If you're craving a taste of old-fashioned comfort, this
In a hurry? Try this stuffed cabbage roll soup! All the flavor but done in 35 minutes.
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Table of Contents
- Thank you for the goodness you bring to our tables.
- 🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
- 📖 Recipe
- 🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
- 🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
- 🥬 How do you blanch cabbage?
- 📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- 💭 Insider tips: things to know
- 🥫 Leftover love: how to store and reheat golumpki
- 👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
- 📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
- 🍽️ Perfect pairings: what to serve with
- 🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose
- 📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
- 💬 Comments
🗝️ Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
- Cabbage rolls are impressive enough for a special dinner but easy enough for a family meal.
- This is a classic comfort food dish that the whole family will love. Serve for leisurely weekend dinners.
- Be sure to read the section on how to blanche cabbage so that your cabbage rolls go together easily.
Homemade galumpkis (golumpkis, stuffed cabbage, or cabbage rolls depending on where you are from) are so easy to make in a crock pot!
Tender leaves of steamed cabbage are rolled around a tomato-y rice and beef mixture, then covered in a creamy tomato sauce and slow cooked to perfection.
Since it's a
Easy on the budget and family friendly!
📖 Recipe
Easy Cabbage Rolls (Galumpkis) Recipe
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1 cabbage, remove core
- 2 cups rice, cooked
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped fine - optional
- 32.25 ounces Campbells condensed tomato soup, 3 10.75-ounce cans
- ¼ cup sour cream, more if desired
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the cabbage head core side down in a pot with about 3 inches water.
- Cover and steam over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Check the cabbage, the top few leaves should be very transparent and pliable. Peel them off.
- Continue to steam the cabbage and peel off the outer leaves as they get done. The leaves should be VERY pliable. You may be able to use all of the leaves, although the cabbage rolls will get smaller in size.
- Chop up any remaining cabbage.
- Saute the beef and onion until thoroughly cooked.
- Mix the rice and ground beef mixture. Add about ¼ cup condensed tomato soup, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Prepare the crock pot by spraying with cooking spray. Pour about ½ cup of tomato soup on the bottom of the crock pot. Spread the chopped cabbage over it.
- Place a heaping spoonful of the meat mixture in the center of a cabbage leaf.
- Fold in the ends and roll up.
- Place seam side down in the crock pot.
- Repeat until you have a layer of cabbage rolls in the bottom.
- Pour more tomato soup (about ½ cup) over the first layer and add a second layer of cabbage rolls over it.
- Continue until the cabbage leaves are all used up.
- Pour about ⅓ cup water or V-8 juice in the crockpot.
- Mix the remaining tomato soup and the sour cream and pour over the top.
- Slow cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
- Serve with more sour cream if desired.
Notes
- To help with rolling the cabbage leaves cut a "v" out of the bottom of the leaf where it's thick.
- Add a little water or V8 juice to the bottom of the crock pot to prevent sticking and burning.
- When rolling the cabbage leaves wrap them like a burrito and tuck the leaves under to prevent them from unraveling.
- Garnish plates with a sprinkle of fresh parsley for a beautiful color.
- When rolling the cabbage leaves wrap them like a burrito and tuck the leaves under to prevent them from unraveling.
- Cabbage rolls can be assembled up to 3 days ahead of time and cooked when desired.
- Make this into an easy 30 minute cabbage roll casserole by chopping the cabbage up and mixing in the remaining ingredients - bake in a 13x9 in pan at 375F for 20 minutes or until heated through.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page
🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page. Click on the image to see it full size.
Steam the whole head of cabbage in a large covered pot of boiling water, removing leaves as they become soft.
Cook the ground beef and onions until cooked all the way through, then add in all the other ingredients to the ground meat mixture.
Fill the steamed cabbage leaves with the meat mixture and roll.
Place cabbage rolls to the bottom of the
🥬 How do you blanch cabbage?
You'll need to blanch the cabbage for these
- First, you'll want to choose a cabbage that is relatively loose rather than solid and tight.
- Next cut the heart out where the stem was. and cut up into the cabbage in a circle - like removing a cork or a plug.
- Bring about 3 inches of salted water to a boil in a large (tall) pot.\
- Place the cabbage in the boiling water with the cut side down. Cover.
- Boil for 5 minutes or so.
- Run the cabbage leaves under cool water and lay them out, ready to be filled and rolled.
📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- Ground turkey or ground pork can be used in place of ground beef.
- For a vegetarian version, use cooked lentils or quinoa in place of the ground beef.
- Add 2 cups of your favorite chopped veggies to the beef mixture (e.g. mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers).
