Golumpki (Gołąbki, Stuffed Cabbage)
on Apr 25, 2018, Updated May 10, 2020
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Golumpki (Gołąbki, Stuffed Cabbage) –A rose by any other name is still a rose. That is very true with today’s post which is a Polish recipe for stuffed cabbage.
This is the number one Golumpki Recipe on Google, and you can read on to learn how we make this classic comfort food.
Golumpki (Gołąbki, Stuffed Cabbage)
Some people call it pigs in a blanket, while others call it cabbage rolls and yet still others call it stuffed cabbage. No matter what anyone else calls it, I call this Polish recipe for stuffed cabbage (P0lish golabki) utterly delicious.
Our whole family agrees that this golumpki recipe is one of our favorite meals.
Golumpki (Gołąbki, Stuffed Cabbage)
When I was a child growing up in Detroit, we had stuffed cabbage all the time. However we never called it stuffed cabbage, we called it Golumpki, the Polish name for stuffed cabbage.
Golumpki is traditionally made for special occasions like weddings, first communions and during holidays like Easter and Christmas.
Traditionally, a Golumpki recipe is a meat mixture such as ground beef, mixed with rice, onions, and spices that is then rolled in a cooked cabbage leaf. It is topped with a tomato sauce and then baked.
Every cook has their variation of family recipes, and therefore this golumpki recipe may be a bit different to what you are used to.
You may know this recipe as Polish Golabki
My Polish grandmother had her way of making stuffed cabbage, and my mother tweaked her mom’s recipe and made her version, and finally, I have probably tweaked my golabki a bit.
I can barely wait to see how my kids make this when they have kids!
When it was my turn to learn how to make these, I lived 500 miles away from home. I was attending college in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, far away from where I grew up and consequently found myself having a powerful craving for some Golumpki.
Unfortunately, my mom was in Detroit, so she wasn’t going to be able to whip up a batch. And therefore I found myself wondering, what was a boy supposed to do?
How to Make Polish Stuffed Cabbage
It seemed pretty obvious that had to take matters into my own hands and so I took ET’s advice and phoned home. My mother explained to me her recipe for Polish golumpki and finally gave me all of her tricks and secrets for this savory Polish recipe for stuffed cabbage.
After hanging up the phone, I jumped right into it and finally made my very first batch.
They weren’t as good as my mom’s, but I kept trying. We love family recipes, and our pierogi recipe is another favorite dish that I grew up with.
What are some of your favorite family recipes? Leave us a comment below and let us know.
Well, that was more years ago than what I want to admit, and my version of golumpki is different from my mom’s and my grandmother’s, but my family loves them. Give them a try, and I think you will too.
Scott’s Cooking Tip for this Polish Stuffed Cabbage
This stuffed cabbage can be cooked a day ahead of serving. Just allow it to cool, wrap it up and chill it in the refrigerator until the next day.
Also, you can freeze it up to one month. Just let it thaw, then reheat the cabbage rolls in a hot oven (350°) for 30-40 minutes.
If you love Polish food, be sure to see our post, What to Serve with Pierogies – 15 Easy Recipes.
Hungry but perhaps feeling just a tad lazy? Try our Lazy Golumpki (Stuffed Cabbage Casserole). It has all the flavor without all the effort therefore perfect for the lazy cook within each of us!
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Golumpki (Gołąbki, Stuffed Cabbage)
Equipment
Ingredients
- Cabbage head
- 1 lb Ground Chuck
- 1 lb Ground Italian Sausage
- 1/2 lb cooked and crumbled bacon
- A med to large white onion chopped
- An egg
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 1 Family size can Tomato Soup, I prefer Campbells
- 3 oz tomato paste
- pinch of sugar
- 1 tsp salt, adjust to taste
- 1 tbs pepper, adjust to taste
- 3 cups White Vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Put cabbage head in a large stock pot, add water to cover and then add white vinegar to the water.
- Place on stove on high heat and cover, bringing to a boil.
- Gently boil cabbage until leaves of cabbage soften and become pliable.
- Remove from stove and drain water from the pot. Set aside and allow cabbage head to cool.
- Once cabbage is cooled, remove the leafs from the cabbage head. Take a paring knife and cut the lower portion of the "vein" from the leaf. This vein is very tough and needs to be removed. It will make it much easier to roll the meat mixture in the cabbage leaf. Continue to do this until you remove as many leaves from the cabbage as you can.
- In a large mixing bowl combine ground chuck, sausage, crumbled bacon, chopped onion, egg, rice, bread crumbs and finally add the salt and pepper. Make certain to thoroughly combine the ingredients together. The "meat" mixture will be a similar consistency to meatloaf. It should be nice and moist. If it seems dry, add an additional egg.
