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Is spring ever coming?! I can’t take this snow anymore. I’m ready to make spring salads and asparagus and maybe even start thinking about ice cream. Instead, we have another foot of snow on the ground. Today I’m making my easy lazy cabbage roll casserole to comfort me, as I try not to wallow about the winter weather in April.
Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole with Cauliflower Rice
Traditional unstuffed cabbage roll casserole recipes can almost be naturally low carb dinners. The basic ingredients are cabbage, beef, some kind of tomato-based sauce, and unfortunately, rice. Of course, rice is not low carb.
There’s an easy solution for that! Use cauliflower rice. I love using it in place of the regular kind to make recipes low carb.
In fact, low carb cauliflower fried rice is one of my favorite side dishes!
The ingredients for low carb cabbage roll casserole are as simple as can be:
- Avocado oil
- Garlic
- Ground beef
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- Cauliflower
- Italian seasoning
- Cabbage
- Marinara sauce
- Mozzarella cheese
I used marinara sauce to keep this easy cabbage roll casserole recipe super fast. Just look for one with no sugar added. Otherwise, you can make you own sauce if you have a recipe you like.
And, it’s easy to make this cabbage roll casserole paleo, whole30 approved, and dairy-free. Simply omit the cheese! It’s used on top only, so you can easily skip it if you want to.
Our family tolerates cheese well, so we like to add it for extra cheesy goodness. It’s up to you!
The Best Cabbage Roll Casserole The Easy Way
Want to know why I think this the best cabbage roll casserole ever? Because it doesn’t get any easier. It requires much less prep time than most. Here’s why:
- No pre-cooking cauliflower. You don’t need to cook the cauliflower rice separately. It will cook right inside the casserole.
- No pre-cooking cabbage. Same goes for the cabbage! It will cook together withe verything else.
- No layering. Some unstuffed cabbage roll recipes have you layer the beef, cabbage, and rice. You certainly can if you want to, but I’m all about quick and easy. Just mix everything together. It tastes just as delicious, without the fuss and extra time!
Hey, there’s a reason I called this a lazy cabbage roll casserole. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of making actual cabbage rolls, you probably don’t want your casserole to be complicated, either.
How To Make Cabbage Roll Casserole Low Carb
The process for how to make cabbage roll casserole is super simple.
The only part you need to do ahead of time is brown the meat. Heat some oil in a saute pan, add some garlic for about a minute, then brown the ground beef with it. Season with salt and pepper as you do this.
The whole process with the beef takes about ten minutes and is the longest part. You can drain it if you need to afterward.
Next, just dump everything else into a baking dish and stir together. Cauliflower rice, cabbage, Italian seasoning, ground beef, and marinara sauce. It all goes into your easy cabbage roll casserole!
And, the cauliflower rice makes this unstuffed cabbage roll casserole low carb. Yay! At 9 grams net carbs per serving, it’s great for low carb diets and is still doable even for keto. The carbs come from the cauliflower, cabbage, and marinara sauce only.
Bake for about half an hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until the cabbage is crisp tender.
If you are using cheese, add that on top of your lazy cabbage roll casserole. If not, you can just continue baking without it. Bake for another 15 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and the cabbage is completely cooked through.
The cook times will vary a bit depending on how big you chop up your cabbage and even the type of baking dish you use. Just check for crisp tender doneness around 30 minutes and then make sure it’s completely done at the end.
If it’s not done, you can bake it for longer. And, if the cheese starts to brown before everything else is done, you can cover it and continue baking to avoid burning the cheese.
What To Do With Leftover Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole
This easy cabbage roll casserole recipe makes a large portion! You can certainly cut it in half and bake in an 8×8 baking dish if you want to. But if you’re like me, you’ll make more so that you have leftovers.
It’s easy to store any leftover cabbage roll casserole. You can keep it in the fridge for several days.
If you want to store it for longer, you can freeze your unstuffed cabbage roll casserole. If you do this, make sure you freeze it after baking. The cooking process will hinder the enzymes in the cauliflower and cabbage, so that they won’t deteriorate when freezing.
To reheat from the fridge, either the microwave or the oven at 350 will work. From the freezer, you can either thaw first and then place in the oven, or heat from frozen. You’ll want to cover it if heating the frozen casserole, so that the top doesn’t burn, because it will take a while.
There you have it! It’s easy to make, it uses common ingredients, it stores well, and it’s low carb. That’s the best cabbage roll casserole in my book.
Tools To Make Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole
Tap the links below to see the items used to make this recipe.
- Saute Pan – The larger surface area makes this pan ideal for cooking chicken, searing meats, or breaking up ground beef for this low carb cabbage roll casserole.
- Meat Chopper – I use this tool all the time. It makes breaking up ground beef quick and easy.
- 9×13″ Glass Baking Dish – This standard size baking dish is perfect for sheet cakes, roast chickens, and casseroles.
Easy Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole Recipe - Low Carb
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Easy Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole Recipe - Low Carb
This easy lazy cabbage roll casserole recipe without rice is quick to make using common ingredients. Using cauliflower rice makes it healthy, low carb, and delicious. It's the best cabbage roll casserole ever!
