This hearty and savory Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole is cooked in a rich tomato sauce with cabbage, beef, and herbs! Super easy to make, this Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole makes for a perfect weeknight meal!
Calling all casserole lovers!! Ok, here we go…
Cabbage Roll Casserole = seasoned ground beef, tomato sauce, rice, and cabbage topped with melted mozzarella cheese…oh my love!!
This is the most delicious and comforting simple food of my sweet dreams!
I’m southern. I love a good casserole. And this casserole is healthy and can be made gluten free! You just don’t typically hear those 4 words together…healthy, casserole, southern, gluten free. But this casserole is just all of THAT.
And it’s made in my Crock Pot! Winning! WINNING big time here!!
What is Cabbage Roll Casserole?
Who loves cabbage rolls? If you’ve never had them, a cabbage roll is a boiled cabbage leaf filled with rice and meat and then baked. My recipe is more of an “unstuffed cabbage casserole”. It’s similar to a cabbage roll, just made in a crock pot with the ingredients layered. I like to refer to this dish as “lazy man cabbage roll casserole” because you literally just throw the ingredients together and let the crock pot do all the hard work.
Video: Making Crock Pot Cabbage Casserole
Take a quick look at this video I put together on how to turn your typical cabbage rolls into a crock pot cabbage casserole.
How To Make Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole
You’ll need these ingredients to make this recipe:
- ground beef
- garlic cloves
- onion
- tomato sauce
- condensed tomato soup
- diced tomatoes
- paprika
- thyme
- salt
- long grain white rice
- cabbage
- mozzarella cheese
- water
Step 1
The first thing you’ll do is chop the onion. Then brown the ground beef and add the chopped onion, garlic, paprika, thyme, and salt over medium heat until no pink remains. Make sure you drain the fat.
Step 2
Add 1 cup of the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, 1 cup water, and ½ can of tomato soup to the beef. Stir in rice and mix well until heated through (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat.
Step 3
While your beef mixture is heating on the stove top, chop the cabbage into 4 wedges and remove the core. Chop into large bite sized pieces. Layer ½ of the meat mixture and ½ of the cabbage in the crock pot. Repeat layers by placing half the meat and then half the cabbage in the crock pot.
Now, combine the remaining tomato soup, remaining tomato sauce, and ⅓ cup water. Pour over top of cabbage. Place the top on the crock pot and cook on low 4-6 hours or just until rice is cooked.
Once done, turn crock pot off, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, and let sit 10 minutes to set and melt the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Oh, that melted mozzarella cheese on this Cabbage Casserole! Is your mouth watering yet? My friend, Vicky Crowley brought this dish to work for several us to try as a part of a lunch coop. FANTASTIC is all that needs to be said on this one! I had seconds…FOR LUNCH. I never do that. It makes me too sleepy to eat that much at lunch! Yep…it’s THAT good!
Tips for Making Crock Pot Cabbage Casserole
- Make sure to follow the instructions on the divided ingredients in the recipe card. It actually does make a difference taste wise.
- Adding the shredded mozzarella cheese makes this dish.
- Don’t overcook this recipe. Mushy cabbage is gross. I’ve made this recipe at least 12 times now and the magic hour for the perfect doneness is around 5 hours.
- If you’re gluten free, make sure you use a gluten free version of tomato soup. I love Amy’s Cream of Tomato soup.
- If you wanted to use brown rice, you can. I don’t recommend using cauliflower rice in this dish. It will turn to mush.
- I like keeping this dish lean so I use 96% lean ground beef, but you can use any grade of ground beef you like.
What to Serve with Cabbage Roll Casserole
- My Romaine Salad pairs perfectly with this casserole.
- These Roasted Green Beans with Mushrooms, Balsamic and Parmesan are full of flavor. I love green beans with casseroles!
- This Brussels Sprout Salad with it’s dried cranberries and balsamic vinegar pops the flavor in this casserole.
You are going to love this Cabbage Roll Casserole. It’s pure comfort in every bite with zero guilt!
Go get’em casserole lovers! Y’all are gonna just LOVE this one!
Enjoy!
If you loved this recipe, give this recipe a star review! Also, snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #recipesworthrepeating and tagging me @recipesworthrepeating.
Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lbs 96% lean ground beef
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce, divided
- 1 cup water
- 1 can condensed tomato soup
- 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 3/4 cup long grain white rice, uncooked
- 1 head cabbage
- 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
- Brown beef, onion, garlic and seasonings over medium heat until no pink remains. Drain.
- Add 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 cup water and ½ can of tomato soup and diced tomatoes to the beef.
- Stir in rice, and mix well until heated through. Remove from heat.
