Ukrainian Meat Filled Cabbage Rolls

Consider frying the onions in bacon grease for additional flavor. If you cut the cabbage leaves off the core and boil them in 1 gallon water / 1 cup white vinegar, they become flexible yet strong enough to handle. Boiling them already removed from the head makes is easier than trying to separate them from the head while it rests in boiling water. The vinegar toughens them a bit for handling, and adds a nice flavor. Savoy cabbage is awfully delicate for rolling - I prefer plain white cabbage. I don't think garlic or tomato in any form belongs in this recipe for it to be authentic. Thanks for a very interesting post.

This recipe is fabulous! I did make a few changes, though. Instead of the ground pork, I used 1lb ground turkey. The grocery store didn't have any pork, go figure. I also added a tablespoon of minced garlic to the groung meat mixture & 3/4 cup of Italian bread crumbs. It turned out perfect. The rolls were very moist & extremely flavorful. The sauce was a bit thin, but yummy none the less. My husband was a bit apprehensive about trying them, but raved when he tasted them. The procces is time consuming, but worth it. I will definitely make these again. Thanks for the great recipe.

These were awesome - a cross between cabbage rolls and swedish meatballs. Here's how I tweaked the recipe - it came out great! I took the reviewer's advice and added 1 cup white vinegar to the cabbage water, and it really worked great - I will always do this from now on! I also substitued 1/3 cup oatmeal for the 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and added 1 cup cooked brown rice to the meat mixture. I had read that the sour cream/broth sauce was runny (and it was) and I wanted more of a white sauce, so I had to add a total of 3 tbs flour to the sour cream instead of just 1 tbs. The sauce was magnificent and went wonderfully with the rolls. Hubby likes the more traditonal tomato sauce on cabbage rolls, so I will go half and half on the next batch to make him happy. I fell in love with this recipe and it is the only one I will use from now on!

Very good and pretty easy. I added about 2 cloves of garlic near the end of cooking the onions. I also used V-8 juice instead of tomato juice. It seemed to make the sauce a bit deeper. Savoy cabbage is rather easy to work with, I'll make this again.

These were great! I grew up in an Ethnic area of upstate and NY and this taste is authentic! These disappeared in no time - so I'll probably double it in the future. They were a little salty - so I'll cut the salt back too. My picky son doesn't like sour cream - and they were great without the sauce... They didn't need it. I really enjoyed these, thanks for the taste of "home food" Olga!

This was a great base recipe. A few changes: pre-cooked the rice and added to 1# uncooked ground beef mixed with 1/2 raw onion & 3 cloves of garlic, chopped. I added 1 tsp dill weed and 1/2 tsp of caraway seed,1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. I parboiled the cabbage for easier peeling (reserving the rest for Minestrone Soup). I used two pints of homemade tomato sauce for the bottom of the baking sheet and for topping the cabbage rolls. The sauce was absolutely amazing...and very rich! Two cabbage rolls each was all we could eat, along with some sugar snap beans and chunky applesauce. F*i*v*e* STARS in my book! Thank you for submitting!

I've been making this recipe for monthes now, every single person that has tried it, has loved it. including 7 & 10 year olds! The only substitutions I have used have been due to necessity, ground turkey works, and best of all is hot ground pork. yummy. thanks for the recipe.

I loved this! I made a few changes though. Used 1.5 lbs ground beef instead of pork and beef broth instead of chicken stock. AMAZING.

Excellent recipe! I have been looking for a recipe that had no tomato sauce and this is it. I did add 1 cup of par boiled rice to the mixture and some nutmeg as well. I used more flour, about three TBS and the sauce was perfect. Great recipe!!

I changed the recipe slightly and sauted garlic and mushrooms with the onions, and I used ground beef versus pork. I also added some condensed cream of mushroom soup to the broth (about 2/3 a cap). I also added two tablespoons butter and a quarter cup of half and half to the sour cream topping. It came out AMAZING. But my props are to the original recipe--I had mushrooms I had to use so this is the only reason I changed the recipe. The meat filling was succulent---this recipes so tops the tomato-based versions in my opinion. P.S. this was my FIRST time with stuffed cabbage rolls. It's easy (albeit time consuming) and a recipe I plan to use for many years, thanks for sharing it, it's a treasure!

I've made this 4 or 5 times now and each time it has been wonderful. The sour cream sauce is really good, once I used dry dill and it worked ok, but not as good as fresh. Use savoy cabbage though, regular cabbage is harder to work with.

