Chicken Cabbage Rolls

Not being able to eat beef or pork shouldn't take cabbage rolls off the table! These chicken cabbage rolls taste just like traditional rolls!

Recently, I had a massive craving for cabbage rolls, so decided to finally blog a recipe for them.

Cabbage rolls are something I’ve never really used a recipe for, and just kind of thrown everything together, to taste. No measurements, no real guidelines, just... Do it.

So, this time I measured everything!

Cabbage rolls are a great thing to have on hand. While they’re a bit of effort to make, you can make a ton of them in one go!

They’re great as a really ... modular ... food. You can grab one for a quick snack, or more for a meal. Heat em up, slap some sour cream on the plate, and you’re good to go!

These cabbage rolls are chicken based, rather than the traditional beef and bacon version I used to make, before beef and bacon became... well, not a great choice for either of us.

There are all kinds of reasons why someone may need to avoid beef and/or bacon, and none of them should render cabbage rolls to be off the table, IMHO!

Fan of cabbage rolls, and enjoy camping? Check out my Cabbage Roll Soup Mix!

Savoy Cabbage vs Regular Cabbage

I have always used regular green cabbage for making cabbage rolls, but recently saw someone claim that savoy is better for making them.

I’d never considered the possibility, and was intrigued.

So, I did half my rolls with regular green cabbage, and half with savoy.

Gotta say... I definitely prefer the regular cabbage.

While the savoy was pretty, with the crepey leaves making for a really interesting texture... it was just too light and delicate for cabbage rolls, IMHO.

After cooking, the leaves were very fragile. I feel like cabbage rolls require a certain degree of heft to them, and it just wasn’t there with the savoy cabbage.

Always fun to try a bit of variety, though!

Cabbage Roll Variations

Cabbage rolls are actually fairly customizable, and - truth me told - I don’t really make them exactly the same, from batch to batch.

Here are some ways you can customize to your tastes / needs

Traditional Cabbage Rolls

Use ground beef instead of ground chicken, and normal pork bacon instead of chicken bacon.

Turkey Cabbage Rolls

Use ground turkey instead of ground chicken, and turkey bacon instead of chicken bacon

Lower Carb Cabbage Rolls

Use a knife to cut the rind off 2 large-ish celery roots / celeriac.

Chop into smallish chunks, then run through a food processor until they’re generally “rice sized”.

Use in place of the rice, reduce the broth to 1 cup.

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

Use your favourite ground beef substitute - something like Beyond Meat - and your favourite bacon substitute in place of the chicken.

Nightshade Free Cabbage Rolls

Make sure your bacon is nightshade free, and use carrot juice instead of V8 Juice.

Add Caraway

That’s it. Just add some caraway seeds to the filling, to taste. SO good!

Swap out the V8

V8 is my favourite way to do these, but many people have different preferences.

Some use tomato sauce, some use ketchup, some use tomato soup... and some use a combination!

How to Make Chicken Cabbage Rolls

There are about a million different ways to make cabbage rolls, this is how I do mine!

Prepare your Cabbage

Get a large stock pot of water boiling. You can cook the cabbage one at a time, or both - it just depends on the size of your pot.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut any remaining stem off the end of your cabbage heads. Angling the knife inward, cut a cone of the core out.

If you’re feeling industrious, you can carve away more of the core, but I usually just hack as I go, from here.

Place the cabbage head(s) in the boiling water, and allow to cook for a few minutes. As the outer leaves soften, use a fork or tongs to remove the leaves and transfer to a large bowl.

Eventually, you’ll come to leaves that are still secured to the core.

I usually use a couple tongs to remove the cabbage from the water and cut through more of the core, repeating as necessary.

Prepare Your Chicken & Rice Filling

As this is going on, prepare your filling:

In a large pan, brown your ground chicken in the olive oil. As it cooks, chop up your chicken bacon and add it to the pan.

Once the ground chicken is cooked through, add the chopped onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaves. Cook for 2 more minutes.

