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Feb 9, 2013

Browned Cabbage Rolls

I’ve decided to make my fantastic cabbage rolls for my next video. It’s one of my best dinner recipes which I learned from my dad who made this traditional Polish dish all the time. My favorite way to serve them is browned in a little olive oil with a dollop of sour cream on the side. My Polish cabbage rolls video should be up in the next couple of weeks. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Browned Cabbage Rolls

54 Comments on "Browned Cabbage Rolls"

  1. Marcella

    Wow Jenny! Why aren’t you on TV? Surely there’s a spot for you on PBS, especially when you consider some of the awful cooks who are on now!!! They should be bumped for you! I never thought of putting the sauce in the roll, I’ve always put the rolls in a sauce. I’m going to the store now and try your way. Great presentation, expertly done, easy to follow! Hey! Somebody, hire this woman!!!

  2. Janet

    Made this today and i found the taste not to my liking. I think it was the mushrooms. Going back to my own crockpot recipe. It was a lot of prep and it is going in the trash as i can’t down it again.

  3. Jane from Kansas City

    I love all of your recipes! I’m excited to finally learn to cook because of you! Thank you for making it fun and delicious!

  4. Nancy

    I don’t know why I was so inspired by your video:) I substituted ground turkey and a few chicken kale sausages for the beef and diced celery for the mushrooms. They are cooking now. Can’t wait to try them with a few latkes! I’ll upload pics tomorrow!!

    • Nancy

      Oh… I also used multigrain long rice… purple, red and brown rice:)

  5. D Smith

    Thank you for this recipe! I substituted a sauce (spicy hot mustard, Bragg’s amino acids, agave syrup, and hot cabbage water) for the tomato (because of allergies) both in the cabbage roll and over the top. It still turned out great !

  6. Adrienne

    My husband saw you make this on YouTube so I tried it. Absolutely love this recipe. Will make when we go camping too

  7. Cindee

    I’m late finding you, and so excited! I do enjoy cooking Good food, but- I also like it simple and straight forward, with room to switch it up a bit when the mood hits. Like.. a Keto mood. I plan to play with your Cabbage Rolls: substitute your rice for Miracle Rice (by ‘Miracle Noodle’) which is made with Konja; its plant based so.. 0 carbs! 🙂 I will also use Bone Broth for the broth your recipe calls for. I’m hoping this will be a good opportunity to bump up our protein and collagen while still maintaining a low insulin index. I can’t wait to try now.
    My questions are:
    1) I saw a mention to freeze half (I’m All about that).. do I freeze cooked and reheat, or- defrost and then cook later? 2) I like the idea of browning them as well.. I’m not sure when and how best to, like in your mouth watering picture.. Please share any tried, or failed, suggestions you have found works best for you.
    Thank you so much for stimulating my enthusiasm again.. I’d lost my urge to create during this last year. (I’m a nurse so work and sleep only thru pandemic..) While friends have been home quarantined and sprucing up their living environments, my heart and home both look as an abandoned campsite.. (And, the extra 15# Have to go now!) I have been fortunate to be able to continue to work, but careful what you wish for.. ya know?
    I’m expecting your Polish Cabbage Rolls to be a pivot point for me 🙂
    Thank you again!

  8. Terri Carroll

    I don’t have any questions for you but I wanted to tell you Cabbage Rolls are amazing!! I never had anything like this before. My co-worker told me about your video and I fell in love with your Cabbage Rolls recipe. I just want to thank you for sharing this with everyone. You are amazing!

  9. Sandra F

    So…I had a 1/2 large head of cabbage left over from another meal. What shall I do with it??? I asked myself. Searched and your cabbage roll recipe was one of the first I chose to look at. It seemed easy enough..I have never made them before but have a good polish friend that always raves about his mother polish cooking, even though she was an Italian married to a Polish man. Anyway, I just cut the recipe down and tried it! So easy…they are in the oven as we speak. I’ll bring a few, (mine were very small) to my polish friend and get his opinion. I love watching you…so natural and not “preachy” at all. Like cooking with my neighbor! I’ll stay tuned! Happy New Year…hope its a better one for all!

