Are Cabbage Rolls Healthy? (Everything You Need To Know)

Let’s examine if cabbage rolls are healthy.

Cabbage rolls are unhealthy because they are traditionally stuffed with high-fat meats and prepared with lard and oils. The ingredients make them a calorie-dense food high in unhealthy saturated fats.

As a Certified Health Coach I get asked about the healthiness of certain foods, including cabbage rolls. In this article, I will compare the nutritional information of various types of cabbage rolls.

Cabbage rolls don’t have to be unhealthy. I’ll provide some tips you can use to make a cabbage roll healthier.

Are Cabbage Rolls Healthy?

While cabbage on its own is considered a powerhouse vegetable, what the cabbage is stuffed with and how it is prepared can change the nutritional value of a cabbage roll considerably¹.

Let’s compare some cabbage roll variations based on calories, fat, carbohydrates and protein².

Traditional Slavic Cabbage Rolls With Beef or Pork

The most popular variation of cabbage rolls in the United States contains ground meat like pork or beef. Rice is added and wrapped in steamed cabbage and smothered in a tomato-based sauce.

This variation is based on recipes brought over from people from many European countries, according to the Chicago Tribune³. It’s popular in many areas where there is a large population of the descendants of these people.

The calories in traditional cabbage rolls come from meat, cooking oils and lard, added to the stuffing and sauce for extra flavor. 

Most often, cabbage rolls are covered in sauce and baked in an oven-safe dish. Many traditional recipes call for the rolls to be pan-fried in cooking oil before going into the oven, which can add to the fat content.

Nutritional Values for Beef Versus Pork Cabbage Rolls

Type of Cabbage Roll	2 Rolls Stuffed With Beef & Rice	2 Rolls Stuffed With Pork & Rice
Calories	250	356
Fat	12.6 grams (4.8 Saturated)	15.8 grams (5 grams Saturated)
Carbohydrates	18.2 grams	20.0 grams
Protein	16.8 grams	35.3 grams

As we can see here, beef-stuffed cabbage rolls are the healthier of the two based on calories, fat, and carbohydrate content, although the pork-stuffed rolls do have more protein. Still, just two beef cabbage rolls contain 24% of the RDI for saturated fat. 

Ground Turkey Cabbage Rolls

To reduce fat and calories while maintaining a similar protein content, try stuffing the cabbage with leaner meat, like ground turkey⁴. Take a look at the table below for the differences in calories, fat, carbs and protein using ground turkey.

Nutritional Values for Ground Turkey Cabbage Rolls

Type of Cabbage Roll	2 Rolls Stuffed With Ground Turkey
Calories	169
Fat	5.8 grams (1.7 grams Saturated)
Carbohydrates	14.1 grams
Protein	16.9 grams

Meatless Cabbage Rolls

Another alternative is to take out the meat altogether⁵. Vegetarian eaters can use eggs, vegetables and brown rice. Vegan eaters can use a beef alternative, like Beyond Meat Ground Beef (available on Amazon.com).

Meatless cabbage rolls will inevitably contain more rice, so the carbohydrate amounts will be higher. The amount of protein will differ whether using eggs or a meat alternative. 

Nutritional Values for Meatless Cabbage Rolls

Type of Cabbage Roll	2 Rolls Vegetarian Stuffed	2 Rolls Stuffed With Vegan Beyond Beef
Calories	233	278
Fat	9.1 grams (1.7 grams Saturated)	12.5 grams (Saturated Unavailable)
Carbohydrates	30.4 grams	23.9 grams
Protein	10.4 grams	17.3 grams

Disclaimer: Some links in this article are affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Low-Carb or “Keto” Cabbage Rolls

For many people, rice is considered a healthy, low-calorie option for carbohydrates. For those attempting to limit carbs, they may want to eliminate this ingredient. This may result in a meat-heavy stuffing, but it would render the dish allowable on a ketogenic or paleo diets. 

A ketogenic diet is a low-fat, high-carb diet utilized for weight loss and to improve insulin resistance ((National Center for Biotechnology Information: The ketogenic diet: one decade later)). 

One of the biggest reasons for failing a Keto diet is not having a plan. Check out this simple to follow plan for only 28 days, The 28-Day Keto Challenge and you can Succeed!

A paleo diet includes foods obtained through hunting and gathering, like lean meats, vegetables and fruits. Grains are generally excluded from a paleo diet⁶.

Cauliflower rice may be used as an alternative to white or brown rice. Doing so would reduce carbohydrates, increase fiber and reduce the amount of fat and calories from meat. 

Nutritional Values for Riceless Cabbage Rolls

Type of Cabbage Roll	2 Rolls Stuffed With Beef/No Rice	2 Rolls Stuffed With Beef/Cauliflower Rice
Calories	140	321
Fat	4 grams (2 grams Saturated)	18 Grams
Carbohydrates	13 grams	15 grams
Fat	12 grams	25 grams

Tips for Preparing a Healthier Cabbage Roll

Use these tips to reduce calories, fat and carbohydrates while maintaining the many health benefits of cabbage.

1. Select a leaner meat or a meat alternative. Turkey, lean beef, ground chicken or ground bison are good options for meat-eaters⁷. 
2. Add vegetables to the stuffing. This reduces calories, fat and carbs from meat and rice while at the same time adding fiber helping you feel full. 
3. Blanch or boil vegetables instead of frying them. In addition to reducing calories from the oil, lightly cooked veggies maintain more nutrients.
4. Don’t fry individual rolls before baking them. This reduces saturated fats from cooking oils. 
5. Skip the lard. While most modern recipes don’t call for extra cooking fat, traditional recipes do. 
6. Choose a grain that fits your diet. Try substituting quinoa or cauliflower rice if you are trying to reduce carbs. 
7. Pass on the sour cream. Traditional Slavic cabbage rolls are often served with sour cream, which is high in calories and fat. 

Traditional cabbage rolls use pork or regular beef. Both of them are higher in calories and contain saturated fats. My favorite substitute is organic, lean ground beef or ground chicken. 

Cardiologists and physicians recommend lowering saturated fats to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, lose weight and avoid high blood pressure. Scientific studies show a connection between saturated fat, high cholesterol and heart disease ((ScienceDirect: The Evidence for Saturated Fat and for Sugar Related to Coronary Heart Disease)).

By avoiding frying also reduces saturated fats. Typical frying oils results in large amounts of oxidized fatty acids and harmful compounds⁸.

If you’d like to fry before baking, consider using a healthier oil like avocado oil which can tolerate higher cooking temperatures. Refined avocado oil has a smoke point of 520 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you don’t want to pass on the sour cream, consider these alternatives:

• Low-fat cottage Cheese
• Organic greek yogurt
• Coconut milk
• Soy based sour cream

Cabbage rolls can be made gluten free. There’s plenty of recipes available online⁹.

If you have any questions to ask me about this article don’t hesitate to comment below or email us. You can find an email on our contact page.

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1. ScienceDirect: Effect of polyphenols extracts from Brassicavegetables on erythrocyte membranes (in vitrostudy) [↩]
2. USDA: Cabbage, raw [↩]
3. Chicago Tribune: Classic cabbage rolls bring comfort to the table [↩]
4. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Turkey Stuffed Cabbage [↩]
5. National heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: Heart Healthy Recipes [↩]
6. National Center for Biotechnology Information: Paleolithic Diet [↩]
7. Cleveland Clinic: Turkey Stuffed Cabbage [↩]
8. Springer Link: Lipid per oxidation in culinary oils subjected to thermal stress [↩]
9. Celiac.com: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls [↩]