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Greek Stuffed cabbage rolls covered in egg lemon sauce on a white plate.
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5 from 8 votes

Greek Stuffed Cabbage Recipe

This Greek Stuffed Cabbage Recipe is such a delicious, easy dish to make! For this version called Lahanodolmades, the ingredients are really simple and it’s quick to throw together. Lahanodolmades are amazing on their own as a snack, or appetizer, or even as a main dish. 
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: dinner
Cuisine: Greek
Keyword: appetizer, cabbage rolls, greek stuffed cabbage rolls, low carb, main course, main dish, side dish, stuffed cabbage, stuffed cabbage rolls
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 335kcal
Author: Bethany Galloway

Ingredients

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

  • 1 whole pointed/sweetheart cabbage
  • Enough water to mostly submerge the cabbage in a large pot
  • 250 g 0.5 lbs ground beef
  • 250 g 0.5 lbs sausage meat (casing removed) or ground pork (see note 1)
  • 1 medium onion grated
  • 115 g 2/3 cup minus 1 tablespoon long-grain rice, uncooked
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 200 ml water see note 2

Avgolemono

  • 2 fresh lemons juiced
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon starch tapioca or corn flour
  • 335 ml 1.5 cups broth, from the bottom of the cabbage roll pot, or chicken or vegetable (see note 3)

Instructions

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

  • Place the entire cabbage in a pot submerged in hot water and boil the whole cabbage for about 10 minutes, until the leaves start to come apart.
    Sauteing Greek stuffed cabbage in a pot on top of a stove.
  • Cut the leaves off as they separate from the cabbage core, and place them in a strainer in the sink to get rid of excess moisture. Save any extra liquid from the pot.
  • Mix the mince, sausage, grated onion, fresh dill, uncooked rice, salt, and pepper.
    how to stuff cabbage leaves 1
  • When the cabbage leaves are separated and cooled, it’s time to stuff them! Starting with the darkest leaves, lay one on a flat surface.
    A person expertly preparing Greek stuffed cabbage by delicately wrapping the meat inside a cabbage leaf.
  • Add about 2-3 tbsps of the meat mixture at one end of the leaf, in a kind of cylinder/sausage shape. Make sure you have enough cabbage all around to fold over the whole mixture (less is more if this is your first try!).
    A Greek stuffed cabbage is sitting on a wooden table.
  • Fold the sides of the cabbage leaves over first, and then roll it to the other end.
    raw stuffed cabbage roll
  • Place in a large pot, darkest leaves first.
    stuffed cabbage rolls in pot
  • Add about 200ml of water, or enough to cover the bottom layer of cabbage rolls. If you have water leftover from boiling the cabbage, reuse it here.
  • Add 1 tbsp of olive oil.
  • Place an inverted plate/saucer/bowl over the cabbage leaves. It should be a little smaller than your pot so you can remove it later.
    plate over stuffed cabbage rolls
  • Put the lid on the pot and cook on medium-low heat for about 50 minutes.
  • After 50 minutes, carefully remove the plate/saucer/bowl with something like a wooden spoon and oven mitt, so you protect your hands.

Avgolemono

  • Without turning on the heat, whisk the eggs in a medium saucepan until frothy. 
    eggs being whisked until frothy in pot with whisk
  • Juice the lemons and whisk the juice into the eggs. 
    adding lemon juice to eggs
  • Slowly whisk in 240ml (1 cup) of broth. 
    Adding broth to pot.
  • Turn heat on medium and continue whisking until the sauce begins to thicken. 
    whisking ingredients in pot on stove
  • Mix starch with some of the remaining 115ml (1/2 cup) of broth to make a paste, and then mix in the rest of the broth. 
    Starch and broth in white bowl with spoon.
  • Slowly whisk the tapioca mixture into the pot on the stove until it thickens up. Turn off the heat and serve. 
    whisking thick sauce in stainless steel pot

Notes

  1. Sausage: I've used turkey sausage and Cumberland sausage (both gluten-free), but I think most types would work.
  2. Water: Just enough water to cover the bottom layer of cabbage rolls in the pot. I reuse the water from boiling the cabbage initially.
  3. Broth: the broth from steaming them is amazing in this recipe, and it's totally fine to add it hot, straight from the pot. Otherwise, use chicken broth or vegetable broth. 
  4. Broth amount: You can add up to 2 cups of broth (475ml) if you like your sauce runnier.
  5. Don’t over-stuff the cabbage! You only need 2-3 tbsp per cabbage roll. If you over-stuff them, the stuffing will come out!

Storage & Reheating Instructions

  • Leftover cabbage rolls keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. I prefer to store the avgolemono sauce separately.
  • Reheat them by boiling as before, or steaming or microwaving them until hot through. You can even eat them cold.
  • Can I freeze Greek cabbage rolls? Yes! Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1grams | Calories: 335kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 139mg | Sodium: 313mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g