Low Carb Keto Cabbage Rolls Recipe without Rice (2024)

Enjoy tasty low carb and keto cabbage rolls without rice that are just as delicious as traditional cabbage rolls with this easy to make keto cabbage rolls recipe! This low carb cabbage rolls recipe takes comfort food we love and makes it low carb and keto friendly without losing any flavor!

Low Carb Keto Cabbage Rolls Recipe without Rice

Comfort food is not something I want to give up just because I am ditching the carb and following the ketogenic diet. I love my comfort food and so does my family, so to make things work well in our house I have fun creating low carb recipes of our favorite traditional comfort foods. This low-carb cabbage rolls recipe is super easy to make, made with simple ingredients, and has all the flavors of cabbage rolls we love.

One of my kid’s favorite meals is stuffed cabbage rolls (normally I make crockpot stuffed cabbage rolls), however, my original recipe is made with white rice. To keep things low carb I made a few changes and used riced cauliflower instead of rice and they were a total hit!

What was even more fantastic was that the entire family didn’t even realize they were eating a low carb meal until a few bites in. Then they told me the flavors made them not even care that I had ditched the rice and exchanged it for riced cauliflower.

Making cabbage rolls low carb is perfect for sticking to a low carb diet and making a dinner the whole family will enjoy. It is the perfect keto option if you love the classic dish of stuffed cabbage.

Tender cabbage leaves, stuffed with ground beef, riced cauliflower, and spices topped with tomato sauce then baked in the oven. It is the perfect cabbage rolls without rice recipe for those who are enjoying low-carb diets. If you are looking for a low carb and keto dinner recipe that the whole family will enjoy this is one to add to your keto meal plan!

Keto Cabbage Recipes

• Roasted Cabbage steaks
• Egg roll in a bowl
• Keto Coleslaw

Are Cabbage Rolls low Carb?

Traditional cabbage rolls are not low carb, this healthy cabbage rolls recipe without rice is not only healthy but also low carb.

In this recipe, we have swapped the white rice for cauliflower rice and in doing so makes enjoy cabbage rolls while keto easy!

How Many Carbs in Cabbage Rolls?

Made with a low carb sauce there are 5g carbs per cabbage roll in this recipe with 1g fiber giving a net carbs of 4g. If you using a tomato sauce that is higher in carbs then you may have more carbs in yours.

What Meat is best for Low Carb Cabbage Rolls?

One of the greatest things about cabbage rolls, you can use just about any ground meat that you have on hand and they will taste amazing! We have used ground pork, ground venison, and ground turkey in place of the ground beef in this recipe over the years and every time they come out perfect.

What sauce is best for Low Carb Stuffed Cabbage Rolls?

The one thing I like about making stuffed cabbage rolls is that I can use just about any pasta sauce when making them. If I have leftoverhomemade spaghetti sauceI use that, if I havehomemade marinarasauce I use that. I have even used somecreamy tomato saucewhen making stuffed cabbage rolls in the oven.

If I have jarred sauce on hand then I use that, but I always make sure if I am using a jarred sauce that it is not a plain sauce. You want one that has flavors and seasonings in it. My top choices for low carb pasta sauce areVictoria’s Marinara Sauce,Rao’s Marinara sauce,andYo Mama’s Marinara Sauce. If you are looking for the best jarred pasta sauce that is low carb check out a few of our favorites.

• Rao’s Homemade Marinara– 8g net carbs for 1 cup
• Rao’s Tomato Basil Sauce– 6g net carbs per cup
• Victoria Marinara Sauce– 10g net carbs per cup
• Yo Mama’s Marinara Sauce– 8g net carbs for 1 cup
• Yo Mama’s Basil Sauce– 8g net carbs per 1 cup

Variations of this recipe

Use homemade riced cauliflower. You can use frozen riced cauliflower or homemade riced cauliflower when you are making this family favorite recipe. I personally like to use the frozen riced cauliflower as it makes things easier but you can use homemade riced cauliflower if you want to.

Change up the sauce. You can use store-bought or jarred sauce, but the important part about the sauce is to use a flavorful tomato sauce.

Change up the meat. I like using ground beef but you can also use ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork, or ground venison.

Use green cabbage or purple cabbage. I like using green cabbage but you can use purple cabbage if you want to.

