This amazingly delicious Assyrian Cabbage Dolma recipe can be made vegan-friendly by replacing the meat with an additional cup of rice. Traditionally, these stuffed cabbage rolls are served as-is, but I like to serve it with a garlic and dill yogurt sauce and a spicy tomato sauce. See the Swiss Chard Dolma recipe for more info!
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Stuffed cabbage rolls are prepared by many cultures, including Assyrians, Arabs, Armenians, Russians, Poles, and Greeks. In fact, I even have a Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbage recipe!
Assyrians call this dish "
The flavorful stuffed cabbage roll filling is enhanced with the sour and slightly sweet tomato sauce the dolma cooks in. The result is tender cabbage rolls that just melt in your mouth!
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Cabbage dolma is one of the tastiest dishes you'll ever taste!
- This recipe is gluten-free and can be made vegan by replacing the meat with an additional cup of rice.
- This stuffed cabbage rolls recipe is enough to feed a hungry crowd and great to take to a potluck.
- Cabbage dolma is a great dish for meal prepping!
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Cabbage: 2 large green cabbages.
- Meat: Chuck roast or stew meat, diced into small pieces. We don't use ground meat here.
- Rice: Jasmine rice or basmati rice, which cooks faster.
- Tomato Paste: You'll need tomato paste for the filling, the sauce, and the optional spicy tomato sauce.
- Herbs: Fresh Italian parsley and cilantro.
- Spices: Salt, black pepper, paprika, allspice, curry, citric salt (which can be replaced with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice), and dill weed (fresh dill would be even better!)
*A full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card!
🥬 How to Make Cabbage Dolma
Step 1: Carve the core out of the cabbage using a sharp knife or a serrated grapefruit knife. Discard the core. Add the cabbage to a large stockpot and cover it with water. Boil until the leaves begin to soften and pull away from the cabbage.
Step 2: As the leaves change color and become soft and pliable, use tongs to carefully pull away the outer leaves and place them on a platter.
Pro Tip: Avoid overcooking the leaves, which will cause them to fall apart. Continue to strip the leaves away until you're left with the smaller leaves in the center.
Step 3: Remove the thick veins from the center of the larger leaves, then slice the large leaves into smaller pieces. Line the bottom of an 8-quart Dutch oven with the large veins. This step is necessary so that the Dolma does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
Pro Tip: Another option is to line the bottom of the pot with steak... yum!
Prepare the Filling
Step 4: Wash rice, to remove starch and add to a large bowl. Chop parsley and cilantro and add to the rice. Add minced onion, garlic, chopped beef, and filling spices. Finally, add the tomato paste and oil. Mix thoroughly until combined.
Pro Tip: If making vegan cabbage dolma, replace the meat with 1 cup of additional rice.
How to Roll Cabbage Dolma
Step 5: Place approximately 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of each cabbage leaf portion and roll up to enclose the filling. There's no wrong or right way to roll the dolma, just avoid making them too big. That is frowned upon!
Step 6: Place dolma rolls in the leaf-lined Dutch oven, seam-side down. Arrange them in rows until the bottom is covered. After you are done with each layer of dolma, sprinkle with a teaspoon of dill (optional). Continue until you have used up all the cabbage and the filling mixture.
Step 7: Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for approximately 15 minutes. The dolma will release some of its juices and will steam the rice.
Prepare Tomato Sauce
Step 8: While the dolma is steaming, whisk tomato paste, water, sugar, citric acid, salt, cayenne pepper, and vegetable oil in a small saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat.
Step 9: Pour sauce over the dolma and cover with the lid. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and if you have a heat diffuser, add it under the pot. Simmer dolma until the juices are absorbed and the rice is tender. This can take anywhere from 1 to 1½ hours.
Pro Tip: Although you're going to want to dig in, have patience. You must allow the dolma to cool for a little bit, or it will fall apart when you're dishing it out.
Looking for other cabbage roll recipes to try? You'll definitely want to check out this Transylvanian version known as sarmale!
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- If you run out of cabbage leaves and still have filling remaining, you can use onions. Just peel a medium-sized onion, slice the ends, and make a slit halfway through the onion. Boil for approximately 25 minutes. Strip the onion layers and stuff them with the remaining mixture.
- If you want to make vegan dolma, simply replace the meat with 1 cup of additional rice.
- Store stuffed cabbage rolls in an airtight container for up to a week in the fridge.
- Some recommend freezing the cabbage instead of boiling it before stuffing it. Although freezing the cabbage does soften it, the cabbage ends up being undercooked since it's not cooked before stuffing.
Here's a video of me and my mom making cabbage dolma; Check out how sassy she was!
🍽 More Stuffed Vegetable Recipes
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📖 Recipe
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Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Carve the core out of the cabbage using a sharp knife or a serrated grapefruit knife. Discard the core. Add the cabbage to a large stockpot and cover it with water. Boil until the leaves begin to soften and pull away from the cabbage.
- As the leaves change color and become soft and pliable, use tongs to carefully pull away the outer leaves, and place them on a platter.
- Remove the thick veins from the center of the larger leaves, then slice the large leaves into smaller pieces. Line the bottom of an 8-quart Dutch oven with the large veins. This step is necessary so that the Dolma does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Wash rice, to remove starch and add to a large bowl. Chop parsley and cilantro and add to the rice. Add minced onion, garlic, diced meat, and filling spices. Finally, add the tomato paste and oil. Mix thoroughly until combined.
