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Braised Cabbage is fairly cheap and easy. That’s probably why it’s a very typical meal for Ukrainian and Russian people. Oh and it’s fairly tasty too! We grew up on this stuff. This is my husband’s cousin’s recipe.
Thank you Angelina for sharing your culinary expertise! It is the same Angelina who shared her fabulous recipe for Easy Bread Kvas. The preparation of the cabbage is slightly different than the Russian Braised Cabbage with Pork that we posted last year. You can also use top sirloin beef in this recipe. The sirloin is better but chuck roast is a cheaper alternative.
Ingredients for Braised cabbage:
2 Medium Cabbage heads
1.5 – 2 lb of chuck roast beef, or top sirloin beef
2 Tbsp of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 large onion, diced
2 large carrots, grated
1 cup of sauerkraut, well drained
3/4 of a 6oz can of tomato paste
1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup water
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
2 bay leaves
6 Tbsp of olive oil
How to Make Braised Cabbage With Beef:
1. Cut beef into small 1/2″ thick chunks, add steak seasoning, place it in a ziploc bag & leave it in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Once the meat is marinated, thinly shred 1 cabbage (discard the core) and place it in a large pot and cover it with boiling water. Let it stand for 30 min.
3. In the mean time shred the second head of cabbage (discard the core) and place it in a large bowl. Drain 1 cup of sauerkraut and add it to a bowl as well.
4. After 30 min are up, drain the first cabbage and squeeze out excess water. Add it to the bowl with the rest of the cabbage. Mix well.
5. Preheat your skillet to high and add 2-3 Tbsp olive oil. Sear meat on high heat until it’s just browned. Use 2 pans to avoid overloading the pan. If you overload the pan it will cool down and the meat will juice out instead of searing. Add cooked meat to the bowl with cabbage.
6. Add 4 Tbsp of oil to the same large skillet used to cook meat and saute diced onion and grated carrots until soft (about 7-8 min).
7. Once onions and carrots are done, add 3/4 can of tomato paste, 2 Tbsp of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of water, 1 tsp of salt, 1.5 Tbsp of brown sugar and sprinkle with some black pepper. Mix well and let it cook for a few minutes.
8. Place cooked mixture into the bowl with cabbage and mix everything together.
9. Place mixture in to a Dutch Oven
Serve with bread. And a pickle (of course). What is it with our fascination with pickles and what Russian or Ukrainian person doesn’t have a can of pickles in the fridge at all times?
Braised Cabbage With Beef
Ingredients
- 2 Medium Cabbage heads
- 1.5 - 2 lb of chuck roast beef, or top sirloin beef
- 2-3 Tbsp of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, grated
- 1 cup of sauerkraut, well drained
- 3/4 of a 6oz can of tomato paste
- 1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp of pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 Tbsp of olive oil
Instructions
- Cut beef into small 1/2" thick chunks, add steak seasoning, place it in a plastic cealed bag & leave it in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
- Once the meat is marinated, thinly shred 1 cabbage (discard the core) and place it in a large pot and cover it with boiling water. Let it stand for 30 min.
- In the mean time shred the second head of cabbage (discard the core) and place it in a large bowl. Drain 1 cup of sauerkraut and add it to a bowl as well.
- After 30 min are up, drain the first cabbage and squeeze out excess water. Add it to the bowl with the rest of the cabbage. Mix well.
- Preheat your skillet to high and add 2-3 tbsp olive oil. Sear meat on high heat until it's just browned. Use 2 pans to avoid overloading the pan. If you overload the pan it will cool down and the meat will juice out instead of searing. Add cooked meat to the bowl with cabbage.
- Add 4 Tbsp of oil to the same large skillet used to cook meat and saute diced onion and grated carrots until soft (about 7-8 min).
- Once onions and carrots are done, add 3/4 can of tomato paste, 2 tbsp of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of water, 1 tsp of salt, 1.5 Tbsp of brown sugar and sprinkle with some black pepper. Mix well and let it cook for a few minutes.
- Place cooked mixture into the bowl with cabbage and mix everything together.
- Place mixture in to a Dutch Oven or large pot with tight fitting lid and add 2 bay leafs. Cook over medium heat for 25 min, stirring it a couple times. Switch heat to med/low and set a timer for 45 min, stirring it every 15 min. Remove from hear and serve with bread and a pickle.
I love your recipes i learned a lot,, thanks to you Miss, Natasha..
Thank you for your sweet comment and you are welcome :).
Is it okay to use the russian style sauerkraut, I have a bunch of it in my fridge and if so, how much would I need to use
Yes, it is ok. Just use the same amount.
very delicious!!!
Thank you so much 🙂
Hey natasha I was wondering if I can make this braised cabbage without marinating the meat with the seasoning? If yes, then do I need to add salt to the beef ? And do I still need to put it in fridge for 4 hours ?