Add cheese. If you like cheese with your cabbage rolls you can add grated parmesan or shredded mozzarella cheese into the meat mixture or sprinkle it on top.

Tips for Making this recipe

Wash the entire head of cabbage. When you are getting ready to cook this dish it is important that you wash the cabbage.

Boiling the cabbage. I like to peel the cabbage leaves before boiling them, but you can also boil the whole head of the cabbage and then peel the leaves off after. It is easier to peel a soft cabbage leaf after boiling then doing it before hand however I don’t like to mess with a hot cabbage head or the time it takes to cool so I peel the leaves before boiling the cabbage.

Be gentle when peeling the cabbage leaves. To peel, flip the head of the cabbage over so the bottom is facing you. Then use a knife to cut the leaves away from the core. Gently peel the cabbage leaves by sliding your hand between the outer leaves and peel them away and continue until all of the cabbage leaves are removed.

How to Store Leftovers

Allow the cabbage rolls to cool completely and then store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Leftovers of this delicious keto recipe will keep for 3-4 days if stored properly.

Can I freeze cabbage rolls?

Yes! If you are going to make cabbage rolls ahead of time you can. Then you can bake them as needed. I like to make a large batch of cabbage rolls that I can put in the freezer and then grab the rolls as needed for dinner. I do this when I want to make my life easier or when I find whole cabbage on sale. Then getting dinner on the table is super easy.

How to Freeze Cabbage Rolls

To freeze cabbage rolls prepare the cabbage rolls, then lay them on a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in the freezer for 2 hours. Remove the cabbage rolls from the baking sheet and place into a freezer bag. Cabbage rolls will keep in the freezer for 3-6 months.

To cook this cabbage roll recipe after you have frozen them, remove as many as you want to cook from the bag of frozen cabbage rolls. Prepare the baking dish with sauce as you normally would if you were cooking them freshly made and add 20-30 minutes to the cook time.

What to Serve with Cabbage Rolls for Dinner

There are lots of great side dishes that go with cabbage rolls, however, since there are meat and veggie already in the main dish I prefer to keep things simple and go with a fresh salad and sometimes keto rolls or keto bread. If you are looking for low carb side dishes, check out some of our favorites.

Keto Cabbage Rolls Ingredients

• Ground beef. You can also use ground turkey, ground pork, or ground chicken.
• Frozen riced cauliflower (cooked). You can also use homemade cauliflower rice.
• Head of cabbage. You can use green cabbage or purple cabbage, I prefer to use green cabbage.
• Onion. You can use yellow onion, sweet onion, or white onion.
• Zucchini. You want to use a medium sized zucchini.
• Seasonings. Garlic powder, black pepper, and salt.
• Low carb tomato sauce. You can use homemade pasta sauce or store bought.

How to Make Keto Cabbage Rolls

Fill a large pot with water and then place it on the stove over high heat and bring the water to a boil.

While bringing the water to a boil, wash the whole head of cabbage and then peel off the cabbage leaves.

Wash and chop the zucchini and set it aside.

Dice the onion and set it aside.

Add the cabbage leaves to the pot of boiling water and then cook until the leaves are tender and pliable. This will take about 4-7 minutes depending on the thickness of the cabbage leaves. Once the cabbage leaves are cooked, use tongs to remove the cabbage from the water and set them aside on a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool.

While the cabbage leaves are boiling, cook the bag of cauliflower rice in the microwave or make homemade cauliflower rice.

While the cabbage and riced cauliflower are cooking, add the ground beef to a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat.

When the ground beef is cooked, remove from the heat drain and put back in the skillet. Stir in the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and mix well.

In a large bowl add the chopped zucchini, diced onion, cooked cauliflower rice, and ground beef mixture and mix well.

Spray non stick cooking spray on the bottom of a 9×13 pan.

Pour a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the pan, just enough to cover the bottom.

Fill the cabbage leaves with the mixture and wrap them. Pour the remainder of the tomato sauce on top of the cabbage rolls.

Baked at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Healthy Dinner Recipes

• Keto Fajitas
• Zucchini Lasagna
• Keto Broccoli Cheese Soup
• Pizza stuffed chicken
• Spinach stuffed chicken
• Keto Swedish meatballs