Slow Cooker Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

This is a recipe from my childhood days. In fact, I never attempted to make it, remembering hours of work my mom put into creating these delicious rolled leaves. I didn’t mind the help but to do it all surely seemed like a job fit for someone who had a lot of time, though I am fairly sure my mom didn’t.

Today, I completely understand why she did it.

She just made enough to last for a few days, freezing the extras. While I will agree that this dish is time-consuming, it is also so flavorful and so worth the time. Plus, I used the slow cooker which helped.

Even the kids couldn’t resist!

When I served these cabbage rolls to my own family, my kids looked at their plates with complete suspicion. After all, there were a lot of vegetables hiding inside.
>Surprisingly, my plans to freeze leftovers never happened. The cabbage rolls disappeared from the dinner table faster than I expected. Every single minute spent making them turned out to be worth it.
>This recipe truly shines when it’s cooked low and slow. If you don’t already own a reliable slow cooker, here’s one that’s worth checking out (affiliate link).

Ingredients

Serves 6

1 head of cabbage
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 cup dry jasmine rice
1 onion
5 medium mushrooms – white button work best
1 yellow or red bell pepper
1 carrot
1 large can of chopped tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste (optional)
1 cup of sour cream
1 tsp paprika
1-2 tbsp coarse salt
1 tsp pepper
olive oil for cooking

Directions

Prepare the cabbage for cabbage rolls

1. Set a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, gather the remaining ingredients. Make sure the pot is large enough to fit the entire head of cabbage.

2. Cook 1 cup of rice (makes 3) based on package directions. Once it’s finished, set it aside to cool. Alternatively, you can prepare the rice a day ahead or use leftover cooked rice.

3. Next, cut out the cabbage core and remove the tougher outer leaves.

4. Carefully lower the cabbage into the boiling water. After 3-5 minutes, flip it over and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

5. Take out the cabbage carefully (a slotting spoon will work) and remove some top leaves, lay flat to cool.

Then, return the cabbage to the boiling pot for another 3-5 minutes and repeat until you have enough leaves.

Don’t worry if some leaves are slightly torn but try to keep most as intact as possible. Set aside to cool.

Make the meat and rice filling

6. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add ¼ finely chopped onion and brown until golden. Add 5 chopped mushrooms and cook until softened.

7. Next, grate half of a carrot. Add it to the onion mushroom mixture.

Meanwhile, dice the remainder of the carrot for use in the slow cooked later. (Once done, set the empty pan aside for step 13).

8. Combine 2 cups of cooked rice with your onion, mushroom, and carrot mixture.

Then season with salt, paprika and pepper and stir. Make sure rice is cool before proceeding to the next step.

9. Finally, mix ground beef, ground pork and your rice and veggie mix altogether. That is your filling.

How to roll Cabbage rolls

10. Now you are ready to roll them! Place each cabbage leaf stem down. If the stem is thick, you simply cut it out and then braid one side over the other.

11. Place a scoop (in fact, use an ice cream scooper for best results) of the filling in the middle of the cabbage leaf.
Pro tip — an ice cream scooper is perfect for portioning filling evenly. [Find one at Walmart
for just a few dollars.]
Fold the sides and roll like a burrito. Repeat with each leaf.

Prepare the slow cooker

12. Now it’s time to assemble your slow cooker. Spray the insert with cooking spray.

Then add the remaining onion, bell pepper and ½ diced carrot to the bottom.

If you have leftover cabbage, chop it and add to the bottom as well. This creates a flavorful bed for your cabbage rolls.

Brown the cabbage rolls

13. Meanwhile, heat the skillet again with a little olive oil.

Brown the cabbage rolls for 3-5 minutes per side, working in batches if necessary.

14. Transfer the cabbage rolls into the slow cooker, arranging them over the veggies.

Make the tomato sauce

15. In a bowl, combine chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and 1 large tbsp of sour cream. Stir the sauce and pour over your cabbage rolls in the slow cooker.