better using your imagination & different ingredients. Make a double batch of cabbage rolls and freeze 2nd batch since you are going to the trouble.

I made these last night and they were a hit, even with the little one that doesnt care much for cabbage. I took the advice of some of the other commentators and added 1 tsp mustard powder & 1 tsp onion powder. (Could have used more as I doubled the recipe). I aslo doubled the sauce at first and added 1 can of petite cut tomatoes for the 1st 12, then I also added to the remaining sauce 1 can of rotel tomatoes,(for some spiciness) 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tsp worchestershire & 1 tbsp lemon juice for the 2nd 12. I also cored and steamed both heads of cabbage for easier handling and to save time. Both were absolutely delicious. Will definately make these a part of our dinner rotation!

This is a family fav(we're polish). I make this even simplier by shreading the cabbage and making the meat into big meatballs. I also use canned tomato soup in addition to the tomato sauce.

OFF THE HOOK GOOD! I only gave 4 stars because a bit of tweaking. I added garlic powder to the ground beef and onion mix. And I also almost quadrupled the recipe. I used 2 (15 oz. cans of sauce), 4 tbsp. brown sugar, 4 tbsp. lemon juice, 4 tbsp. Worcestershire. This was the exact flavor I remember from when my mother made it when I was a child. But she made it in the oven. I will be keeping this in my recipe box forever :)

I made these tonight for dinner and both my husband and I loved them.. I did make a couple changes..I cored the cabbage and then just boiled the whole thing for about 3 minutes..making it easier to pull apart.. I only like brown rice and my husband isnt a rice fan at all so I did not put any rice in it at all .. I doubled the sauce mixture... I added about 1/2 teasp of Garlic Powder to the beef mix, extra onion, a splash of Heinz 57, 1/2 teasp of minced garlic and a handful of the French Fried onions from the can.. to make up for not having the rice and for extra flavor..They were absolutely delicious..My husband had no idea that this was my first time making Cabbage Rolls.. Definetly a great recipe! Kiki (Brampton,On Canada)

These were so good! I planned on having these for dinner tonight, and realized at the last minute that this was a 9 hour slow cooker meal. They came out delicious cooked on high for 3 hours. The only change I made was to use garlic salt instead of plain salt. Finally, something my picky son would eat! He even said he liked it, even the cabbage. The kid ate a vegetable! Definitely a keeper. (my son, too!)

I've never made or eaten cabbage rolls, and I didn't have any time-honored family recipe to compare this to, so admittedly I am no expert here. But both my husband and I thought these were very good. Of course, I followed a lot of other reviewer's advice, and did a lot of alterations...I cored and boiled the whole cabbage before peeling the leaves, doubled the sauce, added to the meat 4 cloves crushed garlic, 1 tsp mustard powder, 1/2 pkg onion soup mix, and took the pepper down to 1/2 tsp. And I placed them in a 13x9 inch dish, poured the sauce over, and baked them at 350 for 1 hr. Not the most attractive dish, but nicely flavored in a comfort-food kind of way. I'll definetly repeat these.

You may have to be of Russian heritage to love this. I could never get tired of cabbage rolls. If I'm lazy about it I just make the meat mixture, form it into balls and place on top of raw sliced cabbage in the crock pot, pour sauce mixture over all (I add 2 oz of raisins )TY for sharing the recipe.

A nice basic recipe for cabbage rolls. No need to pre cook the rice, and I grated the onion instead of chopping it. I used 2-28 oz. cans of tomato sauce and put dried bay leaf on top of the sauce before baking. I used a combination of ground beef and ground pork, and had some of the meat mixture left over and made them into tiny meatballs and added them to the casserole dish with the cabbage rolls. I also sprinkled the cabbage leaves with salt before putting the meat mixture on and rolling them up. When I cooked them in a pot on top of the stove I always had to use tooth picks to keep the rolls from falling apart, but with baking them, no need to do that.

This sounds alot like my mothers recipe except the portions are totally different. I have made this many times and I always have lots of leftover sauce. So here is my sauce recipe and I hope it helps everyone who says theirs turned out slightly dry. i use 3 cans tomato sauce, 5 Tblsp. brown sugar, 5 Tblsp. lemon juice, 5 Tblsp. corn starch and 1 can of water (use tomato sauce can.) And we place our cabbage rolls in a cake pan, pour sauce over rolls, cover with aluminum and bake on 350 for about 2 hours. Hope this helps!

