These vegan cabbage rolls are stuffed with a savory, smoky mixture of quinoa and lentils, then baked up in tomato sauce until piping hot. A delicious and healthy meatless main dish that's perfect for special occasions!
This is kind of a funny recipe for me. See, back when I started blogging, I never expected to post a recipe for vegan cabbage rolls. I felt like nobody would want vegan recipes for things they grew up eating. Boy have I learned a lot since then!
I realize now that you guys (and myself as well) are just as into delicious vegan versions of old favorites as totally original creations.
I initially wasn't sure I'd like these cabbage rolls much. I wasn't even certain I'd be sharing the recipe for them! But I ended up LOVING them. My husband and I polished these off with a big plate of vegan mashed potatoes.
Conventional, non-vegan cabbage rolls are a Polish thing, also knows as golabki. Do these taste like them? I'm not sure. Hey, it's been a while since I had one. But they're savory, smoky and delicious. A big, hearty meal of winter comfort food, and pretty darn healthy to boot. Can't beat that!
Jump to:
What You'll Need
- Cabbage. The recipe calls for green cabbage, but there's no real reason you can't use purple cabbage. I recommend getting a large head of cabbage, even though you won't be able to use the whole thing. A larger head of cabbage will give you nice big cabbage leaves that are easy to roll. The leftover cabbage would be perfect in soup, such as my vegan borscht, curry cabbage soup, or vegan cabbage roll soup (which tastes just like this recipe but requires no rolling!)
- Brown lentils. Green lentils should work just fine as a substitute, though they'll take a bit longer to cook. I don't recommend using red lentils, as they have a totally different texture from brown and I'm not sure how the filling would turn out.
- Quinoa. Any color of quinoa works.
- Vegetable broth. I used Better Than Bouillon, but go with what you like!
- Onion.
- Olive oil.
- Red wine vinegar. White vinegar works fine if you don't have this on hand.
- Soy sauce. Gluten-free tamari or liquid aminos can be substituted if needed.
- Smoked paprika.
- Oat flour. This ingredient is optional and can be used to bind the filling together a bit. You could also use all-purpose flour, but I'm a fan of oat because it's gluten-free friendly and safe to taste-test before cooking.
- Tomato puree.
- Maple syrup. Feel free to use another sweetener if you'd like.
- Salt & pepper.
How to Make Vegan Cabbage Rolls
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Steam your cabbage. Place it in a large pot with a few inches of water, bring the water to a simmer, and cover the pot. Let your cabbage steam until the leaves are tender. Make sure to give it plenty of time — the top leaves may soften quickly, but the lower layers will still be firm and difficult to roll.
- While the cabbage steams, make your filling. You'll need to precook your lentils and quinoa. Heat up some oil in a skillet, and sweat a diced onion for a few minutes. Add the lentils, quinoa, red wine vinegar, smoked paprika, and soy sauce. You can also add some oat flour (or all-purpose flour) at this point if you'd like. Stir everything well to fully mix up the ingredients.
- Make your sauce. To do this, simply stir your tomato puree, maple syrup, and some red wine vinegar together. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
- Roll your cabbage. Carefully remove a leaf from your steamed cabbage. Trim off any stiff areas towards the bottom that form part of the stem. Place a few tablespoons of the filling near the bottom of the leaf. Fold the bottom of the leaf over the filling, tuck in the sides, and roll it up tightly.
- Ladle some sauce into the bottom of a baking dish and arrange your cabbage rolls snugly in the dish as you roll them. Ladle the rest of the sauce on top, then bake your vegan stuffed cabbage until the sauce is bubbly.
- Dig in!
Make-Ahead Option
If you'd like to prep your vegan golabki in advance, assemble the rolls and arrange them in your baking dish with the sauce up. Cover and refrigerate them overnight. Then uncover and bake the rolls according to the recipe when you're ready to serve them.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover vegan stuffed cabbage will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3 days, or in the freezer for about 2 months.
More Vegan Comfort Food Main Dishes
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Quinoa & Lentil Stuffed Vegan Cabbage Rolls
These stuffed vegan cabbage rolls are stuffed with a savory, smoky mixture of quinoa and lentils, then baked up in tomato sauce until piping hot. A delicious and healthy main dish that's perfect for special occasions!
