Holubtsi with meat ready

Holubtsi (often spelled as Holubci), better known as stuffed cabbage rolls, is a cherished Ukrainian dish that has a revered place on the dining table. It is impossible to find a Ukrainian festival or event, social, or family gathering (especially a Christmas dinner or a wedding) that goes without the scrumptious and filling cabbage rolls. This special dish warms our bodies, unites us, brings back special childhood memories, and reminds us that the beautiful traditions and wisdom of generations will outlast the troubles of the day.

The roots of the holubtsi recipe can be traced back to ancient times. Similar rolls made from vine leaves exist in Asian and Balkan national cuisines. The cabbage rolls are well known in many Eastern and Northern European countries, too, such as Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Finland. The Polish name for cabbage rolls (Galumpki, Gołąbki, or Halupki) has the same root as the Ukrainian Holubtsi, where the word “holub” (gołąb in Polish) means “dove,” and in old times, holubtsi symbolized these birds. The silhouettes of doves were used to decorate wedding trees, cakes, and in embroidered towels. Cooked doves were served to the bride and groom on their wedding night, as the symbol of family and love, while the guests received “holubtsi” – the cabbage rolls.

Ukrainian holubtsi can be prepared in a variety of ways, with each cook adding their own unique twist. Some like their cabbage rolls small, others like them medium-sized; some cook their holubtsi in the oven, while others in a pot, casserole dish, or slow cooker. However, the cabbage rolls cooking method that emerged over generations largely remains the same. The soft-boiled cabbage leaves are stuffed with minced meat, rice (in Ukraine originally it was millet or buckwheat), chopped onions, then wrapped and cooked slowly with tomato sauce. As the stuffed rolls simmer, the cabbage leaves soften, and, in combination with the juicy filling, turn into a mouthwatering dish.

Vegetarian holubtsi, where mushrooms replace meat, are popular, too. Originally, Ukrainian holubtsi were vegetarian and meat was not added to the filling. Below you will find a recipe for vegetarian cabbage rolls too that features mushrooms and buckwheat along with sweet red pepper, garlic, and paprika.

The taste of good Ukrainian cabbage rolls should be sour-sweet, not bitter, and not spicy — this is how we remember traditional holubtsi from our childhood. And of course, we like to add sour cream to the tomato paste. Cabbage rolls are very filling. With just two hours of preparation time, you can make a main dish that will feed your entire family for at least two days!

Ukrainian cabbage rolls are a beloved dish in Ukrainian cuisine that embodies the country’s rich culinary traditions. This hearty dish has been enjoyed in Ukrainian households for generations, and it continues to be a popular choice for special occasions and holidays. If you are interested in exploring the roots and the cultural significance of Ukrainian cuisine, we invite you to check out our page on Ukrainian Culinary Traditions.

vegetarian cabbage rolls ready

Traditional Ukrainian Holubtsi with Meat Recipe

Whether you are looking for a comforting family dinner or a dish to impress your guests, this traditional Ukrainian Holubtsi with Meat recipe is a must-try. The aroma of the cabbage and meat cooking together fills the house with a mouth-watering scent, and the flavors are even better than the smell. The tender cabbage leaves provide the perfect texture for the savory meat filling, which is seasoned with a blend of herbs and spices that give it an amazing flavor.

Holubtsi with meat ready

Ukrainian Holubtsi with Meat

Lesya
Ukrainian cabbage rolls with meat, or "holubtsi", are a classic Ukrainian dish that consists of blanched cabbage leaves filled with a mixture of ground beef or pork, rice, onions, garlic, and spices. The rolls are then baked in a tomato sauce until tender. We add sour cream to the sauce.
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 1 hr 30 mins
Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Ukrainian
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

Ingredients:

  • 1 cabbage
  • 2 cups tomato paste or our sauce # 1 or 2
  • 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
  • 50 g butter optional

Filling:

  • ¾ cup rice soaked overnight
  • 2 pounds meat chicken, turkey, pork, or beef
  • 1 sweet pepper
  • 2 heads of onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 4 brown mushrooms
  • 2 carrots medium size
  • 1 Pinch of black pepper
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • Basil spices to taste
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