This was pretty easy and very tasty; I'm a little iffy on the texture of cooked cabbage (in *any* recipe), but my husband really loved it. I used half ground beef and half ground pork and replaced the white rice with brown. I reduced the salt and pepper to 1 tsp each, doubled the onion, and added 1 tsp garlic powder to the meat. I increased the sauce by using 1 16oz can diced tomatoes, 1 16oz can tomato sauce and also quadrupled the Worcestshire sauce but only doubled the lemon and tripled the brown sugar. I mixed about half of the sauce into the meat mixture and topped the dish with sliced mushrooms before adding the rest of the sauce. I also cooked them in the oven instead of the crockpot (covered with foil, 1-1/2 hours at 350). It's a little more labor intensive than I would prefer, being lazy, but it makes a pretty large amount.

This is a great recipe, & I just love the way it tells me how to roll up the cabbage. I just love the way it tells me how to roll up the cabbage, & how to put the sauce in the mix.

I, like others, opted to cook in oven versus the slow cooker of r1 hour at 350. I did forget to cover pan with foil which made the cabbage rubbery (my mistake). The recipe was good, but the meat mixture itself needed more spicing up (onion powder, garlic, ect...) I also doubled the sauce as suggested, even with doubling, I probably would opt to triple next time.

The meat flavor was very good, I did what the other reviewers suggested, I doubled the tomato sauce, I put them in a crock pot for 8-9 hours, the cabbage seem like it was cooked away, next time I will try putting them in the oven and baking them instead, I also froze the cabbage like some one had suggested, was so much easier, the leaves was so easy to work with, I will always do that, thank you so much for that suggection.

My mother was of full German heritage and she used to make this dish. I like this recipe a lot and followed it pretty closely. I doubled it and it used about 2lbs of ground beef and maybe a little extra rice because it made 20 rolls, with meat mix left over, which I used to make little meatballs for Asian noodle soup with the cabbage broth cooked down. I added 4 cloves of garlic and a pinch of Italian herbs to the meat. Two 15 oz cans of tomato sauce more than covered the rolls and the recipe for the sauce was especially delicious.

LOVE LOVE LOVE! So does my husband and 3 and 4 year old boys. I follow the suggestions made by others and triple the sauce. A must! I make them all year around and just wrapped 3 dozen for New Years dinner with my family. As I have every year for the past 3 years. I always cook mine in the over at 350 for an hour or so. DELISH!

These are the best cabbage rolls I have ever made! I followed some of the other reviews and tripled the sauce. I also added 2 cloves of garlic to the meat mixture. Absolutely delicious!

FREEZE the cabbage, old polish trick. Let it thaw, absolute easiest way. Double the sauce or it will come out too dry. I used ground turkey. Also add a little horseradish to the mix if you like it. I married into a polish family.I impressed my in-laws with this recipe so much they bragged about it to my husbands grandparents, who are from Poland, and now I'm required to make it every Christmas!

I made this almost like your suggestion and it was awsome, instead of the tomato soup I used Hunts, four cheese tomato sauce and it was awsome. I used Cavenders greek seasoning in the meat also.

I love cabbage rolls, and this recipe fit the bill. Like others, I quadrupled the sauce,added 1/2 lb of italian sausage to the hamburger, and used minute rice. Turned out great. Ended up with 16 rolls, ate 4, and froze the rest with my new food saver. I'm going ice fishing this weekend with a friend who loves cabbage rolls and told him I'd be bringing a little surprise.

I followed the recipe exactly. The sauce was burnt to a crisp all the way around the slow cooker liner, burnt on the top of the cabbage, and yet the rolls were raw in the centers.

One reviewer says to freeze the cabbage head to wilt it. DO NOT do this. You will end up with very tough and chewy leaves no matter how long you cook them. Also if you do them in the oven put a layer of the outer leaves on the bottom to keep the rolls from turning dark or burning. If you cut the spines off the leaves you can use these also for the bottom.