Ingredients
- 1 large head of green cabbage*
For the Filling
- ¾ cup dried brown lentils**
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa***
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons oat flour, optional, for binding
For the Sauce:
- 1 (28 ounce or 800 gram) can tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup, or sweetener of choice
- 1 ½ teaspoons red wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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Place about 3 inches of water into a large pot and add the entire head of cabbage stem side down.
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Place the pot over high heat, bring the water to a boil, lower the heat and and cover. Allow the cabbage to steam until leaves peel off easily, about 20 minutes. Remove the pot from heat and allow the cabbage to cool for a few minutes.
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While the cabbage steams, begin preparing the filling. Place the lentils in a saucepan and cover them with a few inches of water. Place the pot over high heat.
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Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat and allow the lentils to simmer until they're are just fully cooked (not mushy), about 25 minutes, adding water to the pot as needed. When the lentils are finished cooking, drain any excess liquid.
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While the lentils simmer, place the broth into a small saucepan and add the quinoa. Place the pot over high heat and bring the broth to a boil.
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Lower the heat, cover the pot and allow the liquid to simmer until all of the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
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Remove the pot from heat and allow it to sit with the lid on for 5 minutes before taking it off and fluffing the quinoa with a fork.
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Coat the bottom of a large skillet with the oil and place it over medium heat. Add the onion and cook it until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
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Add 1 ½ cups of the cooked lentils and 1 cup of the cooked quinoa (you'll have just a bit of each leftover), along with red wine vinegar, soy sauce, smoked paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Add oat flour at this time if using. Flip the mixture a few times just to combine the ingredients, then remove from heat.
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Preheat the oven to 350°.
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Stir all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, then distribute about ½ cup of the sauce into the bottom of 9 x 9 inch (or similarly sized) baking dish.
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Carefully peel a leaf off of the cabbage head and place it onto a work surface with the stem side facing you. Trim any very thick portions of the leaf near the base.
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Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons of filling onto the center of the leaf. Fold the base side over the filling, then wrap the sides inward over the filling. Roll the center away from you to wrap everything up. Place the roll, seam side down, into the baking dish. Repeat until all of the filling is used (you'll get about 8 rolls).
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Spoon the remaining sauce over the rolls, cover and bake for 1 hour. The sauce should be bubbly when the cabbage rolls are done baking.
-
Remove the dish from the oven and allow the rolls to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
* You only actually need about 8 cabbage leaves for this recipe. In order to get the most large, easily rollable leaves, I suggest going with a large head and only using the larger, outermost layers of leaves. You can save the rest for another use.
** Precooked lentils can be used if you've got them on hand. You'll need 1 ½ cups.
*** Precooked quinoa can be used if you've got some on hand. You'll need 1 cup. Preferably use quinoa that's been cooked in broth.
man I have to try this one I loved cabbage rolls and now I can make them, Thanks so mch
I hope you enjoy them!
lovely recipe! I found there wasn't enough filling! it only made 5 cabbage rolls so it wasn't enough for my family as we usually eat 2 each :( next time I will double up the filling.
Oh wow! You must have had much bigger cabbage leaves than I did. :)
So...how many rolls is it supposed to make? How many rolls are in a serving?
You'll probably get about 12 to 15 rolls (3-4 per serving), depending on how big your cabbage leaves are.
I just made your Slow Cooker Vegan Lasagna Soup - it was DELICIOUS (and cheap to make lol). Cabbage rolls were a staple in my family growing up - I can't wait to try these next!! Thanks :)
Glad you enjoyed the soup! And I hope you love the cabbage rolls as much as I did! :)
When do you add the soy sauce?
Sorry about that! I just edited the instructions.
i might try and make this but , as my cabbage roll casserole instead
I think that would be delicious!
This sounds delicious! I wonder if you could make the filling ahead of time and keep in the fridge and make the rolls later in the week...what do you think?
I think that would work just fine!
I was wondering if this is a meal you could make and freeze? I don't know how cabbage freezes so I thought I'd ask. Thank you!
I haven't tried to freeze these, but I've heard that conventional cabbage rolls freeze fine, so I think if you wrap them up nice and tight you should be good. :)
YES! you can freeze cabbage. Been making and freezing cabbage rolls for 40+ years. Once thawed, you will never know it was ever frozen. When I make cabbage rolls I made a large roaster full and freeze them for lunches. ENJOY This look delicious!
What do you do with the extra cabbage that you don't use for the rolls?
