Cabbage Rolls with ground beef, sausage and rice rolled in cabbage and cooked in a tomato sauce.
Cabbage Rolls
I have been making these cabbage rolls or golumpkis for 30 years. I got the recipe from my friend Denise’s mother, she called them golumpkis, I found cabbage rolls easier to explain when I said I would bring them somewhere. I have made a few changes over the years, I add garlic and tomato soup because I like the broth the cabbage rolls make with it. The recipe makes a lot so I halved it when I made it today. In case you are wondering what is behind the cabbage rolls, those are hoe cakes.
A few years ago I stayed with my friend Denise at her moms house for almost a week in Michigan’s upper peninsula. A few of the ladies with us did not know how to make golumpkis so Denise’s mom gave us a lesson. We had a fun afternoon laughing and talking about old times as we rolled the golumpkis. It went pretty quick with 5 of us doing it and they were delicious. To top it off Ma Hook had also made us fresh picked berry pies for dessert.
Meat Mixture before it is rolled.
Meat ready to be rolled.
Layered in the pan, salt and pepper between each layer. This is when the vinegar and oil is put on them to bake before adding the sauce.
Topped with the sauce before baking.
- 3 lbs. Ground Chuck
- 1 lb. Sausage
- 1 1/2 C. Uncle Bens Converted Rice
- 1 1/2 C. Onion - diced small
- 2 t. Salt
- 1/2 t. Pepper
- 2 Garlic Cloves - minced
- 2 medium heads of Cabbage
- One 14.5 can tomato sauce
- 1 can Tomato Soup
- 1 small can Tomato Paste
- 1/2 C. Water
- 1 t. Salt
- Mix well in a large bowl all ingredients except cabbage. (For some reason cheap sausage works best in this recipe)
- In a 5-6 quart pan pour in 3 inches of water and bring to a boil. Core cabbage and remove outer leaves. Add 1 head of cabbage to the pan and cover. Turn heat down to medium and let cabbage steam about 5 minutes until you can start peeling off outer leaves. Set cabbage in strainer and run cold water over it to cool and add other cabbage to pan. Place the leaves you peel off on paper towels to drain. Repeat until you are down to the centers of the cabbage.
- Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. To begin rolling cabbage on the bigger leaves, cut down the center and remove the large vein. I make my cabbage rolls small, just a little bigger than the size of your thumb. Use 1/2 of the cabbage leaf and add 1 heaping Tablespoon filling at the core end and fold over sides to enclose filling and roll up cabbage. Place seam side down and continue to roll until the bottom layer is complete. Salt and pepper this layer. Now continue and add another layer.
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Pour a mixture of 1/4 C. Vinegar and 1/3 C. Oil over the cabbage rolls. Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Take pan out of oven and drain off the vinegar and oil mixture.
- Mix up the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Pour over cabbage rolls. Cover cabbage rolls and bake at 350°F. for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Note: Usually before I add the tomato sauce mixture, if I have left over cabbage from the center of the cabbage I rough chop it and throw it on top of the cabbage rolls. Salt and pepper a little and then add the tomato mixture over all.
- www.thatsmyhome.com
Try our?
Cabbage Roll Casserole
Irish Chicken
are all ingredients in cabbage rolls not cooked like meat n rice or cook, mix and roll? Never made before they sound delicious.
everything is raw when it goes in the cabbage.
what type of sausage do you use, there are so many kinds – Italian, bratwurst, honey garlic….?
Can’t wait to try your recipe…I love cabbage rolls but don’t have luck making them?
I use just regular plain old mild sausage in a roll. I think the cheapest ones work best in this and I’ve tried quite a few.
This recipe is not gluten-free as it says tomato soup has wheat flour in it.
Hi Andrea, did it say gluten free at Pinterest? I didn’t say it was gluten free. Pinterest decides what tags to put on recipes, I have no control over that. Sorry!
Your post sent me back in time. I learned to make stuffed cabbage from my Slovak grandmother. We would stuff and roll the cabbage to about the size of small-medium potatoes and lay them and in a pot lined with sauerkraut. Each layer of cabbage rolls was topped with more sauerkraut (including the juice) and a little tomato sauce before the next layer of cabbage rolls was added. It was then covered tightly and set to simmer on the stove for several hours until everything was cooked. OMG! – SO GOOD (even if the house smelled a little funky – LOL).
What happy memories Pat, I have always meant to try adding sauerkraut but we love this so much I have never changed it. it does make the house smell a little funky but it is so worth it…..
Thank you so much for explaining how to steam and separate the cabbage leaves. I’ve made cabbage rolls once before and had no idea how to do it. Other chefs assume their audience grew up watching their parents or grandparents make them. I’m making this recipe for dinner tonight. Excited to try it!
Thanks for letting me know, I am one of those who grew up watching. I’ll try to provide more of those kind of details in future recipes.
Do you cover them while cooking
yes, I do.
White vinegar?
I usually use cider if I have it but white will work also.
why vinegar and oil for 20 min?
It is the way she made them when I got the recipe. It does however help to get rid of any additional fat that the meat may have and adds a slight tangy taste to the cabbage. I’m convinced that is what makes these so good.