- Place approximately 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of each cabbage leaf portion and roll up to enclose the filling. There's no wrong or right way to roll the dolma, just avoid making them too big. That is frowned upon!
- Place dolma rolls in the leaf-lined Dutch oven, seam-side down. Arrange them in rows until the bottom is covered. After you are done with each layer of dolma, sprinkle with a teaspoon of dill (optional). Continue until you have used up all the cabbage and the filling mixture.
- Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for approximately 15 minutes. The dolma will release some of its juices and will steam the rice.
- While the dolma is steaming, whisk tomato paste, water, sugar, citric acid, salt, cayenne pepper, and vegetable oil in a small saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat.
- Pour sauce over the dolma and cover with the lid. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and if you have a heat diffuser, add it under the pot. Simmer dolma until the juices are absorbed and the rice is tender. This can take anywhere from 1 to 1½ hours.
- Although you're going to want to dig in, have patience. You must allow the dolma to cool for a little bit, or it will fall apart when you're dishing it out.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
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- Avoid overcooking the leaves which will cause them to fall apart. Continue to strip the leaves away until you're left with the smaller leaves in the center.
- Another option is to line the bottom of the pot with steak... yum!
- If you run out of cabbage leaves and still have filling remaining, you can use onions. Just peel a medium-sized onion, slice the ends, and make a slit halfway through the onion. Boil for approximately 25 minutes. Strip the onion layers and stuff them with the remaining mixture.
- If you want to make vegan dolma, simply replace the meat with 1 cup of additional rice.
- Some recommend freezing the cabbage instead of boiling it before stuffing it. Although freezing the cabbage does soften it, the cabbage ends up being undercooked since it's not cooked before stuffing.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Sharon Kay Perry says
These look amazing!!! It is just me, 76 years old and disabled since 17, so I would never go to all this work. I would love to make this as a skillet or casserole! Any suggestions?
Thank you....look so forward to more of your recipes
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Sharon, Wish I could make some for you! My mom mentioned to me that there is a version called "dolma't sheedaneh" which translates to "dolma of crazy people" lol. It's made by just layering the filling between the leaves instead of rolling them, so I guess you can do that? I won't call you crazy!
Karoline Lazar says
Hi Sharon,
If you reside near the Bay Area or Central Valley in California, I can make it and bring you a tray.
Hilda Sterner says
You're too sweet, Karoline!🥰
Linda Nolen says
I’m a little confused. Directions say line the bottom of the pot with spices so they don’t stick but the picture shows the bottom lined with cabbage leaves which is what I do for regular cabbage rolls. Did anyone else catch this? I don’t know if you can edit this. Just an FYI
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Linda, where does it say to line the bottom of the pot with spices? The directions say line with cabbage leaves with a pro tip option to line the bottom with steak. I'm not seeing what you're seeing.
Marlene says
Would love to have your recipe on the turkey with apples onions potatoes rice turmeric peppers in it . Thank you so much . Looks delicious 😋
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Marlene,
Where did you see this recipe? I'm not sure which one you are talking about. Thanks!
Judith Boughton says
I love this so much. I served it along side my corned beef. Love your mama, enjoy her. My Mom passed in 2007. She used to make stuff cabbage the German way. I love the sauce and your technique my Mom would approve!
Thank you
Judith
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Judith, thanks for the comment and review! I also serve it with corned beef on St. Patrick's Day. My mom also passed away, in 2009. Your mom sounds like my mom. Maybe they're in heaven cooking dolma together!
Adonia Rostami says
Shlamalakh Hilda,
I was wondering if there is a version that has meat in the filling. As far as I remember my mom always used to made it with meat. Or maybe this is a vegetarian recipe?
Hilda Sterner says
Shlamalakh Adonia,
Yes, that's the way I prefer and how my mom made it. I started making it without meat for my daughter, who doesn't eat much meat. I mention in the tips on the bottom of the page that if you prefer the dolma with meat, replace one cup of the rice with 1 lb. diced meat (beef or lamb), never ground. Mom wouldn't allow it.😊
Tony Robertson says
Just eat vegetarian! Not every meal needs meat. Save the planet! #meatlessmondays
Vivian says
I enjoyed watching you and your mum making the dolmas , I add plain water when I cook the dolma next time i will follow you recipe and thanks for sharing your video ( nanelikh)
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Vivian,
Thanks for your sweet comment! I wish I had made more videos with her, but I treasure that memory for sure. Let me know what you think of the dolma!
Emilia says
I am Armenian American with parents from Iran and I made this with 1 cup yellow lentils 1 cup kidney beans and 1 cup rice. It was so delicious and tasted just how my grandma made it. Thank you for sharing ?
HildaSterner says
Hi Emilia,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a review. I would have never thought of adding lentils and kidney beans. Now I want to try that, it sounds amazing. I know Armenian food is very similar to Assyrian food, so I'm not surprised it tasted like your Grandmother's Dolma. That generation could cook!
Michelle says
Than you for all the amazing content! I love this idea Emilia used. My husband is Armenian and his mother makes amazing dolma. I am looking forward to making this recipe as I have not nearly perfected mine. May I ask for clarification regarding whether the rice is cooked or not? Thank you again.
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Michelle,
I don't cook the rice prior to adding it to the stuffing mixture. It cooks in the dolma juices. 😋 Since Emilia's comment, I've discovered that my aunt (mom's older sister) used to add lentil to her dolma too. I learned this from someone that knew her in Australia. The last time I saw her I was probably around 8. I'm sure she learned that from my grandmother, but not sure why mom never made it that way.