- If you want a sweeter sauce add a tablespoon of brown sugar to the tomato soup.
- A dash of Worcestershire sauce added to the beef mixture will give a deep rich flavor.
💭 Insider tips: things to know
- To help with rolling the cabbage leaves cut a "v" out of the bottom of the leaf where it's thick.
- Add a little water or V8 juice to the bottom of the crock pot to prevent sticking and burning.
- When rolling the cabbage leaves wrap them like a burrito and tuck the leaves under to prevent them from unraveling.
- Garnish plates with a sprinkle of fresh parsley for a beautiful color.
- When rolling the cabbage leaves wrap them like a burrito and tuck the leaves under to prevent them from unraveling.
- Cabbage rolls can be assembled up to 3 days ahead of time and cooked when desired.
- Make this into an easy 30 minute cabbage roll casserole by chopping the cabbage up and mixing in the remaining ingredients - bake in a 13x9 in pan at 375F for 20 minutes or until heated through.
Marye's Tip o' the day
To make in the oven put the stuffed cabbage rolls in a casserole dish and cover with the sauce as directed in recipe. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes at 350F.
🥫 Leftover love: how to store and reheat golumpki
Leftover golumpki (cabbage rolls) can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheat the leftovers in the microwave or in a covered pot on the stove until warm all the way through.
🤫 Marye's secret for zhuzhing it up
V-8 juice or spicy V-8 juice is one of the best ways to add even more flavor to this delicious dish. Use instead of water in the
zhuzh: verb. To make something more interesting or attractive
👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!
A savoy or green cabbage is the best cabbage to use.
One reason your cabbage rolls may not have turned out as expected is because they were under or overcooked. Another possibility is that you didn't add enough filling. The rolls should be tightly packed but not so full that they can't roll closed.
The easiest way to soften cabbage leaves is to place them in boiling water and remove them from the head of cabbage as they soften.
There is no need to add eggs to this recipe. The rice and beef mixture will hold everything together.
⏲️ Marye's time saving hacks -
This recipe is a little labor intensive but you can assemble it up to 3 days ahead of time. You can even break the steps up - cook the beef and rice one day and assemble the cabbage rolls the next.
📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
🍽️ Perfect pairings: what to serve with
Easy 30 minute dinner rolls are perfect with this old fashioned dinner!
Southern cucumber salad adds a zesty flavor and crunch to dinner.
Moist and delicious apple spice bundt cake is the perfect ending to this hearty meal!
And here are 46 more great ideas for what to serve with cabbage rolls!
🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose
- Chop everything up and add milk to make a soup or chop everything up for a casserole.
- Fill steamed bell peppers with leftover cabbage rolls and bake.
📞 Wrapping it up: the last word
This easy, Polish comfort food is a family favorite! The baked version of the recipe was given to my mom by her best friend way back in the early 1930s. And, if you are of Polish descent, is it Galumpki or Golumpki?
Mom used to put cabbage rolls in a big Dutch oven and cook in a slow oven for several hours... that is until she got her first crockpot. 🙂
This is slow cooked for about six to eight hours to reach yummy perfection. The sauce is tangy and sweet, the cabbage is delicate and tender, and the rice and beef mixture is... unbelievably good.
Make it stretch further by using more rice and less meat. You can also add chopped mushrooms to help stretch it more.
Making this cabbage roll recipe doesn't take that long at all and the house will smell amazing.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Louise says
Sorry for this question,but are you suppose to add any water to the water to the tomato soup and sour?
Marye says
🙂 no you use it straight from the can.
Lori says
Really good except my tomato soup burnt around the edge of the crock pot.
William J Yurgen says
God bless you. You and your daughter will be in my prayers. I cook for a hobby and out of necessity since over the years the women in my life were either too pushed for time or they were clueless about the process. So, I tried simple Taste of Home type comfort recipes and later graduated to books from all the top chefs with more sophistication. Now towards the autumn of my cooking journey I came across your blog. What a perfect mid-point. Relatively easy but not too simple. Things I can serve to my snooty friends without being too ostentatious for family. Thank you for the goodness you bring to our tables.
Dolores (Matakas) Schwartz says
Don't know why but it's been ages since I've made this. Grew up with this as a kid (100% Lithuanian). Exact same recipe except for the sour cream. Married an English/German and he likes it--just not as much as me (I've even been known to eat it cold). When I worked full time, I'd make it as the casserole (chopped cabbage) to save time. Thanks for reminding me that I need to make it ASAP. I'm new to your site but I love it.
Dee K says
Daisy is the only sour cream I ever use because it's just plain better!