This Stuffed Cabbage Casserole is basically a deconstructed version of stuffed cabbage layered with shredded cabbage, ground beef and brown rice cooked in tomatoes then topped with melted cheese. It’s SO good!
Stuffed Cabbage Casserole
I’m always looking for ways to use up ground beef and love this stuffed cabbage casserole! I grew up eating stuffed cabbage and always loved when my Mom made it for dinner. This casserole version of the classic is so darn delicious! You may also like this lazy stuffed cabbage bowl! And check out my other ground beef recipes here!
I first tried this back in 2011 browsing other blogs’ Top Dishes for that year (I always love those posts). I came across this recipe on Kalyn’s Kitchen and I knew I HAD to try it!
This turned out great, and easily serves 10 people. Although stuffed cabbage doesn’t usually have cheese, I loved the addition of it in this recipe. Of course you can make it without the cheese if you prefer to keep it dairy free.
Stuffed Cabbage Casserole Tips
- Leftover can be frozen and reheated for another day. Freeze up to 3 months. Refrigerate up to 3 to 4 days.
- To make it dairy-free omit the cheese.
- To make it keto or low-carb, swap the rice out and add more meat.
- Freezer directions: Let the casserole cool then freeze in portions in freezer safe containers. To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then either microwave until hot or heat in the oven in an oven-safe dish covered with foil.
- Split it among 2 smaller casseroles and freeze one for later, this always comes out great.
More Cabbage Recipes You Will Love
- Beef Cabbage and Tomato Soup
- Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
- Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup
- Ham Bone Soup with Potatoes and Cabbage
- Lazy Stuffed Cabbage Bowls
Stuffed Cabbage Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil, divided
- 1 lb. 95% lean ground beef
- 1 large onion, chopped fine
- 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 heads green cabbage, coarsely chopped
- 1 14.5 ounce can petite dice tomatoes with juice
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 2 cups part skim mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a large glass casserole dish with non-stick spray. (My dish was 13" x 10")
- Heat a large frying pan on medium heat; add ground beef and cook until it's browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as it cooks. Remove ground beef and set aside.
- In the same pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, chopped onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent and starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes more. Then add the diced tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, and ground beef.
- Add water to the pan. Simmer until it's hot and slightly thickened, about 15-20 minutes.
- While it simmers, cut cabbage in half, cut out the core, and remove any wilted outer leaves; chop the cabbage coarsely into 1 inch pieces.
- Heat remaining olive oil in a large frying pan or dutch oven; add the cabbage and cook over medium-high heat until the cabbage is wilted and about half cooked, turning it over several times so it all wilts and cooks. Season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
- When the meat and tomato sauce mixture has cooked and thickened a bit, stir in the 2 cups of cooked rice and gently combine.
- Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray and the layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, remaining cabbage, and remaining meat mixture.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake 40 minutes, or until the mixture is just starting to bubble on the edges.
- Remove foil and sprinkle on cheese (if using.) Bake uncovered an additional 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to slightly brown. Cut into 10 slices and serve hot.
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One of our favorites! A bit time consuming, but worth it?
I loved it, the flavor is really good. I was looking for healthy one dish meal recipes, and this is just what I needed. It does take some time to make it, but I’ll put half of it in the freezer to enjoy later.
Delicious! My family loved it. It’s a little time consuming for the first time, but well worth it!!
I plan to make this using a bag of slaw mix instead of cut up cabbage. Also will share recipe with my out-of-state daughter. It looks wonderful.
This makes a fabulous winter meal. My husband went back for seconds, something he rarely does. I love all of the ingredients and flavors!
I steamed the cabbage for 8 minutes in the microwave in a big mixing bowl and it was perfect.
Absolutely delicious! This makes a great freezer dinner for a new mom. layer all the ingredients into a disposable aluminum foil pan like caterers use with the lids.( You can get them at BJs.) Use a sharpie marker to label the lid and provide instructions to reheat.
Delicious!!! I followed the recipe no changes!
1 1/2 heads of chopped cabbage is a little vague for me. Â What would be the equivalent in cups/ounces?
Love this.
Added salt to taste, for sure.
Used Za’atar as my spice because I had it on hand.
Broiled the cheese to melt it.
Only note for the chef: Cabbage quantity-needs to be ___ cups! I have no clue if I did that correctly.
Very Good recipe, made it last night for dinner. Something tells me it will be even better at lunch today! I thought the sauce was a bit sweet when I taste tested it, but once it was in with the cabbage, the flavors evened themselves out. On a side note… I don’t know what “the sauce thickens up a bit” means just as I don’t know when cabbage is “about half cooked”. Maybe you could include an estimated time on medium heat to help out a new cook? I knew what you meant, but I’ve been cooking for a long long time. That’s it for my comments! Bon Appeitet’
This is one of my favorite skinny taste recipes! My husband also loves it. The combination of flavors is perfect and it’s very satisfying. I have this in my regular rotation! Love it!
I also made changes. More seasonings. 1 head of cabbage. Layered the cabbage on the bottom of pan. Everything else I combined and layered on cabbage. Thought 40 minutes was plenty of cooking time for everything. Also did not use as much tomato sauce and little more water. I just don’t like a strong tomato taste. Very good.Â
Another winner! This is wonderful. I shared extra servings with friends, and they loved it, too. (I ended up dividing into eight servings just to make things easier for myself and recalculated the calorie count.) Didn’t need a side, just ate it by itself. Thanks!
The cabbage was so tender and the sauce was very savory. I would only make two changes next time – use fresh mozzarella to shred and not prepackaged shredded cheese (it formed more of a cheese crust and wasn’t that melty) and add raisins for a touch of sweet to balance the savory notes.Â
love the raisin comment Liz! I also use raisins in my meatloafs. Try it, that splash of sweetness when you bite into it is incredible!
I made this using Old World seasoning from Penzeys in addition to the Hungarian paprika, about 1 tsp of each. I also seasoned EVERYTHING with kosher salt to taste. The cabbage, the meat, and the rice. I think maybe the people who complained it was bland didn’t season it, and with an entire head of cabbage (my cabbage was big so I just used one), a pound of meat, and two cups of rice, you’re going to need some salt. It’s delicious!! I grew up in PA eating halupki, and this is the same flavors without the work!Â
I made the recipe exactly as written. It’s perfect!Â
I made this several years ago, and wanted to make it again today… I used ground turkey instead of beef.
For some reason, I thought that when I made it before, It was just a one dish meal…combine everything together in a casserole dish and bake, without cooking first. It looks as if I was very wrong.
Update: I ended up putting 2 cups of uncooked brown rice in a large casserole, with ground turkey, chopped onion, seasonings, diced tomatoes, a few cups of water, and mixed that all together, then topped it with chopped cabbage and baked it for about 45 minutes. it was boiling at that point. I turned the oven off and let it set, and the rice continue to absorb water for a while, then topped the whole thing with cheese.
It came out okay, and much easier, with less mess than cooking the whole thing separately.
Excellent recipe. I however used ingredients I had on hand to substitute some thingsÂ
Ground turkey instead of beef.Â
I used 26 ounces of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste and spiced with some Italian seasonings to make my own sauce.Â
I also used vegetable broth instead of water.Â
I will definitely make it again.Â
Even the pickiest eater in my household liked it.Â
I love this recipe. But I think the proportions of cabbage v. Meat mixture needs to be 1.5 lbs or beef and just one head of cabbage. I always have leftover cabbage and feel like I’m stretching the meat mixture.
I revised the recipe and used Beyond Meat ground beef and substitued cauliflower for the rice…delish!!!