How to unwrap the cabbage

  • Fill half of the pot with water and bring the water to a boil, add some salt. Reduce the heat to medium.
  • Remove the core from the cabbage with a knife. Put the whole cabbage in the boiling water. The whole cabbage should be covered with boiling water. Cover the pot with the lid. In about 10 minutes, the leaves on the surface of the cabbage will soften.
    removing the core cabbage rolls
  • With the help of tongs or forks, peel the soft leaves, however, keep them and the cabbage in the boiling water.  Remove those that have become supple and cooked, as you continue to unwrap the cabbage.
    Unwrapping cabbage
  • Place the cooked leaves on a big platter and set aside to cool.1
  • Once the leaves have cooled, trim the thick stems so that every leaf looks soft enough for rolling.
    trimming cabbage leaves

How to prepare the filling

  • Preheat the frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and reduce to medium.
  • Chop the onion and garlic, put on the pan, and sauté until golden.
  • Meanwhile, chop the mushrooms. Then add them to the pan, mix well and continue to sauté for 5 minutes.
  • Chop the red sweet pepper and grate 1 carrot. Add them to the vegetables in the pan. Also, add paprika and mix well all the ingredients. Cover the pan with the lid and continue to sauté for about 5 minutes. If you have basil spices, it is time to add them too.2
    adding mushrooms
  • Add the ground meat to the vegetables, sprinkle with black pepper, add ½ teaspoon of salt, break the lumps until the meat is an even mass, mix well with the vegetables, cover the pan with the lid and stir for 10-15 minutes, until the meat is ready.
  • The final step is to add the pre-cooked rice, mix well with all the other ingredients on the pan and sauté for about 2-3 minutes.
    Stirring the filling
  • Put the filling aside to cool.3

How to make the cabbage rolls

  • Take a leaf in your palm so it sits like a cup and put a tablespoon of the filling on it. (If the leaf is bigger, put 2 tablespoons). Tuck in one side of the leaf, then another, as if you were folding an envelope, ensuring that the filling doesn’t fall out.
    Making cabbage rolls
  • Then roll the leaf until it is sealed. If the leaves are small, you can just roll the stuffed leaf and then tuck both sides to close it.4
    Rolling holutsi
  • Fill your pot or casserole dish with cabbage rolls in layers add bay leaves between the rows. When the pot or casserole dish is full of holubtsi, pour the hot cabbage broth to cover ¾ of the pan. Add leftovers of the red pepper or grated carrots and sprinkle your holubtsi with basil spices or fresh dill and parsley. Pour 5-6 tablespoons of tomato sauce on the top layer and bundle up your holubtsi with boiled cabbage leaves.5
    holubtsi in a baking dish
  • Cover the pan tightly with the foil and put it in the oven for 2 – 2.5 hours. If you use a pot, put the broth to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot with the lid and simmer holubtsi for approximately 1 – 1.5 hours. The preparation time depends on the softness of the cabbage leaves.
  • When the rolls are ready, you can open the foil and let them broil for 2-3 minutes.
  • Serve warm. Put the sour cream or fresh dill or parsley on the side.6
    Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls Holubtsi

How to make the tomato paste and sour cream sauce

  • Take 200g of tomato paste, Ketchup of diced tomatoes, and add 1-2 tablespoons of sour cream. Mix well.
  • Add ½ of a grated carrot and/or ½ of a sliced red pepper.
  • Add paprika, fresh dill, and parsley to the mixture. There is no need to precook this sauce.
    tomato paste with sour cream sauce

How to make sour cream and mushrooms sauce

  • Chop ½ of onion, 2-3 gloves of garlic, and put on the preheated frying pan. Sauté for 5 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, chop 200 g of brown or white mushrooms.7
  • Add the mushrooms to the onion and garlic in the pan, and simmer under the lid for about 10 minutes.
    frying mushrooms for sauce
  • Add 8 tablespoons of sour cream, and season with spices, such as black pepper, paprika, chives, marjoram, dill, parsley, or basil. Add salt to taste.
  • Cover with the lid and sauté the sauce for 5-8 minutes.
    mushrooms and sour cream sauce

Notes

Tip 1: Turn off the heat, but don’t discharge the cabbage broth, you can use it later for steaming the rolls.
Tip 2: Add spices when the food is being prepared on the frying pan to help the spices unleash their flavors and taste.
Tip 3: For convenience put the filling in a bowl close to you when you start working on the cabbage rolls. 
Tip 4: If you cook cabbage rolls in the oven, as we did for this recipe, you can just coat the bottom of the pan with melted butter. It is better to cover the bottom of a pot or casserole dish with cabbage leaves so holubtsi don’t stick to the bottom. We found that cooking in a pot is faster.
Tip 5: We like to add 1-2 tablespoons of sour cream to the tomato paste. Try it if you will like it too. (See our sauce recipes # 1 or # 2)
Tip 6: Put the leftovers in the refrigerator. Many Ukrainian housewives like to warm up holubtsi in a frying pan and sprinkle them with fried onion.
Tip 7: Add portobello or shiitake mushrooms for a better taste.
Keyword cabbage rolls, dish with cabbage, Ground beef or pork, holubtsi, Ukraine, Ukrainian cuisine, Ukrainian recipies, Ukrainian traditions

