This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our privacy policy for additional information.
Why You’ll Love My Recipe
We all have memories of home-cooked meals that took hours to make, and this Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole brings those feelings right back. I’ve always loved cabbage rolls, so turning them into a casserole was a no-brainer – and I’m so glad I did! It has all the cozy, comforting flavors that your whole family will love, without all the extra work.
Looking to round out your meal? This casserole pairs beautifully with Crispy Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts, or, if sprouts aren’t your thing, my Air Fryer Green Beans are a simple, tasty alternative!
Reader Review
So easy and delicious! I doubled the rice and liquid. Used V8 for the liquid. Threw in some grated carrots for color. Yum.
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is an easy-to-make, no-fuss recipe that’s perfect for busy weeknights. It’s sure to earn a spot in your midweek dinner rotation!
- Total Time: You’ll have casserole on the table in about 1 hour and 45 minutes, and it’s a great make-ahead meal that freezes well, so the effort always pays off.
- Variations: If you’re not set on keeping things traditional, sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the casserole and broil until golden for a cozy, lasagna-style twist. Or, for a more classic approach, serve with a dollop of sour cream on top, and pair your casserole with my Simple Crostini Recipe or some Pretty Darn Perfect Sweet Dinner Rolls to soak up the sauce!
- Tools For This Recipe: You will need a large frying pan, a spatula for sautéing, and a 9×13-inch baking dish.
What You’ll Need for Ingredients
Ground Pork and Beef: A half-and-half blend of ground pork and lean ground beef adds richness and meaty flavor to this casserole. Feel free to use all ground beef if you prefer a slightly leaner dish, but the combination with pork makes it extra tasty!
Cabbage: Any variety of cabbage will work here, so use what’s most available or affordable in your area – just be sure to chop it coarsely. Karlynn’s Tip: For extra convenience, use a bag of coleslaw mix instead of chopping a whole head of cabbage by hand!
Bacon: A bit of crispy bacon brings smoky, salty, and savory goodness to every bite, complementing the beef, cabbage, and tomato base beautifully.
Tomato Soup and Juice: Condensed tomato soup mixed with tomato juice adds a comforting tomato flavor and helps cook the rice right in the casserole. Karlynn’s Tip: If you don’t have the soup or juice on hand, substitute with 1¼ cups of diced tomatoes and 1½ cups of vegetable or beef broth. A couple of tablespoons of tomato paste can add extra richness if needed!
How To Make Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole
This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Brown the bacon, ground beef, and ground pork together in a large pot or frying pan. When the ground beef and pork are no longer pink, drain the fat.
- Mix in the tomato juice and soup.
- Spread the cabbage evenly on the bottom of your pan and sprinkle the rice on top
- Spread the beef mixture over everything, then cover tightly with foil and bake for 90 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
- Let your casserole rest for a couple of minutes, then enjoy!
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole
- The Best Flavor Comes from Browning: Let the pork, beef, and bacon brown well before assembling your casserole. Those crispy, caramelized bits make all the difference. You’ll know the meat is ready when it reaches a safe internal temperature of 160°F!
- Control the Richness: If you want to reduce the fat in this recipe, cook the bacon first and drain off some of the grease before adding the pork and beef. If you cook everything together, you can drain the fat after browning, but don’t remove it all! Leaving a little behind adds so much extra flavor, and any leftover fat can be stored and used for frying up eggs or potatoes.
- Rice Swap Options: While this recipe calls for long-grain white rice, you can substitute brown rice or replace half the white rice with quinoa for added fiber and protein. Brown rice needs a little extra prep, though, so soak it first or parboil it for 10 minutes in lightly salted water before adding it to your casserole. That way, it’ll cook fully and won’t turn out dry!
Storage Instructions
Fresh from the oven or made ahead, this Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole delivers all the cozy, tomatoey flavors that make it a family favorite!
Refrigerator: You can store cooled leftovers of this casserole in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer: This casserole freezes beautifully! Freeze it in a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months, following USDA food safety guidelines. To enjoy it later, thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat in a casserole dish at 350°F for about 15 minutes, until heated through!
More Delicious Casserole Recipes
If you love filling, flavorful Casserole recipes, try one these favorites next:
- My Mushroom Soup Chicken & Rice Casserole is a classic, budget-friendly dish that’s easy to make and always hits the spot.
- This Chicken and Stuffing Casserole is the perfect way to use up leftover chicken (or stretch a store-bought rotisserie chicken) into a hearty meal your whole family will love!
- If you’re left with cabbage after this recipe, this crunchy Cabbage Casserole is the perfect way to make a cheesy, veggie-rich side.
That’s a wrap on this Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole! Nothing beats a hands-off, baked meal that warms the house and feeds the family, especially during the colder months – and it’s even better knowing it can be prepped ahead for a busy week!