It's great in any kind of tomato-based vegetable soup. It would definitely make a nice addition to some minestrone - I have a recipe here that you could try. I'd just slice it nice and thin add it in with the zucchini.
Is that tomato paste or tomato sauce? I used paste but I was worried it would burn and not soften the cabbage enough. I added a little bit of water just in case. It's currently in the oven.
Oh, and as to freezing. My mom used to always freeze her cabbage as soon as she got it, and then just defrost it when she needed it to make cabbage rolls. It softens it just like boiling it. So if anything, I think freezing cabbage rolls would just make them softer!
It's tomato puree - usually you can find a few cans hiding among all of the tomato sauce and paste. If you can't find it, you could stick a can of whole tomatoes in the blender. I think crushed tomatoes or sauce would probably work too. Thanks for the tip too - I always have leftover cabbage when I make a recipe like this - so now I'm going to freeze it for later!
Wonder if this can be doubled or tripled? then cooked in a crockpot?
It can definitely be multiplied, but I haven't tried it in a crockpot, so I'm not sure. I have seen recipes for meat-based cabbage rolls that cook in the crockpot, so maybe you could use one of them for guidance.
Can you use apple cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar?? x
I think so, but the flavor might be a little different.
Can green or red lentils be used instead?
Green should work, but red tend to get super mushy when cooked, so they might mess up the texture.
I tried it with chickpeas and peas instead of lentils, love it. Thank you
Chickpeas sound like a great variation! Glad you enjoyed this!
I have tried it with black beans too. Very tasty!
Yum!! Glad you enjoyed it!
Trying it tonight.Comforting dinner for this cold Montréal evening.
In the oven right now. It looks good. Cant't wait to taste it.
Merci !
I hope you enjoy it!!
This is romanian food and it's called "sarmale de post"
I'm confused why you don't add all of the lentils and quinoa to the skillet when you're combining it with the other ingredients. What do you do with the rest?
Just for ease of measurement. When you cook up the lentils and quinoa you'll end up with just a bit more than you need. You can save them for another use or even freeze them for later if you'd like.
My second time making these! Both times I used sauerkraut leaves. After the first time, recipe as written with sauerkraut leaves was too vinegary. This time I left the vinegar out of the sauce. Delish!
I love sauerkraut - I'll bet that's delicious!!
This was delicious. Will note this as a favourite. I used sugar loaf cabbage.
I'm glad you enjoyed them!!
Made these the other day and they are pretty good. My family has sarma (the name for this dish in Croatian) for Easter and Christmas every year, and I've been missing it so much since going vegan. A couple things I would recommend: there's a spice from Croatia that you might be able to find at a specialty store (or maybe order online-trust me, it's WORTH IT!!!!) called Vegeta. We put it on tons of stuff. I used about a teaspoon or so of this when making the filling. Also, dried bay leaves are a really key ingredient, they add quite a bit of flavor-just don't eat them. Stuff them between the cabbage rolls when you put it in to bake and then remove them when you serve the dish. Some recipes call for a bit of saur Kraut, I only really like a hint of it.
Otherwise, great recipe! Will make again.
Ohhh... I will definitey give it a try! Thanks so much for the recommendation, and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this!!
Please add calorie count. Thank you.
Hello. I made this dish a couple days ago and it turned out great and was quite delicious. I had never tried to make cabbage rolls before and found your procedure to be easy and quite successful.
Thanks for the great recipe and new family favorite.
I'm so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks so much Charlie!!
Can you please give me the nutritional information on this
Thanks
This was very tasty, but two problems, maybe we’d are big porkers but there wasn’t a lot left and only two of us eating it! Also it is balanced nitritionally, but I felt like it could do with a side, what would you suggest as an accompaniment
I'm glad you enjoyed it! We always have mashed potatoes with this and it's perfect! They go great together and the comibation should fill you up. :)
My family always has perogies with cabbage rolls!
What should I do with the leftover cabbage? It's cooked already so should I just chop it and warm it up as a side dish for tomorrow? Great recipe by the way!
Thank you! Here's one of my favorite side dishes that uses 1/2 head of cabbage: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-coleslaw/
Could you give an approximate number of rolls this filling would make?
I usually get about 12.