This recipe was excellent! I used about 50% more rice and ground pork instead of beef. I also doubled the sauce and was glad I did or I wouldn't have had full coverage in the crock pot. As someone else recommended, I froze and then thawed the cabbage instead of boiling it. I had no problem rolling them. Great recipe!

I lived in an area of Canada for seven years, where no potluck was complete without cabbage rolls, but have never made them myself until now. This recipe sounded like it would taste right, and it did! I made a couple of simple changes though. I steamed the cabbage head first which made peeling off the leaves easier. And after reading a few reviews I ramped up the flavor of the meat filling with a teaspoon of garlic powder and extra onion. I also doubled the sauce. I baked them in the oven for an hour covered (at 375) and another 10 min uncovered to let the sauce thicken. My husband is not a cabbage fan and he went back for seconds! I loved them!

This was excellent. It was quick and easy to make and tasted outstanding. My husband doesn't even like cabbage and he ate the left overs for lunch the next day. One hint: if you core the cabbage and stick the entire head on a fork and in boiling water, the leaves just peel off.

Recently had a little Polish lady teach me her recipe. One of her secrets is to slip slivers of fresh garlic in between the rolls before cooking- she bakes these in a roasting pan, actually. Also, she uses slices of bacon in between the layers as well. Yummy!

This was terrific! I tripled the sauce so I could place some in the pan before the rolls and add some to the filling. It ended up being the perfect amount! I prepared mine in a 9x13" pan and baked at 350 degrees for one hour.

Helpful hints: I boil salted water in a large pot, core the cabbage and drop it in the boiling water. As the outside leaves soften I peel them off with tongs and set them aside to drain and cool. Then I sort them into stacks of small, medium and large leaves. I start with the large leaves and stuff and roll them, then stuff and roll the medium leaves and layer them on top of the larger rolls and if the small leaves are too small to stuff, just layer them on top of the rolls in the crock pot. I pour quite a bit of tomato JUICE (not V8) over the rolls to cover them, and if you like lemon you can squeeze lemon on top of that! Thanks for posting. Delicious!

I would like to add that V-8 (low sodium also) works really well with this recipe AND the best part is, that it adds alot of extra veggies to the meal with great taste! Your kids will never know if they are picky eaters!

I was so excited to come home to a wonderful meal that others had raved about. This was a big dissapointment. The rolls were very soggy and it just was not good at all. I followed the repipe to a T (even doubling the sauce as per other reviews) I would not recommend anyone wasting their time on this.

I add about a tsp of garlic to the beef mixture; for the sauce, I increase the brown sugar to 1/4 cup, double the worcestershire and add a heaping tsp of red pepper flakes for a sweet sauce with a bit of a kick. I always cook these in the oven: 350 for an hour covered with foil, then remove the foil and continue for about 20-30 minutes....perfect every time

Ok, so I am Russian. Have been looking for authentic Russian recipes. This is one of them...

Yum! I'm a HUGE fan of "piggies" so I knew I'd like these. My hubs isn't, but he's basing his opinion on a (distant) childhood memory. No surprise, my hubs wasn't a fan. :( And while I was, I wasn't a fan of the texture. There's just something about slow cooking ground beef that I don't like (I have the SAME problem with sc meatballs). I liked everything else about these, so next time, I'll change the cooking method (maybe on the stovetop) and hope for the best. NOTE #1: Everyone has a different opinion about what to do with their cabbage. Some freeze the entire head, then thaw it (the idea is that the leaves will soften as they thaw). Others suggest simmering whole and some remove the leaves FIRST, then simmer for a minute or so (until softened). I am a traditionalist at heart. I cut the bottom off my head of cabbage (just enough for it to lie flat) and simmered until the leaves fell off, one by one. I wanted to freeze mine, but I've heard this produces rubbery rolls. Furthermore, removing the leaves beforehand is nearly IMPOSSIBLE (they will rip before you are able to remove them!). NOTE #2: As Avon Lady suggests, be SURE to remove the thickest part of the "spine" of each cabbage leaf. Otherwise, they will not roll easily! Other than doubling the sauce (a MUST), adding a can of diced tomatoes and topping with a layer of (drained) sauerkraut, I made no major changes. Pierogies and steamed peas rounded out our meal. Thanks for sharing, BJ! :-)

OMG, it was so delicious, although I listened to others but quadrupling the sauce and I cooked it in the oven at 325 degrees for 1.5 hours and everyone LOVED them! I also used can tomatoes and I crushed the tomatoes with a fork and my hands. Next time I am going to add more ingredients like garlic and more onions

These are great but one suggestion for any meatloaf/ground beef - add one small grated potato to the meat mixture, it will ensure that the meat is never dry.

