This Ground Beef and Cabbage is an easy budget-friendly one-pot ground beef cabbage recipe that is loaded with flavor. It is a quick dinner that is gluten-free and also dairy-free.
From start to finish, you can have this healthy quick, and easy meal ready in under 30 minutes!
If you have a ton of cabbage and don't know what to do with it this is the recipe for you. It is an easy lunch or dinner recipe that will save you a lot of time on those busy weeknights.
This recipe has been inspired by the classical Ukrainian/Russian dish named Lenivie Golubci or Golubtsi (unstuffed cabbage rolls) that my mom has made quite often when I was growing up.
Until today, I love to make this easy and super budget-friendly meal, but I like to add more spices or change the beef to chicken or turkey.
There is a skip-to-recipe button in the top left corner along with a clickable table of contents list (just below) that will quickly take you to the part you are more interested in. Enjoy!
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If you love beef recipes you should definitely try these readers' favorite recipes: Beef Enchilada Casserole, Cheeseburger Casserole, Hamburger Casserole, and Massaman Beef Curry.
Why It's Yummy
- Healthy - My favorite thing about this ground beef and cabbage is that it’s made 100% from scratch so you know every ingredient that goes into the pan. For a healthier option always go for lean meat.
- Customizable - Make this fried cabbage with beef or without for a healthy and quick side dish. Or simply swap beef for chicken, or turkey which will also taste amazing in this recipe.
- If you're like me, a true fan of cabbage, I highly recommend making these cabbage recipes next: Napa Cabbage And Mushrooms Stir Fry, Healthy Purple Cabbage Salad With Almonds, Cabbage and Cucumber Salad With Dill, Salmon Salad With Cabbage.
What meat goes with cabbage?
Cabbage is a nutritious vegetable that is so versatile and goes well with everything from pork and beef to lamb, chicken, and other poultry.
Cabbage is for sure a great vegetable for you that should be included in everyone's weekly menu.
Do you like cabbage? What is your favorite way to eat it? Please leave a comment down below with your answer, I'd love to hear from you!
What To Serve With Fried Cabbage?
Fried cabbage is an incredible dish for any occasion, holiday, Christmas, or weeknight dinner.
There are a ton of options you can serve your cabbage dish with. Whether you make it with or without beef both varieties will go well with:
- Any main dish options such as chicken, salmon, turkey, pork chops, pork tenderloin, ground beef, ground sausage or kielbasa, or fried chicken drumsticks.
- Sandwiches and wraps such as burgers, patties, vegetarian patties, and corn fritters.
- Slow Cooker Bbq Ribs
- A variety of side dishes such as mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cauliflower, dinner rolls, brussels sprouts, and salads.
Is cabbage good for you?
If you want to improve your digestive health, fiber-rich cabbage is the way to go.
This crunchy vegetable is full of gut-friendly insoluble fiber, that helps to keep the digestive system working like a clock! I love how incredibly healthy this veggie is.
If you haven't included cabbage in your menu yet then this Ground Beef and Cabbage Recipe is perfect way to start!
Ingredients for Ground Beef and Cabbage
- 1 lb Ground beef
- ½ of a medium cabbage, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, grated or julienned
- 3 tablespoon tomato paste or sauce if paste not available
- ½ cup Vegetable or beef stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoon paprika (regular or smoked)
- 1 medium to large onion
- 2-3 tablespoon Vegetable oil for cooking
How to make Ground Beef and Cabbage recipe?
Start with beef - in a medium or large skillet heat up a little bit of oil over medium heat. When the skillet is warm, add ground beef, salt, and pepper to taste and cook until golden brown. Set aside.
In the same skillet add onion and cook until translucent. Follow with grated carrot and cook until the carrot becomes soft.
Add tomato sauce/paste and veggie stock or a bouillon cube mixed in water and give it a good stir. Let the carrots and onions simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Follow with cabbage, add salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir well to combine all the ingredients and let simmer under a closed lid (stirring occasionally) until cabbage becomes soft.