I cut back on the salt, substituted garlic salt for plain salt and was liberal with the black pepper. The savoy cabbage was awesome to work with, much easier than ordinary cabbage. To make the rolls even, pull off all the leaves, then arrange them so one small leaf is nested inside a larger leaf, and use a small cookie/ice cream scoop to portion the meat. Wrap tightly like mini burritos. I couldn't decide between broth or tomato juice, so I mixed a small can of tomato paste into the broth and loved that flavorful variation, although it was still a bit soupy, so next time I will cut back on the broth. I didn't make the sour cream reduction sauce. Instead, I offered up a bowl of homemade yogurt and chopped chives or dill for the guests to spoon onto their own plates. My "meat-and-potatoes-only" guy ate seconds and thirds. I liked the light, fresh texture of the pork, without all the usual rice filler. Thanks so much for this recipe. I will be making this on many a cold winter night to come...

I ground my own pork using pork loin. This is the best stuffed cabbage I have ever had! Restaurant quality!!

i remember growing up with my Ukrainian grandma and aunts making cabbage rolls similar to these but using rice and a mixture of ground beef and ground veal and a little salt pork grease. Grandma would fry up bits of salt pork very crispy and sprinkle the bits and the grease rendered over the cabbage rolls, cover them with raw cabbage leaves and bake for about 1 hr then remove the leaves and brown..oh so yummy...ahhh what a memory!!

So delicious! Exactly as I remember for special occasions growing up.

Yummy! I made it exactly the way it was written. Very good. Maybe next time I will try italian sausage. But it was great with just ground pork. Thanks for sharing!!

Good, everyone liked it. I might try itin the slow cooker if I make it again.

I've tried this recipe and it's really good but I've subsituted the groud pork with italian sausage and it turned goood into great!!! It doesn't matter your prefrence hot or sweet it's the bewst cabbage roll I've ever had (myself I've never been crazy about stuffed cabbage or cabbage rolls but this is worth a try)but the Italian sausage does provide a better flavor, in fact it puts it to a 6 out of 5 stars. Thank you Olga

This recipe was time-consuming but well worth it. I was surprised at how much my husband raved about it (he even took leftovers for his lunch.) I served it with steamed broccoli and dilled new potatoes. I made some changes though. I added garlic to the onions, and mixed tomato paste with the chicken stock and then made the sour cream sauce with that - which was very good. The savoy cabbage was easy to work with. Next time I will add a few more seasonings to pork mixture. Thanks for a great recipe.

Family loved them.

Made per recipe way to bland. Needs to have spices, garlic powder, dried spice such as parsley R

This was my first ever attempt at cabbage rolls so I followed the recipe exactly and they were a big hit. Being my first time, I didn't realize how much the leaves on top would shrink so I'll overlap more next time.

Excellent trip off of the beaten path! We don't use ground pork, so I used beef instead and it was still wonderful. I also followed the vinegar boil suggestion and it was perfection. I made mine HUGE, and that made 6 big rolls. I could have eaten them all--beefy, chewy from the cabbage, hearty from the stuffing ingredients (I used rice and oatmeal), and zippy from the sour cream and dill combo. Will definitely make again!

I hardly ever cook something this complicated(long), but this is one of the best entres I have ever tasted. It made me popular with my co-workers.

I turned this into a vegetarian dish by substituting fake meat crumbles for the ground pork and veggie broth for the chicken stock. It worked pretty friggin' good! I'd reduce the pepper a bit, and reduce the salt by a little bit more. (I think that's only cause of the veggie crumbles; not a meat-ful problem.) I did use vinegar in the boiling water. I used savoy cabbage and cored it but did not cut the leaves off. They weren't hard to get off at all. I did boil them longer than instructions, and found them surprisingly easy to roll and have stay put. Not too sure if the cooking time had anything to do with that or not, though.

These are awesome and it made a LOT ! I used a purple cabbage from our garden. The family loved it. Much better then the tomatoe

Delicious! I followed previous advice and boiled the cabbage with a cup of vinegar in the water. Couldn't find savoy cabbage, so used regular - would advise using the outer leaves for the lining the bottom and covering the top and the smaller, more tender leaves for the rolls themselves. I also added garlic to the onions when I cooked them. This dish is definitely going into the normal rotation. Thank you!

This cabbage rolls were gone within 5 mins, at our wine and cheese party. I served them with bread dumplings, the sauce goes well over them. The fresh dill on top gave it a nice finishing touch. Thanks, Angela Himmeroder, Canada

Really good. Might be good with rice added to the meat mixture too. I just mixed the broth and sour cream together after it came out of the oven and poured it back over the rolls instead of doing that part on the stove. Have made a couple of times, will become a winter staple in our house.