  10. Vicki

    Third time I’ve made your Cabbage Rolls. Delish! Makes a lot of rolls. I always freeze half for another meal. During Covid I helped a neighbor make them for the first time, and she’s now on her 3rd batch as well! My husband never says “Oh Boy! Cabbage Rolls tonight!” But when we sit down to eat them, he says, these are really good! 😊

  11. Deb

    Hi Jenny,
    Loved your show and now your recipes. I have tried quite a few so far and have not been disappointed!!
    These cabbage rolls are almost the same as I’ve always made mine, but tomorrow I will be making a batch of yours and also a batch with fake meat (not my idea). My niece and her husband are now vegetarians and since they are guests I will go along with it but I’m not ruining good Polish food, so mine will be good ole meat. Sorry vegetarians, as a true Canadian I will apologize LOL

  12. Doreen

    Jenny,
    Your Polish cabbage rolls (golabki) are the best. I’ve had a recipe for 40 years I thought was the greatest, until I tried your recipe. Also made your meat loaf recipe and am making your fall off the bone ribs this week end. Thank you for all the good eats.

  13. Ligia Barbara

    Hi Jenny! My husband watches your videos and then compares your recipies to our cooking. We love your style! My golabki are very much like yours. However my mom and now I fry golabki before they are cooked. This does give the sauce another flavour dimension. I also very succesfully cook my golabki in a pressure cooker. 10 minutes and voila they are ready! Most of the time I use the natural juices as a sauce thickened with little flour and sour cream. Again this is what my mom did. My husband’s family is definitely tomato sauce clan. Thank you for great recipies and you will always be our “gadgets queen” ?

  14. Lynn Luszcz

    I have made stuffed cabbage rolls for nearly 50 years now, I pre cook rice before I stuff the cabbage,but will try your method, I also add slices of cooked bacon on top of the rolls with the tomatoes. Happy to have been introduced to your site.

  15. bianca

    Love your style of cooking .. it always comes out fantastic .. thank you for posting all these great videos and the way your present yourself .. Bianca

  16. dj3580

    Hi, Jenny! I don’t know how I stumbled upon your recipe for cabbage rolls (I was looking on youtube on how to fix a non-working lamp!) I watched the video and your face looked so familiar but I couldn’t place it. But as I continued to watched and listen to you speak, I remembered your TV show! So nice to see your face again. Anyway, I loved the video so much that I tried the recipe a couple of days later and I loved how the cabbage rolls came out. I don’t think I ever had them before but this recipe looked so simple and delicious that I had to try. And I also tried pan frying some the next day and I officially hate you! They were so good-I ate four in one sitting! Thank you for posting the video & recipe and I look forward to viewing your other video recipes. (The bb-ribs recipe looks quite nice too!) 😀

  17. ISABELA

    Thank you, I am glad your recipe is in English and very very clear. I don’t have to rewind 10 times to understand a single word that I am missing. Love the way you explain and your voice is very soothing.

  18. Chuck

    I’m not much of a cook. But Love the challenge. Looking for something different, I searched & there you were with a tempting easy to follow cabbage roll recipe.
    Cabbage has always been low on my food chain but not any more ! Thanks to you & your easy to follow,concise instruction,I successfully created a very satisfying batch of rolls. The only change was , I used half Italian sausage.
    You demystify and make cooking fun,interesting,& doable,even for a novice lacking confidence ! I Love your thorough delivery & especially your very subtle humor !! Dupka ? Indeed {;-)

  19. Rick Varner

    We tried last night and with all of the craziness of this virus couldnt fins rice so we used a ton of mushrooms. They were really good

  20. Beth

    i love cabbage rolls.. make them quite often…

  21. Richard Koleszar

    I’m Hungarian and miss my grandmothers “toltott kaposzta”, so this gives me inspiration to cook our own.!