Return the cooked beef, stir, garnish with fresh herbs like parsley or chives and serve while hot.
Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt! Yum!
Readers Feedback
What The Yummy Bowl fans are saying across different platforms:
I won’t confess to how many times I have made these now 😅but I will say they also work great using thin stir-fried beef strips, and even without any meat or chicken they are still as addictive. Have added Thai basil one time as well and bamboo shoots another time. I bet Tofu would be delicious with it too. It’s so versatile. Can’t thank you enough! It’s our new favorite 😍 Eden, Pinterest
Ground Beef and cabbage variations
- Add rice. Actually, my mom's original recipe for this has also rice in it. If you want to make it an even more hearty and cozy meal cook ½ cup (uncooked) rice while you're cooking the beef and cabbage. When rice is cooked through, mix it in in the cabbage skillet along with the ground beef.
- Meats. As I mentioned earlier, you can add other meats like lamb, turkey, chicken (ground or cut into strips), bacon, beef, or chicken sausage slices.
- Sauces. Instead of tomato sauce add taco sauce or BBQ sauce to the cabbage or when cooking the ground beef in the beginning. This way the meat will become even juicier.
- Asian flavors. Swap tomato sauce for Soy sauce or coconut aminos to make it a Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry.
- Add some spice! Chili flakes, chili powder, or tabasco will all work great in this Beef and Cabbage recipe if you are a lover of some heat in your food!
I hope you enjoy this Ground Beef and Fried Cabbage and please let me know if you've prepared this or planning to!
Easy Beef Recipes
At the Yummy Bowl you'll find more than one beef recipe, especially these popular beef recipes such as crowd's favorite Taco Board, fulfilling Beef Enchilada Casserole, classic Meatballs, Beef Chimichangas and more.
And the best part is that they are very easy to make (like most of my recipes!) and all, are suitable for a total beginner.
Just here for the cabbage? I got you covered. You will love how easy these cabbage recipes are to make:
If you love cabbage recipes, I have a delicious collection of 40+ Best Cabbage Recipes (featuring both green and red cabbage recipes).
You'll find very easy and trending Beef recipes below:
Thank you so much for reading and I hope this Ground Beef and Cabbage Recipe will become your new weeknight favorite.
Julia
Ground Beef and Fried Cabbage
INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- ½ of a medium cabbage (chopped)
- 1 medium carrot (grated or julienned)
- 3 tablespoon tomato sauce or paste
- ½ cup Vegetable or beef stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoon paprika (regular or smoked)
- 1 medium to large onion
- 2-3 tablespoon Vegetable oil for cooking
INSTRUCTIONS
- Start with beef - in a medium or large skillet heat up a little bit of oil over medium heat. When the skillet is warm, add ground beef, salt, and pepper to taste and cook until golden brown. Set aside.
- In the same skillet add onion and cook until translucent. Follow with grated carrot and cook until the carrot becomes soft.
- Add tomato sauce/paste and veggie stock or a bouillon cube mixed in water and give it a good stir. Let the carrots and onions simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Follow with cabbage, add salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir well to combine all the ingredients and let simmer under a closed lid (stirring occasionally) until cabbage becomes soft.
- Return the cooked beef, stir, garnish with fresh herbs like parsley or chives and serve while hot.
- Enjoy!
Video
PRIVATE NOTES
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Julia
Please enjoy this hearty and cozy one=pot Ground Beef and Fried Cabbage meal 🙂
Kaye Branigan
Yummm! Im a Texan. Made this today exactly as written. I used the smoked paprika, I decided to add the zest of one orange and stirred it in before serving, that was really tasty. I made brown rice, and a put a dash of soy sauce on it after putting it in a serving bowl. Really really tasty recipe!!! Thank you!!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
thats sound incredible, I also love to enjoy with a drizzle of gluten free soy sauce!
