Cabbage Roll In a Bowl

Towards the end of the season, I had a thought - if egg roll in a bowl can be a thing, what about cabbage roll in a bowl?

I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner. Hell, we have recipes for both Egg Roll Soup and Cabbage Roll Soup - as dry mixes - which we’ve always loved as easy camping meals - this seemed like a pretty obvious extension!

Anyway, I’m happy to say that it does work, wonderfully! It’s a super easy and delicious way to scratch the itch when you’re craving cabbage rolls - who wants to roll them while out in nature, anyway?

We actually developed the recipe on the road, but I do have a couple make-ahead tips for you:

1. If it works for you logistically, chop and freeze the cabbage and onion (separately). When they thaw, drain them before using - you don’t HAVE to drain them, but it will cut your cooking time significantly.

The nice thing about freezing and thawing the cabbage is that it will break down the cell walls a bit, softening the cabbage. This is actually a trick used in making cabbage rolls. Thawed cabbage leaves roll just as easily as those softened by boiling.

2. Caraway seeds, dill weed, parsley flakes, and smoked paprika aren’t necessarily ingredients that everyone keeps in their camping pantry. So, you can always measure them out into a little snack sized baggie at home.

I love keeping pre-measured spice mix baggies on hand. This, taco seasoning, etc.

Anyway, let’s look at this cabbage roll in a bowl recipe...

Ingredients

This cabbage roll in a bowl recipe uses super simple ingredients - you won’t have any trouble finding what you need in pretty much any grocery store.

As always, I have a few notes for you.

Green Cabbage

I like to use a regular head of cabbage, as it’s what I use when I make cabbage rolls... though I’m usually making Keto Cabbage Rolls, these days.

That said, I did follow a recommendation one time when making my Chicken Cabbage Rolls, swapping it out for Savoy cabbage.

I wasn’t a fan, in that usage - the texture wasn’t what I was used to in cabbage rolls - but I’m sure it would work fine in a recipe like this.

Alternately, you can use a bag of coleslaw mix, if you want to save some effort... it’ll just have some red cabbage, carrot, and maybe other stuff in it, depending on the producer!

Ground Meat

Use whatever meat you’d normally use in cabbage rolls.

For me, that was always lean ground beef or ground pork... until Porter’s encounter with a Lone Star tick.

These days, I usually make any form of cabbage rolls with ground chicken or ground turkey. You could even use a vegetable sub if you’d like, it’s a really versatile recipe.

Bacon

You can use chicken bacon or turkey bacon instead of real bacon... but you’ll need to use some olive oil or vegetable oil if you do.

Cauliflower Rice

I designed this recipe with cauliflower rice, as I like to keep it lower carb.

If you’d like to use regular rice, 3 cups of cooked rice should be about right. For extra flavour, cook it in a bit of chicken broth!

Tomato Sauce

Aim for an unflavoured tomato sauce, because - IMHO - oregano and basil don’t really belong in cabbage rolls.

If you’re aiming for a low carb dish, just pick a tomato sauce with no sugar added.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Chicken Broth
Yellow Onion
Garlic Cloves
Dried Parsley Flakes
Caraway Seeds
Dill Weed
Smoked Paprika
Ground Black Pepper
Salt

I don’t really have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go.

I recommend having sour cream on hand for serving, maybe a bit of fresh parsley or dill if you’re feeling fancy!

How to Make Cabbage Roll in a Bowl

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

Whisk together the chicken broth, tomato sauce, parsley flakes, caraway seeds, dill weed, and smoked paprika. Season with a little salt and pepper, set aside.

Note: When camping, we like to make packets of the parsley, caraway, dill, and paprika at home - saves us room in the RV!

In a LARGE pan, cook the bacon until the fat has rendered down, and the bacon is almost crispy. Pour off most of the fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan. Set the reserved fat aside.

Add the cauliflower rice to the pan, cook - stirring frequently - until it looks a bit dry and is starting to brown up a little.

Add the ground meat, using a spatula to break it up. Continue cooking until meat is browned - it doesn’t necessarily have to be cooked through, though.

Taste, season with additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Serve hot, with a dollop of sour cream and some chopped fresh herbs, if desired.

Leftovers

Once cooled to almost room temperature, leftovers can be transferred to an airtight container and kept in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Best served reheated.

More One-Pot Camping Recipes

Looking for more easy - but satisfying! - one pot meals to cook over your campfire? Here are some of my favourites!

Bacon Cheeseburger Soup
Beef & Root Vegetable Stew
Cajun Chicken Sloppy Joes
Campfire Chicken Curry
Campfire Chili
Chicken Marbella
Dutch Oven Jambalaya
Easy Chicken Curry
Egg Roll in a Bowl
Hearty Campfire Beef Stew
Indian Sloppy Joes
Mexican Sloppy Joes
Puttanesca Sloppy Joes
Sloppy Giuseppes
Southwest Chicken Chili
Thankgiving Sloppy Joes
Traditional Sloppy Joes
Venison Chili
Venison Stew

Be sure to check out our other Camping Recipes, including Camping Desserts, Camping Snacks, Make-Ahead Camping Mix Recipes, and a ton of delicious Camping Main Dish Recipes.

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!