Cabbage rolls belong to those dishes that can be prepared both on the festive table and on a regular family lunch or dinner. Traditionally, they are stewed in a pan, brought to readiness in tomato sauce. And if you bake them in the oven, then the stuffed cabbage will turn out to be especially juicy and tender.
Pick your recipe
Cooking stuffed cabbage in the oven is not at all difficult, but of course, this process will have to be sacred for a long time. You need to prepare the cabbage leaves, prepare a delicious stuffing stuffing, then you will need to wrap the cabbage leaves with neat rolls. But the special taste of this dish is worth it, all family members will be satisfied and your work will not go unnoticed. Therefore, free up a couple of hours and start preparing a masterpiece!
Secrets of delicious cabbage rolls
The oven, as you know, has the ability to slightly dry foods, so to preserve their juicy baked cabbage rolls in all kinds of fillings and sauces. There are recipes in the oven for stuffed cabbage in a sour cream filling, in tomato sauce, in a tomato-sour cream filling. This dish is very tasty and tender in gravy based on sour cream or juice with spices, fresh herbs, vegetables.
The process of making cabbage rolls always begins with the preparation of cabbage. First of all, heads are taken apart into separate leaves, then thickenings and coarse parts are removed from each. Then the leaves are lowered into a pan and boiled until soft. Too hard parts can be slightly beaten off with a hammer.
Leaves, if you prepared them correctly, should become translucent.
The most delicious filling for stuffed cabbage is obtained from mixed minced meat (pork and beef are taken in equal proportions) with the addition of rice or buckwheat. Optionally, you can put greens and vegetables in the filling.
So that the finished wrapped cabbage rolls do not unfold during baking, first fasten them with a thread, a toothpick or fry them in a pan on each side.
All this applies to traditional cabbage rolls, but today the composition of cabbage rolls has undergone great changes - in search of a variety of culinary specialists wrap the filling in the leaves of Beijing or Savoy cabbage. And as a filling, they use not only ordinary beef and pork, but also turkey and chicken, adding mushrooms, vegetables, cottage cheese. In a stewing sauce, you can add a few drops of wine - then cabbage rolls will acquire a special piquancy and aroma.
It’s very convenient that cabbage rolls can be prepared for several weeks in advance - just freeze a raw dish and store in a freezer. When you need it, just remove them from the freezer, prepare the sauce and, without defrosting, bake in the oven, increasing the cooking time by 15-20 minutes.
Classic stuffed cabbage in the oven
Unlike the usual cooking method, baked cabbage rolls do not give their taste and aroma to water, on the contrary, their taste is enhanced, acquiring new nuances.
What you need:
- White cabbage - 1 head;
- Rice - ½ tbsp;
- Minced meat - ½ kg;
- Onion - 1 pc;
- Salt and pepper to taste.
For pouring sauce:
- Tomato sauce - ½ liter;
- Carrot - 1pc;
- Onion - 1 pc;
- Garlic - 3 cloves;
- Sour cream;
- Vegetable oil;
- Spice.
How to cook:
Cabbage heads for cabbage rolls should be of medium size, its leaves should be thin and juicy. Try not to purchase new varieties of this vegetable, characterized by very thick leaves - it is inconvenient to work with them.
Remove the first upper leaves. Then, with a sharp knife with a thin blade next to the stump, make fairly deep cuts. This trick speeds up the process of cooking cabbage, and it is much easier to separate the sheets.
Place a large pot on the fire, wait for it to boil and lower the head of cabbage down with a cob. Cook for about 5 minutes.
After the set time, turn the cabbage over so that the stalk is at the top, and boil for another three minutes. As a result, properly prepared cabbage should be soft, but in no case should it break up. Pull the cabbage out of the bowl and divide it into leaves.
Then cut each separated sheet along the central vein, and it is better to cut it out.
Now you can start filling:
First, put rice to cook, and while it is cooking, you can do meat. You need to cook cereals in salted water until half ready.
Stuffing can be purely beef or pork, but it turns out much tastier if it is mixed in a proportion of 1/1.
Chop the onion finely and stew over low heat until soft and transparent.
Fold the rice in a colander, it does not need to be washed.
Mix the minced meat with rice and onion, salt, pepper to taste.
On the edge of the cabbage leaf, lay a large spoon of the filling and tighten to make an envelope. Continue until the stuffing is over.
Grease a baking dish with oil and lay out all the resulting cabbage rolls.
Now you need to make a delicious fill:
In a small amount of oil, fry the onion cut into thin half rings or cubes.
When the onion becomes golden, add grated carrots to it. All must be extinguished at the very minimum fire until fully cooked.
Add tomato sauce to vegetables. Homemade sauce is especially good. If it is not, fresh mashed tomatoes (they will need about 1 kg) or tomato paste diluted in hot water (you need a couple of tablespoons of it) will do.
Put together a couple of minutes, add crushed garlic, salt, sugar and spices to taste. sour cream will help to soften the taste of the fill - just two or three spoons.
Stuffed cabbage, placed in a baking sheet, pour the prepared sauce, tightly cork with foil and place in the oven preheated to 180-200 degrees.
In the oven, stuffed cabbage is cooked for about half an hour, five minutes before the foil is completely ready, remove the foil, let the stuffed cabbage get a little brown on top.
Serve an unusually tasty dish with sour cream or sauce.
Cabbage rolls with minced turkey and rice wrapped in Beijing cabbage
Diversify your own menu and cook especially tender cabbage rolls with turkey and savoy cabbage.
You will need:
- Peking cabbage - 1 head of cabbage;
- Turkey breasts - 600 gr;
- Rice - 100g;
- Onions - 3 pcs;
- Salt pepper.
