Sweet and Sour Cabbage Rolls

4.60 from 40 votes

Jewish style sweet and sour cabbage rolls are filled with a mixture of meat and rice and simmered in a sweet and sour tomato sauce.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Total Time1 20

Course: Dinner, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: Jewish

Keyword: sweet and sour cabbage rolls, sweet and sour stuffed cababge rolls

Servings: servings

Calories: 443kcal

Cost: $10

Preheat the oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and carefully place the whole cabbage in until the outer leaves begin to soften, about 10 minutes. You can also place the cabbage in the freezer the day before and thaw which makes the leaves pliable.
Place the cabbage in a colander to cool enough to handle. Cut out the core of the cabbage and gently peel away whole cabbage leaves. If some tear, that's OK. You can either double up with another leaf or line the bottom of the pot with broken leaves later on.
In another bowl, mix the ground beef, spices, chopped parsley, breadcrumbs, rice and egg and mix well until well combined.
For the sweet and sour tomato sauce, add all those ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. You can taste for seasoning and if you wish to make it more sweet or sourer, adjust as you like.
Line an oven safe pot with any extra or torn cabbage leaves and scatter sliced onions.
Use a small paring knife and cut the hard stem off each cabbage leaf. Take about 1-2 tablespoons of meat mixture and roll cabbage up, tucking in the sides so no meat is exposed, then continue rolling into a tight cabbage roll.
Line the cabbage rolls in the pot and pour the sweet and sour tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls.
Cover the pot with lid and place in the oven to bake for about 50-60 minutes, until meat is cooked through and rolls are tender.
Serve cabbage rolls with spoonful of tomato sauce and extra lemon if you prefer.

This version of stuffed cabbage rolls is baked in the oven but can easily be simmered on the stove top as well.
Instead of boiling the cabbage and waiting for it to cool down, place the whole cabbage in the freezer the day before and then thaw. This will also make the cabbage leaves pliable enough to roll.
taste the sauce and adjust as you like, add more or less brown sugar and fresh lemon juice.
Swap out the ground beef for ground turkey or ground chicken.