Paleo Cabbage Rolls (Golumbki) are like comfort food to me!
These satisfying little rolls of meat and cabbage take me back to my childhood, and having a Polish grandmother meant that golumbki were often on the menu when we went to visit.
When I made this recipe, I instantly reminisced about her standing in the kitchen cooking for all of us. Traditionally, golumbki are made with rice so I substituted cauliflower to give a similar look and texture.
Grandma always used a can of Campbell’s tomato soup (contains corn syrup and gluten!) to pour over the golumbki while they cook, but I used plain crushed tomatoes to give the same flavor without any weird ingredients.
This one takes a little bit of time to prepare so to make up for it, I threw it all in the slow cooker on low for 5 hours—you could bake them in the oven at 350°F for about 90 minutes. Or to make the process super easy, layer the ingredients in a dish, lazy-style.
In a nutshell, you’ll cook the cabbage until it softens.
Then you’ll add the meat mixture into the cabbage leaves.
You’ll roll them up into little bundles.
And then you’ll bake the Paleo Cabbage Rolls in the oven. Yum!
Serve these with some greens for a complete meal…may I suggest my Simple Garlicky Greens?
Paleo Cabbage Rolls (Golumbki)
These Paleo Cabbage Rolls are hearty and freeze well so you can prep them ahead of time. Super tasty and grain-free! Grain-free & Whole30.
Ingredients
- 1 head green cabbage large
- 1 lb grass-fed ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 white onion diced finely
- 1-1/2 cups cauliflower riced or grated
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 8 oz crushed tomatoes
- 4 oz tomato sauce not pasta sauce
Instructions
- Rice or grate the cauliflower. I use the grating attachment on my food processor or you could grate by hand, but it’s a pain in the butt. Save 1-1/2 cups for this recipe and the rest for something else. It’s tasty fried up in this side dish.
- In a large bowl, mix the beef, pork, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Put a large pot of water on the stove over high heat. To prepare the cabbage for rolling, you’ll lightly boil it whole and peel the leaves off a few at a time. Cut the core out of the cabbage and place in the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. As the leaves soften, you can peel them off with a spoon. Take care not to rip them in half. The whole process usually takes about 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can throw the whole cabbage in and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. The outermost leaves will become very soft but still usable. In either case, peel as many of the leaves off as you can and let cool a bit.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add a tablespoon of coconut oil or your fat of choice. Add the onion and grated cauliflower and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes until the onion is translucent and the cauliflower is softened. Turn off the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Combine the onion and cauliflower with the meat, and mix by hand to incorporate all the ingredients.
- Roll the golumbki by holding a cabbage leaf, concave side up with the stem toward you, and placing a large spoonful of the meat mixture at the stem end. Then roll forward, fold the sides in and end with the seam down.
- Mix the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce in a bowl. Put ~1 cup in the bottom of the slow cooker (or casserole dish). Lay the golumbki in with the seam side down. Cover with the remaining tomato mixture once the slow cooker is full.
- For a slow cookers, cook on low for 5 hours. If using the oven, cover the top of the dish with foil and bake for 60-90 minutes at 350°F.
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176 Responses
Just made this for lunch for my coworkers today and it was a major hit!! My only changes were, I used petite diced tomatoes since I didn’t have crushed, and used a whole 15 ounce can of sauce. I added a tablespoon of fresh minced basil to the tomato part. Served it with some green can parm cheese. it was awesomeness on a plate!
Truly awesome! Thanks for letting me know. I love hearing stories like this!
Have you ever tried freezing these? Would love to do that since it would be just my boyfriend and I. Thanks!
Hi Mandy! Great question. I’m always a little leery of freezing veggies because they have a tendency to get mushy. That being said, I think if you pulled some out of the crockpot a bit earlier than the rest (making certain the meat was cooked of course) that it might work. It’s just me cooking for myself right now and one batch made a lot but I ate it all within about 3 days.
I am polish and at all of our relatives weddings this was the main dish. My grandma and aunts and mom would make enough to feed 300-400 people. They did use rice though and topped with canned crushed tomatoes and sauce. They made them the month of the wedding and froze them after baking and heated them up starting the morning of wedding and they tasted great! Funny also, My one cousin had her wedding catered with beef and chicken and everyone asked where were the stuffed cabbage!!!