Hearty and Healthy: Ukrainian Vegetarian Holubtsi

Originally, Ukrainian Holubtsi were vegetarian, as the meat was an expensive delicacy affordable only for special holidays. Rice was an exotic grain in Ukraine, and the first cabbage rolls were made of buckwheat or millet mixed with mushrooms, and carrots. Instead of meat, the recipe that you will find below features a delicious filling made from a blend of buckwheat, mushrooms, and vegetables, seasoned with a variety of herbs and spices. 

ingredients for vegetable filling cabbage rolls

Another variation of vegetarian cabbage rolls was with potatoes and onion. We like both recipes but tried to make the second one more picante and added grated parmesan cheese on top of the rolls. We used two small cabbages to try both fillings – one for recipe # 1 and one cabbage for recipe # 2 and boiled them in two pots. Then we separated and trimmed the leaves and soften stubborn parts with a tenderizer.

tendering cabbage leaves

vegetarian cabbage rolls ready

Ukrainian Vegetarian Holubtsi with Buckwheat and Mushrooms – Recipe #1

Lesya
Ukrainian cabbage rolls with buckwheat and mushrooms is a delicious variation of the classic Ukrainian dish. This recipe features blanched cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of buckwheat, mushrooms, onions, and garlic, seasoned with herbs and spices. The cabbage rolls are then baked in a tomato sauce until tender and served hot with a mushroom sauce on top.
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 1 hr 30 mins
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Ukrainian
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

Filling Ingredients

  • 300 g buckwheat1 roasted
  • 400 g mushrooms white,brown, or portobello
  • 1 tbsp flaxseed oil
  • 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
  • 1 head of onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 carrot medium size
  • Pinch of black pepper
  • Spices: balsamic basil, fresh dill, coriander or parsley
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

  • Put buckwheat in boiling water, reduce the heat to medium, add ½ teaspoon of salt,and boil for 8 minutes. Strain the buckwheat and add 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil, mix well so the grains don’t stick together.
  • Chop mushrooms, onion, garlic, dill, and coriander or parsley. Grate the carrots.
    cutting the ingredients cabbage rolls
  • Preheat the frying pan, reduce to medium, and add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Add onion and garlic, sauté for 5 minutes, add carrots and mix well, and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes.
  • On a second preheated frying pan, reduce the heat to medium, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, and add chopped mushrooms, sauté for 5 minutes. Add the buckwheat and mix well.
  • Add the mushrooms and buckwheat to the onion and carrots on the first pan, sprinkle with black pepper and spices, mix well, and let it stir for 2-3 minutes. Add salt to taste.2
    vegetable filling on a pan cabbage rolls
  • Once the filling is ready, stuff the cabbage leaves.
    stuffing cabbage leaves
  • Roll them, and put them in a pot covered with leaves.
    Rolling cabbage leave holubtsi
  • Cover 2/3 of the cabbage rolls with the hot cabbage broth mixed with 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
    adding cabbage broth to cabbage rolls
  • Add 2-3 bay leaves and put the sauce with sour cream and mushrooms on top (see our sauce recipe # 2), and cover with spare cabbage leaves.
    covering holubtsi with cabbage leaves
  • Bring the broth to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the cabbage rolls for 1 –1.5 hours. Serve warm with the mushroom sauce # 2.
    vegetarian holubtsi in a pot

Notes

Tip 1: If you use the buckwheat imported from Ukraine, no need to roast it. Just wash in cold water and remove the husks. The buckwheat grown and sold in Canada needs some roasting for better taste.
Tip 2: Preparation of the filling should take 10 minutes at maximum, and if the mushrooms are fresh and firm, they won’t release water and will fry quickly.
Keyword cabbage rolls, holubtsi, Mushrooms, Ukraine, Ukrainian recipes, vegerarian cabbage rolls
cabbage rolls with potato and parmesan

Ukrainian Vegetarian Holubtsi with Potatoes and Onion – Recipe #2

Lesya
Ukrainian cabbage rolls with potatoes and onion, are an ancient Ukrainian dish made with blanched cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of mashed potatoes, sautéed onion, and spices. We also like to sprinkle our cabbage rolls with shaved parmesan cheese.
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 1 hr 30 mins
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Ukrainian
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

