This is a recipe I’ve tweaked to perfection over the years, and it’s the only cabbage roll casserole recipe you’ll ever need. Heartwarming, nostalgic, and sentimental, this meal will have your home smelling so warm and full of love all day!

I grew up with cabbage rolls at every Thanksgiving, but funnily enough I never really gave them a chance until I was an adult! I remember thinking they smelled good, but looked weird (kid logic). What I would give for a plate of my grandma’s traditional cabbage rolls now.

As an adult living on my own for the first time (well, with Tristan!), I decided to try my hand at making cabbage rolls from the memory of what I’d seen in them before (a freaky trait of mine – I have a knack for recreating recipes I’ve seen before without using a recipe) and from that very first batch, I was hooked! Nowadays I prefer to make the casserole version as it’s so much quicker and easier, but still packs all the flavour and warmth of rolls.

From my home to yours, I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 6-8 hours

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 a small cabbage

• 1 package lean ground turkey (or Yves Italian Veggie Grounds for vegan)

• 3 cans tomato soup

• 1c. uncooked rice 

• 1/2 a white or yellow onion 

• Pat of butter (or your preferred cooking oil for vegan)

• Fresh parsley 

• Salt & pepper

METHOD

Cook rice according to package instructions.

Chop cabbage into bite size pieces and peel apart leaves. Steam cabbage in a large pot with a steamer basket until just translucent.

Sauté onion in a pan over medium heat with a pat of butter until just caramelized.

Add ground turkey and sauté until just browned (a little pink is okay, it will finish cooking in the crockpot).

Salt and pepper the turkey & onion mixture, and stir in some fresh chopped parsley. 

When your rice, cabbage and turkey are all finished pre-cooking, get out your slow cooker. Layer in this order (eyeball your measurements while keeping in mind that you will have four layers of cabbage, three layers of tomato soup, two layers of rice, and two layers of ground turkey mixture):

• 1st can tomato soup

• Cabbage

• Ground turkey

• Rice

• Cabbage

• 2nd can tomato soup

• Cabbage 

• Ground turkey

• Rice

• Cabbage 

• 3rd can tomato soup

• S&P

If you have leftovers at the end, fret not – this tastes great fried up with an egg for a quick fried rice!

Cover and cook for 6 hours on high heat, or 8 hours on low heat.

When it looks like the photo above, and is hot and bubbling, it is done baby!

Serve immediately, and enjoy! I bet this will become a permanent staple in your home, like it is in mine. If you want to make a double batch, this recipe freezes fantastic as well. Simply prepare all of the ingredients as before, omitting the tomato soup, and spoon into a leak-proof freezer bag (don’t worry too much about separating your rice, cabbage and turkey when making a freezer batch). When you’re ready to prepare them, thaw the bag in the fridge, and layer it into your crockpot along with 3 cans of soup, and cook for 6-8 hours.

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xo, Jamie