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!!
Just like my beef enchilada casserole, this is one of the most delicious and comforting casseroles that everyone loves!
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.
Ingredients You'll Need
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
How To Make Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole
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.
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.
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
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ¾ cup long grain white rice, uncooked
- 1 head cabbage
- 1 ½ cups Mozzarella cheese
- ⅓ 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.
Christine in Los Angeles
I'm sure it tastes as good as it looks, but where will I seat 14 dinner guests?
I cant imagine the size of your slow cooker.
I'll keep an eye open, for future recipes.
Amanda Mason
It's an 8 quart slow cooker that feeds 10+ people. This recipe feeds about 15 people with a serving size of 1 cup per person. The slow cooker I have is located here: https://amzn.to/36tKVPg
Pauline
This works great in my 8 quart slow cooker! also, this freezes well. It's just 2 of us and we eat it the day it's cooked, leftovers for our lunches the next day then freeze for later!! 🙂
Shirley
In all my life I’ve never heard of putting cheese on cabbage rolls. My recipe is from my Grandma, who was German.
Amanda Mason
The cheese adds so much flavor. Let me know how you like it!
PAULINE
I just leave it out....it tastes DELICIOUS
Amanda Mason
I'm so glad you all love it!! It does freeze well, yes!
Susan Head
Delicious! Wasn't sure if I'd like the cheese but I did. Good with buttered toasted Italian bread.
Amanda Mason
Hi Susan! YEAH! So glad you liked it so much! It's one of my absolute favorite meals ever!! I can't wait to hear what else you make here on Recipes Worth Repeating!
Walter G.
My wife and I just got a 10 Qt. Slow Cooker and had to try this recipe first. We started with 3 lbs. of ground beef, 1-1/2 heads of cabbage and adjusted everything else from there. Added 2 large green peppers and a whole mixture of tomatoes. Puree, sliced stewed, paste, and petite diced. Doubled the rice and seasonings. Couple of problems. It took 6 hrs. for this to start boiling. 7-1/2 hrs., and the cabbage was cooked enough, but the rice came out mushy. We were thinking next time to add rice sometime later during cooking. Also, everyone said it was bland. My son tried adding different seasonings to it but couldn't get it right. I used Ancho Chili Powder and that helped. Any idea's what seasonings would help?
Amanda Mason
Hi Walter!! I'm so honored that you tried my recipe first in your new crockpot!! While your adjustments sound yummy, I would definately encourage you to try my recipe as written because it is tried and true. With that being said...adding green peppers and the ancho chili powder sounds good! Perhaps adding some garlic salt or garlic powder would work well. But in all honesty, the recipe as written is delicious. The shredded mozzarella cheese is also delish with this recipe.
Renee
The adjustments I made: I cooked 6 pieces of bacon until super crispy. I crushed the bacon into bits and set aside. I reserved the grease, chopped an onion, and sautéed the onion in it. When the onions were about 1/2 cooked, I added the hamburger to the onion to brown. When the burger/onion mix was ready, I added the bacon This follows my traditional halupki recipe with the convenience of cooking as a casserole. Delish! Thanks for the crock pot recipe!
Amanda Mason
Yum! I love that you added some crispy bacon!!!
Andrea
I'm a traditional Polish girl and only ever ate my Buscia's golumpki. I was very skeptical of this recipe for that reason. I tried it, only subbing ground turkey for the beef, and it was awesome! Could this be done as a casserole with less cooking time? Thank you!
Amanda Mason
Hi Andrea! I am SO glad to hear this! What an amazing compliment from you considering your heritage!! I'm honored!! I've never made this in the oven in a casserole but I would think it could absolutely be done!! Let me know what other recipes of mine you try! I can't wait to hear!!