One Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls are a take on the traditional stuffed cabbages, but so much easier! You will love this easy, healthy dinner recipe, made in only one pan. The perfect healthy comfort food dinner!
One Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls are definitely winner winner, easy dinner! Sometimes I pin a recipe or see one on Facebook and it takes me months (or sometimes forever) to make it. When I saw these unstuffed cabbage rolls though, I promptly bought the ingredients and made it two days later. I don’t know what the hurry was, but as soon as I saw it, I immediately wanted to make it.
I’m so glad that I jumped right on this recipe though because it was so good. My husband has been on the fence about cabbage and this recipe finally brought him over to my side. The side that believes cabbage is delicious, and crunchy but soft, and just perfect in so many ways. I tweaked this recipe though so it was more reminiscent of the cabbage rolls that my Mom makes. Her’s are my favorite and are stuffed with lots of rice, a little meat, and then cooked in a seasoned tomato sauce. I know that many other cultures make theirs differently, and while I have been coming around to those that are more meat heavy, I am still partial to my Mom’s recipe.
These unstuffed cabbage rolls taste almost like hers, but take so much less time. This took about 45 minutes, and 30 minutes of those were cooking time. You basically dump it all in a pot and let the tomato sauce do it’s magic by softening up the cabbage. When cooking anything like this, I absolutely swear by my cast iron enamel pans. I have had this one for years and it still looks brand new. It cooks soups, stews, and sauces so evenly and really helps prevent burning!
We all really enjoyed these and I will be continuing to make it well into the summer months! Looking for another easy dinner casserole recipe? Try my favorite chicken tortilla skillet bake!
If you are a fan of Stuffed Cabbages, or Pigs in a Blanket, or Halupki (whatever you want to call it!) then you will love this no fuss and no roll recipe!
Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small cabbage chopped
- 2 cans 14.5 ounces each low sodium diced tomatoes
- 1 can 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 1 cup of precooked brown rice the steam in bags work great for this
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
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In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender.
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Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.
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Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken stock, pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15- 20 or until cabbage is tender. Add the precooked rice and stir well. Recover pot and cook for another 10 minutes. Add more seasoning if desired.
Recipe adapted from HERE
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I love cabbage and this sounds so good! Thanks for sharing! Pinned! 🙂
Thank you for pinning!! If you like cabbage, then you will love this!!
I have never had cabbage other than with a boiled dinner. I have to try this.
It is really flavorful this way!
I’m not a huge fan of cabbage, but this may be good for my boyfriend 🙂
My husband isn’t the biggest fan but loved this! You may like it!
I bookmarked this to make it when my renovation is over!
I hope you like it!!
I’m a huge fan of cabbage, this is good for me.
I am a big fan too! I hope you try it!
I am making this recipe today. Often make stuffed cabbage and am very anxious to taste this!
I hope you like it! We love it and it has gotten rave reviews!!
I don’t see where you use the chicken broth? What am I missing?
Oops, my mistake! I added the chicken broth when I added all the initial ingredients. Or you could add it throughout cooking to thin it out some!
I thought so! Just making sure! It turned out really good! My twin 6 year olds gave it a thumbs up!
Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know!!! I’m so glad your kiddos loved it!
This was awesome! I just made it tonight for my family, everyone liked it and went for seconds. Also, if you add some hot sauce to it, it’s even better! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
I am so glad you all loved it!! And thank you so much for coming back and letting me know, nothing means more to me than feedback on my recipes! The hot sauce is a great idea! We are big fans in our house so I will definitely try that next time!
Would ground turkey work?
Yes definitely!
How many people does this recipe serve?
You would get at least six bowls of this. It fed my family of three plus we had leftovers for two days of lunch.
Really looking forward to trying this……in fact I’m making it tonight. Can you tell me if we can freeze this dish? I seem to be the only one that likes cabbage rolls in my house hold and I’m afraid I won’t be able to eat it all.
Hi Kristine! I have never tried freezing this, but I have frozen stuffed cabbage and they froze well, so I would imagine they would be fine! If you do it, please let me know!
I had made this last month and froze half in individual containers and they are perfectly delicious!! I love this recipe!
I have never frozen this so thank you so much for letting me know!! I’m glad you loved it.
I cooked it tonight and its delishes. Thanks for shating
Made this for dinner tonight– DELICIOUS!! Hubby and I both loved it!
I’m so glad you liked it!! It is one of my favorite dinners1
My mom made this for us growing up. We know this as lazy man’s cabbage rolls. Now matter what the name is this is really good and very simple to make..
Lazy man’s cabbage rolls is a perfect name for it too!
Eating this now and it’s SO GOOD! Topped it with shredded extra sharp cheddar. Can’t wait to see how much better it is tomorrow!
I am so glad you like it Traci!! Adding cheese is a great idea!
How much do you think this would suffer if I don’t have broth, but added water or something instead?
I also have several 24oz jars of tomato sauce but no diced tomatoes, anything to be done there, or do I need to go grab some tomatoes? : )
Thanks!
I think you would do okay without the broth. You will need to add more salt to compensate for the lack of flavor. I also think you are fine with the tomato sauce, it just won’t have any tomato chunks in it!
I used ground turkey and hot sauce as others have suggested. I had frozen some puréed peppers and onions and tomato sauce from the summer and threw those in instead of the tomato sauce and onion. My tomato sauce was thin so I didn’t need the broth. Guess what’s for dinner tonight and tomorrow? Thank you for the recipe and the comments. Delicious.
I’m so glad you liked it Danette!
I’ve made this several times and we live it.I add a can of rotel diced tomatoes with chiles to give it a little kick.
I love that idea to add the rotel and chiles! I’m so glad you like this recipe!
Do you substitute one can of the diced tomatoes for the Rotel?
That would be fine!
This looks absolutely delicious. My problem is I don’t usually use onions – so my question is, what color onion do I use? I know my Mom uses a lot of purple onions but I don’t know the difference in the flavors. Thank you for your help.
Hi Pam! I used just a regular white or yellow onion! Purple onion has a much stronger flavor and would be a little too strong for this dish. I hope you like it!
So how many points is this?
Hi Fran. I’m not sure what you mean? Weight Watchers Points? This isn’t a Weight Watchers recipe so I’m not sure but it is definitely a healthy dinner so you could adapt it!
Made this tonight, delicious!! …its a keeper…
I’m so glad you liked it Karen!
Hello! I will be making this soon. I was wondering can you make it in a crockpot?
Hi Candance, I am thinking you could but I have never tried it. I would cook your meat first and then cook on low for about 4-6 hours.
I am making this today. I am cooking all the ingredients outside on my gas grill’s side burner. I LOVE food but hate for my house to smell like it so when I can I cook something that has tomatoes and spices in it that you have to simmer I cook it outside. I didn’t have any precooked rice so just used regular rice and added it with some extra liquid to the meat tomatoe mixture and when almost done I added the cabbage and cooked it longer. I will tell you how I liked it once it is done and I can taste it. I’m excited to try it.
Excellent as is! Freezes well. Great healthy, easy, quick lunch.
It freezes so well!! I’m so glad you liked it!