- Chop cabbage into 4 wedges and remove core. Chop into chunks (Vicky’s were about ¾”x1.5″).
- Layer ½ of the meat mixture and ½ of the cabbage in the slow cooker. Repeat layers. Place half the meat and then half the cabbage in cooker.
- Combine the remaining tomato soup, remaining tomato sauce and ⅓ cup water. Pour over top of cabbage.
- Cook on low 4-6 hours or just until rice is cooked. Once done, turn Crock Pot off, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and let sit 10 minutes to set and melt cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
- Make sure to follow the instructions on the divided ingredients in the recipe card. It actually does make a difference taste wise.
- Don't overcook this recipe. Mushy cabbage is gross. I've made this recipe at least 12 times now and the magic hour for the perfect doneness is around 5 hours.
- If you're gluten free, make sure you use a gluten free version of tomato soup. I love Amy's Cream of Tomato soup.
Nutrition
Love that it’s made in a crock pot, aka my BFF. Love that the ingredient list is simple. Love how yummy it looks. Love, love, love this recipe!
So funny…my slow cooker is my BFF, too! My Instant Pot is my 2nd BFF!!
I had to smile reading about how you grew up with casseroles, because this recipe reminds me a lot of something my own Mom used to make! Unfortunately for her I’m pretty sure I turned up my nose at it at the time, but of course now it sounds really tasty to me! I can’t wait to try it and tell her – she’ll laugh and be glad I’ve evolved, I am sure!
HA HA!! yes – she sure will be proud! I hope you enjoy this one!
What’s funny is that I HATED casseroles when I was younger, but now that I’ve grown older (and hopefully wiser) I can’t get enough. This looks like the perfect late winter easy recipe!
Yes! It’s a great winter recipe! Enjoy!!
Mmm…love me some cabbage rolls! I’ll definitely be adding this to my list of low carb dinner recipes.
I hope you enjoy!!
Thoughts on using riced cauliflower instead of traditional rice? What modifications should I make before I attempt making this?
I don’t recommend using cauliflower rice in this recipe. It will fall apart and become all mushy.
Very tasty!! I read the recipe and sounded so yummy and we wanted to have something different to try and this one was it!! I love it and shared it with my kitty cat and she loved it as well!!😁
Hi Kevin! I’m SO glad you liked it…and your kitty, too!! Thanks so much for writing in and leaving a comment!
do you think I could use brown rice in place of the white?
Absolutely!! Brown rice would be great to use in this recipe!!
Thanks for posting this great-looking recipe. I use my slow-cooker almost exclusively. I was wondering if it would be okay to add pre-shredded cabbage (ie, for Cole slaw) instead of chopping the cabbage as you’ve directed?
Absolutely!! Cut corners where you can to save time! Using a bag of pre-shredded cabbage (like coleslaw) should totally work! I would look for bigger chunks in your pre-cut bag. Let me know how it turns out!
This is the best crockpot cabbage casserole recipe, we love it..I mix cream cheese in it just before adding the mozzarella to melt.. it’s delicious..
Tamara – I’m SO glad you guys love it!! It’s one of my all time favorite crockpot recipes!! Love the idea on adding cream cheese!!!
Amanda, I made this recipe in my “Instant Pot” tonight for Sunday Dinner. My wife said that this is a definite “Keeper” She calls me (“Chef Randy”) since I love to cook and bake. Since there is only the two of us, I only used 1-Pound of ground chuck, 3 heaping spoons of minced garlic in lieu of the cloves, used 1 can of roasted red pepper cooking soup in lieu of tomato sauce, 1 -1/2 cup of water, 2 heaping cups of mozzarella, and 1-1/2 (8oz) blocks of cream cheese.
I kept most of your steps the same except for these few changes: I browned the meat (Virtually no grease) placed 1/2 on the bottom of the pot, added the uncooked rice, added half of the cabbage, added I/2 of the ingredients, layered the second half the same. Closed the (6Qt) lid and put it on pressure for 35 minutes. Walked away until it had finished cooking, let it naturally release pressure, came back in 10 minutes, released what pressure that was left, opened the lid, added the cheeses, closed the lid and set it to keep warm for 10 minutes. Reopened the lid, stirred it and my wife was already standing next to me with 2 big ole bowls. (“Delicious!!!)
Amanda, This dish is really a 10 star dish.
Randy – WOW! What an amazing flavor combo you made!!! I love that you added 2 types of cheese and made this in the instant pot!! I know – this one is absolutely one of our favorites, too!! Thank you so much for letting me know you loved my recipe! I cant wait to hear what other recipes of mine you like!!!