Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls Recipe (Keto, Low Carb, & Super Healthy)

These Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls are one of the best low carb healthy dinner recipes you can make! Unlike typically cabbage rolls, these are stuffed with low calorie keto friendly ingredients, like cauliflower rice and low carb seasoned meat. And, thanks to the Instant Pot, these cabbage rolls take practically no time at all to make.

Instant Pot Keto Cabbage Rolls

Ah, cabbage rolls.

They’re one of the healthiest and tastiest foods you can make if you want to incorporate leafy green vegetables - like cabbage - into your diet naturally.

And since I had some cabbage leftover from a keto coleslaw I made, I figured I might as well use it to make some high-quality keto cabbage rolls!

So, that's exactly what I did.

And, let me tell you, keto-fying some cabbage rolls is pretty easy to do...it's also pretty tasty.

All you have to do is replace some of the "normal" ingredients - like white rice - with keto alternatives, like cauliflower rice. 

Honestly, there really isn't that much substituting to do!

So let's dive into the recipe.

How to Make Cabbage Rolls Low Carb & Keto!

The whole process of making keto cabbage rolls is very simple.

To make them, all you need to do is soften some green cabbage in a pot of boiling water, stuff 'em, and cook them in your instant pot, or crockpot.

It doesn't get much easier than that, does it?!

Ingredients

 

And simple even applies to the ingredients we'll be using in the recipe too.

We'll be using some very standard, basic, keto ingredients, for not only the cabbage rolls but the sauce we'll serve them with too.

For the rolls, we'll be using:

• Green cabbage
• Ground pork or turkey, your choice
• Ground beef
• Yellow onions
• Parsley
• Cauliflower rice
• Salt & pepper

And then, for the sauce, we'll be using:

• Keto tomato sauce
• Beef broth - or bone broth
• Garlic
• Cayenne pepper
• Salt 

Like I said, nothing too out of the ordinary about those ingredients.

Especially if you've been doing any kind of low carb diet - like keto - for a while.

Cooking The Cabbage

So, to start, you'll want to use a knife to remove the stem of the cabbage.

Then, you'll want to place the entire head of cabbage into a large pot of boiling salted water.

And, by the way, when filling the pot, be sure not to add too much salt, or you’ll accidentally make the cabbage itself too salty. So just add a nice pinch, and nothing more. 

Now, once you've got your cabbage in the boiling water, you should only need to cook it for around 5-6 minutes in total. And you can tell when it's almost finished because the leaves will start to pull away easily from the head.

So, after the leaves start pulling away from the head, you'll want to let the cabbage cook for about three minutes more, and then remove the outer leaves as they soften progressively.

That said, you'll want to remove 15 big leaves of cabbage to make your cabbage rolls with.

Now, once you have your 15 leaves, let them cool on a plate, and then cut the thick center stem from each leaf individually. And I recommend using a thin sharp knife to do this with.

Making The Filling

Now it’s time to make the filling!

To do this, sauté your onions in a pan over medium heat using macadamia nut oil. Then, once it's sautéd adequately, let it cool for between 5 and 10 minutes.

Then, after the onion has cooled, add it to a large bowl along with the ground beef, pork, salt, pepper, parsley, and cauliflower rice. Mix everything until it's well combined.

Now, you'll want to lay out a cabbage leaf on a big plate with the stem end in front of you.

Then you'll want to put about 3 tablespoons worth of the meat mixture in the center, closer to you.

Flip the right side of the leaf up to the middle, then flip the left side up, and then roll the cabbage up entirely.

If done correctly, you should have a neatly wrapped cabbage roll that won’t easily fall apart.

That said, you'll want to continue making the cabbage rolls until the filling runs out.

And you should end up with around 14 and 15 cabbage rolls in total depending on your leaf sizes.

Making The Sauce

As far as the sauce goes, it's easy-peasy to make.

Literally, all you have to do is add the ingredients to a bowl, and mix.

It's that simple.

So, once you've rolled up all of the cabbage rolls, that's when you'll want to get the sauce mixed up.

Then, once the sauce is prepared, you'll be ready to cook the rolls.

Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls

Ok, so now it's time to cook the rolls.

And, as you already know, we'll be using the Instant Pot to cook them.

To start, you'll want to lay some cabbage leaves down on the bottom Instant Pot. Then, you'll want to place your cabbage rolls seam side down as you add them to the Instant Pot. Doing this will keep them from splitting open throughout the cooking process.

Also, you can progressively stack the cabbage rolls on top of each other in layers as you run out of space at the bottom of the Instant Pot.

And don't be afraid to sprinkle a little bit of salt on top of each layer as you stack the cabbage rolls higher and higher. Adding that pinch of salt gives the entire batch an extra bit of flavor.

Now, once we've added all of the cabbage rolls to the pot, we can pour the sauce over the rolls, and start cooking them.

So, to do this, we'll want to close the Instant Pot top and let it pressure cook the cabbage rolls for about 18 minutes on high.

Then, once the timer has gone up, wait five minutes before releasing the pressure so they cook properly.

Crock Pot Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

You can also make these keto cabbage rolls in a crockpot.

The only difference really is the cook-time.

You'll even want to follow pretty much the same steps...

1. Boil the cabbage.
2. Stuff it with the filling.
3. Roll-it-on-up.
4. Add it to the crockpot.
5. Pour in the sauce.
6. Cover & cook.

That said, cooking the rolls in the crockpot will take between six to seven hours on low or about three to four hours on high.

Nutritional Info On These Healthy Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls

These deliciously healthy cabbage rolls have everything you need for a filling meal.

The rolls give you the fiber and vitamins you need every day, without delivering a massive dose of carbs at the same time.

That said, this batch will make around 15 rolls in total, and each cabbage roll has:

• 135 Calories
• 9g Protein
• 2.5g Carbs
• 0.5g Fiber
• 2 NET CARBS
• 11g Fat

Pretty nice macro's for the keto diet, right?!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these cabbage rolls as much as I do.

If you try them, let me know what you think about them in the comments below. 

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