Mexican Cabbage Rolls Recipe

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These delicious Mexican Cabbage Rolls are a wonderful lower carb option for dinner tonight!

While cabbage rolls take a bit of prep work, they are totally worth it, in my opinion. They are wonderful, healthy comfort food.

Mexican Cabbage Rolls. A single roll on a white place with salsa over the top.

Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls are delicious. They make a wonderful casserole dish that is perfect for either a family dinner, or dinner for one, depending on how many rolls you make.

I’ve made regular cabbage rolls and Italian cabbage rolls so far, and I have loved them both every time I’ve made them. There is something very comforting about cabbage rolls.

What Are Mexican Cabbage Rolls?

Mexican cabbage rolls are simply cabbage rolls that have a Mexican twist. You use taco meat a grain, (while I used quinoa, you can easily substitute with Spanish Rice if you prefer), salsa and cheese. You could also add some black or pinto beans if you really want to beef up the filling a bit for more rolls.

Stuffed Cabbage

The term, “stuffed cabbage”, is pretty much just another name for cabbage rolls. While recipes vary, they are pretty much the same. Same goes for stuffed cabbage rolls.

Cabbage Roll Soup

If you make a big batch of this and end up with a lot of leftovers, you could easily turn this into soup by chopping everything, adding it to enough chicken broth to suit your tastes, and warming it in a pot. Feel free to add corn or beans to fill out the soup a bit.

The finished Mexican cabbage rolls. One on a plate, cut open.

What You’ll Need

1 lb ground turkey – You can use full fat, lean or extra lean turkey. I used lean. Ground turkey breast is a lower fat option if you prefer that.

1 tbsp. oil – I used coconut oil, but any oil you prefer will work here.

1 tbsp. garlic powder – If you prefer fresh garlic, I recommend using at least 6 cloves. Be sure to mince them as fine as you can manage.

1 tbsp. onion powder – If you prefer using fresh onion, I highly recommend purple onion, but yellow or white will work too. As with the garlic, chop the onion as fine as you can get it. Use about ½ a cup finely chopped onion.

1 tbsp. ground cumin – If you prefer not to use cumin, you can substitute this with paprika. Use the regular stuff, not smoked paprika.

1 tbsp. chili powder – If you prefer not to use chili powder, you can use extra cumin or substitute the chili powder with paprika.

12 medium cabbage leaves – These are the larger leaves off the outer side if the cabbage. You can use smaller leaves, but they will be harder to roll. Use either green or purple cabbage. Both will work. But purple cabbage tends to have slightly thicker leaves, so you may have to boil them a few extra minutes to get them nice and pliable.

1 ½ cups cooked quinoa – You can also use brown rice if you prefer that. Rice will make the filling stick together a bit better, but the quinoa is really tasty.

1 cup salsa – Use your favorite. Just make sure there is no sugar added.

½ cup shredded cheddar – It’s best to hand grate your own cheese to avoid the additives they put in the pre-shredded packages at the store. But you don’t care about that, a nice Mexican cheese blend will also work well here. Pretty much any type of cheddar you prefer will be tasty.

Rolled up Mexican cabbage rolls made with half green cabbage and half purple cabbage.

How To Make Mexican Cabbage Rolls

Here’s how to make these delicious Mexican cabbage rolls. Mush like lasagna, the prep involves cooking three different things and then combining them.

Preparing the quinoa for these Mexican Cabbage Rolls

Cook quinoa to package directions. I used chicken broth instead of water for extra flavor.

Blanching the cabbage leaves for this Mexican Cabbage Rolls Recipe.

Boil the cabbage leaves for approximately 5-8 minutes in fully boiling water.

Adding spices to the ground turkey.

Cook the turkey meat in the oil and add the spices. Cook fully.

Laying out a single cabbage leaf on a work surface.

Preheat oven to 400 F. and set up and assembly line with all your ingredients. Lay out your first cabbage leaf.

Stuffing the cabbage leaf with taco meat and quinoa.

Add approximately 2 tbsp. of taco meat to the center of the leaf, followed by approximately 2 tbsp. of quinoa. This amount can vary slightly, depending on the size of your leaves.

Rolling up the stuffed cabbage leaf.

Fold in the edges of the cabbage leave over the meat, and roll like a burrito.

Three Mexican Cabbage Rolls, rolled up and placed tightly in a small casserole dish.

Place the roll, open side down, in the casserole dish.

Salsa poured over the cabbage rolls.

Pour salsa over the top.

Cheese sprinkled over the top of the Mexican cabbage rolls, and they are ready for the oven.

Sprinkle cheese over the salsa. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool slightly and serve.

What To Serve With Mexican Cabbage Rolls

A great side for this dish is refried beans. Pretty much anything you would use as a side for a Mexican meal, you can use as a side here. An extra side of vegetables never hurts either.

The prepped Mexican cabbage rolls, ready for the oven.

How To Store Mexican Cabbage Rolls

These will keep in the fridge for about 3 days, as long as you package them in an air-tight container.

Can You Freeze Cabbage Rolls?

Technically, you can freeze anything. But raw cabbage doesn’t do very well in the freezer. If you don’t mind these falling apart when you go to eat them, you can freeze these in the casserole dish, after baking, for a week or two. But again, cabbage is not great in the freezer. So only do this if you absolutely must. Never freeze raw cabbage. It’s gross and unusable when it thaws out.

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Mexican Cabbage Rolls Recipe

Mexican Cabbage Rolls. A single roll on a white place with salsa over the top.

Mexican Cabbage Rolls

Delicious, low carb cabbage rolls with a Mexican flare!
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Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 120kcal
Author: Tiffany McCauley

CLICK TO WATCH THIS RECIPE IN ACTION!

Equipment

  • Casserole dish

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 tbsp. oil
  • 1 tbsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp. onion powder
  • 1 tbsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp. chili powder
  • 12 medium cabbage leaves
  • 1½ cups cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup salsa (your favorite, no sugar added)
  • ½ cup shredded cheddar (or mozzarella)

Instructions

  • Cook quinoa to package directions. I used chicken broth instead of water for extra flavor.
  • Boil the cabbage leaves for approximately 5-8 minutes in fully boiling water.
  • Cook the turkey meat in the oil and add the spices. Cook fully.
  • Preheat oven to 400 F.
  • Set up and assembly line with all your ingredients. Lay out your first cabbage leaf.
  • Add approximately 2 tbsp. of taco meat to the center of the leaf.
  • Add approximately 2 tbsp. of quinoa on top of the meat.
  • Fold in the edges of the cabbage leave over the meat, and roll like a burrito.
  • Place the roll, open side down, in the casserole dish.
  • Pour salsa over the top.
  • Sprinkle cheese over the salsa.
  • Bake for about 10-15 minutes. Just long enough to melt the cheese. Cool slightly and serve.

Notes

Please note that the nutrition data below is a ballpark figure. Exact data is not possible.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cabbage roll | Calories: 120kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 222mg | Potassium: 308mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 605IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 1mg

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I'm Tiffany, a writer for MSN and the AP Newswire, a cookbook author, digital publisher, food lover, and mom. I create healthy, clean eating recipes for everyday living.

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2 Comments

  1. Charlotte says:

    Where is the quinoa in the recipe? Not anywhere

    1. Charlotte – It was listed above, but I somehow missed adding it to the recipe card. Apologies. It’s there now.

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