This stuffed cabbage roll casserole recipe is an easy way to get all the flavor of traditional cabbage rolls without the extra effort.
Growing up in Southwestern Pennsylvania means having had your share of stuffed cabbage rolls. It's often served during the holidays or other family celebrations like graduations and weddings. Sometimes referred to as Halupki, this delicious comfort food is something everyone loves.
I've tried making the real deal, and it turned out ok, but I'm much more inclined to make the tasty but easier Stuffed Cabbage Soup. And now, I've made a deconstructed cabbage roll in this Stuffed Cabbage Casserole.
Whether you want to call it deconstructed cabbage rolls or more of a stuffed cabbage lasagna, this recipe will give you the taste of the traditional dish without all the work.
More Great Casserole Recipes: Tuna Noodle Casserole, Potato, Egg and Ham Casserole, Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
Ingredients
- ground beef
- onion
- cabbage
- diced tomatoes
- V-8 juice
- Uncle Ben's Original rice
Making Stuffed Cabbage Casserole
Start with a large head of cabbage. Remove the first layer or two of unsightly outer leaves. Then cut into quarters and remove the core.
Reserve a few leaves off to the side for the final layer, and then make a lasagna-like casserole.
I cooked the beef first with some onion, salt, and pepper, but I decided to leave the rice raw. After all, when you make stuffed cabbage rolls, the rice is raw. Usually, the beef is too, so you can try that, but I was concerned that it might be a little too greasy.
At home, we always used Uncle Ben's original long grain rice. However, you can use regular rice, white rice, or brown rice if that's what you prefer or have in the pantry.
This tastes just like my stuffed cabbage soup recipe. That's because the ingredients are basically the same with less liquid.
Like most casseroles, this stuffed cabbage casserole is super hearty. Great comfort food that makes enough to feed a crowd. And, it is good enough to eat leftovers or freeze them for another day.
Stuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 large onion
- 1 head of green cabbage
- 2 cans 14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes
- 3 cups V-8 juice
- 1 cup Uncle Bens Original rice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage and discard.
- Quarter cabbage and remove core.
- Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- In a 9 x 13 baking or casserole dish pour 1/2 cup of V-8 juice.
- Layer 1/2 of the cabbage sections on top. (reserving a couple of leaves for the top)
- Pour one can of tomatoes on top.
- Add half of the beef mixture followed by half of the rice.
- Repeat.
- Top with a few cabbage pieces
- Pour 2.5 cups of V-8 over the entire dish.
- Cover lightly with foil.
- Bake for 50 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let rest covered for 20 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although attempts have been made to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Taren
I am Polish. It always irks me when a recipe for stuffed cabbage calls for uncooked rice. If this is the way people have always eaten them, they really don't know how they should taste. Raw rice needs moisture. If you put raw rice in ground meat it will absorb every ounce of moisture and fat out of the meat. This results in an undesirable texture of the ground meat filling. The rice should be cooked until soft but still firm, so it will only require a little bit of moisture to finish cooking without becoming mushy. Using cooked rice in the ground meat results in a moist and tender filling. I've also read blogs that criticize using tomato soup. Tomato soup is essential. My father is 92 and if I buy stuffed cabbage or someone else makes them with tomato sauce he complains. The most flavorful sauce starts with a bacon fat roux, then adding the tomato soup to make a rich and flavorful sauce. I hope you give it a try!
Patti Estep
Taren, this is how my Polish aunt taught me. However, that being said I appreciate your input and I will try it. Thanks for sharing.
Dionne
I’m trying it right now - using leftovers of spaghetti sauce and meat from a manicotti dinner ( both frozen from last week)
Trying to not spend a fortune on groceries with everyone in quarantine these days. I will let you know!
Patti Estep
That's great Dionne. Please do.
Rebecca
Came out great! Only thing I would change is cook it longer cause the main vein on the cabbage leaves wasn’t fully cooked & I didn’t have v8 juice so I used a can of chicken broth with 2 small cans of tomato sauce. I also add salt, pepper, garlic & lemon to the meat mixture.
Patti Estep
Yeah, some cabbage ribs can be tough and I don't think it hurts to cook it a little longer. Thanks for sharing all of your ideas!
Paula
This sounds great! I’ve put it on my list of dinner ideas for the new year.
Patti Estep
Thanks Paula. I hope you love it as much as we did.