Wow! This dish took me back to when I was growing up and my mom was still cooking for my family and me. I thought it was fabulous. As mentioned earlier, I made more of the sauce (actually quadrupled it) so that it would cover the rolls in the crock pot. I also added Mrs. Dash (Table Blend) to the meat mixture to ensure that it would not be bland. I think it came out perfect. I think I will try to use ground turkey next time to make it even healthier. Thank you!

Being of Polish descent, I watched Grandma make these for years. Add a small amount of tomato paste to the beef/rice mixture just enough to coat,also when layering tear apart canned tomatos pacing a section on each roll, and poring remaining liquid over rolls, keeps them very moist Makes great "Golumpki"

Fantastic! Very Easy! I made 3x the sauce and put the crock pot on high to cook in 1/2 the time! It was great!

These cabbage rolls were so fantastic! What made them best for me, after years of searching off & on for a great cabbage roll recipe, was that 1) the instruction to boil the leaves to make them easier to roll = excellent! and 2) the sauce. I tripled the sauce. Absolutely love the sauce. It was right on with the sweet and sour flavor. If you triple the sauce, you'll have enough for the cabbage rolls and noodles or rice on the side. It looks like a lot, but it gets eaten! The only thing I did different, was to bake the rolls at 350 for an hour, like other reviewers mentioned, and I added some garlic powder to the meat mix. Didn't hardly change this at all - IT DOESN'T NEED IT. Gorgeous, flavorful, heirloom recipe... omg, all I can say. Keeping this for a lifetime.

My husband loved this. I think I used too many outer cabbage leaves and some of my rolls had a real "wang" to them. Be sure to use the tender inside leaves even though they are smaller! I agree, double the sauce. Overall, a keeper.

Having made many different cabbage roll recipes, this one was not a fave for me. It was the sauce. I am not sure which ingredient didn't taste right for me. Regardless, the recipe should call for the sauce to be mixed in with the beef mixture instead of just being poured on top, to avoid dryness. I always mix my beef with the sauce to roll, then pour the remainder of the beef mixture and sauce on top of all.

Three words...too much pepper. I used the calculate button next to area that says how many the recipe serves, and changed it from 6 to 10 servings. So, I assume that even at 6 servings the amount of pepper called for was too much. I used twice the amount of tomato sauce (putting 8oz. IN the meat mixture)so it would be more moist. Aside from that, this was soooo good. Cooked it on high in the crock for 4 hrs. Then left it on warm til we were ready to eat, about an hour later. Next time I make this I'll probably cut the amount of pepper called for in half.

WAY more tasty than I even thought they would be!! They sounded so good and so easy, so I went ahead and made them tonight, even though I had something completely different in mind for my ground beef and Italian sausage. I followed the recipe as written with the exception of the addition of a half pound of sausage to the mixture and doubled the sauce. I also added some diced tomatoes and the rest of the cabbage, chopped up, to the sauce. Would be delicious with or without the additions. This recipe is a keeper, for sure! Thank you for sharing.

This is pretty much a standard cabbage roll recipe and very good; however, I used petite diced tomates (24 oz. can plus added water) rather than tomato sauce as I'm not fond of the tomato sauce taste. I also mixed sausage doubling the recipe (I've also used ground venison to fix c rolls but not this time), also added garlic salt as we love garlic in this house. Cooked in 1/2 the time on high in my large slow cooker.

I made these last night and they went ovr VERY well, thinking I'd have some for left-over lunch today.NOT!!!! I did make a few changes, I put the cabbage in ice cold water for 10 minutes so the leaves would pull off the head easily. I got this tip off another recipe. I also par boiled the leaves for 4 minutes, then drained and cooled them before stuffing. I also cut back on the sweetness of the sauce!!!! These are so good!! Had garlic cheese bread with them and that's what was for dinner last night!!!!!

my father grows cabbage and its always VERY LG heads. Instead of parboiling the cabbage head, i fill the sink w warm salt water and let the head of cabbage for 2-3 hrs. I then core the head of cabbage and the leaves peel right off in whole pieces. I then make everything else stuff the leaves and bake everything. The cabbage rolls come out nice and tender and its delicious.