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Ingredients
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Instructions
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- Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for up to a minute, until fragrant.
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Increase heat to medium-high. Add the ground beef. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Cook, breaking apart with a spatula, until browned, about 10 minutes. Drain if needed.
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Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
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In a 9x13 in (23x33 cm) glass baking dish, stir together the rice cauliflower, chopped cabbage, and Italian seasoning.
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When the ground beef is cooked through, stir that in. Stir in marinara sauce.
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Bake for about 30 minutes, until the cabbage is crisp-tender.
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Top with shredded mozzarella, if using. (If not, just continue baking without it.) Continue baking for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and the cabbage is completely cooked through.
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Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 cup
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124 Comments
Dorothy Merritt
Excellent and quick not to mention very good! One pot meals are always the best for me. Thanks for posting it and sharing it!!
Jill Falloon
Very good. With cheese is very much like a lasagna.
Mary
Good. But I think I put too much of both riced cauliflower and cabbage. It was hard to mix everything in the 9×13 pan I cooked it in, even though I measured the ingredients. So, be aware that you will need to be careful when mixing unless you want a mess all over your countertop. I used ground turkey. I didn’t have Marinara sauce so just used bottled spaghetti sauce. Also, I didn’t read the very last instruction closely enough & put the cheese on before putting it all in the oven. Oops. So, covered it with foil sprayed with cooking spray because waisted stuck cheese on foil is just wrong. Cooked for 40 mins. covered, then uncovered & cooked for 20 more mins. all @ 350. It worked.
Helene Bahnman
Does this freeze well? The recipe makes a large batch and there are just 2 of us, so would want to freeze some to use at a later date.
Wendy
This is a great filling meal, delish!
Connie
Making this recipe today. I’m using ground Turkey and Sicilian sausage together. And yes making with Cauliflower rice.
Tyler A Berg
I didn’t think this was going to turn out all. I used too much dry ingredients in a very large casserole dish. I used a whole big jar of marinara and even added ketchup. It turned out great and it’s lovely with chili flakes. used less italian seasoning and a bit of thyme.
Sasha
This was awesome. We used purple cabbage and only one tablespoon of Italian seasoning. I did add some garlic and onion powders.
The taste reminded me a lot of lasagna.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Peggy
Made this for dinner. It was definitely a hit! Very easy and quick to make. I made my own marinara sauce and red pepper flakes just to spice it up. Definitely will make this again. Thank you for all of your amazing recipes.
Betty
Can you use frozen caulifower rice
Wholesome Yum M
Hi Betty, You can, but it would probably be better to cook it first (I recommend stir-frying) because it might have more moisture than fresh.
Lydia Barber
Very good recipe! I used frozen cauliflower rice. I microwaved it according to package directions, then drained VERY GOOD and squeezed out excess water and then I added it to the garlic/beef/sausage mixture about 5 minutes before that was done. Worked out perfect. I made a homemade no cook KETO marinara sauce, but kept the rest of the recipe as is. Will be making this again!
Barb
I’m a fan of cabbage rolls in a smooth “sauce” more like tomato soup. Could it be an even substitute instead of marinara? Cannot wait to try this recipe!! In fact it will likely be made tomorrow
Wholesome Yum M
Hi Barb, Yes, I think that will work perfectly!
Annette
Very good indeed! Used pepper jack, mozzarella & cheddar. Topped with crushed red pepper flakes. Also used 3 cups of packed chopped cabbage split everything between two 8 x 8 pans to share. Soooo yummy!!!
Second time I made I cooked without cheese then added a slice of ultra thin pepper jack to my portion and let everyone else add the amount of cheese they wanted to their portion. Everyone’s happy!!
Sarah
I love wholesome Yum, I have gotten so many excellent Keto recipes on this site and it has been a lifesaver. I never feel like I am missing out on anything when I make these sorts of recipes, I really appreciate that you have done all the hard work to figure out yummy dishes and the nutritional facts as well. Thank you for being a huge part of me being able to eat healthy easily!
Camille
Fabulous! This hits the spot!
Michele Santo
Delicious and easy enough for the hubby to make from start to finish! The only change made was adding some chopped up mushrooms! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
COLLETTE MAES
This was such a really good and satisfying recipe. I will make this again but I have a lot of leftovers to freeze!
Cassie
I like to juice my cauliflower to get the excess moisture out. At first I thought that was a mistake, as the mixed ingredients looked a little dry going in. It turned out perfect! You could see the bubbles cooking through the casserole dish, nice and moist. Really yummy meal.. we will have leftovers for a week!
Kelsie J
Oh, man. Y’all. This is so good. I didn’t bake it but cooked it on the stovetop. I browned the meat as the recipe says, then drained/removed it. Then cooked the riced cauliflower until tender returned the beef and added the cabbage. I let that cook for about 10 minutes and served with mozz on top.
Kim Ravera
Excellent, fast & easy! Gives you a lasagna fix!!!!