Marg Roefs
This tastes like halupki...yum!
Ellen
When I was married to my ex and raising children I learned to make Cabbage and Noodles with some bacon from my father-in-law. I thoughly love the dish. My ex's family claimed Hungarian heritage and hence the meal. Your variation will give me a tasty new choice. Much love and peace.♀️ Thanks.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Ellen, your recipe sounds lovely and very budget-friendly which I love! Hope you enjoyed this variation too!
Karen
This was so good! Just exactly the recipe I was looking for when I started googling recipes for cabbage and ground beef. Delicious! AND LOW CARB! Thank you!!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you Karen! This one is one of the most popular recipes on my blog and for a reason!!!
Diana
So tasty and cozy meal.
Julia
Thank you so much Diana!
BRENDA
Julia,
This dish was absolutely divine! My Dad was so happy I learned to make a dish without onions! Thank you so much for ALL your wonderful recipes!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you Brenda, absolutely many dishes are being made without garlic or onion and taste delicious 🙂 I am glad you both liked it!
Ivo
Our family's favorite dinner recipe!Thank you!
Julia
wow, thank you so much! Ours too )
Richard
Delicious, I topped mine with green onions.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you Richard, green onions are my favorite too!
Ronald Carmona
I really enjoyed this recipe because it is tasty, filling and nutritious, and especially because it tastes like something Russian people would eat. It is an everyday dish and not fancy.
Vkusnyy! Spacibo za retsept!
Julia
Thank you Ronald, love to hear that you liked it!
BRENDA
Julia,
Oopsie typo! I meant to say Dad is so glad I learned how to cook a dish without garlic!
Pamala
Garlic makes me vomit, literally. It seems like every recipe these days has garlic. I just leave it out. I also saute onions until they are soft and caramelized in any recipe I make, for instance, meat loaf, even if it doesn't call for it. My happy spaghetti sauce find is Michael's of Brooklyn "Sunday Gravy" and Rao's "Sensitive Marinara". Neither sauce have garlic. Both pricey, but delicious!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
I totally understand Pamala. Most of my recipes have at least one of the two: garlic and onion as these are great, easy-to-find flavorful aromatics. For allergy friendly recipes, these can be substituted or left out completely.
Pamala
Thank you for your kind words. I made the beef and cabbage as written and it was delicious!
Aaron
I topped mine with scallions and parsley, delicious. Had leftovers and served the next day with freshly cooked long grain rice. This is a keeper!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you Aaron, so glad you liked it!
Beth
So easy and delicious, we make this once in a week or two!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you Beth, glad you like it!
Hayley Dhanecha
We use cabbage in Indian cooking a lot. This is easy and flavourful recipe.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Such an inexpensive and great flavor ingredient! Thank you Hayley
Dannii
How this is my kind of comfort food! So easy to make too.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you so much Dannii!
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
It is so good to find a different recipe for minced beef, rather than the same old dishes. This is such a great weeknight family meal too.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Absolutely agree, a little change is always good! Thank you Amanda!
Claudia Lamascolo
WE are huge fan of this style meal and it was delicious the cabbage was tender and flavorful!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you SO much Claudia, appreciate your time!
Danielle
This is one of those ultra comforting hearty meals I love so much. Yummy flavors and simple to make. Great recipe!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
Thank you so much Danielle, glad you liked it!
Linda Dalton
After reading all those wonderful comments, I'm certainly going to make it this week!
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
thank you Linda, let me know how it goes 🙂
Beverly
This is absolutely delicious. It reminds me of a meat cabbage dish my Polish immigrant grandparents made. I used tomato paste & beef broth and added some extra spices, garlic powder, dried thyme and ground savory.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
yum! thank you and glad you liked it!
Dorothy
made it like the recipe said and turned out really good. I dont need to change anything. I used ground turkey instrad of ground meat. Definitely will make it again. Thank you for sharing.
Julia | The Yummy Bowl
thank you so much Dorothy!