This Cabbage Casserole recipe is rich, hearty, and cheesy! Made with ground beef, canned tomatoes, cheddar, and cabbage, it’s an easy weeknight meal that’s ready in about half an hour.
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You may have noticed by now that I’m a sucker for a cheesy casserole.
There is just something about a warm bowl of cheesy comfort food that I can not resist.
Also, I live in the Midwest (born and raised!) and casseroles are a whole thing out here. 😉
This cabbage casserole recipe is so simple, hearty, and filling.
Plus, it has just enough cheese and ground beef that the kids love it too! I love when the kids are on board with my low carb dinners – makes life so much easier!
The cabbage takes on lots of savory flavor while it simmers in the tomato sauce with the ground beef. It’s a great way to enjoy a healthy veggie!
It’s filling enough to serve all on it’s own if you want or make it a meal. Some cauliflower rice or mashed cauliflower would make a nice side!
This one is easy to customize – try adding some red pepper flakes for heat or use a different variety of cheese. This also works well with lean ground turkey or Italian sausage in place of beef.
Ingredient Notes:
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Ground Beef – We use lean ground beef, but ground pork would be delicious here as well.
Garlic & Onion – An easy way to infuse some extra flavor into the beef while it cooks!
Cabbage – You’ll need a few cups of chopped cabbage for this casserole. Use any leftover cabbage for our unstuffed cabbage rolls or in our cabbage soup with sausage.
Tomatoes – I’m keeping things easy and just using some canned diced tomatoes and canned tomato sauce for this recipe.
Italian Seasoning – You can use any brand/blend of Italian seasonings that you prefer. You’ll also need some salt.
Cheddar – The shredded cheddar cheese will get perfectly melty after topping the ground beef and cabbage with it. You could use other varieties of cheese such as mozzarella, but we love this cabbage with the cheddar!
We use Thrive Market for a lot of our specialty ingredients and keto snacks or products. Their prices tend to be cheaper than the local stores and I love that you can so easily sort products by diet.
Like Costco, this is a membership site, but we find that it’s more than worth it based on the amount we save over the regular grocery store.
They have monthly or yearly plans. Check it out here.
How To Make Cheesy Cabbage Casserole:
Beef – Start by browning up a pound of ground beef over medium heat. Once you’ve got the meat crumbled up, stir in some onion and garlic and let those cook until softened and fragrant!
Cabbage – Stir in chopped cabbage, canned diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Season it up with an Italian seasoning blend, salt, and pepper.
Simmer – You’ll want to cover this and let it cook for about 15 minutes so the cabbage gets good and soft. You can let it simmer for longer for more tender cabbage.
Cheese – Turn the heat off, top with some shredded cheddar, and put the lid back on for about 5 minutes to let the cheese get all gooey and melty.
Serve – We like to garnish this with fresh parsley just before serving. This meal is so hearty and satisfying! The cabbage softens up nicely and the whole dish is nice and cheesy.
Nutrition Info:
This recipe serves 6. We did not measure the servings by volume or weight. We just divided it evenly into 6 portions.
Each serving contains 333 calories, 19 grams of fat, and 7 net carbs.
The full nutrition information is down in the recipe card.
Tools Needed:
Casserole Dish: We make our cabbage casserole right on the stove, so we use a dutch oven since it’s both stove top and oven safe. This one is a favorite around here and very budget-friendly.
Sharp Knife: Nothing makes kitchen work easier and more enjoyable than a good, sharp knife. We have this one (fancy!) and this one (more economical) and I honestly grab the cheaper one more often. It’s ridiculously sharp and well balanced.
Meal Prep Containers: Not a need, necessarily, but we love to package up the leftovers in these meal prep containers to reheat for lunches. This reheats great in the microwave.
More Low Carb Casserole Recipes:
- Keto Breakfast Casserole
- Brussel Sprout Casserole
- Broccoli Cheese Casserole
- Philly Cheesesteak Casserole
- Spaghetti Squash Casserole
- Spinach Casserole
- Keto Buffalo Chicken Casserole
Cheesy Cabbage Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ medium onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups chopped cabbage
- 15 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces canned tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar
- Minced parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Add the ground beef to a large skillet over medium heat and brown, crumbling the meat as it cooks.
- When meat is about halfway cooked through, add the onion and garlic to the skillet and continue cooking until beef is cooked through.
- Add the cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt to the skillet and stir well to combine. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until cabbage has softened to your liking.
- Remove from the heat, top with the cheese, and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Garnish with parsley before serving.
bobbi says
please looking for cabbage roll casserole that had garlic and fired roast tom and smoky paprika that u posted
Karly Campbell says
Hi Bobbi! I’m not sure which recipe you’re talking about. You can use the search feature on the site and just put cabbage in the search bar. Might help!
Kat says
Finally someone who doesn’t start with sauteing the onion first. I like to know my onion is in the dish and not cooked down to mush. I am trying this tonight. Have cabbage I was going to make stuffed cabbage soup but this looks so good. We have gotten winter early this week.