Add uncooked rice, chicken broth, and dill weed. Cover and cook - stirring every once in a while - until stock is absorbed, about 25 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. Add chopped parsley, stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste, set aside to cool.

Assemble Your Chicken Cabbage Rolls

Preheat your oven

Select several large cabbage leaves. I like to cut a “v” in the base to remove most of the thickest part of the stem.

On a clean work surface, lay out one prepared cabbage leaf.

Scoop some of the rice filling - usually ⅓ to ½ cup, depending on how large the leaf is - in the center of the leaf.

Roll the bottom of the leaf tightly over the filling.

As the bottom edge of the leaf starts to roll under the filling, tightly fold both loose side ends of the leaf in, and continue to roll up to the end of the leaf.

Place cabbage roll seam side down in the pan. Repeat rolling until you’re out of filling.

Pour 2 cups of V8 juice over each pan of cabbage rolls, cover tightly with foil.

Bake for 80 minutes.

Remove pans from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before uncovering and serving. (If you have the patience!)

Serve hot, with sour cream.

Chicken Cabbage Roll Video

Here’s a video of how I roll...

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4.80 from 5 votes

Chicken Cabbage Rolls

Not being able to eat beef or pork shouldn't take cabbage rolls off the table! This chicken cabbage rolls taste just like traditional rolls!

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Polish, Ukrainian

Servings: 30 Cabbage rolls

Calories: 176kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

• 2 9 x 13" baking pans

Ingredients

• 2 heads green cabbage
• 2 tablespoon Olive oil
• 2 lbs Ground chicken
• 1 lb Chicken bacon
• 1 Medium onion chopped
• 6 garlic cloves pressed or minced
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2 cup Uncooked rice
• 4 cups Chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon Dill weed
• ¼ cup Chopped fresh parsley
• Salt and pepper
• 4 cups V8 Juice

Instructions

• Get a large stock pot of water boiling. You can cook the cabbage one at a time, or both - it just depends on the size of your pot.
• Using a sharp knife, carefully cut any remaining stem off the end of your cabbage heads. Angling the knife inward, cut a cone of the core out.

  If you’re feeling industrious, you can carve away more of the core, but I usually just hack as I go, from here.
• Place the cabbage head(s) in the boiling water, and allow to cook for a few minutes. As the outer leaves soften, use a fork or tongs to remove the leaves and transfer to a large bowl.
• Eventually, you’ll come to leaves that are still secured to the core.

  I usually use a couple tongs to remove the cabbage from the water and cut through more of the core, repeating as necessary.
• As this is going on, prepare your filling:
• In a large pan, brown your ground chicken in the olive oil. As it cooks, chop up your chicken bacon and add it to the pan.
• Once the ground chicken is cooked through, add the chopped onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaves. Cook for 2 more minutes.
• Add uncooked rice, chicken broth, and dill weed. Cover and cook - stirring every once in a while - until stock is absorbed, about 25 minutes.
• Remove bay leaves. Add chopped parsley, stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste, set aside to cool.
• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Select several large cabbage leaves. I like to cut a “v” in the base (see photos in the post) to remove most of the thickest part of the stem.
• On a clean work surface, lay out one prepared cabbage leaf. Scoop some of the rice filling - usually ⅓ to ½ cup, depending on how large the leaf is - in the center of the leaf.
• Roll the bottom of the leaf tightly over the filling. As the bottom edge of the leaf starts to roll under the filling, tightly fold both loose side ends of the leaf in, and continue to roll up to the end of the leaf. (See post for photos and video of technique!)
• Place cabbage roll seam side down in the pan. Repeat rolling until you’re out of filling.
• Pour 2 cups of V8 juice over each pan of cabbage rolls, cover tightly with foil.
• Bake for 80 minutes.
• Remove pans from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before uncovering and serving. (If you have the patience!)
• Serve hot, with sour cream.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 176kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 532mg | Potassium: 466mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 175IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 2mg

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