Thank you for posting such a well thought out recipe. I made it last night and it turned out fabulous. I found your recipe extremely well organized and easy to follow. Kudos for such a good job. As I was cooking the head of cabbage in a big pot, when I pulled it out, it occurred to me that the flavorful cabbage broth could be augmented with a couple of carrots, onions and celery and make a good soup all in one pot saving the effort of making vegetable soup as it's own dish. It worked out great for a first course.
What a great idea! I'm going to have to try that out next time I make this. I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much!!
These look great - even as a non-vegetarian! I can tell these will please both myself and my vegetarian daughter.
I hope you both enjoy it!
These were so delicious, thank you! I might try to make a casserole-style version by shredding the cabbage and layering the ingredients next time, since I'm lazy. ;)
I'm so glad you enjoyed them! I actually did a soup recipe as a lazy version: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/quinoa-lentil-cabbage-roll-soup/
Did you boil the whole head of cabbage to get the leaves off?
It's actually steamed. :)
My husband is allergic to quinoa. Do u think that buckwheat would be s good substitute, or something else?
Thanks!
Stacy
I think buckwheat, rice or bulghur could work! I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
I enjoy making a variety of cabbage rolls so this sounds good. To cut out a step, freeze you head of cabbage first, then when time to make it - thaw the cabbage - no need to boil the leaves. They are so pliable you just add you other ingredients & roll ... Cook as you normally would.
Sometimes, I will also steam lettuce leaves & fill them with a filling of sorts & cook like cabbage rolls ... they taste great!
I love that idea! Thank you for the tip - I'm definitely try it next time I make this!
I made these for my vegetarian daughter twice. The 2nd time I added a little rice n diced tomatoes to the filling n instead of sautéing the onion I grated an onion n put it it uncooked. I used the leftover diced tomatoes on top with a can of tomato soup(that’s what I had in my pantry). Along with the vinegar n they turned out great. Her and her gf are all of them. It made about 8 canbage rolls. Delicious. Thank you
Those sound like delicious modifications! I'm glad you enjoyed them! Thanks Ruth!
These look delicious, I can’t wait to try them out! I love that you steamed the cabbage, these are the perfect comfort food :)
Thanks Maeve! I hope you enjoy them!
Made this tonight, paired with my smoked gouda pierogies. Excellent, my Gran'ma Mary would be proud. Thanks, I'll do this one again!
I bet this is awesome with pierogies! Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Steve!
I just found this recipe and it looks awesome. I am wondering if I could use red cabbage leaves instead of green? I've got a giant head in the fridge that I'm trying to use up :) thanks!
Red should work just fine! Enjoy!
You have revolutionized the way I cook for my family! Thank you for this amazing blog of inspiration. Just made the cabbage rolls and they were a hit. Easy to follow instructions and a great result. Already picked out a dozen more recipes to try in the next couple weeks!
Awww...thank you so much Brittany!! I'm so happy to hear you're enjoying the recipes! I hope the new ones you try are hits with your family too!
hey, I just made these for dinner & thought I'd let you all know how it went because I read each of your lovely comments before making them for myself. to start, I subbed and added a few things, so I'll begin with those. my filling consisted of cooked brown rice, diced carrot, diced onion, and frozen peas, which equaled to about 2.5C filling. along with the listed ingrediens, I added 1/4t garlic powder and 1/4t cayenne powder. for the tomato sauce, I used a large can diced tomatoes, 1.5T tomato paste, and 1/4t garlic powder, and left out the remaining ingredients. this recipe made 8 cabbage rolls for me. I can eat 2 at a time. I made a side of mashed potatoes as suggested. very good. thanks!
That sounds absolutely delicious!! I'm so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks so much!
I have always wanted to make cabbage rollls but all that hamburger and rice just was not appealing to me. This recipe is so good. It’s one of those foods that you think, eh if I have other options for lunches I won’t grab this. But you would be wrong. It is so satisfying to your body that you won’t need to eat breads or junk food thinking you missed out. I froze the remaining amount because my daughter won’t eat the cabbage but she likes the filling. My new favorite. And as a bonus, these are so good for fiber if you know what I mean.
I love this recipe. I have made it no less than 10x!
Yay!! Glad you're enjoying it!
I really don't consider myself a fan of cabbage and was searching for a recipe to do away with an extra head my CSA box left me with when I stumbled across this recipe... I've never had cabbage rolls and they probably wouldn't be something I'd make on a whim but WOW I am so glad I did. These are delicious, simple, and so comforting. Plus rolling up the cabbage leaves is weirdly satisfying. Thank you!