- Lay a cabbage leaf down on a flat surface thus allowing you to roll it easier. Take some of the meat mixture and form into a large meatball. You may make these as large or as small as you prefer therefore choose the size of your preference. Place the meatball in the center of the cabbage leaf. Wrap the cabbage leaf around the meat mixture (see video above).
- Place the stuffed cabbage in a roaster with the wrapped edges down in the roaster. Repeat this process placing the Golumpki next to each other, until all of the meat mixture is used up.
- Mix tomato soup, tomato paste and also a pinch of sugar.
- Pour tomato soup mixture over the top of the stuffed cabbage and reserve a small amount to be used in the next step.
- If you have cabbage leaves remaining, cover the entire top of the stuffed cabbage in the roaster.
- Pour remaining tomato soup mixture on top of the cabbage that you lined the tops of the stuffed cabbage. This step will help steam the Golumpki that lies below and therefore will keep them nice and moist.
- Put a lid on top of the roaster and bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally published on November 7, 2013. This golumpki recipe will live on for generations.
Question. I have never made this before and am really looking forward to trying it. Do you place the cabbage whole in the water? Or do you core it first. Since the recipe doesn’t say, I would guess that you do not core it, but I can see why it would take a long time to cook that way. Please advise on correct procedure. Thanks
Hi Liza. Normally I cut the bottom of the core off and place the cabbage whole in the water. The outer leaves will soften first. As they soften I pull the leaf off of the head and allow it to cool. I continue to do this until I have harvested all of the leaves. With that said, if you choose to core the cabbage, that is also fine. The only goal to boiling the the cabbage is to make the leaf pliable enough to roll. So whatever method you use will be just fine. I look forward to hearing back from you after you have made it to hear how you like it.
I fry my onions in brown sugar before adding to galobki,
Sounds like a delicious step, Mark! Thanks for the comment.
Original polish recipe never calls for beef. They were always made with pork and the sauce is simply made with broth or water from steamed cabbage and tomato paste and spices. At the end of simmering gołąbki in the pot you would add a little bit of milk, sour cream and flour mixed with hot liquid from the pot (make sure there are no clumps of flour in it)
Thanks for this versin of gołąbki, Margaret; we wish you could make it for us!
My Polish mother in law made an awesome dinner with this. We all came running when she made it. However, she said not to use ground beef, its too rough, they don’t use it, to use l/2 veal and l/2 pork (ground both). She also added chili sauce at the end with some half and half. It made the sauce a little lighter looking, but so delicious. Always with mashed potato and corn!!! I make it but for some reason it just doesn’t turn out her perfect!!! She has passed, we miss her and her cooking!
I did not add water to the can of soup. Did I do it wrong. It’s in the oven now.
Susan, do not add water to the can of soup for this recipe. We hope you loved it!
The narration says it feeds a crowd but then the recipe says 6 servings. About how many rolls would this recipe make? I would like to make it for a party where there would be other food as well so not everyone would necessarily have a full serving but I need to do enough for everyone to have a roll.
Michaela, it depends on if you make bigger or smaller portions. Larger portions of golumpki are made using a full leaf of cabbage, and the small portions are made with the cabbage leaves trimmed, leaving slightly bigger than bite-size serving that is perfect for appetizers. If you use a full-size cabbage leaf for each golumpki, expect 6 to 8 servings. If you use the smaller leaves, you can expect to double that amount. Thanks for the great question!
I made this recipe and feel like I may have under-cooked the cabbage. How long do you typically boil it?
Also, I used Italian sausage and it was a little too spicy (but still very good). I’ll make sure to get “Mild” Italian next time. Otherwise, we enjoyed it and appreciate your recipe.
Hi Debbie. The outer leafs on the cabbage always seem to soften before the inner leafs. Sometimes what I will do is boil the cabbage until leafs begin to soften, then take the cabbage out of the water. You can then remove the soft leafs. When you get to harder leafs then return to the water and repeat until you harvest all of your cabbage leafs.
If the sausage is too spicy, you can always use ground beef instead. If you decide to do this, then I would use a leaner ground beef, maybe a 90/10.
I hope that this helps.
Love it! This recipe has been handed down in my family as well.
Thanks, Larry! Happy you enjoy this Golumpki recipe and we sure appreciate hearing from you!
Outstanding recipe!
I just made it. I found it very sour from the vinegar in the water . I think 3 cups of vinegar was too much . I also baked it for 1 1/2 hours @ 350 and the cabbage was still tough. What did I do wrong. It’s eatable but so sour..
Hi Alene. It sounds like your water to vinegar ratio is too strong. I’m not sure how much water you are using but I would consider dropping the vinegar to 1/3 of what you used. Thanks for your comment.
This is very similar to my grandmothers recipe except she only used diced pork butt for the meat portion and did not add anything but a bit of vinegar to the tomato soup. I will definitely try your recipe. Thanks.