Cabbage Rolls

Meatless, gluten-free cabbage rolls

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In: Recipes

Happy Good Friday and Easter weekend if you’re celebrating! It may not quite feel like it this year. I’ve never had Easter without my family, but even though we won’t be in the same room, we will still be together virtually.  What to eat this weekend? If I’m cooking, one of my favorite dishes always gets made, and that’s cabbage rolls. My recipe has to take in my allergies, but it’s still tasty!

Bonus: Cabbage rolls are extremely healthy, low calorie and low carb – especially if you cut down your rice portions.

This version is meatless. I have a lazy version that I will post soon. I have been making it for regular dinners lately.

Cabbage rolls with ground tofu

Notes

  • This recipe is inspired by traditional Polish cabbage rolls but modified for allergens and calories.
  • It’s time-consuming to make so it is worth it to make a large batch, it won’t cut down on your cooking and prep time to half or quarter the recipe. I freeze leftovers

Makes: 8-10 servings

Total Time: 3 hours, cook time: 2 hours, prep time: 1 hour

Ingredients

onion-and-garlic
  • 1 large head cabbage
  • 3 pounds extra lean tofu
  • 2 cups of cooked rice
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 large onion, chopped very fine
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 cups of strained tomatoes
  • 6 Roma tomatoes, diced very fine
  • 2 tablespoons of aged balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of hot sauce,  I use Portugallo Sauces, omit if you don’t want any spice
  • 3 chilis, diced, omit if you don’t want any spice
  • 8-10 green onions for wrapping, cut off the ends

Directions

cabbage-roll
Prep
  1. Marinate the tofu for a minimum of 1 hour ahead of time with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper, ½ cup of the strained tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of basil, ¼ of the onion and if using: 1 tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
  2. Cook rice according to the package and set aside for it to cool down (cooking time will be in-between 15 minutes to 45 minutes depending on the rice used).
Cooking and packaging
  1. Thoroughly mix the rice and tofu together and set aside.
  2. Sauté the remaining garlic and onion 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a deep pan or pot until onions are brown. Add in the strained tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, remaining salt, pepper and the majority of the basil.
  3. Remove from heat and let cool to near room temperature.
  4. Core the cabbage.
  5. Blanche cabbage leaves in boiling water, peeling them off as they become limp. (I’ve also heard that you can put the cabbage in the freezer and after it’s frozen, let it thaw, and the leaves will be limp so you can just pull them off.  I haven’t tried this method but if you want to go this route, do it the night before since it will take a few hours for it to thaw).
  6. Once you’ve separated all the leaves, take a paring knife and cut off any thick stems preventing the limp leaf from bending/rolling.
  7. Put about 2 tablespoons of the tofu and rice mixture in the center of each leaf. Fold the sides of the leaf in and roll it up into a little package. Put each roll face-down into a casserole dish.
  8. Once you’ve used up all the cabbage leaves or meat/tofu filling, take your sauce and pour it over the cabbage rolls.
  9. Sprinkle the remaining basil over the cabbage rolls.
  10. Bake covered at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

After baking, wrap with the spring onion for presentation.

Approximate nutritional information for 1 serving (Based on brands and amounts used in the recipe)

  • Calories per serving: 199
  • Fat: 5 g
  • Carbs: 37 g
  • Protein: 9 g

Check out our recipes for more inspiration.

34 Comments

  2. OMG! What an amazing recipe to try at home! Please keep posting! Love your food blogs <3

    1. Author

      Thanks so much! I really appreciate it!!

    1. Author

      Thank you!

    1. Author

      Thank you very much! Have a wonderful rest of your week

    1. Author

      Thank you very much!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much! Enjoy your week!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much!


    1. Author

      Thanks so much for sharing!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much M!


    1. Author

      Thanks so much for sharing!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much!


    1. Author

      Thanks so much for sharing!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much! I really appreciate it!

    1. Author

      Thanks so much! I’m sorry for the delayed reply! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

  18. What a beautiful plating and amazing dish! Thank you for sharing! Happy Good Friday to you! 😊

    1. Author

      Thanks so much! I really appreciate it! I’m so sorry for the late reply. Things have gotten hectic the past couple of weeks! I hope your weekend was fabulous 🙂 !

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