Classic Cabbage Rolls

This southern favorite, Classic Cabbage Rolls, has Instant Pot cooking directions and helpful hints for easy preparation and tasty ingredients. It's so delicious and it comes with stove-top instructions, too!

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Cabbage rolls have been around for a long time. They are a favorite way southerners consume this healthy leaf. The Cabbage Soup With Andouille Sausage is also a delicious and healthful dish. Andouille sausage adds the perfect taste of southern Louisiana cuisine.

If you like fresh cabbage in a salad, this Southern Louisiana Coleslaw is a winner. It has a touch of cane syrup for sweetness and pecans for added crispness and crunch.

What's in a cabbage roll?

"Cabbage rolls? … they are like little meatloaves with rice wrapped in cabbage leaves and cooked in tomato sauce," is what I told my grandson when he asked what I was cooking for supper. It surprised me how simple that sounded.

Ingredients

For The Rolls

• cabbage leaves to roll the meat with
• ground meat (beef, pork, or a mixture of both)
• chopped yellow or white onion
• chopped green bell pepper
• chopped celery
• finely chopped cabbage flavors the meat, adds texture
• pressed garlic permeates the meat for flavor
• cooked white or brown rice, leftovers work great
• breadcrumbs are for softening and binding the meat
• an egg helps bind the meat also
• salt for seasoning
• cayenne pepper for a little spice

For The Sauce

• stewed tomatoes in a food processor add more taste than canned tomatoes
• tomato sauce for more tomato flavor
• dark brown sugar for a little sweetness
• spice it up with chili powder
• salt for flavor
• pepper to taste
• water to thin the sauce

Tips for easy cabbage rolling

No pre-cooking the cabbage leaves before stuffing them with the meat mixture. Does this set you free? I cut out the hard center of large cabbage leaves. This makes them easier to roll and a breeze to cut through when eating.

Save the middle of the cabbage head after peeling the leaves away and use it to flavor the meat. Chop it fine and throw it into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

How to make cabbage rolls?

First, combine the meat with vegetables, rice, bread crumbs, egg, and seasonings. Prepare the cabbage leaves in the above tip. Divide the meat into equal sized balls. Place a ball of meat on a few cabbage leaves.

The cabbage is my favorite part and I used to feel cheated with just one leaf. Now I use two or more, especially with the smaller leaves.

Roll the cabbage as tight as possible.

I don't use toothpicks to hold rolls together, either. Packing them close together in the pot helps with that

Place rolls on the rack in the instant pot or pressure cooker for easy and quick cooking.

For the sauce, add all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Pour the sauce over the rolls, turn the pot on, and forget about it. There's no need to babysit these babies. You can spend more time doing what's important … or what's not important.

The cabbage rolls can also be baked in the oven in an oven safe dish tightly covered with foil. Or, simmered in a pot over the stove.

More beef recipes

The recipe

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" I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. "

C.S. Lewis