Keto Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

These tasty keto unstuffed cabbage rolls are a perfect one-pan meal loaded with veggies and incredible flavor. All that you need for this meal are a few simple ingredients, a skillet, and 35 minutes of your time.

These skillet lazy cabbage rolls are perfect for those living a low-carb, high-fat life. One serving has just 6 grams of carbs and a little more than 100 calories.

I also find this meal one of the best ways to include more vegetables into your daily diet since it has plenty of cabbage. Even my toddler can’t tell that there is cabbage in these cabbage rolls. Plus, the spices included in this recipe add even more flavor to this dish.

Table of Contents

• What Are Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls?
• Here’s What You’ll Need
• Serving Tips
• How to Store the Lazy Cabbage Rolls
• Recipe

What Are Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls?

Traditional cabbage rolls consist of ground beef and rice mixture wrapped into cabbage leaves. It is an incredibly delicious and comforting meal, but since rice is a no-no for those following the keto diet, you can’t have the traditional cabbage rolls.

Of course, you can tweak the ingredients and make the cabbage rolls without the rice, but you’ll still need more time to make each separate cabbage roll. If you are as busy as I am on working days but crave a comforting homemade dinner, then this unstuffed cabbage rolls recipe is the one that you need.

This recipe saves you time because you’ll make it in a skillet and you won’t need to do much while it cooks on the stove. Simply add the ingredients, pour in water or beef broth, and let everything simmer for about 10-15 minutes. That’s it!

Here’s What You’ll Need

You should be able to find these ingredients in any grocery shop, or you may even have them in your fridge or freezer. They are pretty simple and affordable. 

Here’s what you need to make the unstuffed cabbage rolls:

• Ground beef. You can choose any desired fat content for the ground beef. I also like to keep cooked ground beef in my fridge since many of the meals I cook need it as an ingredient. It saves me a lot of time when the beef is already stored pre-cooked.
• Cabbage. You can use any cabbage type that you prefer the most: white, green, cannonball, danish, savoy, or napa. All of them will taste perfectly with the other ingredients listed for this meal.
• Onion. This is a traditional ingredient that many people include when making both the usual cabbage rolls and unstuffed ones.
• Tomatoes and tomato paste. You can either make a homemade tomato paste or buy one, but make sure that there is no added sugar in it.
• Water or beef broth. Either one is fine.
• Olive oil. You can choose to skip this ingredient if the ground beef is high in fat.
• Shredded mozzarella. My whole family appreciates more cheese, so I try to include it wherever possible. But you can definitely skip this one.

For the spices, I used garlic powder, salt, pepper, and the Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning, but you can also add fresh garlic if you prefer. It’s okay to skip the hamburger seasoning, but it really does add more flavor to the meal.

Serving Tips

These keto unstuffed cabbage rolls are perfect by themselves. They are best served warm, with mozzarella cheese and some fresh chopped parsley on top.

When on the low-carb diet, you can’t eat the usual bread, so you can try out the keto feta bread and serve it with this meal. It will give you a more filling dinner option.

Also, if you have leftovers, you can use them as stuffing for tacos. Here’s how to make low-carb taco shells.

How to Store the Lazy Cabbage Rolls

If you have any unstuffed cabbage leftovers, place them on a plate, wrap them in plastic food wrap or place them in a container, and store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Since this meal is best served warm, reheat in the microwave before serving.

I don’t recommend freezing this meal. However, if you want to speed up the cooking process, you can fry the ground beef in advance and store it in the freezer or in the refrigerator. This way, you won’t need to spend extra time cooking the ground beef whenever you need it as an ingredient.

Recipe