These were really good. Made them with our organic savoy cabbage from our garden. The sauce was too thin, even with 4 tablespoons of flour and some cornstarch. Next time I'll reduce it in a double-boiler (otherwise it will burn). Dill is great. Winner!

I made this because I am desperate for healthy recipes my sick husband will eat. I couldn't believe how he loved it! My 12-year -old daughter ate seconds, too! Delicious. Not an easy recipe, though, and makes a huge portion. For first timers, I recommend extra cabbage and extra tomato sauce because you'll need it as you develop your learning curve. Served with mashed potatoes, and let that brothy tomato sauce ooze into the potatoes...so good!

I am so surprised at how tasty these are!! I'm a traditional rice and tomato sauce cabbage roll eater--but I made these for our Sunday meal and they were fantastic!!! The sauce is surprisingly flavorful (though i let it get too hot and it was runny) the fresh dill is a must!! thanks for such a great recipe

One of the easiest recipes for cabbage rolls, hubby just loved them, he complained at first because it was not made with tomatoes, but just devoured them...I loved them too ....just great

Loved the creamy sauce vs. the usual tomato variety. The filling was a switch from the rice we normally see too. Very flavorful. My family said it was definitely a "keeper."

These were so yummy. Tying up the strings is a little tedious, but you have to do it or they fall apart. I used all sausage in half and veggie burger in half. Both turned out delicious.

My family too had cabbage rolls growing up with a gravy, not tomato sauce. My Oma would brown the rolls in a pan, using the drippings make a rue and sauce/gravy. Then place the rolls in the gravy and cook through. My tweak was that I used ground turkey and precooked the meat and onions. I used cooked brown rice infused with garlic instead of bread crumbs. Oddly, I used some honey-mustard dressing and grated cheese to help bind the mixture. My family would use egg like a meatloaf. Instead of salt, due to health reasons, I used Mrs. Dash. I used the meat and onion, with a little more garlic drippings to make a sauce, with the sour cream(I only had 1/2 cup) and 3 tbsp flour. I didn't have chicken broth so I add milk to stretch the sour cream. Avoiding salt, mine was bland, but with practice and other seasonings, especially fresh dill, with didn't have nor dry. Thank you Olga for inspiring me to relive my roots!

I was looking to make cabbage rolls tonight for dinner but the more recipes I searched the more turned off I was by the usual tomato-based recipes. Luckily I saw this recipe and made it. Delicious! I took tips from reviewers and added vinegar to the boiling water to peel the cabbage leaves more easily, sautéed the onions in bacon fat, and added about 2 tablespoons of flour to the sauce to thicken it more. I also used a pork roll sausage instead of plain ground pork, which I didn't have on hand, and added some garlic powder and smoked paprika to the meat mix because I can never do plain salt and pepper. The sauce was especially great, even though I did not have fresh dill either, but dried. (I'd like to use the sauce for other dishes too!) Anyway I'll be making this again... and might toss the idea of tomato-based cabbage roll recipes altogether.

This was SO good! I followed the recipe to a T except I used white cabbage since my store did not have Nappa. My hubby really liked this. It reminded me of asian dumplings but in cabbage instead of dough. I will for sure make this again!

Not really good or really bad, just okay. It seemed like more work than the typical cabbage rolls.

I thought I would love the sour cream and dill sauce, but tasted a little strange to me with the chicken stock.

I did everything as written except I halved the salt and pepper. I also added 3 tbs of flour to the sauce. This was really flavorful, but a bit salty even cut in half. I would definitely not put the full amount of salt in there. Otherwise, very good recipe! Thanks!

Very good! They are time consuming to make but worth it for a holiday or large get togethers. I made it as written and got praised.

I made them because I had a head of cabbage given to me. The cabbage rolls taste good, but you can't deny that there is still cabbage in the recipe :(

The inside was tasty but my cabbage was tough.

This was a big hit with family. We all loved it, and that seldom happens. I will definitely make it again. It’s a good recipe to cook with someone else, preparing cabbage and rolling up the meat. The recipe is great as is, so I didn't make changes.

Love this recipe. Had to use sweet pork sausage patties but followed the recipe and had delicious results. I like the white sauce since we have gone through all our canned tomatoes over the winter, very good alternative. Thanks for the recipe.

I’ve made this recipe twice and both times was asked for the recipe. Last time I made it I didn’t have fresh dill so subbed a teaspoon dill seed but didn’t like it as well as fresh dill. Next time I make it I’ll cut the salt in the meat by half. This is a very tasty recipe I will make often.

