19 Stuffed Cabbage Roll Recipes
From Polish to Italian
Stuffed cabbage roll recipes exist in nearly every cuisine and are considered comfort food to the highest degree. Some are strictly vegetarian filled with buckwheat groats, barley, or millet, while others feature beef, lamb, or pork, or a combination of all three.
Using beet or other vegetable leaves or grape leaves instead of cabbage is also common in Slavic, Greek, Italian, Middle Eastern, Asian, and other cuisines. It's safe to say you can have stuffed cabbage every day for a month without repeating the recipe.
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Bulgarian Stuffed Cabbage (Sarmi)
Martin Jacobs / Photodisc / Getty Images
This Bulgarian recipe for stuffed cabbage rolls, or sarmi, is made with veal, pork, carrots, tomato juice, and a yogurt-paprika sauce.
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Croatian Stuffed Cabbage (Sarma)
dirkr / Getty Images
This recipe for Croatian stuffed cabbage, or sarma, makes enough for a crowd and since they're even better the next day and the day after, you'll have tasty leftovers. They also freeze well cooked or uncooked.
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Czech Stuffed Cabbage (Holubky)
Brian Hagiwara / Getty Images
This recipe for Czech stuffed cabbage, or holubky, uses ground beef and pork, rice, tomato juice, and paprika.
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Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage (Toltott Kaposzta)
Sergey Kashkin / Getty Images
This Hungarian cabbage rolls (toltott koposzta) recipe is made with ground pork, beef, sliced smoked pork butt, sauerkraut, and fresh cabbage. More traditional recipes would be made with whole soured cabbage heads like kiseli kupus.
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Jewish Stuffed Cabbage (Holishkes)
Sergey Kashkin / Getty Images
This Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish stuffed cabbage recipe, or holishkes, is a traditional dish for Sukkot, the harvest festival in autumn, but it is enjoyed year-round by Jewish communities in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. This recipe has a sweet-sour sauce with raisins.
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Lithuanian Stuffed Cabbage (Balandeliai)
Marton Hadfi / EyeEm / Getty Images
This recipe for Lithuanian stuffed cabbage is known as balandeliai or "little pigeons." This dish is common throughout Eastern Europe and the recipe varies from country to country, region to region, and family to family.
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Polish Stuffed Cabbage (Gołąbki)
The Spruce
Stuffed cabbage rolls, or gołąbki, which means "little pigeons," are the epitome of Polish comfort food. Pork and beef mixed with rice, barley, or buckwheat groats are nestled in a cabbage leaf, rolled, and cooked in the oven or on the stovetop until tender.
Follow these steps for making gołąbki. For a different spin on Polish "pigs in a blanket," try gołąbki with tomato sauce and this unstuffed cabbage recipe.
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Romanian Stuffed Cabbage (Sarmale)
Stefano Dore / EyeEm / Getty Images
This recipe for Romanian stuffed cabbage, or sarmale, can be enjoyed year-round in Romania, but especially for holidays like Christmas and Easter.
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Russian Stuffed Cabbage (Golubtsi or Golubtsy)
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These Russian stuffed cabbages, known as golubtsi or golubtsy, are made with millet, carrots, and salt pork, napped with a sour cream tomato sauce and baked in the oven.
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Serbian Stuffed Cabbage (Sarma)
Barbara Rolek
Sarma is the Serbian version of stuffed cabbage. Some Serbian cooks use imported or homemade whole heads of brined cabbage (sauerkraut) known as kiseli kupus when making their sarma. Compare this recipe with Serbian sarma and Serbian vegetarian or posna sarma recipe.
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Slovak Stuffed Cabbage (Holubky or Halupki)
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This recipe for Slovak stuffed cabbage, also known as holubky or halupki, is made with ground beef and pork, sauerkraut, paprika, and tomato sauce.
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Czech/Slovak Pressure-Cooker Stuffed Cabbage (Holubky)
Barbara Rolek
This recipe for Czech /Slovak stuffed cabbage, or holubky, uses ground beef and pork, rice, canned tomato soup, and undrained sauerkraut, and is cooked in a pressure cooker, so it's fast. Instead of using tomato soup, low-sodium V8 juice or tomato sauce can be used.
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Slovenian Stuffed Cabbage (Sarma s Kislim Zeljem) Recipe
Charles Groux / Getty Images
This recipe for Slovenian stuffed cabbage, or sarma s kislim zeljem, is made with pork and beef, rice, sauerkraut, tomato juice, and pork neck bones.
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Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbage (Holubtsi) Recipe
Sergey Kashkin / Getty Images
Ukrainian stuffed cabbage is known as holubtsi, which literally means "little pigeons." Fillings vary widely and can be meatless or contain any combination of meats, vegetables, and grains.
The wrapper can variously be cabbage, beet, lettuce or spinach leaves and, even grape leaves in the grape-growing regions of Ukraine.
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Kramarczuk's Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbage (Holubtsi)
Kramarczuk's
This recipe from Kramarczuk's Deli in Minneapolis for Ukrainian holubtsi can be made with a meat or vegetarian filling and benefits from a tomato cream sauce.
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Greek Stuffed Cabbage (Lahanodolmathes)
Steve Outram / Getty Images
Stuffed cabbage with ground beef and rice are covered with a traditional egg-lemon (avgolemono) sauce in this Greek recipe for stuffed cabbage known as Lahanodolmathes.
Greeks believe the best cabbage can be found after the first frost, so all versions of stuffed cabbage are winter favorites. Stuffed grape leaves or are popular year-round because they can be preserved.
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German Stuffed Cabbage (Kohlrouladen)
Steve Cohen / Getty Images
This recipe for German stuffed cabbage is made with ground beef and if you crave more spice, use caraway, mustard, or tomato sauce in the meat or the sauce.
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Busy Cooks Stuffed Cabbage
Barbara Rolek
This recipe is perfect for busy cooks. Brown rice and Dijon mustard put a different spin on this comfort-food classic.
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Italian Stuffed Cabbage (Cavolo Ripieno)
The Spruce
This recipe for Italian stuffed cabbage calls for savoy cabbage, soy sauce (the secret ingredient), and a sauce. This Italian recipe for Cabbage with Chestnuts and Sausages is even easier because the cabbage leaves are stuffed while still attached to the stem!