Easy Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls w/ Ground Beef (5 Ingredients)

These delicious Ukrainian cabbage rolls are stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, ground pork, and rice. Best of all, they’re easy to make!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

There are countless stuffed cabbage recipes out there ranging from simple to complex. But these Ukrainian cabbage rolls? They couldn’t be easier!

They might seem intimidating at first glance, but once I walk you through the steps, you’ll see just how smooth and painless the process is and you’ll be making your own holubtsi in no time.

It’s a bit of a labor of love since you’re rolling every one of them individually. But once you get the knack for it, you’ll be flying through them.

What to Serve With Cabbage Rolls

• The ultimate pairing for cabbage rolls in my family? Pierogi! (Recipe coming soon.) There’s no better companion.
• Mashed potatoes are also a fantastic option.
• Sauerkraut is an easy addition that requires zero effort. Find the good stuff in the refrigerated section of your grocery store!
• For a veg side, green beans or carrots are always a hit.

Quick Tips

1. Savoy cabbage is my go-to. It’s the perfect size for cabbage rolls! If you can’t find it, green or napa cabbage will work.
2. Instead of blanching my cabbage leaves, I pop my cabbage into the freezer as soon as I get home from the store. The night before cabbage roll day, I fill my sink with cool water and plunge them in there overnight. The next morning the leaves are soft, supple, and ready for rolling.
3. Always be sure to trim down the rib on each leaf (photos below).
4. If you find that you have some excess cabbage as you’re rolling, feel free to trim some off with a knife.
5. Ground Italian sausage can be swapped in for the ground pork. I’ve tried it and it’s very good!
6. You’ll likely have quite a bit of tomato juice left, and that’s okay. You’ll want to use it when reheating leftovers to “revive” the cabbage rolls.
7. You can make cabbage rolls in advance which is an awesome advantage because when making cabbage rolls, you’re settling in to make quite a hefty batch.

Ingredients

Ground Beef + Ground Pork

The meaty part of my mixture includes 2 lbs of beef (85% lean, 15% fat) and 1 lb or ground pork (85% lean, 15% fat).

Arborio Rice

This particular style of rice, which is best known for its use in risotto, is short-grain and high in starch. It becomes creamy when cooked, and I find that its texture blends best with the ground meat in stuffed cabbage.

Savoy Cabbage

Savoy cabbage is tender and it’s leaves are the perfect size for making cabbage rolls. You could use Napa or green cabbage as well, but I only use them in a pinch.

Tomato Juice

A jar or can of tomato juice is all you need! Some recipes call for tomato sauce, and some even call for tomato soup. But tomato juice totally does the trick to give the cabbage rolls that saucy tomato-y goodness without being overpowering.

Salt + Pepper

The perfect ratio for seasoning ground meat is 1 teaspoon of salt per pound, so I use 3 teaspoons of fine sea salt here. For pepper, 2 teaspoons does the trick.

Useful Kitchen Tools

• Deep baking dish or roasting pan
• Meat thermometer

How to Make Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Cooking the rice

Cook one cup of Arborio rice as per the directions on the package.

Preparing the cabbage

While the rice cooks, gently slice off each leaf from the cabbage heads from the bottom of the leaf. Do this until you get to the leaves that are too small to use. You can cut those off too, but leave them in a separate pile. They come in handy later.

Set the leaves aside in a pile. When done, one by one, trim off any large ribs (lengthwise) with a paring knife. Not all leaves will need this done, just any that have a thick and prominent rib.

Making the meat mixture

Place the ground beef and pork in a large mixing bowl and season it with 3 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of pepper. Mix the meat thoroughly with your bare hands ensuring the seasoning is evenly distributed. When the rice is done, add it directly to the meat mixture, and start to mix that with your bare hands until the rice is well mixed in.

At this point, preheat the oven to 350º F. Pour a bit of the tomato juice into the bottom of a large baking dish or roasting pan—just enough to cover the bottom.

Forming your stuffed cabbage

One by one, spoon about one heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture onto the bottom center of each cabbage leaf. Gently start to roll from the bottom up over the meat, just enough to cover it. Then, push in the sides of the cabbage leaf and continue to roll until you’ve formed your cabbage roll.

As you finish each cabbage roll, neatly place them into the baking dish. When you have one whole layer down, pour about a cup of the tomato juice over the cabbage rolls. Do this every time you finish off a layer—this is to keep them moist and juicy.

If you have some leftover cabbage leaves that were too small for rolling, place them over the cabbage rolls. Consequently, this will help keep moisture in the pan, but it’s an optional step.

Baking the cabbage rolls

Cover the pan with tinfoil and pop the cabbage rolls into the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. After that time has passed, check on the rolls. If they look like they need a bit more moisture, add some more of the tomato juice.

Cover the rolls back up and decrease the oven temperature to 300º F for an hour.

Remove from the oven and check the internal temperature of a few of the rolls to ensure that the center of the meat has reached a temperature of 140-145º F.

Serve with sour cream!

Storage, Freezing & Reheating

1. In the fridge: Store the cabbage rolls in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
2. In the freezer: After the cabbage rolls have cooled, transfer them to an airtight freezer-safe container or sealable plastic bag in a single layer (to prevent them sticking to one another). Push out any air, seal, and freezer for up to 3-4 months.
3. Reheating: Pop the cabbage rolls into the fridge overnight to thaw. I like to reheat them in a pan on the stovetop or in the oven, adding some tomato juice as they reheat to keep them moist and saucy. You could also just pop them into the microwave, but the quality will diminish a tad.

Have You Made This Recipe?

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