Keto Cabbage Rolls

These keto cabbage rolls may be low carb, but they're full of flavour and texture! You'll never miss the rice (replaced with cauliflower!)

As the holidays were heating up, I started having a bit of food FOMO.

Not so much about the mainstream Christmas foods, mind you - I wanted all of the WINNIPEG holiday foods.

Which - in my experience - was all about the Ukrainian food.

Do I have a drop of Ukrainian blood in me?

Nope. Irish, Ojibwe, Quebecois... but nothing Eastern European or Slavic, so far as I know.

The thing is, I grew up in Winnipeg, where perogies are EVERYWHERE.

Christmas is when the pyrizhky comes out (and I’ve already come up with a Keto Sauerkraut Buns recipe to cover THAT!), something my aunt (also not Ukrainian) would bring to family get togethers.

In the leadup to Orthodox Christmas, you could buy the most amazing perogies and cabbage rolls from any number of Ukrainian churches in the city, and it was good.

With all of the rice in them, though... not gonna happen on my current diet. At least not without some modification...

... and here we are!

Keto Cabbage Rolls

Before going low carb, cabbage rolls were something I’ve never really used a recipe for, and just kind of thrown everything together, to taste. No measurements, no real guidelines, just... Do it.

Having to keep track of carbs now ... means actually having a recipe to input into the software, to get actual numbers out of!

The thing is, cabbage rolls - when low carbbed up - are a great food to have on hand. A bit of work goes a LONG way, and you can be living off cabbage rolls for a while!

They reheat well, and are great as a kind of... modular? .. Food. Grab one as a snack, or more for a meal.

Heat em up, slap some sour cream on the plate, and you’re good to go!

Cabbage is a great option for low carb diets, I really need to start coming up with some more keto cabbage recipes.

Anyway, I digress.

I swapped the rice out in favour of cauliflower, and ended up with something a lot more diet friendly... and just as tasty!

As a note: I used ground chicken, rather then ground beef. My husband can’t handle eating beef, and only a bit of bacon.

So, I went with chicken for the ground meat, and real bacon with it. This is totally customizable to your tastes and needs, though:

Low Carb Cabbage Roll Variations

These Keto Cabbage rolls are actually fairly customizable, and - truth be told - I don’t really make them exactly the same, from batch to batch.

Here are some ways you can customize to your tastes / needs

Traditional Cabbage Rolls

Use ground beef instead of ground chicken. Or, use half and half - pork and beef.

All Poultry Cabbage Rolls

Use ground chicken or turkey, and chicken or turkey bacon instead of pork bacon.

Add Caraway

That’s it. Just add some caraway seeds to the filling, to taste. SO good!

Add Parsley

Chop up ¼ cup of parsley and add it to the filling just before rolling.

Add Dill

You can add a tablespoon or so of dill weed - or ¼ cup chopped fresh dill - if you’d like, just before rolling.

Feel free to add more or less, based on your taste.

Keto Cabbage Roll Casserole

Don’t want to fuss with the rolling? Make a low carb cabbage roll casserole, instead!

Make the filling, and chop up the cabbage leaves.

Layer them - cabbage, filling, cabbage, filling, cabbage - in a greased baking pan, then pour the sauce over it.

Cover and bake as directed for the actual cabbage rolls.

If you’d like, add some grated Parmesan cheese on top after baking, and broil for a few minutes.

How to Make Keto Cabbage Rolls

Full recipe follows, here's the pictorial walk-through:

Cabbage:

Get a large stockpot of water boiling.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut any remaining stem off the end of your cabbage head. Angling the knife inward, cut a cone of the core out.

If you’re feeling industrious, you can carve away more of the core, but I usually just hack as I go, from here.

Place the cabbage head(s) in the boiling water, and allow to cook for a few minutes. As the outer leaves soften, use a fork or tongs to remove the leaves and transfer to a large bowl.

Eventually, you’ll come to leaves that are still secured to the core.

I usually use a couple tongs to remove the cabbage from the water and cut through more of the core, repeating as necessary.

As this is going on, prepare your filling:

Filling:

In a large pan, cook your bacon until cooked but not crispy.

Add your ground meat, onion, garlic, and the bay leaves. Continue cooking - breaking up the ground meat as you go - until the meat is browned and cooked through.

Add cauliflower rice and ½ cup of chicken stock to the pan. Continue cooking - stirring frequently - until the liquid is all absorbed/cooked off.