J'ai bouilli le chou en entier pour faciliter la preparation. Cuit au four 1 heure, mais le chou etait encore coriace. Laisser cuire plus longtemps ou faire a la mijoteuse. J'ai triple la sauce tomate, worcesteshire et jus de citron, mais seulement double la cassonnade sinon ce sera trop sucre. Excellente recette. J'ai eu 14 cigares au chou.

Family loved this recipe. Will definitely make for years to come. Just microwave the cabbage and the leaves will peel easily. Definitely double the sauce.

I chose to make these for St. Patricks day. I wouldn't say my family loved them, but they ate them without complaint. My 12 yr old said "it's just meatloaf wrapped in cabbage, big deal", but I enjoyed them very much. I followed the recipe closely except I baked mine in the oven (350 for an hour) and I added a little of the sauce to the meat mixture, but then of course I was short on sauce - so I just poured a can of Tomato soup over the top. Next time I'd add some of the tomato soup to the meat and mix the remaining with the sauce (or just double the sauce). Also, if baking in the oven like I did, cover to keep them from drying out.

A wonderful base recipe, but i did give 4 stars just because i made some changes. First I doubled the ground beef, used 1 tsp each salt and pepper. I omitted the milk, and used 1/4 cup sauce instead. I also tripled the sauce, using 2 cans tomato sauce and 1 can pasta sauce, added some chopped garlic and fresh roma tomatoes but only used 1 tb brown sugar.I found that to be just right, not too sweet. Definitely use leftover cabbage to cover the rolls so they don't dry out. I pour 2/3 of sauce over rolls then remaining sauce over the layer of cabbage. I then cooked them in my oven at 325 for about 2 hours. The time would depend on how big you make your cabbage rolls. They were so delicious- specialty stores/restaurant that sell cabbage rolls don't even compare.

YumYumYum!! This is my first review though I have used dozens of recipes over the years. After trying this I couldn't wait to share it's deliciousness !!! This came out terrific! As a first time cabbage roller, the steps were easy and quick! Used my electric skillet and it was still great! Definetly double the sauce because it is wonderful! Luckily I am the only one in my house to eat cabbage so I have leftovers for lunch! can't wait!

Make this with some tweaks from other reviewers. I froze the cabbage 2-3 days then defrosted & had no problem separating the leaves. I also added &/or changed 1 large onion, chopped, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 3/4 teaspoon pepper & tripled the sauce. I also baked these covered for just over an hour. Very tasty!

i first put the cabbage head in water, bring to boil and pill off leaves just as soon as u can so not to over cook, for filling i use half cooked rice, ground beef, onion, S&P 1/2 can tomato soup, place the rolls in cooker and add 1 & 1/2 cans of tomato soup topped with cooked crispy bacon. this was my Polish mom's way

Just like my grandmother used to make for us at Christmas every year!! A true recipe that reminds me of home, and one I certainly never get tired of. I left out the brown sugar because I don't like my cabbage rolls sweet, but these still ended up tasting really yummy, especially served with some homemade bread :)

I know that I'm personally not a fan of simple meat, tomato, rice flavor so I automatically added some extra seasoning. There's no way it would have gotten above 3 stars for me as written due to that but I wanted to try a recipe without egg due to allergies. For the sauce I used a can of Italian seasoned tomatoes and a large tomato, both pureed and cut back on the sugar to 1/2 tsp. I also used brown rice because I never buy white and added a little diced green pepper. I have never peeled cabbage leaves before but they came off with little difficulty after coring. I only filled 8 leaves and they weren't overstuffed. Two left me full with no side dish for dinner. Cooked on hi for 4 hrs and low for 1-1.5 hrs and even the ribs were tender. With those simple changes I will make this again, thanks.

