Polish Cabbage Rolls Recipe (Golabki)

Recipe updated: April 4th, 2024

Polish cabbage rolls are very easy to make. They are made with lean ground beef, uncooked white rice, and diced onions, then wrapped in cabbage leaves and topped with tomato sauce. Baking time is about 2 hours. The little bit of rice in the ground beef gets cooked during the baking time.

🍴 AKA Pigs in a Blanket

I have had this cabbage rolls recipe for more than 50 years. It is one of our favorite family recipes. My mother-in-law, who is from Poland, made them all the time. She called them “pigs in a blanket” but I changed the name years ago to cabbage rolls because I didn’t understand where the “pigs” part of the name came into play. Soon to find out, this recipe can also be made with ground pork or a mixture of ground pork and ground beef. With ground pork rolled in the cabbage, it now makes sense why this recipe can also be called Pigs in a Blanket.

🛒 Key Ingredients for Cabbage Rolls

• 2 pounds of lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/8 cup of uncooked white rice
• 1 medium onion
• 1 whole head of cabbage
• A can of tomato sauce (29 ounces)

Optional

• 2 cans of green beans
• 2 can of carrots

👩‍🍳 How to Make Polish Cabbage Rolls

These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.

Step 1. Preheat the Oven

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2. Prepare the Cabbage

Using a cutting board and paring knife, cut the core out of the middle of a medium-sized head of cabbage to make it easier to separate all the outer leaves. The core is on the bottom side of the cabbage. It is easier to cut the cabbage in half and then cut out the core.

Separate the leaves and put them in a large pot of boiling water on high heat. Cook them on the stove top until they start to become limp. It doesn’t take a long time for the cabbage leaves to become tender in the hot water. They probably need only a couple of minutes, so be sure to watch them the entire time. Then, drain the cabbage leaves in a colander. Set aside. The cooking time in the oven will cook the cabbage leaves enough, but doing this step is the easiest way to wrap the ground beef meat mixture in them.

Step 3. Prepare the Ground Beef Meat Filling

In a large bowl, put about 2 pounds of lean ground beef together with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/8 cup of uncooked white rice. I use 93% lean ground beef. Mix it all up. It is easier to use your hands to mix it up.

Step 4. Dice and Add an Onion

Dice one medium onion. Add the diced onion together with the ground beef mixture. If you don’t like onions at all, you can omit them. I have not made cabbage rolls without onions, but I would think they would taste okay without them.

Step 5. Mix Onions with Meat Mixture

Mix the diced onions with the ground meat mixture. You can add the diced onions when you add the salt, pepper, and uncooked rice and mix everything up at the same time.

Step 6. Roll the Meat Mixture into Oblong Shapes

Roll the ground beef mixture into little oblong shapes. None of them have to be the same size, just sorta close in size so they will all cook evenly at the same time. This is not the bowl that will be going into the oven. I have a bigger roasting pan that will be used.

Step 7. Form the Stuffed Cabbage Roll

Take one cooked cabbage leaf and center one ground beef roll on it. We are now going to roll it up. You can see that after cooking the cabbage, the leaf is still intact and still has its shape. It’s just going to be easier now to roll it up.

Fold the left side of the leaf halfway over towards the right side, then fold the right side over the top of the left side. Then roll the whole thing up. I’d say that’s a cute-looking little cabbage roll. 😉

Repeat this step for all the tender cabbage leaves and the meat mixture.

Step 8. Put Cabbage Rolls in a Big Baking Dish

After rolling up all the rest of the ground beef in the cabbage leaves, place them in a big roasting pan. Throw any extra left-over cabbage directly into the pan. I love cooked cabbage, so the more cabbage the better.

Pour a little bit of water into the bottom of the roasting pan, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. The size of this roasting pan took 1 cup of water. This roasting pan is about 16 inches long by 12 inches wide by 4 inches deep.

Step 9. Add Tomato Sauce

Then pour one 29-ounce can of tomato sauce over all the cabbage rolls.

Step 10. Add Optional Carrots and Green Beans

Pour two cans of green beans and two cans of whole or diced carrots over the top of the cabbage rolls before putting the roasting pan in the oven. This makes a meal in itself.

Step 11. Bake Cabbage Rolls in the Oven

Put the roasting pan in the oven at 325 degrees for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on how hot your oven gets. I left my cabbage rolls in the oven the other night for 2 hours because the kids were late getting here for dinner, and they turned out just right.

🙋 FAQs

📝 Final Thoughts for Polish Cabbage Rolls

This Polish cabbage roll recipe, or Golabki, has been a staple in our family for many years. My husband’s Polish grandmother used to make this meal who then passed it down to his mother who then passed down the recipe to him and me. The easy steps outlined in this recipe make it the perfect meal to make for special occasions.

Buttered biscuits and/or veggies are a great side dish. We also put ketchup over the top of the cabbage rolls before eating. Still hungry, try some peach cobbler for dessert.

📋 Recipe Card

❤️ More Polish Food Recipes You Will Love

• Polish Potato Dumplings – This Polish potato dumplings recipe is made with puréed potatoes mixed with flour to form a dumpling. It’s then covered with fried onions and bacon to create a delicious taste!
• Pierogies Recipe – Made with large curd cheese then added to dumplings and butter.