  22. AnnMarie

    Hi Jenny, Made cabbage rolls inspired by your video. I used 1 3/4 lbs. organic ground beef and 1 lb. ground pork with 3/4 cup cooked rice, parsley, salt, pepper, cooked onion and garlic. Baked in 1 1/2 cups cabbage broth with some tomato. They were so delicious. Thanks for oall your programs. So inspiring. I’ve made cabbage rolls for 50 years but never baked them, never thought to have the flat pan to put the hot head in, never thought to cook the onion first until I watched you. The taste was better than mine. God bless.

  23. Michael Keller

    Hello Jenny, I made your Recipe last night, but I had to put my own twist on it. I added a Serrano Pepper, Jalapeño Pepper, and a half of a cup of Red Bell Pepper. In addition I used some Sweet Hungarian Paprika. They Were Excellent !!!
    I don’t like to Copy Cat someone else’s recipes exactly as they are. I first ate Cabbage Rolls in a Small Polish Restaurant in Chicago around 1994 and loved them. This was my first time trying to make them. Even though I have been a Chef in several Restaurants and have owned my own small Diner. Thank You Very Much For Sharing This With Everyone.

  24. Michael Keller

    Hello Jenny, I made your Recipe last night, but I had to put my own twist on it. I added a Serrano Pepper, Jalapeño Pepper, and a half of a cup of Red Bell Pepper. In addition I used some Sweet Hungarian Paprika. They Were Excellent !!!
    I don’t like to Copy Cat someone else’s recipes exactly as they are. I first ate Cabbage Rolls in a Small Polish Restaurant in Chicago around 1994 and loved them. This was my first time trying to make them. Even though I have been a Chef in several Restaurants and have owned my own small Diner.

  25. BBinAZ

    I’ve made stuffed cabbage rolls before, but this time they turned out so hard on the inside. I used a slow cooker for the first time. Is it possible they were packed too tightly for too long ? Or is it the rice…….I tried Instant rice that was partially cooked. How can I make them tender on the inside ? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I hate to throw about 12 of them into the trash.
    Thank you ………and I love watching your videos.

    • Jenny Can Cook

      I have no experience with a slow cooker and have never used instant rice so I can only tell you that if you follow the recipe as shown, using long grain rice and baked in the oven, they will be tender on the inside and perfect.

      • Alla Moller

        I now only make them in the crock pot with wonderful results and don’t brown them. My mother, born in Russia, used to make them like yours Jenny and they were so good. I love that recipe, but if made in the crock pot, I will combine 1 can tomato soup and 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and add about a half cup to the meat and rice mixture and then pour the remainder in between layers of the rolls and on top. The leftover bits of cabbage are used as a base in the crock pot in this case and very yummy.

    • Ellie

      No not the slow cooker or anything else you might do, this is a common problem, still trying to find the answer. I do use 1/2 beef and 1/2 pork. Adding a little olf milk or save some of water from COOKED rice. This worked once for me, but still looking. I cover mine with can of campbells tomato soup and mix with 1 can of water, then continue covering with water till all cabbage rolls are completely covered. Cook on stove top, 1 to 11/2 hrs.Never have I fried them in oil. Why when they are so good from the pot with the juice added as you eat. I have a sovenian/Russia background, my area is filled with this kind of people. Neve heard of this recipe before.

  26. Jack

    These are great the best I’ve ever made. I plan on making 50 or 60 rolls for Christmas can I make them up ahead of time and freeze them.?

  27. Ann

    How long can I leave them in the freezer before my next use?

  28. Fahima Ziani

    Can I have more details about frying them the next day?? I am confused how much oil I should use ?

    • Jenny Can Cook

      I use about a tablespoon of oil. You can also use butter.

  29. Helga holland

    So sorry, but your cabbage rolls are a huge disappointment. I watched your video and followed to a “t”, but result has no polish flavour whatsoever.
    Maybe more for American tastebuds rather than European.

    • Edward Kolodziej

      First, Jenny’s Utube description was excellent, a step up from how my mother made them. Her description of how to roll the cabbage was the key to the success of the recipe.

      Now to the criticism that Jenny’s rolls were too bland: there is no reason why one can’t add whatever one wants to the mix going into the rolls. I actually made two different mixes to suit the rival tastes of my family. So go hot or bland as you prefer.