Karly Campbell says
Hope you love it! Stay warm…we had flurries yesterday afternoon in central Illinois!
Eileen says
What exactly is Italian Seasoning?
Karly Campbell says
It’s a blend of herbs, like basil, oregano, rosemary, etc.
Christine Day says
This looks really good and. Please send me the website thank you
Karly Campbell says
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘send you the website.’ You’re already on the website. 🙂
Felicia Cox Cox says
Delicious
Rachel says
Hey Karly,
This meal was delicious. Even my kids ate it! My question is serving sizes though. Do you know how much a serving is. Like 1 C. Or do you just divide the recipe up into 6th? Thank you for this yummy meal!
Karly Campbell says
Hi Rachel! So glad everyone enjoyed it! I didn’t measure the servings by volume – just eyeballed it into 6 servings. 🙂
Fran says
3 cups of cabbage doesn’t seem like enough. It looks like more than that in the video. Would you estimate like half of a small head of cabbage? Thanks
Karly Campbell says
Yes, probably about that.
Tabby says
Can you pu in the crockpot and when it’s done cooking or about done then put cheese on it.I do intend to make this but I will add more tomato sauce.I am disables and can’t stand long in a walker.thanks for posting this
Karly Campbell says
I’m sure you could put it in the crockpot, but I’m not sure for how long. It only takes 5 minutes of cooking after the cheese, so I wouldn’t leave it in there for long.
Bailey says
I use ground turkey to keep the calorie content low.
Bailey says
Love this meal! If I want extra time I mix all the indredients together, put it in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake for about 45 min to an hour at 325. I also add red, yellow and orange peppers, diced. And when possible I add fresh, diced tomatoes. It makes for a good lunch the next day. I usually make this every other week. Instead of tomato sauce I use Victoria Marinara – low in WW points.
Karly Campbell says
Thanks for sharing, Bailey!
Judy Wells says
This was a winner! I didn’t have diced tomatoes, so substituted Rotel. And it was great.
Nadege Boinnard says
As I’m actually eating this AS I TYPE, I have to say I’m totally bluffed by this recipe. I was highly skeptical while looking at this page, imagining the taste… It’s DELICIOUS. And it’s SUCH a comfort food meal !
I simply added a teaspoon of (Keto) sugar at the end (right before the cheddar) because when I tasted, it was a bit too acidic to my taste.
Thank you so much from this French girl across the (not so) narrow sea !
Karly Campbell says
Oh wow, so glad you enjoyed it so much! Great idea to add a bit of sweetener, too. 🙂
Marion S says
Can this be made without ground meat?
Karly Campbell says
Yes, this should work fine without meat. You might need to reduce the amount of sauce or increase the cabbage to get the amounts right. 🙂
Glenn says
Can this recipe be adapted to a slow cooker?
Karly Campbell says
Perhaps, but I’ve never tried so wouldn’t be able to give recommendations. If you do try it out, let us know how it goes!
DAN KENNEDY says
This is also good with any sausage. Great recipe. Thx
Karly Campbell says
Sounds tasty with sausage! 🙂
Lisa says
Is tomato sauce same as passsta
Karly Campbell says
Hi Lisa! Tomato sauce is basically just tomato puree.
Lisa says
Thankyou
Linda says
Love this recipe! As a single, I can make this for about $10 and it provides meals for 3 days. I do use a 15 oz can of tomato sauce instead of 8 oz, because I like it a bit more saucy. I use one of the tsp‘s of salt when browning the meat, onions and garlic, and then the last tsp along with pepper near the end. Add a little cayenne or flakes, if you’re a spice adventurist. Great base recipe as is or add your favorites. Yum!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you enjoy the recipe, Linda! I’ve been meaning to make a Mexican version of this too. Definitely a good one to play around with! 🙂
Doug Warren says
Way too salty (2 tsp), but otherwise it would have been good. Maybe 1/2 tsp would be more like it. I wondered about this being inaapropriate, but tried it anyway.
Karly Campbell says
I’m sorry to hear you found this one too salty. We tend to use a teaspoon per pound of meat and then extra for veggies, but you can definitely reduce to your tastes. Salt is definitely one of those things that are personal preference. 🙂
Patricia Washington says
Maybe you used a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon. The recipe is not salty at all.
Lori says
I had all the ingredients on hand and gave this one a shot. I drained the meat after cooking, the extra liquid is not needed. Overall it was very bland. I added more garlic and Italian seasoning, some garlic powder, and some red pepper flakes, and a bit more salt. Still seemed to be missing something. Then I added about 2 teaspoons of Louisiana Creole blend seasoning (Spice House) and that did the trick! Definitely season this one to taste.
Jerry says
Karly,
Is the diced tomatoes drained? Some brands have more liquid than others,
Thanks
Karly Campbell says
We do not drain the tomatoes. 🙂