Eastern European Cabbage Recipes

Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable that pops up in most global cuisines, and that's not surprising. Cabbage varieties (green, white, red, savoy, napa, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, and collards) are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, are easy to grow, usually a good buy, store well over the winter, and they are a prime candidate for pickling (sauerkraut), which means even longer storage.

01 of 08

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

The Spruce / Barbara Rolek

Stuffed cabbage rolls are the epitome of comfort food. Pork and beef mixed with rice or barley are nestled in a cabbage leaf and cooked in the oven or on the stove until tender. Czechs and Slovaks call them holubky, for Poles its gołąbki, and Serbs and Croatians refer to them as sarma.
02 of 08

Czechoslovakian Braised Cabbage (Dusene Zeli)

The Spruce / Barbara Rolek

This Czechoslovakian braised cabbage recipe is easy to prepare, but it takes about 1 hour to braise properly. Still, the ingredients are few and simple and the dish makes a great accompaniment to many meat offerings. This recipe is a good candidate for a slow cooker.
03 of 08

Hungarian Sweet-And-Sour Cabbage Soup (Cukros Ecetes Kaposztaleves)

The Spruce / Barbara Rolek

This recipe for Hungarian sweet-and-sour cabbage soup is left uncreamed and is thick and hearty with lots of chunks of smoked meat. It's a great main-dish soup or meal starter.
04 of 08

Polish Split Peas and Cabbage (Kapusta Z Grochem)

The Spruce / Barbara Rolek

This split peas and cabbage recipe is a traditional side dish at wigilia or Christmas Eve dinner. The meal is meatless but this dish, which is as much starch as a vegetable, also can be served with a garnish of fried bacon if you're not fasting.

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05 of 08

Polish Braised Red Cabbage (Czerwona Kapusta Zasmazana)

The Spruce

This Polish sweet-and-sour cabbage recipe is the perfect side dish that comes together in a snap, especially if you use a food processor to shred the cabbage and onion. Czerwona Kapusta Zasmazana goes great with just about any dish but is a favorite with ham, pork, and sausage.
06 of 08

Polish Nalesniki Cabbage and Mushroom Filling

Sebastian Vogt / Getty Images

This Polish nalesniki cabbage and mushroom filling recipe is also known as Polish blintzes or filled crepes. Once filled and rolled, they can be baked or pan-fried, or dipped in beaten egg and bread crumbs and fried.
07 of 08

Hungarian Sweet Cabbage Strudel

The Spruce / Barbara Rolek

This Hungarian sweet cabbage strudel recipe comes from Chef Gale Gand, co-owner of Tru Restaurant in Chicago. It was her Hungarian Grandma Elsie's recipe. The ingenious cook couldn't afford apples for her strudel so she used sweetened and spiced cabbage instead. It's hard to tell the difference!
08 of 08

Eastern European Cabbage-Noodle-Pork Casserole

The Spruce

This easy Eastern European cabbage-noodle-pork casserole recipe combines four ingredients Eastern Europeans love including cabbage, noodles, pork, and sour cream. Breakfast sausage can be substituted for the ground pork, in which case the garlic should be omitted and the salt reduced to taste. This dish can be made ahead and reheats well.