  30. Virginia

    Hi, Jenny, Thank you for sharing, your way of cooking made it easier to understand and follow. I’ve never made cabbage rolls before; I’ve heard my co-employees during my work days (am retired now) made them and they sound delicious. But, thanks for youtube and saw your cabbage rolls recipe. I’m going to make them for our church’s upcoming “AV Cafe”. I’ll let you know of their surprise. As going through some valuable queries, comments from your subscribers, I’ll prepare them on Saturday (before church service day) and freeze them, and fry them immediately prior to going to church service. I will share your recipe as well to my siblings; we are from Canada, am from Ottawa and the rest of my siblings reside in Alberta, Hamilton, and Toronto. Our eldest brother in Rhode, Is. North Providence. I’ll make this cabbage rolls recipe of yours (by God’s grace) on his 90th birthday on July 19, 2019, as we gather together then. Thanks again.

    • Jenny Can Cook

      Your are from my “hood.” I grew up in London, Ontario. ??

  31. Haold john

    Tryed the cabbage roll.very good.i add small pieces of bacon in the mix.l roll very tight.and like small cabbages.which gives you small leafs.you bet your dewpa.

  32. Veronica

    I’ve bought the makings for the cabbage rolls today and plan on making them tomorrow. My question is once they are cooked, you mentioned they are better the next day, so I wait until then to enjoy? Also, about freezing them, do I do that before browning them in the frypan the next day?
    I was so happy to run across your youtube about them as it’s been years since I enjoyed them. My mom used to make them & they bring back happy times to me. Thank you.
    I hope they turn out as good as hers!

    • Jenny Can Cook

      There is no need to hold them for the next day – just let them rest for about 15-20 minutes before serving. I always freeze mine after they are cooled but I do not brown them before freezing.

  33. cheryl

    Should I precook the rice if I use brown rice?

    • Jenny Can Cook

      I made it with brown rice, uncooked.

      • cheryl

        So then you tried both the converted rice and the brown rice, but your preference is the converted rice? If so why?

        Also, what do you serve with the cabbage rolls?

      • Anne

        Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe. I cut calories by cooking hamburger and adding two links of Italian sausage and mixing in with rest of the ingredients. Do everything else your way! Absolutely the best cabbage rolls I have ever tasted. I never knew I liked cabbage rolls so much until I fixed this recipe. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to show everyone how to fix such a wonderful dish. Your kindness is appreciated.

  34. Janice

    Jenny, what a surprise to run across your YouTube videos! A very pleasant surprise! Years ago, when you were on tv, my husband and I faithfully watched and enjoyed every episode. My husband became quite enthralled with you and when you were in Dallas I surprised him and we attended one of your shows. You were open and friendly and as we shook your hand, I realized my husband was quite speechless and awestruck! And this from a salesman who could talk and sell to anyone! You moved on to greet others and I couldn’t hold back my laughter and teased my husband many times about him freezing and being unable to speak to you! He passed away last year and, oh my goodness, how he would have enjoyed watching your videos not to mention trying all your recipes! You’ve brought back wonderful memories and oh yes, your food is delicious and love your recipes and videos! Keep ‘em coming!!

  35. Judy Comer

    I have not made this yet, but for sure, i will do it soon! Thank you for the wonderful recipe Jenny.

  36. Judy Comer

    Have not made your cabbage rolls yet, but i am going to soon!! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.

  37. DaGuill

    The best thing I’ve ever had!!! Strongly recommend !! It’s always a go to for dinner everyone loves it!

  38. marlene huggins

    I think all your food look delicious. I am surely going to try your Cabbage rolls.
    I think they look delicious and edible. I am from the West Indies, a small island in the Caribbean Sea. Its a beautiful island. I don’t mind cooking at times. O.K. Love watching you cook. I want to taste everything. Thank you so much and much love. Always, again thank you!!!

  39. Liz

    Wow, they look just like his! But looks can be deceiving. I’m going to have to get down there and check it out.
    I used to make mine with ground moose, when I lived with the meese.

  40. Rhonda

    Can’t wait to see this video and to make your awesome cabbage rolls again. I can just taste them looking at your photo there. Those are so delicious 😀

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