Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole Recipe

Cabbage rolls are known across several cultures but seem to be particularly popular in Central and Eastern Europe as two of the best-known versions are Polish golabki and Ukrainian holubtsi. As recipe developer Patterson Watkins points out, though, making these rolls the traditional way "is not a quick process." Taking the cabbage leaves and what would be the fillings and layering them, casserole-style, to make what she calls a "delicious mash-up of classic stuffed cabbage rolls and baked lasagna" is something that she feels can eliminate a lot of the mess and bother.

Feel free to customize this recipe to suit your own personal preferences. Watkins uses a mixture of ground beef and pork sausage but says you can go with just one or the other of these. She also points out that, of course, "plant-based ground meat substitute will work, too." You can also go all one way or the other with the Gruyere/mozzarella cheese combo she favors, or, if you don't care for either cheese, you could opt for Swiss or jack cheese or even pepper jack for a slight hint of heat.

Watkins makes this recipe using Savoy cabbage as she says it cooks more quickly than the green kind. You can certainly use the latter if you wish, but there is one caveat: Watkins notes that "Green cabbage leaves might take upwards of 10 minutes, under boil, to reach that pliable tenderness" so you'll need to tack on some extra cooking time. Alternatively, you could take a tip from Rachael Ray and skip the cabbage cooking altogether: Ray asserts that freezing and then defrosting the cabbage as they do in Poland works just as well as boiling.

The other ingredients you'll need for this casserole include salt, rice, olive oil, an onion, garlic, ground beef, sausage meat, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, black pepper, sour cream, dill, mozzarella, and Gruyere. While Watkins uses fresh dill here, she says it's okay to leave this herb out or else use dried dill if need be. In the latter case, Watkins notes that the proper amount would be "a sparse tablespoon" of the dried stuff.

Fill a pot with water — not up to the brim, of course, just ¾ of the way should do it. Add a tablespoon of salt and boil the water over high heat. Once it's boiling, drop in five or six cabbage leaves and boil them for 2 to 3 minutes, until they're floppy. Drain the cabbage on paper towels and keep repeating the process until all of the cabbage leaves have been cooked.

Pour the rice into the same pot of boiling water (no point waiting for another one to heat up), then boil the rice for 15 minutes, stirring now and then. When the rice is tender, drain it, run it under some cool water, and spread it out in a single layer to dry and cool.

Heat the olive oil over medium-high, then fry the onions and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes. Once the aromatics are, well, aromatic, add the meat and stir to break up the clumps. Cook it for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every once in a while, until it no longer looks pink.

Add the canned tomatoes, breaking them up into smaller pieces with a fork or spoon. Cook them with the meat for 20 minutes until half of the liquid has evaporated. At this point, add the tomato paste, pepper, paprika, and remaining salt. Cook the meat mixture for another 5 minutes, then turn off the stove burner.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9x13-inch pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with a single layer of cabbage leaves, then spread the cabbage with 3 to 4 tablespoons of sour cream. Follow this with 1 tablespoon of dill (or 1 teaspoon dried), ¾ cup of rice, 1 cup of the meat mixture, and ¾ cup of cheese. If you're using two types of cheese as Watkins does, this will be about 6 tablespoons of each. She notes that you should mix them together at this point so each layer will have both kinds of cheese.

Top the cheese layer with more cabbage leaves, then press down on these to compact the casserole. Follow up with more sour cream, dill, rice, meat, and cheese in this order, then repeat the process once more until you have three layers.

Cover the pan with foil, then bake the casserole for 40 minutes. Take the casserole out of the oven, but instead of turning off the appliance, crank the heat up to 425 F. Once it's hot enough, return the casserole to the oven, this time without its foil topper. Bake it for 20 more minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbling, then let it cool for 15 to 30 minutes before cutting into it.

While leftover cabbage casserole can be refrigerated, freezing is recommended for longer-term storage. Watkins tells us, "I prefer portioning the baked casserole into single servings," explaining "that way you can just thaw and reheat what you need."