This easy recipe for Instant Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls has all the flavor of traditional cabbage rolls, but without all the work! This healthy, veggie-packed dinner is low carb, gluten-free, and easily made keto or dairy free.
Anyone who has ever made traditional cabbage rolls can tell you how much work they require. You have to cook the cabbage in advance (and keep each piece intact!), cook the filling, then painstakingly fill and roll each individual piece. It's definitely a labor of love!
And while some days call for a more involved meal, sometimes you want all the flavor of a classic comfort food, but without all of the work! This easy recipe for Instant Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls is here to rescue you from hours in the kitchen.
It's packed with all the same flavors of traditional cabbage rolls, but it's wayyyy less work. It's also easy to customize for a variety of diets since it's naturally low-carb and gluten-free. With just a simple swap it can also be either keto or dairy free. That makes a dish that the whole family can enjoy together.
Reasons to Love This Recipe
- Has all the flavors of cabbage rolls - without all the work!
- A great low-carb or keto option for enjoying this classic comfort food.
- If you want to serve it with rice, you can easily cook some using the pot-in-pot method!
- Made with inexpensive ground beef and cabbage, making it the perfect budget-friendly meal.
Ingredients
- Ground beef: I recommend using lean ground beef, as it tends to keep its volume and you'll have less grease to drain.
- Cabbage: You'll need one small head of green cabbage, cored and chopped. If you prefer, you could use a few bags of coleslaw mix to make it super easy.
- Fire-roasted tomatoes: In my opinion, these make all the difference! Fire-roasted tomatoes add big flavor to a variety of dishes, so I highly recommend that you use them if available. If not, regular diced will work fine.
- Tomato sauce: A little bit of tomato sauce is needed to give that authentic cabbage roll flavor.
- Broth: I recommend using beef broth, but you can use whatever type you happen to have on hand.
- Garlic: You'll need about 3 cloves of fresh garlic or 3 teaspoons of minced garlic.
- Onions: A small onion is softened with the garlic and cabbage, making for the perfect blend of aromatics for this simple recipe.
- Butter: This is used to add flavor and to help soften the onions and cabbage, but if you need the recipe to be dairy-free, feel free to swap it out for avocado oil.
- Worcestershire: A secret ingredient! This adds such a yummy flavor. I mean, who doesn't love Worcestershire? Even if we can't pronounce it half of the time.
- Brown sugar: This is optional, but rounds out the flavor nicely! If you need it to be sugar-free, feel free to omit or use a sugar-free brown sugar substitute like this one.
- Seasonings: Including salt, pepper, dried dill, paprika, and 2 whole bay leaf.
How to Make Instant Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
To get started, select the "saute" function of your Instant Pot. If it prompts you to select a time, select 30 minutes to give yourself plenty of time.
Once the pot is hot, add in the butter and swirl to melt. As soon as it begins to sizzle, add in the onion and saute until soft, or for 2-4 minutes. Then add in the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute).
As soon as the garlic becomes fragrant, add in the cabbage and toss to coat in the buttery onions and garlic.
Saute the cabbage for several minutes, or until it has softened slightly with a few brown edges. Then remove the cabbage, onion, and garlic to a bowl. Set it aside (but don't worry, we're coming back for it in a minute!).
Browning the Ground Beef
Add the ground beef into the hot instant pot, breaking up the larger chunks with the bottom of a wooden spoon.
Cook until the ground beef is browned throughout and no pink spots remain. Then remove the excess grease with a spoon, or drain the beef in a colander over a bowl. Then return the drained ground beef to the Instant Pot.
Add in the fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, paprika, dill, and bay leaves. Stir well to combine and scrape the bottom of the pot using the end of your wooden spoon, removing any browned bits that may cause a burn notice.
Then add the reserved cabbage, onions, and garlic back into the Instant Pot.
Finally, stir everything together really well and hit "cancel" on your Instant Pot to turn off the saute function. If you want to cook rice using the pot-in-pot method, prepare that now (See the instructions in the "Can I Add Rice?" section below).
Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set the valve to "sealing". Then set the pot to 6-7 minutes on manual pressure. Cook for 7 minutes if you like your cabbage very soft, or for 6 minutes if you like it just tender.
Can I Add Rice?
