This Instant Pot stuffed cabbage casserole with ground beef and rice is a fun deconstructed to make dinner. Unstuffed makes it so much easier to make than the old fashioned traditional method in just 12 minutes.
Unstuffed cabbage as we called it was full of flavor, the cabbage maintained a perfect not too soft and not underdone consistency, and overall was a healthy meal for all 5 of us. Definitely one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes now!
Instant Pot Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls Recipe
I hadn’t ever had a stuffed cabbage roll at all until I met my husband. He raved about this dish his grandmother used to make so I gave it a whirl years ago and shared it here on my slow cooker stuffed cabbage post.
I didn’t always have the time to go thru all the steps to make that one so I started thinking outside of the box. If I used the same ingredients but didn’t roll them up it would be just as good but less work for me. So I went for it and unstuffed cabbage rolls was what we got!!
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
In the past making stuffed cabbage was quite time consuming, and my kids found it hard to eat. SO I thought a deconstructed version would be a bigger hit in our house. That is where this creation came about. 😉
I got to experimenting and boy did it come out great! On the first go around it was perfect, and thinned out with some more broth it makes a great soup reheated as well. Two meals out of one creation is my kinda one pot meal I tell you.
I thought about this dish the other night since I hadn’t made it in a while. A sort of deconstructed Instant Pot stuffed cabbage dish was what I wanted. It took only 12 minutes to cook and was great!
Ingredient Notes
I typically will use lean ground beef 80/20 or spicy ground sausage from Jimmy Dean. If I want just a bit of heat I will use half and half. You could use ground turkey if you rather but I will say that lower fat means not as much flavor so don’t count the calories on this one and just go with the good stuff.
For the main veggie you are going to need 1/2 head of cabbage, leaves cut into 1″ squares almost like cubed. I speak here about how to cut cabbage for a number of different dishes but cubed is how I would describe this one.
To make things super easy, for the sauce and liquid necessary I start with 1 jar spaghetti sauce (I just grabbed what was on sale). SO instead of using a bunch of herbs and tomato sauce etc….you just use Ragu + some beef broth to provide enough moisture to cook the rice to tender.
With that said let’s talk rice for a minute here. As far as the timing below is concerned you need to use long grain white or arborio rice works too.
Can you use brown rice?
I do not like to make this with Instant Pot brown rice as that takes too long and by that time the leaves will turn to mush. Now if that is all you have you could but with a few modifications. You would follow directions except don’t add cabbage. Timing would need to adjusted to 22 minutes. Then I’d boil cabbage separate to al dente, drain, and combine.
Can you use frozen ground beef?
Yes and no. There would be a process. You would first need to follow directions for Instant Pot frozen ground beef which defrosts it and then you can drain that water and saute to brown. Then follow instructions below to make this dish with it.
Tips
The cabbage cut up into little squares works perfectly when you’re ready to eat and makes it the perfect consistency once it is done. I don’t like it too wilted and soft or super crunchy either. This timing made it turn out perfectly. Even the kids said it was a winner of a dinner. 😉
Make sure you do a quick release at the end or else the cabbage will become too soft. Also, this will thicken quite a bit as it cools and sits in the pot. Initially it will be a bit thinner. Just allow the cooked rice and cabbage to sit after pressure cooking to get thicker. Consistency in the photos is approx. 5-10 after taking lid off.
Instant Pot Stuffed Cabbage Casserole Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef, or ground sausage
- 3 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 cup rice, white, uncooked
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 20 oz
- 1 can tomato soup, 10 oz
- 1 dash hot sauce, optional
- 1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 pinch salt, to taste
- 2-3 c cabbage, cut into small chunks 2×2 pcs
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute, normal. Add a bit of olive oil, ground beef and diced onion. Cook until beef is not pink and onions soften
- Turn Instant Pot OFF/cancel button and deglaze your pot. Important step so pot does not overheat and can cool off while draining grease and adding other ingredients. If you do not turn it off in between you may have an error/burn code come on as it senses it is overheating.
- Add in all other ingredients except rice and cabbage. Do not stir.
- When all other ingredients are added pour uncooked rice in, do not stir.
- Break up chunks of cabbage and add to top of your mixture, gently push down into the liquid. (make sure pot is not more than 3/4 full or it may not reach pressure)
- Put lid on and close steam valve.
- Push rice button, or if you don't have that then choose pressure high for 10 minutes.