Yay!! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!! Thanks so much Tarah!
I made this for my daughter that is vegan. Instead of using the home made sauce, I used traditional Prego.
It was so yummy!
I put blue cheese crumbles on mine
(Non-vegan)
My new favorite dish!!!!
Yay!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
I cooked up a batch of these beauties and honest-to-god, they weren't just good "for meatless cabbage rolls;" even the omnivore, meat-and-cabbage roll-loving husband said these were by far the most delicious we've ever eaten, period. He didn't miss the meat at all... the flavor is deep and rich (hubs thought they'd been slow-cooked), with all the umami and oh-so-satisfying density of traditional cabbage rolls. We couldn't stop talking about them as we devoured them!
SO much thanks for this recipe. Cabbage rolls are a specialty of my mother-in-law's and were a family favorite for years before my older daughter and I became vegetarians, I in 2001 and she in 2003. It's BIG "feel good food" for our family, and vegan versions *always* leave something to be desired. These beauties will be in regular rotation for sure, and will be the feel-good cabbage rolls *our* grandchildren will request one day. :)
*I accidentally added a tablespoon of the vinegar to the filling and let the syrup get away from me when making the sauce, so adjusted vinegar accordingly, and although I'm betting the recipe is perfect as-is, I would do both those things again because the flavor was out-of-this-world.
Thank you so much Cindy!! I haven't actually had a chance to test these out on an omnivore yet, but after reading your review maybe I'll try them out on my family - cabbage rolls are a favorite. I'm so glad they were a hit with and your husband. :)
I just have tried this recipe and it was really, really good. Better than meat version that we are used to.
Thank you for sharing!
I'm so happy to hear that! Thanks Mila!
Hello Alissa,
I would like to make your lovely cabbage rolls for my vegan niece when she visits. I am not a vegan, however, I do love lentils and quinoa, but have not "experimented" much with them. The stuffing in my traditional cabbage rolls is not precook(been making for 40+ years). I stuff cabbage leaves, cover them with my special spicy sauce, then cook them for 3-3 1/2 hours. This allow the sauce to premeditate into the rolls, cooking the stuffing and making them juicy, and full of flavour. Alissa do you know of any reason why I can not put the lentils and quinoa in uncooked? Hoping you can assist me. Much thanks.
Hi Darlene! I'd be afraid that the quinoa and lentils wouldn't get fully cooked if you put them in there uncooked. Both need to be able to suck up quite a bit of water to cook, so boling them is important. I hope you and your niece enjoy this!!
I can’t have oil, so do you think I could just put more sauce down to that the cabbage rolls won’t burn?
The oil is actually for cooking the onion - I'd recommend just using broth or water instead! There's no need to put oil in the bottom of the baking dish. :)
hi all, these are amazing and here i am making them for a girls lunch tomorrow. Has anyone made them a day ahead and if so did they cook just as well please.
thanks all
Wow! This recipe is delish! I was eating the filling right out of the pan! Although it requires a lot of steps & time, it’s worth it. I substituted pizza for the tomatoe sauce and added a little sprinkle of vegan cheese at the end. Thank for for taking the time to share this great recipe with us. 👏🏻🎉🙏🏻
Oh that actually sounds delicious! Like pizza flavored rolls! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!
Do I bake the dish with or without covered foil? How long?
Covered for 1 hour.
This was HORRIBLE! I'm sorry - it was very inedible. The sauce was so bland and just awful, the filling was ok tasted fine on its own but the whole dish as itself I had to throw it all out and eat leftovers.
Sorry to hear that!
I made these today. My only substitution was brown rice for the quinoa. I weighed the filling and made 12 stuffed cabbage leaves.
The flavors are very good and the smokiness of the paprika is going to make this a cold winter favorite. When I make this again, I will rethink those cabbage leaves. Just way too much cabbage for the amount of filling.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I was craving cabbage rolls when someone brought the traditional meat-filled ones to a party. Your site was the first one I went to. I love your recipes. I made these- doubles recipe- and froze extras in small batches. Absolutely delicious!! I had done with vegan mashed potatoes and extra sauerkraut. A perfect homey meal- even better than the beef ones I remembered eating as a kid! Thanks for your incredible vegan recipes!!!!