If you want to serve your unstuffed cabbage rolls with rice, you can absolutely do that! There are two options: pot-in-pot, or adding fresh hot cooked rice (I recommend my Instant Pot White Rice method).
If you want to cook alongside the rest of the meal, I recommend using the pot-in-pot method. This involves placing 1 cup of rice with 1 cup of broth or water inside of a pressure-safe pot or dish (this one is safe to use for this method), along with 1 teaspoon of oil or butter and ½ teaspoon of salt. Top with a sheet of foil. Make sure to do a 10-minute natural pressure release before doing a quick release.
Then, open the rice, fluff it with a fork, and stir it into the rest of the dish (or serve on the side).
Tips for Success
- Make sure to prep all your vegetables in advance so they are ready to be added as soon as they're needed. The cabbage especially can take a bit of time, so having it ready will prevent any mishaps during cooking.
- Don't forget to scrape the bottom of the pot after browning the ground beef. This will ensure you don't get a burn notice and add all those bits of flavor back into the dish. It's easy to do once you add the liquid, then just use the bottom of your wooden spoon to scrape everything up.
- Remove any grease from the ground beef after browning. This will pool at the top and is unappetizing, so unless there is very little extra fat (as is the case with grass-fed beef), take care to remove it.
- Fire-roasted tomatoes have a lot more flavor than your standard can of tomatoes, and so I highly recommend using them if you can find them. If not, it's totally fine to use regular diced tomatoes.
Variations and Substitutions
Dairy Free: substitute the butter for 1 tablespoon of avocado oil or your favorite neutral cooking oil.
Gluten free: The recipe as written is completely gluten-free. Verify your brand of Worcestershire sauce is gluten-free to be certain!
Keto/Low Carb/Sugar Free: Omit the brown sugar or substitute it for a keto-friendly brown sugar substitute like this one.
More Easy Instant Pot Dinner Ideas:
- Instant Pot Hamburger Helper
- Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup
- 5 Ingredient Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
- Instant Pot Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Instant Pot Hamburger Soup
Instant Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon butter or oil
- 1 large onion peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 small head green cabbage cored and chopped
- 1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- ½ cup low sodium beef broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar optional; or sugar free substitute
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika smoked if possible
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Plug in your Instant Pot and select the "sauté" function. If you are prompted to select a time, select 30 minutes so as to give yourself plenty of time to preheat the pot and sauté your vegetables.
- Once the pot is hot, add the butter and swirl with a wooden spoon to melt.
- Once the butter is melted and starting to sizzle, add in the chopped onion and saute until translucent, approximately 2-4 minutes.
- Once the onion is soft, add in the garlic and saute just until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- As soon as the garlic has released its scent, add in the chopped cabbage and toss to coat with the buttery onion and garlic mixture. Saute, tossing the mixture frequently, until the cabbage is slightly softened and browned on some of the edges.
- Remove the cabbage, onions, and garlic from the Instant Pot into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Add the ground beef to the still-hot Instant Pot, using a wooden spoon to break it up into crumbles as it cooks.
- Cook until the ground beef is brown and no pink spots remain.
- Once the ground beef is cooked, use a spoon to remove any excess grease. Alternatively, you could drain it in a colander and return the drained ground beef to the pot.
- Once the grease has been drained or spooned off, add in the undrained can of fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, paprika, dill, and bay leaves. Stir well to combine and scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any browned bits.
- Add the cabbage, onion, and garlic back into the Instant Pot and stir it together with the tomato and ground beef mixture. Select the "cancel" button to get out of saute mode.
- NOTE: If you want to cook rice with your Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls, you can add it now using the pot-in-pot method. See the notes for instructions*.
- Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set the valve to the "sealing" position.
- Set the Instant Pot to manual pressure and cook for 6-7 minutes. Cook for 7 minutes if you like your cabbage very soft, and 6 minutes if you like it tender.
- Once the time is up, do a quick pressure release by carefully switching the valve to "venting".
- Once all the pressure has been released and the pin has dropped, carefully open the lid away from your face.
- Stir everything together very well, then serve and enjoy!
- If you want to serve it with rice, you can stir cooked rice right into the Instant Pot, or serve it individually, spooning the unstuffed cabbage rolls over mounds of hot cooked rice.
Notes
Nutrition
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Steve says
This was really tasty, and low carb too. We didn't add rice - we just ate it as is. It was tasty, healthy, and filling. Will make again.