Thanks so much for the great memory, Andrea! Reminds me of my grandma’s church friends making hundreds of pierogi at a time! Good to know that they will freeze well. Thanks very much for checking it 🙂
Even before going Paleo, I didn’t care for the meat-rice mixture in the traditional cabbage rolls my mother made. It always seemed to be too dense and heavy. Instead of using cauliflower, however, I always use a small peeled and diced eggplant. It can be pre-fried along with the onion. I make stuffed peppers this way too.
I always used to peel the egg plant when ever using it in any recipe, until I ate some a friend had prepared with the skins still on. It was delicious. You are actually losing some important nutrients when you peel away the skin. Try it, I think you’ll like it! 🙂
Yes, you can freeze these; I usual make a large pot 20-30 rolls and get 4-5 meals for two people. It holds very well and actually taste better than fresh. Good Luck!
My mom freezes these all the time, they freeze well. I don’t always have time to separate the cabbage, so I just brown the meat and some onion in a dutch oven, add the diced tomatoes, ( I like whole tomatoes too) chopped cabbage, seasoning,( I make mine middle eastern, with cinnamon, mint, salt and pepper) and a little brown rice. (I will try the cauliflower) Simmer on the stove until cabbage is tender, about an hour.
Sounds awesome!
I have frozen these and they taste great when reheated. LOVE this recipe. Taste just like moms.
Hi Theresa, Thank you for trying the recipe! I’m glad you love it!
To save your fingers/ hands/ sanity – cut the core out of a whole head of cabbage when it is fresh and stick the whole thing in the freezer before you make your cabbage rolls. Then pull it out in the morning, stick it in the sink to defrost during the day.. you’ll have softened/ soured leaves and you won’t need to burn your fingers over a boiling pot of water!
Liz, this is amazing! I’m going to do this next time 🙂
Love this idea! Just put two heads of cabbage in the freezer!
Steph, thanks for sharing the recipe and Liz, thank you for a great tip! It’s one of those things you read and say to yourself “why didn’t I think of that?”.
I just used tongs and didn’t have to touch anything hot. Worked great.
Awesome! Ingenuity, FTW!
Just tried my first cabbage Roll and IT WAS AWESOME! I’m starting the Whole30 next week and this will be a staple in my diet. Thanks Steph
I wish you could see the big smile on my face!
This show my Polish Grammy taught me to do it too. Soooo much easier then boiling.
OMG! Made tonight and it is, BY FAR, my new fav paleo recipe. Next time I will mix a bit more sauce. I got 15 rolls out of my recipe (small ones towards the center leaves) and could have used a bit more sause on those last three. Yummmmm. It is a bit time intensive, but save it for the weekend. WELL WORTH THE TIME!
Jane, this is so great to hear, especially since this recipe means a lot to me personally (as it reminds me of my grandmother). I’m very glad you took the time to let me know.
I was bummed with the results. The meat was tasty, but the sauce was like water. Is that how it typically turns out for you? Hubby did not like, which stinks because they did take all day to prepare and make. 🙁
How much liquid did you add? Mine normally has some liquid at the bottom but it’s not watery.
I used exactly what the recipe called for.
My mom takes the liquid (typically out of a pressure cooker) after the cabbage and meat is cooked and mixes it with another mixture of bacon grease and flour that she’s heated in a small saucepan. This adds amazing flavor and thickness the gravy. It’s to die for!
Wow!! I wonder if it would work with another flour (I’m sensitive to gluten) but I like what she’s done there by making a roux with the bacon fat! Genius!
LOVED this. The addition of riced cauliflower in the meat was perfect. I added a few of my fave spices: cumin, curry, etc., and the final result was perfection. Made in crock pot like you suggested. Will be making in future.
Awww thank you Kelley! I’m really glad you enjoyed it, and I like those spice additions!
Hi, I tried making these tonight. They just came out of the oven and look and smell delicious, but I’m afraid the meat is not cooked through. Should I have browned the meat mixture first or should it look a little pink still?
They should be cooked all the way through if you’re uncomfortable eating slightly underdone ground meat.
I make these wonderful bundles in very – very large batches. What I do is roll a very large amount of them and lay them on a plastic wrap lined cookie sheet not touching. Freeze them. once frozen I put them in large freezer zip lock bags. ON busy days in the morning I layer some frozen into my crock pot with the tomato sauce and cook till I get home after work. They freeze and cook like a dream. Thank you for a great recipie.
