Chicken Cabbage Rolls

Isabel S.
Oct 5, 2017
4 min read

If you've never had cabbage rolls your initial thought might be, "yuck!". I honestly thought the same thing before I ate them for the first time. I don't know if it's my Romanian heritage, but I love them. Roasting the cabbage gives it a rich beautiful flavor and I must say the filling I came up with for these is my absolute favorite! The great thing about making meals like this is it allows you to sneak a ton a vegetables in without being able to taste them. These rolls have cabbage (duh), carrot, celery, and kale as well as garlic and turmeric which are both super foods! During these colder months of fall and winter it's important for make meals that, not only warm you up, but are packed with nutrients and these babies do just that!

Traditional cabbage rolls can be very time consuming and arduous, but I've made them way easier! Getting the cabbage leaves off the head of cabbage is the hardest part. If you have trouble rolling the cabbage leaves, Pinterest and Youtube have tons of tutorials. Once you get the first few rolled, the rest will be a breeze!

This is perfect to make for a big group of people around the holidays! Make a big batch the night before and the next day you can pop them in the oven for an easy feast! This yields a ton of filling and I usually get tired of trying to remove the cabbage leaves, so I always have filling left. You can either buy two heads of cabbage or the filling makes amazing soup! Fear not, no food will be wasted. Stay tuned for the soup recipe soon!

Ingredients (8-16 rolls)

1lb organic ground chicken

1-2 heads of cabbage

1 white onion

4 cloves of garlic

6 slices of good quality bacon (no nitrates please!!)

1 large celery stalk

1 large shaved carrot

1-2 large handfuls of kale (stems removed)

1/2 cup white rice

Fresh dill

1 can organic tomato sauce

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Turmeric

Sea salt (to taste)

Garlic powder (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

Dash of cayenne pepper

Olive oil

Organic sour cream

Directions (Buckle up! This seems like a lot, but you can do it!)

For the filling

1) Cook 5 slices of bacon. I cook mine in the oven at 400 to a soft doneness for these rolls.

2) Cook rice half way. You don't want it all the way cooked because it will become soggy.

3) Heat a large pan with olive oil on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add chopped celery, garlic, and onion. Cook slowly until softened slightly. Add shaved carrot and stir to combine. Add rice and any remaining rice water to the mix.

4) Remove from the pan and set aside in a large bowl.

5) In the same pan add a little more olive oil and chicken.

6) Cook until slightly browned and cooked through seasoning with a little salt and pepper as it cooks. Add cooked chicken to the bowl of veggies.

7) Season with all the spices listed above, add a few sprigs of chopped fresh dill, and stir well to combine. Taste the mix and adjust seasoning as needed. Remember, you can always add more seasoning, but you can't take it away, so start low and work your way up!

8) Chop bacon and add it to the mix with about 1 TBSP of bacon renderings (fat).

9) Stir to combine, cover, and store in the fridge until your ready to roll the cabbage leaves.

To prepare the cabbage

1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2) Add the whole head of cabbage to the pot and let it boil for about 30 seconds.

3) Carefully remove the outer leaves until you get to ones that are hard to remove.

4) Add the head of the cabbage back to the pot and repeat the process.

I usually get about 8 or 9 of the large outer leaves before I get fed up.

The inner leaves are tighter and start to intertwine with each other becoming hard to remove, even when soft.

Tip- If you're making a large batch, I would suggest buying two heads of cabbage so you won't have to deal with the smaller inner leaves.

Tip- When you start to roll, if the leaves are still too stiff, you can add them back to the water for about 30 seconds to soften. Just don't over cook them or they will be too soft to hold up to the rolling.

To roll

1) Take one cabbage leaf and add about 4 TBSP of filling to the center.

2) With the thick stem end facing you, fold over the right side.

3) Starting from the stem, roll all the way to the end.

4) Take the left side and push it into the filling, making a cute little bellybutton!

I'm a cooking nerd, but it really is fun once you get the hang of it!