Very Good! I followed the recipe exactly except instead of rolling up cabbage leaves, which I'm not very good at) I layered the cabbage and beef mixture in slow cooker and poured sauce over all. I also left out the rice (personal preferance) & added cracker crumbs and 1/4 tsp nutmeg to beef mixture. Next time I would increase sauce to 1 1/2 the amount. I also cooked it on auto for 5 hours as I didn't have 9 hrs. to wait.

This was delicious! I added few drops of tabasco and a little of cumin to the tomato sauce. Also added pressed garlic, ground parmesan and thyme to the meat mixture. Used ground chicken. Definitely will make again soon. Thanks!

I have never made cabbage rolls b4 decided in order to stop my husband from asking strangers to make him cabbage rolls I would try------recipe easy to follow did double sauce and add v-8 juice as suggested--------he said they were the best he ever had.

Have finally mastered making cabbage rolls that are tender. I added about 1/4 tsp. garlic powder to the meat. Doubling the sauce is a good idea as suggested by others. Easy to make in a slow cooker. Won't bother looking further for a better recipe. This is it!

Awesome really, really good, even my picky kids ate this one. I cooked it in the oven at 300 for 2 1/2 hours because I did not have time to put it in the slow cooker and it still turned out great!

This came out flavorless in the slow cooker, although the sauce was pretty good prior to cooking it. This recipe is probably salvageable if not made in a crock pot.

Yay, now I have a fabulous recipe for the slow cooker. Was skeptical about cooking them so long but the timing was right on. Shared them with my neighbor and she loved them too.

Absolutely fantastic! Just like at the german restaurant. Wonderful taste - I made them in the oven because i didn't have time to use the crockpot. Boiled teh cabbage leaves then wrapped the raw meat mix up, covered it with extra cabbage leaves and threw the tomato mix on top. Baked at 375 for 45 minutes. Husband loved it too :)

This recipe is a keeper! Even my daughter who doesn't like cabbage admitted that these were good! I used the method of boiling the entire head of cabbage and pulling the leaves off as they became tender. That worked pretty well for me. Can't wait to make these again!

I never liked cabbage rolls until this recipe. I made it for my husband and he just loved it! I had read the reviews and tripled the sauce part and it was perfect!! The sauce was really tangy and really made the recipe a WINNER!!

What a great recipe ! I was looking for something quick to fix tonight when I stumbled upon this crock pot recipe. So, since I didn't have 9 hours to wait, I put it in the oven instead. I had read some of the earlier reviews and decided to use a little more tomato sauce and it came out just right. This recipe is definately a keeper and so easy.

I baked it at 350 for an hour and doubled the sauce per reviewer suggestions. They turned out really well!

This recipe has become a staple at our house. It takes a little bit of prep time, but the outcome is very impressive and gratifying. The leftovers are great too! It's very important to use EXTRA LEAN ground beef, since the fat stays in the dish instead of being drained off.

These were awesome! The kitchen smelled sooo good while these were cooking. I used to make these years ago, but never could get the sauce quite right. This was perfect! I dbld the meat mixture and will use it to stuff green peppers, bake and freeze for a night that I don't have time to cook. Thanks for the great recipe!

these were good cabbage rolls. The sause was fantastic. make more sauce!!!!

These are little individual meatloafs wrapped in cabbage! Anyone who likes cabbage and likes meatloaf will enjoy this recipe. I did add herbs and garlic to the meat mixture for extra flavor. I also took the advice of a reviewer and steamed the cabbage ahead of time, which had to be done repeatedly (every few layers) but I can't imagine how to peel off the leaves without tearing them if it's not steamed first. Aside from that part, the rest goes really fast.

I'm not sure where some folks went wrong on this recipe, but it turned out just fine for me. I cooked the onion w/the ground beef and added minced garlic. I would recommend decreasing the amount of pepper and doubling the sauce. The next time I make this I think I will make some extra sauce to spoon over the rolls when reheating. It really is delicious. Thanks for sharing! UPDATE: I have made this a couple of more times and decided do make a deconstructed cabbage roll to save time stuffing and rolling. Boiled roughly chopped cabbage separate and put everything together like stir fry/goulash including the sauce. Made extra sauce on the side to drizzle over the goulash and served with warm buttery corn muffins. This has become our New Year’s Day meal that we all look forward to.

None of us cared for this recipe.