Ingredients

  • 1 small cabbage
  • Parmesan cheese 4-5 tablespoons
  • Tomato or Mushroom sauce
  • Spices and salt to taste
  • 5 large potatoes
  • 1 head of onion
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
  • Pinch of black pepper
  • Species: balsamic basil, fresh dill, coriander or parsley
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

  • Grate the onion, and then grate the potatoes, mix well (so potatoes don’t turn greyish).1
    potato and onion in a blender cabbage rolls
  • Preheat the frying pan, reduce to medium heat, and add vegetable oil.
  • Add the grated potatoes and onion, add squeezed garlic, salt to taste, and spices and fry for 5-7 minutes.
    Potato filling on a frying pan
  • Cover with the lid and simmer for another 5 minutes.
  • Set aside to cool.
  • Once the potato filling is ready, stuff the cabbage leaves, roll them, and put them in a pot covered with leaves.
  • Cover 2/3 of the cabbage rolls with the hot cabbage broth, add 2-3 bay leaves and put the sauce with sour cream and mushrooms on top (see our sauce recipe # 2) or tomato paste (recipe # 1), and cover with spare cabbage leaves.
    Simmering cabbage rolls with potato
  • Bring the broth to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the cabbage rolls for 1 –1.5 hours.
  • Serve warm with mushroom sauce or tomato sauce. Sprinkle holubtsi with shaved parmesan cheese.
    cabbage rolls with potato and parmesan

Notes

Tip 1: It is easier and faster to do it in a blender or chopper.
Tip 2: We tried dry dill in this recipe, however, we found that it is better to use the fresh dill for better taste.
Keyword cabbage rolls, holubtsi, Mushrooms, Ukraine, Ukrainian recipes, Ukrainian traditions, vegerarian cabbage rolls

How to Separate Cabbage Leaves for Cabbage Rolls?

To separate cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls, you need to remove the core and boil the whole cabbage until the leaves become soft and easy to unwrap. Do some preliminary planning to make it a less challenging task. Prepare a big pot, a sharp knife, a pair of tongs (two forks will make the work too), and a big platter for cooked leaves. Have an additional smaller pot or kettle with hot boiled water handy to add water when it evaporates from the big pot. And of course, you will need a good, easy-to-unwrap cabbage.

Bring the water to a boil, add some salt, place the cabbage in the water, reduce the heat to medium, and cover the pot with a lid. Let the cabbage simmer for 10 minutes, then using the forks or tongs remove the supple leaves and put them aside on a big platter. Unwrap all the leaves as you continue to boil the cabbage.

What is the Best Type of Cabbage for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls?

The white cabbage is the best cabbage for Ukrainian cabbage rolls. White cabbage leaves are relatively soft and need less time for cooking — which is why it’s also ideal for cabbage stews. On the other hand, the new or green cabbage has hard leaves, and it is difficult to work with them. Red cabbage or Nappa cabbage are not used for Ukrainian holubtsi. Savoy cabbage was not known in Ukraine, which is why it wasn’t used for cabbage rolls. However, Savoy’s leaves have an appealing structure, they are flexible, which makes them also good for stuffing cabbage rolls.

Why is the Meat in my Cabbage Rolls Not Ready?

The meat in your cabbage rolls is not ready because either the cooking time wasn’t long enough or because the cabbage leaves were hard, and your cabbage rolls required more cooking time to get ready overall. You might have used chopped meat instead of ground meat. To ensure that the meat is ready use the ground meat and precook it as we do in our recipe. Precooking will allow you to control the readiness of the meat and make it a more delicious filling because it will be cooked with onion, garlic, spices, and salt.

What Kind of Meat to Use for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls?

You can use any kind of meat you like for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls. Traditionally, Ukrainian holubtsi were made with ground pork or beef. However, if you don’t eat red meat, you can use chicken or turkey. Some housewives use raw meat and mix it with raw rice. We prefer to precook the meat as well as the rice to make sure they are ready. The filling will still be juicy. If you cook the whole piece of meat and then mince it, most likely the filling will be dry. We didn’t try holubtsi with sausage, so no comment on this type of processed meat.

How to Prepare the Filling for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls?