The steak seasoning gives the meat really good flavor as well as marinating it for at least 4 hours. We used to marinate the meat even overnight for even tastier results. You can marinate for less time and still have a good braised cabbage but you won’t have the same depth of rich flavor that marinating would bring. Also, you definitely at least want to season the meat with salt and pepper or it will be pretty bland.
Hi Natasha! Your website is amazing!!! I am fascinated by the Russian culture and as a self-proclaimed foodie, I’ve been searching everywhere for authentic Russian dishes – I could spend hours looking at all of your recipes! Since this is my first time making this dish, is there any way I could scale it down to serve maybe 3 or 4 people? If I use only one cabbage, do I have to halve the rest of the ingredients, or do I follow the recipe as written? Thanks!!
I would cut everything in half and just follow the recipe. I haven’t tested it with half of the ingredients to tell you the exact times, but every step will go slightly faster and the final cooking time might be 5 minutes less. Enjoy and welcome to the blog! 🙂
Just a random question: do you use this steak seasoning in any other recipes on your blog? just want to know how much of it yo buy 🙂
I don’t use it a lot during winter but tend to use it more during summer months when barbecuing :).
Wow! This was really good! I made it as printed but made the mistake of using the “spicy” Montreal steak seasoning and although we love spicy food, IT.WAS.HOT!! I’m wondering if it got spicier because I marinated it before bedtime and pulled it out of the fridge the next evening as I was preparing the meal? Anyway, in an effort to tone down the heat, I served this over rice and topped with Fage 0% Nonfat Greek Yogurt. The yogurt really helped and the rice stretched the meal even further making it even more economical. Lots of great left overs that were enjoyed with rave reviews! Thank you so much for a filling, satisfying new recipe that will go into our rotation. Oh, almost forgot to mention…once I cooked everything for the first 25 minutes, the meat seemed tough even though it was a nice roast. So I simply put everything in the crock pot and cooked it on low for five hours. That seemed to do the trick…it was sooo tender and moist. Just took a little extra time, but it was well worth the wait.
Cindy, I’m glad you like the recipe and a great job on improvising. Crock pot really does wonders with the meat :).
Cooked this for dinner and it was so good! My girls love anything with cabbage. Even my husband who is not fan of cabbage liked it! Thank you Natasha!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you all liked it 🙂
Tried this one for the first time tonight — loved it! My husband said it reminded him of a dish his Finnish Grandmother used to make. I didn’t have the seasoning you suggested for the meat, so I made my own concoction of salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder and paprika, which worked just fine. Thank you for sharing this — I foresee this will become part of the regular fare at our house!
Thank you for great review and great job on improvising :).
i do it the same way except instead of heavy whip cream i add sour cream. Love this stuff…grew up on it too:)
Oooh sour cream sounds like a nice add-in 🙂
Sooooo good. I made this exactly as written except i cooked it in a covered roasting pan in the oven at 350F for an hour, instead of a dutch oven on top of stove, and it came out perfect. The only reason I cooked it in the roasting pan instead of dutch oven on top of the stove was because my dutch oven would have been so full i know that stirring it every 15 minutes was going to be a pain. Using the roasting pan, i only stirred it once. There was no scorching and no problem with too much juice, as mentioned by other reviewers. The meat (chuck roast) was tender, tender, tender. Thank you Natasha, for posting a fabulous recipe.
That’s awesome to know that it works so well in the oven. I will definitely try that next time. Thank you so much for sharing!
Вкусняшка!!! Спасибо Наталья:)
Yes!! So happy you liked it 🙂
THANK YOU!!!! My fiancé is Ukrainian & I am Black I would like to say first. So needless to mention cultural difference 😉 I made this тушенную капусту с мясом for him and he is very proud as am I smiling from ear to ear eating this delicious dish. Thank you again I look forward to trying new things (for me) in our kitchen.
Awww that’s awesome! I’m so happy you both enjoyed the braised cabbage. Now I’m smiling too 🙂 Thanks Mickca!
I did that last week. Turned out great. 🙂
🙂
Made this a couple days ago and it turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much! My husband and brother said it was one of the best тушеная капуста they have every tried 🙂 My extra picky sister-in-law couldn’t get enough of it either. Just a side note, it seems like it makes a ton when you’re preparing all the ingredients, but the cabbage definitely reduces by the end.
Great, you are very welcome Roxanne, this is music to my ears :).
Hi, I want to make this and was wondering if the brown sugar is reeeeally needed. Will the taste be much different without the sugar? I only use stevia as my sweetner. Thanks
You can omit brown sugar, it would still taste great :).
Love this Recipe!!!
I was wondering if I have to soak the meat in cold water a couple of hours
Before marinated it or cooking the meat?
It’s really not necessary for this recipe.
Is there any reason why you only put boiling water over half amount of the cabbage?
It’s the way I was instructed to make it. 😉 I think it’s to keep the textures more interesting, Otherwise it might get a little soggy.
hey! is it ok if i use saurkraut with wine?
I never tried that version before so can’t really turn out. Let me know how it turns out if you give it a try.