Give this recipe a try and don’t forget to share how your casserole turned out in the comments below. You know that I always love hearing from you!
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole
Video
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon , diced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 ½ cups tomato juice
- 1 can condensed tomato soup
- 10 cups cabbage, washed and coarsely chopped
- ½ cup long grain white rice
Instructions
- Place bacon, ground beef and ground pork together in a large frying pan.
- Sautee until the beef and pork are no longer pink. Drain the fat.
- Whisk in the tomato juice, and soup.
- Spread the cabbage out evenly on the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Sprinkle rice on top, then spread beef mixture on top. Cover and bake in the oven for 90 minutes at 350 until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
- Remove, let sit for a couple of minutes, then serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Carol says
I hate the way you changed your website and have only a list of Recipe 1, 2,3, etc….. At least give the title of the recipe in the numbering to help us not waste time on recipes that are not of interest.
Marianne says
Also…because of that extra rice I added an extra half-pound of meat. And baked it all in five 8×8 disposable pans, to share.
Marianne says
So easy and delicious ! I doubled the rice and liquid. Used V8 for the liquid. Threw in some grated carrots for color. Yum.
Jean says
Can I use Orzo instead of rice?
Jackie says
can I freeze this and thaw and reheat again and if yes, how do I do that ?
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
Yes just like you would a normal lasagna or other pasta dish, freeze in an airtight container and then depending on how you want to heat it, use the microwave or oven. You can also freeze in portions which i would personally suggest
Eleanor says
Made this tonight for supper. We really enjoyed it. Very flavourful. I wanted more rice so doubled it and also the tomato juice and soup.
Eleanor Campbell says
Made this tonight for supper. We really enjoyed it. Very flavourful. I wanted more rice so doubled it and also the tomato juice and soup.
Sue says
Having a mom who was born in Poland stuffed cabbage rolls were a staple in our house. I have been making them for years, but they are time consuming. If I am going to make them I’m not going to make just a few (not even worth the effort), I make a huge amount so we have a lot of leftovers and they always taste better a few days later as the flavors meld together. In my opinion separating the cabbage leaves is the worst part, that’s why so many people don’t even bother making them. Making the filling and even rolling them up doesn’t take that much time. I’ve seen this lazy casserole but never made it. I decided to make it the other day because I had a big head of cabbage and wasn’t sure what to do with it. I had all the other ingredients on hand. It came out better than I thought it would but you still can’t beat the real deal. I think that the filling actually simmering inside the cabbage leaf for a long time makes all the difference. I followed your recipe but did change a few things. I didn’t use the tomato soup or the tomato juice. Instead I concocted my own sauce. I used V-8 Juice combined with some crushed tomatoes and tomato paste to to get it to the consistency that I liked. I also added a pinch of brown sugar for a subtle sweetness. Also added some onion and garlic powder to the sauce. I substituted smoked polish kielbasa (thinly sliced) for the bacon. Would make this again–maybe next time I’ll try using the bacon.
S. V. says
Yes, separating the leaves is indeed a chore, so I started using savoy cabbage instead. The leaves come off much more easily than off a regular cabbage. In fact, if you cut a cone-shaped wedge into the core, the leaves come off without steaming or boiling the cabbage first. The taste is the same, or maybe a touch milder. But it really makes a difference in terms of effort and time.
Shortstuff42 says
Thanks for sharing your method, S.V. I bought a head of Savoy cabbage to try it out the other week. Could not believe how easily the leaves came off. Yes – without steaming!!!!!!!!! I did, however; find that the leaves in the very middle were a bit hard to peel off so nuked just that part for a bit. The “holopchi” made with Savoy were so easy to make and tasted just the same. Thanks again!!
Joan M says
Can I make this recipe with all beef?
audrey a. says
Yes!
Jolene Hoover says
I Don’t use any tomato products in my cabbage rolls or casserole because my hubby has an aversion to tomatoes. I sprinkle a light layer of sauerkraut between each
layer of cabbage rolls, ending with more kraut for the top layer. I also lay the unused small center leaves of the cabbage on top, add a couple splashes of apple cider vinegar, and simmer for 3-5 hours. We really like them fixed like this
Donna Pritchard says
can I use minute rice. Thank you 😊
Angie says
I haven’t made rolled cabbage rolls in forever and have tried my own version and a bunch of different versions of lazy man cabbage rolls but could never get the taste/consistency right. I used this recipe as the guide (i added slightly more rice so slightly more juice) and it was the perfect taste and consistency I had been searching for! And so quick and easy to make! So glad I came across the recipe.
Carla R says
First time trying this, and gotta say it was pretty f’n good!! Easy…quick and satisfying! Yum. No need to roll as my Baba did as it’s destroyed on plate anyway and tastes just as good!
I’m saving this one.
Barbara says
Could you use a bag of coleslaw mix?
Mr. Kitchen Magpie says
Absolutely!
