These delicious, traditional cabbage rolls are made with fresh cabbage, stuffed with amazing ground venison and smothered in the perfect tomato sauce. This perfect meal tastes great and is easy to make.
It has been years since I’ve had cabbage rolls! Growing up my mom made cabbage rolls a lot and to say that I took them for granted is an understatement. I never did appreciate just how tasty they could be!
What I love about making this recipe is that the majority of the ingredients are all things that we product on our homestead. To make this recipe, I had to walk out into my backyard with all the chickens following me (they do that when they think I may drop treats from my pockets), take a couple of steps into my fenced off garden and pick off the largest cabbage head that I have had waiting for this recipe.
Instead of a traditional cabbage roll with either ground beef or sausage, I am using ground venison from a buck that my husband hunted last year. Hunting season is approaching and it is time to really get to work on clearing the freezer out to make room for this season’s game. If venison isn’t your preferred meat, you can absolutely swap it out for beef!
What You Need to Make Caggabe Rolls
- Cabbage
- Ground Venison
- White Onions
- Brown Rice
- Garlic
- Egg
- Parsley
- Olive Oil
- Tomato Sauce
- Tomatoes
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Brown Sugar
- Salt and Pepper
How to Make Cabbage Rolls
Prepare the rice according to the package directions.
Carefully remove that largest leaves from the head of cabbage and place them into a steamer pot. Steam them until they are soft and tender. Remove from the steamer and set aside.
Begin to prepare the sauce by heating the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add in your chopped onions and minced garlic to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then reduce the heat.
Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes, vinegar and sugar to the pan and stir. Cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. While the sauce is simmering, time to start on the filling and preheat the oven to 350°F.
To make the filling, mix together the rice, ground venison, the remaining onion and garlic, egg and parsley. Spoon 1/3 cup of the filling into each of the steamed cabbage leaves. Fold over the edges and tightly roll the filling in the cabbage leaf.
Spoon a thin layer of the sauce onto the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish and begin arranging the cabbage rolls into the dish. Cover the cabbage rolls with tomato sauce.
Cover the casserole dish with a oven safe lid or aluminum foil. Place the cabbage rolls into the oven and bake them for 90 minutes.
Serve hot as part of a meal or enjoy as a full meal!
Cabbage Rolls
These delicious, traditional cabbage rolls are made with fresh cabbage, stuffed with amazing ground venison and smothered in the perfect tomato sauce. This perfect meal tastes great and is easy to make.
Ingredients
- 16-18 large cabbage leaves
- 1 lb ground venison
- 1 cup white or brown rice
- 1 whole white onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 cups diced tomatoes
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp parsley
Instructions
- Cook the rice according the packaged directions and set aside.
- Begin by removing the largest leaves frm the cabbage, cleaning them well and placing them into a steamer. Allow them to steam for 5-10 minutes until they are soft. Set them aside until it is time to use them.
- While the leaves are steaming, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium to high heat.
- Add in half the onion and 2 cloves of garlic, cook until the onions are soft.
- Next, add in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, vinegar and brown sugar.
- Reduce the heat and allow the sauce to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
- In a bowl, bring together the rice, ground venison, the egg, and the remaining onion and garlic. Sprinkle in a little salt, pepper and parsley for seasoning.
- Begin to preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Ladle a small scoop of sauce into a 9x13 casserole dish.
- Spoon roughly 1/3 cup of the venison filling into each cabbage leaf and roll them, tucking in the ends as you go.
- Place each cabbage roll into the casserole dish.
- Cover the rolls with the remaining sauce and garnish with the remaining parsley.
- Cover the casserole dish with an oven safe baking lid or aluminum foil.
- Place into the oven and bake for 90 minutes.
- Remove the casserole dish from the oven and serve hot as a full meal or a delicious side.
Notes
Instead of ground venison, you could swap equal measurements of ground beef!
Other Tasty Dinner Recipes
Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin
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