To prepare the filling for Ukrainian cabbage rolls, you need to chop all the ingredients, mix well with meat, season them and fry in a deep, frying pan with the lid in stages until the meat is ready. Traditionally, Ukrainians use pork or beef for holubtsi, however, you can use any type of meat you like – chicken, turkey, or lamb. You can make vegetarian holubtsi and replace meat with mushrooms and rice with buckwheat. In our recipe, we soaked the rice overnight to get rid of the excess starch, then strained it and only half-cooked it so it doesn’t turn into a mashed mass when you make cabbage rolls. It depends on the quality of the rice, but generally, putting uncooked rice in the filling is not the best idea, as you may end up with unready and crispy rice, or you will have to overcook the cabbage rolls. We don’t use eggs for the filling as the filling holds well without it and we don’t remember that eggs were used in the Ukrainian traditional recipe. However, the Polish Gołąbki may contain boiled eggs.

How to Make Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls?

To make Ukrainian cabbage rolls you need to have a cabbage and a filling. Every cabbage leaf is different, and if the leaves are too big, cut them into two pieces. If the leaves are moderate in size, no need to make them small, as the filling can fall out from the angles, and it will take much more time to roll them up. If you feel comfortable rolling small pieces of leaves, go for it. In some villages of Western Ukraine housewives like to make small holubtsi in the shape of cones. After you have softened the cabbage leaves, prepare the filling. It can be with meat or with vegetables, with rice or with buckwheat. We like to add mushrooms to the filling. Also, you will need to have a tomato paste or another sauce to cover the cabbage rolls.

To cook holubtsi, you’ll need an oven pan, pot, or casserole dish ready. Enameled cast iron casseroles with thick bottoms are ideal, and the preparation time in them will take only an hour or 1 ½ hour at most. In the oven, the preparation takes as long as 2 or 3 hours, depending on the size of the rolls and the softness of the cabbage leaves. Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Follow the steps in the instructions on how to roll and season holubtsi before you simmer them.

How to Make a Sauce for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls?

Usually, the sauce for Ukrainian cabbage rolls is made of tomato paste and very simple spices, such as fresh dill and parsley. Sour cream is very popular in Ukrainian cuisine and the recipe of the sauce for cabbage rolls is not an exception (See our recipe # 1). In Ukrainian cuisine, the sauce made of mushrooms sauteed in sour cream is popular too (see our sauce recipe # 2), as it adds an additional delicious taste and flavor to Holubtsi. We use mushrooms in our other recipes, such as The Dried and Fresh Mushroom Stew.

What Spices to Use for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls?

Traditionally, Ukrainians didn’t use bitter spices, such as thyme, oregano, and the like. The taste of holubtsi must be sour-sweet, and it can be achieved if you use paprika, dill, parsley, garlic, onion, marjoram, basil, chives, and black pepper. Usually, bay leaves are added on top of the sauce when you simmer the cabbage rolls.

Is it Better to Freeze or Boil Cabbage for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls?

It is better to boil cabbage to separate the leaves for Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls. We tried the freezing method and didn’t find that it helps to separate the leaves. We removed the core and put the cabbage in the freezer overnight. The next morning, we removed the cabbage from the refrigerator, and let the cabbage thaw out for about 4-5 hours. Only the top leaves were easy to unwrap, but they were still not soft enough to roll. We reverted to the old “boiling” method, which worked fine as usual. Freezing should still work for savoy cabbage as the savoy leaves do not stick so firmly to each other; however, this is only an assumption.

What are Polish Cabbage Rolls Made of?

The Polish recipe for cabbage rolls is very similar to the Ukrainian one. Soft cabbage leaves are stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, sausage or pork, long grain rice, and onions and simmered for 1-2 hours in a tomato paste. The Polish recipe may also include cider vinegar and brown sugar in the tomato sauce, and mushrooms or boiled eggs in the filling. In both Polish and Ukrainian cuisines, sour cream can be added to the sauce. In Ukrainian cuisine, the sauce made of mushrooms sauteed in sour cream is popular (see our sauce recipe # 2), but we didn’t see it in the Polish recipe as often.

Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls: Conclusion

We hope that you have enjoyed our recipe for Ukrainian cabbage rolls. This soul-warming dish has nutritional value, as cabbage is well-known for its health benefits and the ingredients of the filling are wholesome. We have added some tips for you that will help you prepare this tasty Ukrainian dish. If you want to share your experience or your little secrets that will help improve the taste or the method of the preparation, you are welcome to add your comment! If you like this recipe, you may want to share it on social media, too. Let’s spread the word about the beautiful Ukrainian traditions and delicious Ukrainian cuisine. Thank you for being with us, please visit our website for more recipes in the near future!

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