Kimmie Wargo says
This casserole tastes just like the heart and soul of my grandmother’s golumpki minus the labor and time! Stumbling across this recipe has been the greatest discovery! Thank you for creating it!
Has anyone ever tried to bake this recipe in smaller aluminum pans? Such as disposable aluminum bread pans? I’m wondering if I should alter the bake time? I want to prepare this dish for multiple friends and I think dividing it among multiple mini loaf pans would be cute! Any insight on cooking smaller batches at once would be much appreciated!
c.michaels says
Snowing like crazy out so not a good day to shop but a great day to cook. I have this giant cabbage in my refrigerator but no tomato soup. So I made a sauce using 3 cups v8 juice (regular not spicy), 1/4 cup brown sugar, about 1 T. grated ginger, 4 T. tomato paste. Turned out great. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I’d never heard of a cabbage casserole before.
Nadine says
I make (Polish) galumpkis that are sort of like these. I don’t like ingredients other recipes contain, peppers, onions, garlic, etc. My grandmothers recipe only calls for 3 basic ingredients. Rice (cooked), raw hamburger and pancetta (sautéed) and black pepper. This recipe is deconstructed galumpkis. If I make cabbage rolls I cook them in a large kettle in apple cider vinegar and water until cabbage is cooked. I also cook the cabbage rolls in the oven with tomatoes (canned) or tomato sauce (canned). These are my great-grandmothers recipes. This recipe is the closest to hers. I love it! I decided to try making the deconstructed version and this is basically how I did it, except I do add apple cider vinegar in it. Thank you for posting!
Nadine says
I had 5 stars originally. I must have touched the screen without noticing. I don’t see an edit button.
Sheri says
Delicious and easy!
Stefanie Stephens says
Made this tonight. I doubled the rice and the soup/juice and it was FANTASTIC! Thank you for developing this awesome recipe!!
Rosemarie says
About “real” cabbage rolls . . . . .
My mother-in-law was known for making the tastiest, tiniest, tightest cabbage rolls in the world. A personal challenge for me has been to try to make cabbage rolls that are sort of as good as hers. Although my family says they’re just like hers and I think I’ve been really close, mine still don’t always have the uniformity that hers did. (Good thing I don’t make them that often, or I’d drive myself crazy!!)
I wish I would have had her teach me how to make them before she passed away but what I have figured out since though, is that for tiny cbbage rolls, you either need to:
– buy the largest heads of cabbage you can find and cut the leaves in halves or quarters while trimming out the hard middle rib
OR
– buy the smallest heads of cabbage you can find and thinning out the hard middle rib of each leaf with a sharp little knife.
I also only cook the rice about 3/4 of the way. It cooks the rest of the way in the roll with the tomato juice and soup mixture I pour on top of everything for the liquid needed to cook the rice completely as my own mom used to do. That helps to keep the cabbage rolls firmly packed.
I generally save any “scraps” and large leaves that don’t go on the bottom of the pan or on top of the “holopchis”, along with any extra filling to make lazy cabbage rolls.
For our Canadian Thanksgiving in October I made some cabbage rolls with a HUGE – almost the size of a curling rock – frozen Savoy cabbage that was given to me in early September by a recently widowed person. (Although I’ve used frozen cabbage the odd time in the past, my preference is to use fresh, but there was no way this year-old frozen veggie was going to be used by this fellow, so rather than letting it go to waste, he gave it to me.) Anyway, after thawing the thing in a mesh strainer over the sink and trimming out the middle ribs, I had to cut the majority of the leaves into quarters vs. only in halves unless I wanted football-sized rolls like my mom used to make. So this was a first for me both in size and type of cabbage; however, I have to say that these holopchi were the easiest that ever came together for me . . . .
Am considering buying Savoy the next time the urge to make some cabbage rolls hits me!!
Roxana says
What if you want the non-tomato cabbage rolls? What could you sub instead?
Julia Mendieta says
Roxana, I have never done this because cabbage rolls are a Romanian meal made w/tomatoe recipe but I would imagine you could use beef stock. That does sound good. Good luck
JoAnn says
I make cabbage rolls all the same except for the tomato parts. I use brown gravy an a little soy sauce, and hoisin sauce. I make enough gravy mix to put some in the meat mixture and extra for the top of the cabbage.
Cynthia says
If you use sauerkraut instead of cabbage, this tastes just like cabbage rolls made from sour cabbage, which is the Roumanian method!
Marilyn says
I wish you put in some idea of how you did this–My grandmas’ cabbage rolls were always with sauerkraut and never with tomatoes. She was from Croatia!
Jamie says
Do you cook rice first?
Julia Mendieta says
No
Ruth Marshall says
Love it!!
Donna Pritchard says
can I use minute rice? thank you 😊
Kaylik says
SO good! Thanks!
Sylvie says
This was a hit, thank you!