Vegan Cabbage Rolls Recipe is a special comfort food. Steamed cabbage becomes the perfect holder for a flavorful mushroom, lentils and rice mix. It can be made ahead too.
Let's Talk Cabbage Rolls
Stuffed Cabbage rolls are such a great comfort food. They are made in all corners of the world and are stuffed with favorite vegetables, grains and spices of the region.
You may even have a family recipe from your ancestry line.
I've kind of forgone a nationality for these cabbage rolls and just call them vegan. They're not exactly Irish, Slovak, Russian or Greek so they are just good ol' vegan.
One way or the other they are delicious.
I've been wanting to put this recipe on the blog for a very long time. Stuffed cabbage rolls and stuffed grape leaves to tell you the truth.
The stuffed grape leaves recipe is very Slovakian and that will make it's way onto these pages very very soon.
There are a few steps in making this stuffed cabbage rolls recipe.
You can make it all at once or you can break in down into two or even three days. Your choice.
Sometimes I just like to dive in and spend 30 minutes making up the stuffing and then complete it all at the same time.
What are Some Steps in Making an Easy Vegan Cabbage Rolls Recipe
You can pre-make many parts of the recipe and set them aside for the final rolling or just start at the beginning and go all the way through.
Cook the lentils.
Cook the rice.
While these are cooking make the red sauce.
Sauté the mushroom, onion and spice mixture.
As you can see you have four separate steps here and the prepared ingredients can all be placed in the fridge at this point and then combined for stuffing later.
When you get to cooking, the actual recipe card below will give you the exact recipe and instructions.
What are Good Side Dishes to Serve with Cabbage Rolls
The typical go-to would be a green salad and firm rolls or rye bread.
Mashed potatoes go really well with cabbage rolls. You can eat them plain or top with a dollop of dairy free butter.
Green peas are good too. They add a nice sweetness to your dinner and they also go with mashed potatoes.
How about three different salads? A carrot salad, beet salad, and coleslaw. Perfection.
Rolled Cut Carrots would be perfect.
Here's a pic of the rolled cut carrots and if you click on it you can see that recipe too.
Wine or beer!
A Few Helpful Cooking Tools
These spiffy little rice cookers cook lentils too. So very easy.
Here is a set of two beautiful casserole dishes by Staub.
The indispensable stock pot.
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Vegan Cabbage Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head green cabbage
- 1 cup lentils, cooked
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup rice, cooked
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms or portabella mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup white onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- dash ground black pepper
Red Sauce
- 15 ounces roasted tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- dash ground black pepper
Instructions
To Cook the Cabbage
- Fill a large stock pot with water to cover the cabbage. Do not add the cabbage yet. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Add the head of cabbage, turn down heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. The cabbage tries to float so bob it down and turn it a couple of times while cooking.
- When done life out of the water with a large slotted spoon. Set aside and start to carefully peel off the cabbage leaves. Cutting the attached end from the core. The outer one or two leaves might tear. Pull off 5 big perfect leaves. There will be some cabbage left over. Set aside and let cool for using in another recipe such as cabbage soup. Recipe link is below in the notes.
The Stuffing
- Cook lentils in vegetable broth. set aside.
- Cook rice and set aside.
- Add a couple of tablespoons water to a large skillet. Heat and add the chopped mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the diced onion and cook 10 more minutes.
- Add paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix and heat through.
- Add the cooked lentils and rice. Mix well and heat through. Set aside.
Make the Sauce
- To a large saucepan add all of the sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer and simmer for 15 minutes.
Stuff the Leaves
- Spoon some sauce into the bottom of the casserole dish. I used about a 7" wide x 10" long casserole dish.
- Lay a cabbage leave out and you will see how it naturally curves up. Place soe of the filling at the base of the leaf. Roll one round and then tuck in the sides and continue rolling. Place in the casserole dish. Continue until all the rolls are done.
- Pour the remaining red sauce down the center of the rolls.
- Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
FREEZING:
Cabbage Rolls are tough to freeze as there is so much liquid in cabbage leaves. It can be done though.
You have to start with placing the cooled rolls in the refrigerator first to get them cooler that way. Overnight is best.
Now move them to the freezer to freeze completely. Make sure they are in freezer safe container and sealed tight.
TO DEFROST:
This also has to be done slowly. Take them out of the freezer and let them defrost at least 24 hours in the refrigerator.
If there seems to be too much liquid in the bottom of the conyainer, drain that off.
To bake, cover with the casseroles lid or foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. Make sure they are heated through.
Michelle Mather
Hi Ginny! Love your site but this is the first time I've ever left a comment. Thanks for sharing such wonderful recipes! The timing of this recipe is perfect. I recently enjoyed a delicious vegan Cabbage Roll Casserole at a local restaurant and have been dreaming of attempting something similar very soon. This recipe has given me the inspiration to do so!
Ginny McMeans
I am so happy Michelle! Have fun with it.
April
I love cabbage but I still can't believe that I haven't tried cabbage rolls yet! They look amazing! I love a good vegan dish every now and then.
Lisa Bryan
I've made rolls with many things, but never cabbage! Totally excited to try these!
Tina
I don't think I have ever made cabbage rolls. I need to make this, I love cabbage and lentils really make this healthy. I bet there isn't any cholesterol in these either. Thanks for this!
Natalie
I love stuffed cabbage! I love this vegan version which is way easier and delicious than the classic meaty version. Will definitely try your recipe soon!
Brian Jones
Stuffed cabbage plays a huge part in Hungarian food, although not vegan 😉 I love the sound of the stuffing in this though, delicious.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
These look delicious and so extremely comfortibt
Tanya
Have you ever froze these? Before baking or after?
Ginny McMeans
I haven't frozen them Tanya. You can though. Freeze after cooking and put a little of the sauce in with them.
Joanna Boylan
What do you do with all that cabbage that was set aside? You said it will go in the stuffing but the instructions do not mention the additional cabbage usage.
Ginny McMeans
Thank you for the heads up Joanna. I had changed my mind when making the stuffing and I didn't change my recipe card. The leftover cabbage should be used in another recipe such as cabbage soup. I've updated the recipe card and added the link in the notes.
Gwen
My husband's family has some German heritage. His mom always used sour cabbage. This is so much easier than having to steam the cabbage to separate the leaves. It also adds to the flavour. My friend with a polish heritage gave me a recipe with steamed sweet cabbage, and is family used tomato juice to moisten and bake the rolls.
I ended up combining the two, and because I am lazy I use sauerkraut and make lazy cooks's cabbage rolls. I would use 2-3 cups sauerkraut instead of the sweet cabbage, as much tomato juice as necessary to get the preferred consistency and cook in a slow cooker.