Remove bay leaves. Add chopped parsley and/or dill weed - if you’re using it - stir well.

Season with salt and pepper (and caraway seeds, if using) to taste, set aside to cool.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 350 F, grease two 9 x 12" pans.

Select several large cabbage leaves. I like to cut a “v” in the base (see photos in the post) to remove most of the thickest part of the stem.

On a clean work surface, lay out one prepared cabbage leaf. Scoop some of the rice filling - usually ⅓ to ½ cup, depending on how large the leaf is - in the center of the leaf.

Roll the bottom of the leaf tightly over the filling. As the bottom edge of the leaf starts to roll under the filling, tightly fold both loose side ends of the leaf in, and continue to roll up to the end of the leaf.

Place cabbage roll seam side down in a pan. Repeat rolling until you’re out of filling.

Whisk together the chicken broth with the Rao’s Marinara, blending until smooth.

Pour half of the thinned marinara over each pan of cabbage rolls, cover tightly with foil.

Bake for 80 minutes.

Remove pans from the oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before uncovering and serving. (If you have the patience!)

Serve hot, with sour cream.

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5 from 2 votes

Keto Cabbage Rolls

These keto cabbage rolls may be low carb, but they're foll of flavour and texture! You'll never miss the rice (replaced with cauliflower!)

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Polish, Ukrainian

Diet: Diabetic, Gluten Free, Low Lactose

Servings: 28 Cabbage rolls

Calories: 133kcal

Equipment

• Two 9 x 13" baking pans

Ingredients

• 1 Large green cabbage
• 1 lb Bacon chopped
• 2 lbs Ground chicken or beef
• 1 Onion chopped
• 6 Garlic cloves pressed or minced
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 Large head cauliflower riced
• 1 ½ cups Chicken broth divided
• ¼ cup Chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon Dill weed optional
• Caraway seeds
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup Rao’s Marinara sauce

Instructions

Cabbage:

• Get a large stockpot of water boiling.
• Using a sharp knife, carefully cut any remaining stem off the end of your cabbage head. Angling the knife inward, cut a cone of the core out.
• If you’re feeling industrious, you can carve away more of the core, but I usually just hack as I go, from here.
• Place the cabbage head(s) in the boiling water, and allow to cook for a few minutes. As the outer leaves soften, use a fork or tongs to remove the leaves and transfer to a large bowl.
• Eventually, you’ll come to leaves that are still secured to the core.
• I usually use a couple tongs to remove the cabbage from the water and cut through more of the core, repeating as necessary.
• As this is going on, prepare your filling:

Filling:

• In a large pan, cook your bacon until cooked but not crispy.
• Add your ground meat, onion, garlic, and the bay leaves. Continue cooking - breaking up the ground meat as you go - until the meat is browned and cooked through.
• Add cauliflower rice and chicken broth to the pan. Continue cooking - stirring frequently - until the liquid is all absorbed/cooked off.
• Remove bay leaves. Add chopped parsley and/or dill weed - if you’re using it - stir well. Season with salt and pepper (and caraway seeds, if using) to taste, set aside to cool.

Assembly & Baking

• Preheat oven to 350 F, grease two 9 x 12" pans.
• Select several large cabbage leaves. I like to cut a “v” in the base (see photos in the post) to remove most of the thickest part of the stem.
• On a clean work surface, lay out one prepared cabbage leaf. Scoop some of the rice filling - usually ⅓ to ½ cup, depending on how large the leaf is - in the center of the leaf.
• Roll the bottom of the leaf tightly over the filling. As the bottom edge of the leaf starts to roll under the filling, tightly fold both loose side ends of the leaf in, and continue to roll up to the end of the leaf. (See post for photos and video of technique!)
• Place cabbage roll seam side down in a pan. Repeat rolling until you’re out of filling.
• Whisk together the remaining chicken broth with the Rao’s Marinara, blending until smooth.
• Pour half of the thinned marinara over each pan of cabbage rolls, cover tightly with foil.
• Bake for 80 minutes.
• Remove pans from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before uncovering and serving. (If you have the patience!)
• Serve hot, with sour cream.

Notes

Nutritional info was calculated using ground chicken, and will differ slightly if you use beef.

Nutrition

Calories: 133kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 231mg | Potassium: 368mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 123IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg

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Keto Perogies Pierogi Soup Keto Chicken Biryani Mediterranean Chicken Salad