You are absolutely brilliant! Flash freezing them is a superb idea. Thank you Cheryl!!
These are perfect, mouth watering… better than with rice. A new standard!!
Thank you so much MJ! That’s high praise 🙂
it tastes amazing even without any sauce ! I’m eating it very often since i was a little girl and it allways tastes amazing! My mother does it best! And in many , many ways… love it 🙂
Made these tonight and they are amazing! Even my husband who does not like to eat healthy couldn’t quit eating them.
What a huge compliment 🙂
Can’t wait to try this receipe. My Polish grandma would make this for me too. Using Campbell’s tomato and a can of French onion soup. Will try your modified version. Thanks for the receipe.
Thanks Mel!! I hope you like it 🙂
Looking forward to making these. By the way, they sound lovely as is, but if you want to make something that tastes eerily similar to canned tomato soup (without all the crap ingredients) blend half a roasted acorn squash (roasted cut side down til soft and lightly caramelized) with one can of tomatoes- it’s uncanny!
What a great idea, Kate! Thank you so much for sharing that!
Very close to the recipe my mother and grandmother passed down to me. We always add an egg to the meat mixture and parsley, plus the secret ingredient in the sauce. Bury a cinnamon stick (must be a stick; ground cinnamon will not work) in the sauce. Delicious!
Awww thanks Madeleine 🙂
do you put the meat mixture in the cabbage raw in the crock pot or do you brown the meat first?
You put the meat mixture in raw.
If you cook the meat first it’ll be really crumbly when you cut into the cabbage roll.
Great recipe! I love that you can’t even tell it’s cauliflower and not rice! It rivals my moms recipe! One thing she always added was sliced kielbasa to the top before baking, try it, it’s awesome!
Oh wow that sounds like a great addition! Thank you, Jill!
These were so good! Husband and brother in law both said they were the best they have ever had!! Thanks.
Holy cow! I’m so excited to hear that!!
I made this recupe last week and it was awsome! I doubled the recipe to freeze half, so next week I’m planning to eat cabbage rolls again 😉 I just hace a question, what do you serve this with?? I’m having trouble with the side dishes… Thanks in advance!!!
Hi Jazmin! I would probably serve it with something like a light salad.
This recipie sounds amazing! How do you think it would taste with elk meat instead of beef?
Elk is awesome! I think it’d be a good match!
Dear Steph,
I have made this twice, both times it came out wonderful! My husband and sons love it. Terrific blog and recipes, thank you.
Hi there! I’m so glad you all loved it 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and letting me know!
My mom use to make these all the time. At some point she decided to slice/shred the cabbage, brown the meat and cook the rice first, mix it all together and bake it like a casserole!!! It’s equally as delicious 🙂
Nothing like a comforting classic that Mom used to make! 🙂
I made something similar a few weeks back, granted it was with vegetables, but still, similar recipe. I also can’t eat tomatoes, but an AMAZING alternative is sugared beets instead of tomatoes. And a basic nomato sauce is good on top… My favorite is this one:
http://www.food.com/recipe/basic-nomato-sauce-tomato-free-tomato-sauce-359835 (I usually season it with more spices, but that’s why this is a basic recipe.)
Mine is in the oven, so excited!! used rice and fresh basil sauteed with the onions and some fresh seasonings, but it looks awesome!! family is eagerly awaiting 🙂
I want to make this to take to a family that just had a baby. Any suggestions on sides to go with it? Thanks!
Hi Denise! That’s so thoughtful of you. Is it going to be prepared ahead of time and frozen or will you be giving it to them fresh? If fresh, I’d suggested maybe a garden salad or something light to complement the dish.
Had my son’s wedding catered last weekend (beef & chicken), but made “pigs in the blankets” for the rehearsal dinner to keep up with my Polish family’s traditions! We always add nutmeg to the seasonings, and cook them in V-8 juice instead of tomato sauce. Delicious!
That sounds really great! I love how everyone has their own family twist to such a great recipe 🙂
Just wondering if these would work with chicken mince as I dont eat any other meat?
I should think that would work just fine 🙂
How many does this recipe make? What is a good way to reheat?
Hi Mel,
It’s hard to give an exact number of rolls because cabbages leaves vary so much in size. This will easily feed 6 adults, possibly with some leftovers if you serve a side dish. I heat them over med-low heat in a skillet (toss in a little water to create some steam) with a lid on until the centers are warm.
