Cabbage rolls, or galumpkis, are one of my very favorite dishes from childhood. I make them several times a year, although I’ll admit to sometimes taking a shortcut and making it as a casserole for ease!
For this recipe you’ll need: cabbage, ground beef, parsley, onion, cauliflower, egg, salt and pepper. Sauce: tomato sauce, cloves, Stevia or Xylitol, and sour cream.
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The problem with cabbage rolls is that they are starchy and high in carbs which will definitely throw your right out of ketosis and right out of that lovely fat burning stage. I’ve made low carb ones but they are almost always just meat filling and I like the rice mixed with the meat because it makes it lighter. Luckily I have an answer – using cauliflower instead of rice.
These are relatively easy to put together. You’ll remove the core from the cabbage and then steam it with the core side down, until the leaves are very tender, flexible, and easy to pull off. Once they cool a little you’ll put a spoonful of filling on the edge and roll them up tightly, tucking in the sides as you roll. Now just put them seam side down in the baking dish and you are good to go.
You can put the cabbage rolls together one day and cook them the next, you can cook them and freeze them, you can hold them for several days in the refrigerator?? they will still be there waiting for you and as delicious as ever when you are ready to eat them. A programmable Slow Cooker will allow you to have even more freedom when it comes to how and when they cook.
If you like them a little spicy a pinch of chipotle is a wonderful thing.
Please give these a try and let me know your thoughts. I basically just adapted my mom’s recipe.
Table of Contents
Cabbage Rolls without the Carbs
Ingredients
- 1 head of cabbage about 1 pound
- 1/2 pound of ground beef
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1/4 cup onion
- 2 cups of raw cauliflower chopped fine
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper
Sauce
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Stevia or xylitol to taste
- 1/4 cup sour cream.
Instructions
- Core the cabbage and pull off the first layer of outer leaves.
- Place in a large pot with about 2 inches of boiling water.
- Let cabbage steam until the leaves pull off easily and are very pliable without being mushy..
- Let cool.
- Process cauliflower in food processor until it is finely chopped, about the size of rice.
- Set aside.
- Cook the ground beef with the onion.
- Drain well.
- Add salt and pepper to tast.
- Mix the parsley, beef, and raw cauliflower in a bowl.
- Beat the egg and mix in well. This will help the filling stick together.
- Lay a cabbage leaf flat on the counter.
- Slash the bottom vein if it doesn’t seem pliable.
- Add a tablespoon of the meat mixture to the cabbage and roll up.
- Repeat with all of the cabbage leaves that are big enough.
Sauce
- Whisk the tomato, cloves, sweetener, and sour cream together until smooth.
- Add a little water to thin it down if needed.
To Cook
- Add about 1/4 cup to the bottom of a slow cooker.
- Lay the rolls in the slow cooker.
- Cover with the remaining sauce.
- Cook on low for 6 hours or cover or cook in the oven at 350F for an hour.
Notes
Nutrition
If you liked low carb cabbage rolls you may also like:
Click on the picture or the name of the recipe to go straight to it, Low Carb Chocolate Pound Cake, Raspberry Almond Crumble Tea Cakes, Low Carb Cheese Danish Muffins.
Thanks for the recipe idea—in your experience, does the cauliflower and egg bind with the beef ? This solid but light inside texture is what I like about bothering with the rolling instead of just a casserole. Chipotle sounds like an interesting twist too. I wonder if hemp hearts would bind too? They worked well as a substitute in my tabbouleh instead of bulgur. Appreciate the inspiration…some recipes just don’t adapt well to keto but this one looks promising!
Not perfectly but it does work. 🙂
I’m making cabbage rolls today and my recipe is similar to yours except I use bacon, not ground beef, lots and lots of ground pepper, and I am also using Konjac Rice. I squeezed out the excess moisture as the rice was too watery.. So far, so good and they taste pretty good. I never thought to use cauliflower! I will try that next time. Thanks!
From what I have read, in most cabbage roll recipes, the rice must soak up the fat from the meat. In your recipe, since the meat is precooked, where does the fat go? How do you prevent the veggies from being over cooked?
I tend to use 90/10 ground beef which doesn’t leave much fat. And… I’ve never had them be overcooked.
How would you do this as a casserole???? I’ve never made cabbage rolls before. So I’m clueless. But we’re on a low carb diet and have cabbage at home.
Just chop the cabbage up and mix it all in together.
On the cabbage roll soup what are the carbs, fiber, protein, an calories for one serving
I’ve added this info to the bottom of the recipe.
Using Napa Cabbage tonight. Love the finished product.
🙂 oh that’s a good idea! Thanks!