What to Eat with Stuffed Cabbage

How it works

What to eat with stuffed cabbage? The rolls are a meal in a leaf, often meat and rice, so the sides are mostly sauces, potatoes, bread and pickles. These 34 ideas go on to soups, cakes and tea.

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What each kitchen serves with them

What goes with cabbage rolls changes with the kitchen. In Central and Eastern Europe, tomato sauces and sour cream are typical. In Sweden the rolls come with boiled or mashed potatoes, gravy and lingonberry jam. In Romania they come with polenta, sour cream and spicy pickled peppers, and in Lebanon with yogurt and a lemon and olive oil dressing seasoned with garlic and dried mint.

Build the plate

Choose the sauce first, then one starch to catch it. Add a pickle or a sour salad, because the rolls are soft and rich.

Bring extra sauce to the table in a jug, for the potatoes.
Leave out coleslaw and sauerkraut: the plate has its cabbage.

Questions and answers

What sides go with stuffed cabbage rolls?

Mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes with butter and dill, rye bread, and cucumber salad with sour cream or dill pickles.

What sauce goes with stuffed cabbage?

Tomato sauce, plain or sweet and sour, with sour cream on top. Rolls cooked without tomato take mushroom gravy, egg and lemon sauce, or paprika and onion sauce.

What to serve with golumpki?

Golumpki is an English spelling of gołąbki, the Polish name for the same rolls of cabbage leaf, minced meat and rice. Every side on this list fits them.

What soup goes with stuffed cabbage?

A light one, served first in small bowls: mushroom soup, dill pickle soup, matzo ball soup or lentil soup.

What dessert goes with stuffed cabbage?

A small cake with tea: cheesecake, walnut roll or plum cake. Rugelach and baklava are the bite-sized choices.

All 34 ideas

Sauces and toppings 10

Brown gravy Pour it over the rolls and the potatoes alike.
Egg and lemon sauce Pale, tart and silky, poured on just before serving.
Lemon, olive oil and mint dressing Whisk in crushed garlic and spoon it over the rolls.
Lingonberry jam A spoonful on the side, tart and sweet against the gravy.
Mushroom gravy Thick and brown, for rolls cooked without tomato.
Paprika and onion sauce Stir sweet paprika into soft onions and thin it with the pan juices.
Plain yogurt Cold and thick, in a bowl beside small rolls.
Sour cream A cold spoonful on top of each hot roll.
Sweet and sour tomato sauce Tomato with a little sugar and lemon, and raisins if you like them.
Tomato sauce Spoon extra from the pan over the rolls and the potatoes.

Potatoes, polenta and bread 8

Boiled potatoes with butter and dill Small, whole and rolled in the butter.
Buckwheat with bow-tie pasta Toss it with fried onions and serve it hot.
Challah Soft and a little sweet, torn at the table.
Mashed potatoes Make a well for the sauce.
Onion rolls Warm them and split them for the sauce.
Polenta Soft and hot, with the rolls set on top.
Potato kugel A crisp-edged square beside a saucy roll.
Rye bread For the sauce left on the plate.

Salads and pickles 4

Cucumber salad with sour cream Thin slices, salted and drained, then dressed and chilled.
Dill pickles Sliced on the side, for something sour and crisp.
Hot pickled peppers One or two beside the rolls, for those who like heat.
Kohlrabi slaw Grated and dressed with lemon, crisp where the rolls are soft.

A soup first 4

Dill pickle soup Sour and creamy, a sharp start to a rich meal.
Lentil soup With a squeeze of lemon, before rolls served with yogurt.
Matzo ball soup Clear broth and a dumpling in each bowl.
Mushroom soup A small bowl, so there is room for the rolls.

Something sweet after 5

Baklava A small piece is enough. It suits rolls served with yogurt and lemon.
Cheesecake A plain baked one, in thin slices.
Plum cake Tart fruit on a soft base, served just warm.
Rugelach Small rolled pastries, a plate to pass with the tea.
Walnut roll Sliced to show the swirl.

Drinks 3

Cold buttermilk Sour and cool beside a hot, saucy plate.
Hot black tea with lemon A glass after dinner, with a slice of the plum cake.
Linden flower tea Mild and hot, to end a heavy dinner.