- Allow to naturally release steam for 2 minutes followed by a quick release.
- Lift lid carefully, stir, and serve! Can top with chives or even parmesan cheese!! It will thicken more as it sits.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Other 30 minute pressure cooker recipes you’ll love
If you love Instant Pot casseroles we have a few here on our site so after you’ve tried and love this you should head on over and make our Instant Pot chicken parmesan casserole too. 😉
Then I made this pressure cooker cabbage soup we loved. It’s now included in our list of Instant Pot soup recipes
If you want to make a similar dish but on the stovetop, try our unstuffed cabbage casserole recipe here. I have also made a slow cooker stuffed cabbage soup that was amazing but of course took all day to cook
If you’re looking for more easy Instant Pot sausage recipes we have more to enjoy!
If making this you can opt for ground beef or I like a mixture of 1/2 lb. spicy ground sausage and 1/2 beef. You really can use anything though that will give it more flavor. Diced ham after the holidays is another great choice.
Unstuffed cabbage casserole really is a complete meal. Other than a dinner roll I don’t serve it with much.
You could but the consistency of the leaves will be a bit mushy when reheated. I suggest storing in the fridge and reheating in the next 2-3 days for the best results. 1 min. in the microwave should do it.
think you could use a crockpot? As I don’t have a pressure cooker
I am working on a crockpot version as we speak!
Crock pot recipe would be much appreciated.
Just posted, it is great: https://temeculablogs.com/slow-cooker-stuffed-cabbage-soup/
Would I need to add more time for brown rice?
Yes brown rice definitely takes longer, I haven’t done that yet so I am unsure of the time.
On round 3 of cooking this…guess it takes a lot longer!! ?
It was perfect after 30 min. total.
Could you use cauliflower instead of long grain rice?
I haven’t tried that but would imagine it would take much less time.
I used cauliflower rice & it turned out like soup.
Cauliflower rice is totally different than traditional rice when it comes to cook times. It takes just a fraction of the time so I wouldn’t recommend it for this recipe unless you just put it in for maybe 1-2 minutes.
Deglaze works. But my ultra IP also indicates burn a lot of times when other items previously have been cooked in it. I’ve learned to make sure IP is completely cool prior to use by using my second pot with couple cups of ice cold water. Takes about 10 minutes and no burn signs.
Where in this recipe does it say *do not mix liquids with beef*? It just says do not stir rice in. I kept getting the burn too, stirred a few times, still getting burn. Added more liquid and put it on the rice setting. Here’s hoping it works.
States do not stir in recipe after cooking meat, that is important to prevent it from potentially burning. Meat on bottom creates a barrier. Also turning it off after cooking meat as stated helps prevent burn message from coming up on pot. It has never burned and always turns out well for us using the directions stated.
I agree. It states do not stir after adding the rice in step four, nothing about not stirring the sauce in step three. Could have been clearer. I didn’t get a burn error, but it would only come up to pressure for a split second. I tried it twice before reading all the comments; both partial fails. Flavor is great, so I may try it again with this clarification…
Three starts for the flavor – it will be a five if it’s fully successful.
My family loved this and it was so easy!
I’m so glad!!
Well, despite my ‘messing up’ by mixing the liquids with the beef (oops), this came out deliciously! (Fortunately, I didn’t mix in the rice or cabbage…just the beef.) I used basmatti as it was the only rice I had on hand. I feel it could be cooked less than 10 min; my rice was a wee bit mushy at that point, but it was still wonderful 🙂 Also, because I’m a cabbage fiend, I may just cook up the other half of the cabbage and mix it in, because I think that would still taste delicious!
I got 10 very full cups worth out of this recipe! I put it in myfitnesspal and made it 10 servings instead of 8 and got 258 calories per serving 🙂 ty!
So glad you loved it!
Thank you for sharing the calorie count.
Just made this for dinner. I thought it was missing something but couldnt figure out what. We all agreed that the cabbage needed to be cooked a little longer. I really think that would have made it much better.
It is personal preference, just set it for 1-2 more minutes next time you make it if you want it really soft.
Can you use instant rice & set on manual for less time?
I don’t use instant rice for recipes so I am not sure.
I’ve made something very similar to this in a casserole for many years. How many cans of tomato soup would I need if I wanted to skip the spaghetti sauce? One or two add’l (to the one already on the recipe)?