After traveling to Poland, I couldn’t wait to come home and try low carb versions of some of their staples, and these keto cabbage rolls (i.e. Golabki) were at the top of my list!
Traditionally, cabbage rolls are stuffed with rice and covered in a sugar-filled sauce. So, I made a few tweaks but kept the flavor, taste, and texture the same.
These make for amazing low carb dinners when you’re tired of classics like low carb chili and low carb meatloaf. PLUS, they’re awesome for meal prep! Come see what I mean!
Looking for more keto dinners? Check out my keto chili, egg roll in a bowl, or my chicken curry.
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What I Love About This Keto Cabbage Rolls Recipe
What I love most about these keto cabbage rolls? Is that no flavor, texture, or mouthfeel is lost in the simple swap of rice to cauliflower rice! JUST CARBS.
I also love that this dish:
- Makes for awesome meal prep
- Is full of veggies and low in carbs
- Is an awesome way to diversify any meal plan
Tips + Tricks
This stuffed cabbage dish is deceptively easy — just a few tricks are needed to get the cabbage just right. Here’s all you need to know:
- CORE! the cabbage as much as possible — otherwise your leaves will be impossible to remove. Do this carefully with a sharp knife.
- How long to boil cabbage: try removing the outer leaves after 2 minutes. If they aren’t coming off easily, place the cabbage back in the water a bit longer. Easy as that.
- Rolling the rolls. Think of these as mini keto burritos — Fold the left and right sides over the filling, then roll from top to bottom.
- Place leftover cabbage on the bottom of the casserole dish, this is important, as it will prevent our easy cabbage rolls from burning.
- Place rolls seam side down to prevent them from opening up and losing their filling as the dish simmers.
Can You Freeze Them?
YES! And you absolutely should.
The only disadvantage to keto cabbage rolls is they’re time-consuming to make…
But, since our family can’t live without them, we turn cabbage rolling into a family activity — whip up a double batch, everybody rolls the cabbage rolls, then freeze them in portioned out baggies.
Bonus points: you can reheat these in the microwave from frozen.
Serving Recommendations
Ready for a super hearty main course? These are exactly what you’re looking for! You can go 1 of 2 ways when enjoying these keto cabbage rolls:
- The Polish way, served alongside keto dumplings (my take on perogies), washed down with a glass of low carb mulled wine.
- The Lebanese route — dunked in keto Greek yogurt and served with a side of cauliflower tabbouleh. NOTE: variations below detail how to turn these Polish stuffed cabbage rolls into a Lebanese version.
Recipe Variations
- Use a different kind of meat. Cabbage and ground beef are the classic combo here, feel free to swap for ground chicken, turkey, or pork if you prefer.
- Turn these into a soup or stir fry. Great time saver time!
- Turn these into Lebanese cabbage rolls. Lebanese cabbage rolls are very similar, the main difference is the sauce. You’ll want to cook your keto cabbage rolls in 1 can of crushed tomatoes and water, ONLY. The main difference here is that Lebanese cabbage rolls aren’t covered in the sauce as Polish cabbage rolls are.
More Low Carb Beef Recipes
From pizza crust to meatballs to meatloaf. There are COUNTLESS, far from boring ways to eat beef! Here are a few other low carb recipes to prove it:
- Meatzza
- Keto Burgers
- Keto Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf
- Keto Beef And Broccoli
- Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs
Keto Cabbage Rolls
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 Head of Cabbage medium
- 3 15 Oz Can of Tomato Sauce no sugar added
- 1 14.5 Oz Chicken Broth
- 4 Tablespoons Swerve or Lakanto (see sweetener notes below) granular
- 1 Cup Cauliflower Rice uncooked
- 1/2 Cup Onion yellow, chopped
- 2 Lb Ground Beef 85%/15%
- 2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bring a pot of water large enough to submerge your entire head of cabbage to a rolling boil.
- Core cabbage. Carefully cut cabbage (1 medium size) and remove the stem of your cabbage with a sharp knife.
- Removing leaves. Once water is boiling, carefully drop the cabbage into the pot of water. Allow cabbage to boil for about 2 minutes, then, using 2 sets of tongs and a plate, remove the leaves one at a time. This is most easily done from the center (where we just removed the core). If the leaves don’t come off easily, wait a minute then try again (they may need to soften a little more). Stop once leaves get small (I was able to get 24 "rollable" leaves off 1 head of cabbage). Remove the center of the cabbage head from the water and set aside.
- Destem cabbage. Use a sharp knife to remove some thickness from the stems of each cabbage leaf — You want the stem to be only as thick as the rest of the leaf.
- Sauces. In a large bowl, stir together the tomato sauce,(15 Oz) 3 cans, chicken broth (14.5 Oz) 1 can, and erythritol (4 tablespoons) — this is our sauce. In a second large bowl, combine the ground beef (2 Lb), chopped yellow onion (1/2 cup), uncooked cauliflower rice (1 cup), salt (2 teaspoons), black pepper (1/2 teaspoon), and the sauce ( ¼ cup). Use your hands to incorporate everything evenly.
- Rolling. Lay each cabbage leaf flat on a cutting board and place a dollop of meat in the middle. Fold the left and right sides over the filling, then roll from top to bottom. You don’t want to overstuff your cabbage rolls, as they’ll fall apart when you bake them.
- Assembling. Cut the leftover center of cabbage into 8 pieces. Place these on the bottom of a dutch oven. Place the rolled cabbage leaves seam side down over the cut pieces of cabbage. Cover with the rest of the sauce.
- Bake. Place lid on the dutch oven and bake in the preheated oven for 1 ½ -2 hrs, or until the meat inside a cabbage roll in the center of your dutch oven is cooked all the way through. Serve warm with the tomato sauce spooned over each cabbage roll. Enjoy!
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Lindsey's Tips
- Lakanto, Swerve, or Erythritol. I stick to Lakanto and Swerve which are a 1:1 swap with traditional sugar. If using a different brand of Erythritol, keep in mind it's 70% as sweet as sugar, so you may need to add more to taste.
- The nutritional information below is based on 1 cabbage roll, if you’re able to make 24 rolls from this recipe:
Nutrition
