This Instant Pot stuffed cabbage is a great dinner filled with ground beef, rice, cheese and tons of flavor. An old fashioned favorite, this is how it’s done fast! If you loved our Instant Pot stuffed cabbage casserole but really want to do it like your Grandmother did back in the day this one is great too.
This Instant Pot stuffed cabbage is now one of my favorites because I can make it so easily and quickly. We are at it again with another dinner to add to our 101+ easy Instant Pot recipes and this one is a favorite. (affiliate links present)
Ninja Foodi Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
I wasn’t a fan of simple cabbage recipes when I was younger. It was something my nana made like a lot but there was no way it was going in my mouth. Fast forward to 40 and now I love it! After making this for my husband when we first got married, I wanted to make it in my new pot and was amazed at how well it turned out.
You can use any brand of electric pressure cooker to make this one. I have a few of them and know that they all work the same way. I love my Mealthy, Crockpot Express and Ninja Foodi pots. The latter has the air fryer function so you could melt some parmesan cheese on the top too if you wanted.
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.
Pressure Cooker Cabbage Rolls
I made a version of this a while back that we called unstuffed cabbage casserole on the stove that came out well. But there is something about the traditional style that we love too. So good right??? I have a 6 qt Instant Pot and have a few accessories I use, the bowl I link to below is one that works well for this easy cabbage recipe.
You’re only going to use the outer largest cabbage leaves for this one. Whether you make these in the oven or this method you would need to blanch them quickly so they become softened enough to wrap the middle filling up like a burrito.
Don’t worry though, I hate waste too. The rest of it I have lots of other suggestions for. You can search the word cabbage in my search bar and there are TONS of ideas. I would say our favorite one to do with the rest is to make something like our Instant Pot fried cabbage. Always a huge hit!
Instant Pot Stuffed Cabbage with Tomato Soup
You are going to start off by making Instant Pot white rice which only takes a few minutes. Then proceed to the next steps like browning your ground beef so all the insides are cooked. You can do all the cooking right inside the same pot using the saute function so you don’t dirty more than one pan.
You could use tomato soup, sauce, or even spaghetti sauce for the moisture. It is best to coat the whole outside so the flavors seep in. Add heat with red pepper flakes if you want or leave mild as is.
Ingredients
- 7″ bowl is what fits well inside ours
- Head of cabbage just for the outer larger leaves
- Cup of water to steam them
- Diced tomatoes we like petite versions
- Cooked rice – white rice or brown rice
- Italian sausage – spicy is good
- or ground beef – this is how to defrost Instant Pot frozen ground beef in case you forgot to thaw it out the night before. 😉
- Onion, diced
- Seasoning salt, optional, I use Lawry’s if I add it.
- Tomato sauce, or spaghetti sauce
Salt and pepper to taste, and any other seasonings that are your musts. Below is what your stuffed cabbage rolls will look like when they’re put in the pan and on the trivet inside your pot.
Can you use regular dishes in the Instant Pot?
You can as long as they are oven safe and fit inside. We have a 6 quart pot and used a 7 inch casserole dish to set on the trivet for this recipe here. Large ramekins, or any size, are best for cooking in a pressure cooker.
How to Make Stuffed Cabbage in a Pot
This is how to make this: First you’ll want to get your rice cooking in any way you prefer. I pressure cook it but that is up to you, set aside when done. On the stove top get a pot of water boiling and add blanch cabbage leaf in order to soften them a bit.
- Take your cooked cabbage (not mushy cooked, just softened so you can roll/fold them) out and place on a paper towel
- Set Instant Pot to saute, add sausage, olive oil, onions and cook until meat is no longer pink. Turn pot off now.
- Add cooked rice and tomato sauce into your mixture, stir. Move this meat mixture to a bowl and rinse out your pot. Pour water into your pot with a trivet inside.
- Put 1 cabbage leaf on a cutting board, spoon in meat rice mix and roll up like a present Place this with folded side facing down into a 6-7″ oven safe dish or springform pan
- Then pour diced tomatoes on top of it all like in the photo above.
- You can add any seasonings now, at least salt and pepper is great
- Set to high pressure cook time for 15 minutes
- I like to quick release the pressure when done
Spoon out on to a plate and sprinkle with more seasonings and parmesan cheese You can add spices of your choice but if you use spicy Italian sausage you really don’t need a lot. For a really flavorful and spicy stuffed cabbage dish just use the sausage and omit the ground beef. I have added some diced onion as well too at times if I have it.
More simple cabbage recipes you’ll love
- Instant Pot butter cabbage is simple but the best side dish that goes with all the things.
- Of course if you want to make dinner with this veggie at the same time you can do that with our Instant Pot corned beef and cabbage duo.
We share how to cook cabbage of ALL different types and techniques here too. From on the stove to the oven and everywhere in between you’ll find it all here.
Instant Pot Stuffed Cabbage
Equipment
- 1 6 inch springform pan
Ingredients
- 1 head cabbage
- 1/2 lb Italian sausage, spicy is best
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 2 c Instant Pot rice, white or brown, cooked
- 1 can diced tomatoes, petite, 14 oz., with chiles is good
- 1/2 onion , diced
- 1 tsp seasoning salt, optional, I use Lawry’s if I add it.
- 3/4 c tomato sauce, or spaghetti sauce
Instructions
- Make rice so it is precooked, use your Instant Pot to make it (2 cups). Remove core from cabbage and gently remove the largest outside leaves off, boil for about 3 minutes just so they soften.
- Turn your Instant Pot on to the saute mode and add sausage and ground beef. Add diced onion and seasoning salt if you want to add that.
- Mix in cooked rice and tomato or spaghetti sauce.
- Lay cabbage leaves out on a large surface and stuff with meat and rice mixture.
- Fold the ends of the cabbage leaves over and roll up. Place in a springform pan or oven-safe dish that will fit in the Instant Pot (6"-7" dishes fit in my 6 qt.), with the folded side of the rolls down.
- Rinse out pot from meat mixture. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the inner pot of the Instant Pot, then a trivet goes in too. Pour diced tomatoes over the cabbage rolls, place the dish on trivet in the Instant Pot.
- Close the lid of the Instant Pot and turn to sealing position. Set for a manual high-pressure time of 15 minutes.
- When the time has finished, allow for a natural release. Serve with additional rice if desired.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
for stuffed cabbage rolls: Confused On what you mean by adding one 1-1/2 cups water to “inner pot”. Do you mean to the oven safe dish that will contain the stuffed cabbage? Or the slow cooker pot that goes inside of the Ninja Foodi?
The inner pot is underneath the dish with the cabbage in it so it can steam.
Justine I want to try this with my new pot. What kind of dish is safe to put in this cooker metal, glass, ceramic dinner dishes etc… confused on this
There’s a link in the post that is blue for the 7″ bowl.
This recipe for stuffed cabbage is my childhood right there! I loved them as a kid & would love them even more now! Thanks for sharing!