For pouring sauce you need:
- Cabbage broth - 1 tbsp;
- Tomato paste - 70 gr;
- Sour cream (cream) - 1 tbsp;
- Salt pepper;
- Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp.
How to cook:
To get started, prepare the necessary products.
Boil the rice for 15 minutes in slightly salted water, fold it on a sieve.
Rinse the turkey breast and cut into small pieces. Scroll through the meat grinder meat, and then onions.
Mix the minced meat with rice, season to taste with salt and spices.
Separate the leaves of Beijing cabbage and rinse thoroughly. Then boil them in boiling water, three minutes will be enough. The thickened part of the leaves is better to remove, folding will be much more convenient. If you plan to make cabbage rolls of small size, then the leaves can be divided in half.
On the leaves, put 1-1.5 tbsp. tablespoons minced meat and wrap roll. Lay the resulting rolls on a deep baking sheet or in a mold.
In a glass of broth left after cooking the leaves, add tomato paste, sour cream, butter, sugar and salt. Mix everything well. If you like garlic, you can add it.
Stuffed cabbage rolls with the resulting mixture and send to the oven preheated to 180 degrees for about half an hour.
Serve them better hot, sprinkled with chopped herbs.
Lazy cabbage rolls in the oven
It happens that you really want cabbage rolls, but there is no time to cook them. After all, this process takes a lot of time. However, there is a way out - you can cook lazy cabbage rolls. They have the same composition, taste and aroma, too, but they are made several times faster.
What is needed:
- Minced meat - 600 gr;
- Fresh cabbage - 300 gr;
- Rice - 4 tbsp;
- Bulb;
- Large carrots;
- Chicken egg - 1 pc;
- Salt, pepper to taste;
- Vegetable oil;
- Breadcrumbs or flour;
- Tomato sauce or sour cream.
Cooking method:
First you need to chop the cabbage. It is advisable to do it smaller - it’s more delicious. And so that cabbage rolls are easily formed, pour chopped cabbage for 5-10 minutes with boiling water and then drain the liquid.
Chop the onion and fry in a small amount of vegetable oil. Rub the carrots on a medium grater and add to the onion when it becomes transparent and soft. Put it out until tender.
Rice as usual, boil in salt water. It is better to choose round varieties of rice, it is not only tastier, but also thanks to the high starch content glues the components of the filling together.
Cabbage, onions with carrots, combine meat and mix thoroughly. Stuffing can be used any. Add the egg, salt and pepper.
Knead the mass well, if it turns out to be too dense, pour in a little water or a decoction of bay leaf.
Form the same patties from the minced meat and breaded them in flour or breadcrumbs. Put in a greased mold.
Pour stuffed cabbage with thick tomato juice or ketchup and place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. Bake them for about half an hour. Serve a dish with tomato sauce or sour cream.
Oven baked cabbage rolls with minced meat
In the oven, cabbage rolls with minced chicken are more juicy than those cooked on the stove. Chicken is not as fat as pork, so in the end the finished dish will turn out less calorie.
You will need:
- White cabbage - 1 head;
- Chicken fillet - 550 gr;
- Boiled rice - 180 gr;
- Bulb;
- Carrot;
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs;
- Vegetable oil;
- Salt and spices.
For refueling:
- Chicken broth - 1 tbsp;
- Tomato juice - 1 tbsp;
- Bulb;
- Carrot;
- Sour cream - 180 gr;
- Garlic and seasoning.
It is better if the juice is cooked with your own hands, thick and saturated.
Pass the chicken fillet through a meat grinder or chop with a blender. Stuffing mix with boiled rice and stewed grated carrots. Add tomatoes, a spoonful of oil, spices and mix well.
Place the cabbage leaves in a large container, and pour boiling water over it. Put on the stove and cook after boiling for four minutes. Pull out and cool.
Then put about a large spoonful of minced meat in each sheet and wrap it with an envelope. Place them on a baking sheet.
Grind carrots and onions and stew in vegetable oil. Add tomato juice, seasoning and simmer for 8 minutes.
Stuffed cabbage with broth, gravy on top and sprinkle with crushed garlic and herbs.
Seal the baking sheet on top with foil and place in a hot oven (190 degrees) for 40 minutes. Then remove the shelter and simmer the dish for another 20 minutes, pouring sour cream on top.
Stuffed cabbage under a vegetable coat
You will need:
- Cabbage - 1kg;
- Minced meat - 450 gr;
- Boiled rice - 170 gr;
- Bulb;
- Carrot;
- Water - ½ tbsp;
- Cheese - 170 gr;
- Tomatoes - 4 pcs;
- Sour cream - ½ tbsp;
- Vegetable oil;
- Salt pepper;
- Greens, garlic.
Place the cabbage for 6 minutes in the microwave, and then pour the head of cabbage with cold water, so the leaves will separate much easier.
Combine rice, meat and vegetable frying, salt, season and knead well.
Wrap the filling with rolls in cabbage leaves and place on a baking sheet. Then fill the semi-finished products with water, seal with foil and put in the oven for 35 minutes. The temperature should be about 190 degrees.
Grind the tomatoes, mix them with garlic, grated cheese, sour cream, herbs and spices. Spread the mixture evenly on cabbage rolls and return them to the oven for another 12-15 minutes.
It turns out a very beautiful, mouth-watering and fragrant dish.
Lean stuffed cabbage with mushrooms
Those who fast, or simply prefer diet food, can replace minced meat with mushrooms, and instead of rice, take buckwheat, bulgur, couscous.