This came out great! I made one modification: I added about a quarter pound of sweet Italian sausage to the pork. I also added the dill to the sauce instead of sprinkling on top. I like these better than the traditional tomato sauce ones. I served with mashed garlic cauliflower.

I have made these cabbage rolls many time, so it is way past due that I rate them! The Ukrainian sour cream method is now the only stuffed cabbage rolls my husband wants - with my tweaks I sauté 1/4 of a large onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, and 5 diced Bella mushrooms, for that 'umami' taste, together and then let cool before adding to the meat. I use Better Than Bouillon for more flavor intensity as the cooking broth and then for the sour cream sauce. I also use 1 1/2 teaspoons Penzey's Bavarian seasoning. Personal preference only. Leftovers are divine!

Everyone in my family from youngest to oldest LOVES these rolls. The only think I change is the meat being that we don't eat ground beef. I use ground turkey, which goes great with the sauce.

I agree that it was bland, but still pretty good. I didn't add much more to the meat when I made it, but I did use seasoned bread crumbs that I had in the cabinet. I was able to add some spices to the gravy which perhaps helped.

I have made this recipe several times now and it is my favorite! It's easy, flavorful, and low cal!

Five stars! Wow, were these good. I used half beef, half pork for the filling and added a little chopped dill to it as well. I used a pressure cooker as directed, but could probably cut the time by 5 minutes (and I could only fit about half the batch on the steamer rack in my pressure cooker at a time). I would've taken a picture but my cabbage—underneath its top leaves—was rotten (?!) so I made Frankenrolls by cobbling half leaves around 'em and holding them together with toothpicks. Not pretty, but delicious. I served them on homemade noodles. Oh: I also cut the salt amount in the filling to just shy of a teaspoon, used just a few grinds of fresh pepper, and thought it was well seasoned.

I love this recipe! I give it 10 stars! I have made this recipe over and over again. I make my own tomato juice with fresh home grown tomatoes, which I use the finest of sieves to pour the juice through to remove all impurities! Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!

Loved it. I added all of my bunch of fresh dish. Wonderful reminder of motorcycle trips through Ukraine.

These cabbage rolls are amazing made just as the recipe calls. I love trying new recipes and usually follow a recipe the first time and then add my own adjustments to suit my taste for the next time I make it. I wouldn't change anything about this recipe. Yummm!

This was fantastic!! We like things a little spicy, so I used hot pepper infused oil to coat the pan. We added ground pepper to the sauce, and to serve, put the rolls on a bed of egg noodles then spooned the sauce on top. I like to try the original recipe first, to see where I would like to change it, but really, other than the pepper, it was pretty straight forward and everyone loved it. I will definitely be making this again!

I cooked these for the first time on easter. I used ground sage pork and I cooked it accidentally ahead of time. I found that I did not have to bake the cabbage rolls in the oven as long and I did not have to worry about knowing for sure if my pork was all the way done or not. The thing that took the longest was removing the leaves. I had to keep turning the heat down, because it was getting too hot to handle, until I got smart and put a pair of rubber gloves on while working over the steam. My husband loved these cabbage rolls and said that we need to have these more often. I did make some homemade noodles, also for the first time and they need more work.

Alot of work and I've had better-tasting stuffed cabbage.

I have made this recipe several times because I react badly to any type of cooked tomato. Basically I used this recipe as a rough guide. As I am allergic to milk products, I used cashew yogurt instead of sour cream. I threw in a couple tablespoons of crushed fennel seeds - sometimes I use caraway. I precooked all ingredients well. I also used about a cup of cooked rice instead of bread crumbs. Instead of using the oven (I try not to use it in summer - in winter I will use the oven.), I packed the rolls into a large skillet, poured a small amount of chicken broth (what I had - I would have used beef or veggie broth if those were on hand) over it, lidded it and cooked on low heat about twenty minutes. Before serving I mixed the yogurt with a little broth and poured over the rolls. This recipe made about 16 large rolls so most of them were frozen in meal size containers. I do this with all my cabbage rolls. This way there are always meal-ready portions in the freezer, and the labor intensiveness is limited to once a month. I freeze them without the topping. That way I can use different toppings at different meals.

This recipe is fabulous!! For my taste, I will use less pepper when I make it again. Also, it is quite easy to make a reduction of the sauce, if you'd like it a little thicker. This was my first time making cabbage rolls, and they were just lovely. I served them with homemade noodles as suggested and my husband, kiddo, and even parents were all thrilled. Thank you!