I am beat down after that prep. I hope they turn out!
1.5 hours at 350 convection charred the tops. That being said, flavor is nice. The meat mixture would do well in many recipes.
Hi Heath…yeah, unfortunately convection ovens usually don’t need the same cooking time as a regular oven!
I am from Australia and I’m not sure what exactly you mean as tomato sauce. Here tomato sauce is like ketchup there. Is pasata ok or is to liquid. Thank you. These look amazing and am really looking forward to trying the recipe.
It’s basically crushed tomatoes, but not as thick as tomato paste. I’m sorry…not sure what you guys call it!
Great, thank you for the quick response. I think it is what is called tomato supreme here. Can’t wait to try these!
I want to try this recipe but do the califlour fice hold up after hours in sa crock pot? Is it mushy or stay the consistency of rice?
It’s sort of like tender rice, not al dente.
My husband and I have been on low carb for 12 years. When I make the golumki, i carefully measure out the amount of rice in each cabbage roll. That alliws me to use the rice and still know exactly how many carbs are in each roll. That said, your recipe is very interesting and I think I am going to give it a try.
i make mine into meatballs. We don’t use garlic in our recipe but since my family doesn’t eat the cabbage when it is in roll form, I chop it and add some to the meatballs and the rest I sauté in the pan before browning the meatballs then add the tomato sauce with a little sweetner over the meatballs. I make pretty large meatballs so I cook them in a pan on the stove for at least an hour turning them several times.
That’s a great idea! 🙂
Me and my husband grew up eating this, and we have never made it again, because it called for rice. We have a daughter with a genetic mutation, that does not allow her to eat any sugar, and any starch. So this recipe was unfortunately out of the question for out family. UNTIL I FOUND YOUR RECIPE!!!! Thank you so much for the genius idea of substituting the rice for the cauliflower! We omited the garlic and the onion, (Our daughter does not tolerate those due to the high amounts of sucrose and starch), but to make up for the flavor in the meat, I added salt, pepper, parsley leaves, basil leaves, and a dash of cumin. And instead of frying the cauliflower with onion, i used freshly diced tomatoes, and cooked it in olive oil. It came out AMAZING!!!! We served it with lime and olive oil on top, as we have always done. Thank you so much for bringing this recipe back into our household.
Yay! I’m chuffed this is a recipe you all can enjoy! 🙂
i just placed them in my crockpot. I don’t have a 5 hr low on my crockpot just 8 and 10 will the 8 hr work if I turn it off in 5 hours? Just want to make sure the meat is cocked.
Thanks
Hi Paula,
That will work 🙂
I can’t eat tomatoes. What should I use as a substitute?
Thanks!
Hi Nicole…you could just make them plain without the sauce. Other than that you may want to look at this FauxMato Sauce from Urban Poser here: http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2011/04/fauxmato-marinara-sauce.html. Or, if you have Mickey Trescott’s book called Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, she has a recipe for Nomato Sauce.
Coming from Polish decent, I too grew up eating Golumbki but instead of tomatoes/sauce we layered the rolls with sauerkraut, ending with sauerkraut . It is delicious.
Me too! Have never made with tomato, always sauerkraut.
Can we put it in the crockpot on HIGH? Would I do 2 or 3 hours??? Or 2.5?
Hi Nicole,
If you’re using high, I’d recommend 3 hours.
I made this last night and it was AMAZING.
I ended up chopping up the cauliflower because I don’t have a food processor, but the florets broke apart very easy and it worked out well.
Better than any other stuffed cabbage I’ve had before. Thank you!
🙂
This recipe is just like grandma’s (with the rice) thanks for posting for all to enjoy! My Granny would add pan fried chopped pork salt to each layer on top of the tomato sauce. It adds some great flavor to your gumpkies! Thanks again for bringing some of us back to our childhood memories!
Hi Lisa,
Thank you and that sounds good! You just can’t go wrong with a little pork for flavoring. 🙂
WOW!! I made this two nights ago and hubs actually helped – he loved how fun it was to make…I loved having extra hands. Anyone with kids I can imagine this would be a fun activity 🙂 They were all different sizes and shapes because so are the cabbage leaves as you get towards the middle – but everything still cooked perfectly!!
The cauliflower rice was a brilliant addition – it helped hold the meat together without the grain – super smart.
We used the middle of the cabbage since it was now “boiled” and just sauteed it a little and had it on the side.
My only thought was the liquid at the bottom of my corningware was thin, so i couldn’t really spoon extra sauce on my plate. So for anyone that THIS happens to, what I did was pull the rolls out and put on a platter to cool off (cause they are super hot right out of the oven). I put the corningware on the stove top on medium-high and just super simmered the liquid until it reduced by about half! It was awesome and “spoonable at that point”.
Thanks for such a great recipe!!!
Perfect solution to reduce the sauce a bit. Some cabbages can have a lot more moisture than others so that could be why the sauce was thinner 🙂
Can you substitute the pork for any thing else? I would love to make these but can’t have pork. Thanks!
Hi Ashley…you can use all ground beef and it’ll be fine 🙂
This is a New Year’s Day traditional meal for our family. I’m the fourth generation to do it. We also chop up the extra cabbage, add sauerkraut and tomatoes to the pot and serve with mashed potatoes. Love them so much and don’t know why we never have them any other day during the year.
I have never made them this way, I usually make them with almond flour, coconut flour or flax for a binder and added mushrooms and onions to be filler. I will have to try your way and compare!
you should also try sarma
Sounds good!
I had some italian sausages already in my freezer so I removed the meat from the casings and used it for the 1lb pork it was superb!
Great Idea using the riced cauliflower!
Thank you! 🙂
hey, loved the recipe, is there any reason for it not working with purple cabbage?
thank you!
No reason…other than it might make the meat a funky color, but purple cabbage is great.
This name is GOŁĄBKI 🙂
Yes. I don’t have Polish characters on my computer! 🙂
I have been craving these! Thanks for the cleaned up recipe 🙂
You’re welcome! 🙂
I’m making these today and using venison and pork! Can’t wait for dinner tonight!!
Omg I was thinking about making them the other day and today i saw your recipe, so it prove that using cauliflower instead of rice works! I’m Polish and this is my favourite dish from my childhood! Love it! My mum used to cook it in vegetable stock and then topped with tomato sauce or freeze it before cooking for later! Your recipe is so similar to my mums:) And where I come from we say ‘Golabki’ but that doesn’t matter! Thank you for another great idea!!!
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy them. 🙂
YUM! Mine came out delicious, will definitely make this again.
Awesome!
This is a weird question. Can you suggest any other leaf I could use? I love cabbage but I can’t get my husband to eat it. At all. I want to make these but I’m afraid he won’t eat them.
Hi Courtney…hmmmm I really can’t think of anything that would hold up to cooking in the same way. Maybe make it “lazy-style” and layer the meat and cauliflower rice, then the cabbage on top. He could scoop the cabbage off?
Swiss/Rainbow Chard, bok choy could hold up or even large leaf Lacinato kale.
Greeks use grape leaves. You can get them canned, and you can also try pickling the grape leaves yourself this summer. Any pickle recipe would also work for grape leaves.
You can also try Vietnamese crepes made from tapioca starch. They are sold in any Asian Market, in the Dry Noodles isle.
My favorite type of cabbage for this meal is Savoy cabbag for it cooks faster, more tender and doesn’t require pre-boiling and de-veining like green cabbage does. It might also work for your husband since Savoy cabbage looks less like a cabbage and more like lettuce. He might go after its exotic wrinkly looks. Good luck!
I’m think going to try subbing bok choy for the cabbage. My husband has ulcerative colitis and is following a Low FODMAP (basically low inflammatory) diet. Cabbage is on the High FODMAP list, but boy choy is listed as a good alternative.
This was so good. Part of my household had been following a very strict eating plan (including no red meat) for a fitness/weight loss challenge. That said, I was really trying to find something that I could make that everyone in the house could/would eat. I substituted ground turkey for the meat. I used no salt added diced tomatoes and I threw in a pound of sliced mushrooms. I did the flash freeze method and then put them in the crockpot the next morning. I was in complete shock when I went to scoop out the leftovers to put away. THERE WERE NONE! I am so glad I made a double batch to have some to freeze for later, because my kids said they would eat that anytime. Even the one who avoids vegetables like the plague! I’d like to share your recipe with some friends that are also doing the weight loss challenge if you don’t mind.
I made these last night. Great recipe. I made a few small modifications that turned out delish! I put two cans of low-salt tomato sauce and two small cans of tomato paste in a sauce pan and heated it on low adding some apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos, onion powder, sea salt, garlic powder and a dash of smoked paprika. I then added about 1/2 cup of unsweetened organic almond milk. Warmed to just below a simmer so all the ingredients were combined. Tasted very similar..but much better than the canned tomato soup our grandmothers used. 🙂 I then added some of the sauce to the meat then poured the rest over the rolls and baked for 90 min at 350. They came out spectacular.
Made this last night and it produced roughly 18 cabbage rolls – enough for almost 2 casserole dishes worth! Baked them in a glass casserole dish but it didn’t need 90 minutes as described. After approx. 50 mins they were done and the meat was a little dry. I added sliced green olives, cinnamon, a little goat cheese, red pepper flakes – love that you can add basically anything in the fridge to your filling, and it will be great and take on it’s own character! Used a whole 680mL can of tomato sauce, plus about 4 chopped tomatoes (instead of canned crushed tomatoes). Advice for rice-ing your cauliflower: add half a cauliflower (in big pieces) to your blender, fill halfway with cold water, and briefly blend until it’s a rice consistency. Carefully drain water with lid on top (letting the water escape but not the cauli rice). Ready to go!
The cauliflower rice in a blender trick is a great one 🙂
Hi M,
It sort of depends how large you make the cabbage rolls. Larger ones will take longer to bake.
I was happy to see this traditional Ukrainian recipe on your blog! Please, note that the correct name is “Holubky”, or “Holubtsee”. Thank you!
I meant to say Polish/Ukrainian 🙂 Anyways, in the Ukrainian version, sour cream is added to the sauce that Golubky are sauteed in. It makes the cabbage more tender. Thick raw sour cream is also used to garnish this awesome meal.
Thanks for sharing that variation, Valerie. Most people who are paleo don’t eat dairy which is why you don’t see it listed in the recipe 🙂
Hi Valerie,
Thanks for adding the Ukrainian name to what the Polish call it. Very interesting!
I didn’t have cauliflower but I did have about 2 lbs. of zucchini, so I grated that in my food processor, squeezed out the excess water, and it came out great. Also I used dehydrated onion rather than fresh, and didn’t need to saute’ it — just mixed the onion into the meat with the spices. I did find that it needed more seasoning; I doubled the salt and pepper, and garlic powder. Otherwise, definitely a new go-to dish for our family. All 4 of us liked it.
That’s awesome! Love zucchini!
This is my favorite Whole30 recipe! Making a batch today for this week! I’m craving them! I share this recipe with everyone.
Woohoo!! I’m so happy to hear that Jessica 🙂
Love love love these. I have decided that the meat mixture is just as delicious by itself and am now using it for sausage in the morning!
Thank you Susan! I’m really glad 🙂 Sometimes I just cook up the filling mixture on its own and eat that 😉
I’m not Paleo but from one French-Canadian Polak to another, here is my Babba’s super top secret ingredient: a can of V8. That’s right! Tomato-veggie juice! Knock yourself out and even try juicing your own, but V8 churns out the best results (vs Mott’s or other vegetable juices).
Also, it’s best golabki but with a bar in the l and a cédille under the a, so it’s pronounced go-wohn-bki.
Oh I like the idea of V8! That’s perfect. My grandma used Campbell’s soup but that has gluten in it, but the V8 sounds just right!
So, I finally followed through with making some cabbage rolls! Unfortunately, I didn’t have ant cauliflower when I decided to get started to I grated some broccoli instead! …Its all still in the oven, but I can’t wait to give it a try. Used some of mom’s homemade paleo friendly sauce (I got her hooked on Paleo). Thanks for the recipe!
Since I don’t eat pork can you recommend another meat alternative? Thanks.
Hi Valerie…you can use beef 🙂 It will probably give the best result.
I made mine with ground turkey and they were great. Even my kids ate them and said they would have them again for sure.
I love it when recipes are kid-approved!
I used to make what my family called poor man’s cabbage rolls. The only difference is that the cabbage is chopped and cooked along with the other ingredients. But since starting a low carb lifestyle, with little to no rice, my husband incredibly missed his poor man’s cabbage. Thank you so much for this recipe! Although I did change it up a bit (different seasonings) it was terrific and per my husband, a definite do again.
Awesome! Glad you found a way to make it your own!
THAT IS COOKED RICE YOU ADD TO THE MEAT?
No. It’s cauliflower rice.
Step 4 states: In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add a tablespoon of coconut oil or your fat of choice. Add the onion and grated cauliflower and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes until the onion is translucent and the cauliflower is softened. Turn off the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Then you add that to the meat mixture!
My Polish mother made these often as it was an inexpensive meal. She didn’t use very much ground beef but added fine diced salt pork to the rice mixture. Question: can you layer these in the baking dish or crockpot or does it need to be one layer? Thanks
You can certainly layer it 🙂
How do you cut the core out of the cabbage? I’m having trouble envisioning it. I think I will have to boil the entire cabbage.
Just use a sharp paring knife and run it around the core. You don’t need to cut it out completely, just to separate the leaves from the core.
Oh, I see. I wasn’t sure how big the core was. I didn’t want to screw it up and end up without having leaves to roll. I just boiled the whole cabbage and the leaves came off pretty easily. I didn’t add enough salt to the filling, but otherwise it tastes great. Thanks
Hello I was skeptical because I’m not a huge fan of cauliflower but was craving these they were delicious the only addition I made were some spices I prefer onion powder garlic salt extra pepper and crushed reds we like spicy! I did add half a cup of parm to the meat the cheap green can kind because I thought the meat needed binding absolutely delish could not even taste the cauliflower
Cool, glad it turned out well with all the changes you made! The meat will bind without anything added to it for that purpose, I promise 😉
Yessss! My Polish family also ate golumbki and I’ve been wondering how I could paleo-ify it because my grandma (and then my mom) also used Campbell’s tomato soup! The first time I made it for my husband years ago, he ditched the cabbage and asked for spaghetti noodles. Lol.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. It looks so delicious. I will definitely try to cook at home for my family.
Scoopify, I’m excited to hear that you enjoyed it!
Do you have the macros for thie recipe by chance????
I don’t but you can input everything into My Fitness Pal to get a calculation 🙂
So happy to find this recipe during Whole30!
My grandma is Ukrainian and she made these all the time! She also puts fresh dill in with the filling, so yummy!
I think dill is a very trad Ukrainian addition. We have a Ukrainian restaurant near us that puts dill in their cabbage rolls to 🙂
I recommend using savoy cabbage (if you can find it, not all stores carry it) instead of regular cabbage. It is tastier and easier to work with (easier to separate the leaves).
Some people (myself included) prefer mushroom sauce to tomato. It is especially tasty if you use dried wild
mushrooms (you need to soak them first).
Polish spelling is “Gołąbki” (it means: “little doves”, no idea why the dish is called little doves) and
approximate pronunciation is gohwohmpkee or gohwohmbkee (ą is a nasal sound)
Thanks Liz…savoy is less common in some places than regular green cabbage / seasonal so that’s why I didn’t use it. I agree that it’s nice though 🙂
This is my second time making these following your recipe. I seasoned it to my liking, added more crushed tomatoes and sauce, and seasoned the sauce. This second time around im using quinoa instead. Yay
Hi Carly,
Thank you so much for taking a little bit of time out of your day to write to us. It means a lot!
I made this recipe a week ago and it was awesome! I multiplied the formula to solidify half, so one week from now I’m intending to eat cabbage rolls again ? I just hace an inquiry, what do you serve this with?? I’m experiencing difficulty with the side dishes… Thanks ahead of time!!!
Hi Adam…my answer to that is always what’s freshest/most available/in season. You really can’t go wrong when choosing a side. I know a lot is made about complimentary flavors and whatever, but to me, it makes sense to use what’s most abundant at the time of the year you’re serving. It could be a raw salad, sautéed greens, roasted carrots or root veggies, whatever you have available to you.
I freeze cabbage heads (wrapped in plastic freezer wrap) and just thaw them when I want to make golumbkis… the leaves are already softened, no boiling/steaming required.
Awesome tip! Thanks!
This was easy and so delicious! It’s my new go-to! Not only did I love it, my picky friends loved it too! Thanks so much for sharing!
That’s fabulous news! Thanks for sharing, Nina!
You can also serve Gołąbki with mushroom sauce.
sure thing! my family never did but I’ve seen it done and it looks good