Italian cabbage and rice is a fantastic recipe for a beginner cook. Not only are measurements not important, but this is one of the best comfort food dishes, ever. It’s so nutritious and low fat, too!
Originally published March 15, 2012.
My grandmother used to make this in Italy. It’s a simple, peasant-type meal, but this is the sort of food I love. It was probably a meal which made the ingredients stretch further, however, it’s a really healthy meal, and tasty too, so it’s a winner all around!
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The other great thing about this Italian cabbage and rice recipe is that it is a great dish to try for those who want to learn to cook. If you have absolutely no confidence in the kitchen, this is for you as there’s really no way to mess it up.
Make it more soupy (add more water) for wintertime, or more dry for the hot summer weather. There’s no right or wrong amount of vegetables, and as long as the rice is cooked, the length of cooking time can vary greatly too, and will not affect the final outcome in a significant way; it’s a very forgiving meal.
You can use any rice you like, but for the best results for this recipe, I recommend arborio or carnaroli rice.
Italian Cabbage and Rice
recipe passed down from my Nonna
Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- one medium onion, diced
- 1 or 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 3/4 cup tomato puree (or fresh tomatoes, pureed in a blender) I use Mutti in glass jars
- 4 to 5 cups of water
- one medium sized Savoy cabbage
- salt and pepper
- 1/3 to 1 cup Arborio or Carnaroli rice (or any other rice)
- Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (to serve)
Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot, over medium high heat. Add the chopped onion and celery when hot. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes, until onion starts to become translucent.
Remove the core from the cabbage (I eat this part, it’s very yummy and good for you too!) and chop into thin strips.
Meanwhile, add the tomato puree to the celery and onion and cook for about 5 minutes.
Next, add the water (you can always add more later) and salt; then add the cabbage.
Stir often, and bring to a boil, then allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, still continuing to stir occasionally. Then add the rice, less for a more soupy dish, more for a drier result.
Stir well, and continue to simmer for 30-40 minutes, until rice is cooked. I used about 5 cups of water and 3/4 cup rice.
Make sure to serve Italian cabbage and cice with plenty of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or Pecorino Romano) cheese!
This is a perfect crock pot meal too. Just sauté the veggies, then transfer to the crock pot, adding the rest of the ingredients. Let cook all day. Italian cabbage and rice is just easy-peasy!!
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Italian Cabbage and Rice...Simple, Healthy and Delicious
A super simple, Italian comfort food recipe that's inexpensive, hearty and delicious.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- one medium onion, diced
- 1 or 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 3/4 cup tomato puree (or fresh tomatoes, pureed in a blender) I use Mutti in glass jars
- 4 to 5 cups of water
- one medium sized Savoy cabbage
- salt and pepper
- 1/3 to 1 cup Arborio or Carnaroli rice (or any other rice)
- Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (to serve)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot, over medium high heat. Add the chopped onion and celery when hot. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes, until onion starts to become translucent.
- Remove the core from the cabbage (I eat this part, it's very yummy and good for you too!) and chop into thin strips.
- Meanwhile, add the tomato puree to the celery and onion and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Next, add the water (you can always add more later) and salt; then add the cabbage.
- Stir often, and bring to a boil, then allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, still continuing to stir occasionally. Then add the rice, less for a more soupy dish, more for a drier result.
- Stir well, and continue to simmer for 30-40 minutes, until rice is cooked. I used about 5 cups of water and 3/4 cup rice.
- Make sure to serve Italian Cabbage and Rice with plenty of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or Pecorino Romano) cheese!
Notes
Use vegetarian stock and omit the cheese topping and this dish is vegan.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 134Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 182mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 3g
Nutrition information is only estimated.
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I really enjoyed this recipe! I added spice like people suggested. Delicious way to use up some cabbage :)
Took the recipe ingredients other than the cheese and threw into slow cooker for 2.5 hours on high.
Added one real tomato, turmeric, cayenne pepper.
After cooking we found it to be a little bland so we added hot chili sauce and worchestershire sauce.
Awesome new find. Thanks for the recipe!
Ps for some protein I had vegan meatballs and husband had real meat ones. Delish!
Glad you liked it, but next time, just add a little vegetable bouillon, and/or salt instead of the Worcestershire sauce (it’s not really used in Italian cuisine) :) Let me know what you think of it then, I promise it won’t be bland!
I tried this tonight, hoping to end up with a rice dish I could add to my dinner rotation. I will not be doing that (unless someone can tell me what I did wrong). The results were very blah. I followed the directions, except for the celery (I didn’t have any on hand). Although the dish was edible, the sauce/soup was very watery and the whole thing had very little flavor.
I can guarantee you didn’t have enough salt, Matt, especially if you had a lot of liquid you’d need extra salt, maybe even more tomatoes. Please give it another try and keep adding salt a little at a time until it tastes GREAT, because this is such a tasty dish. And Parmesan adds another delicious layer of saltiness/flavor (not sure if you had any?) Thanks for letting me know and not just letting it go. None of my recipes should ever be “blah.” Stay safe.
Try using chicken broth instead of water
Or vegetable broth if you’re either vegetarian or vegan. I used one quart to one cup of rice. Also adding some Parmesan cheese adds extra flavor.
It would be useful to know the weight of the cabbage, please could you add this info in the recipe? thx!
Oh no, that defeats the purpose of this super easy recipe! I wouldn’t put any measurements if I could, MarCas. When I get a cabbage next time I will give an idea of the weight of what I use, but honestly, try not to worry about weights and measurements with this recipe. Use more rice if you like more rice, less liquid for a heartier dish, it’s totally a flexible recipe. (P.S. due to lockdown, cabbages haven’t been available when I put my grocery order in, so I don’t know when I will get one.) Thanks, and happy cooking!
I realize you’ve had this posted for quite some time, but our newfound time at home has me exploring traditional Italian meals to fight the sadness we have from our cancelled Italian adventure we had booked. We had been planning and saving for this for 2 years, so cooking will be our new adventure for that 4 weeks, and a dish like this fits the bill as also a dish that has ingredients that I can still come by.
Anyhow, what would this look like as a meal? I see when dining out, there are multiple courses. Do you eat meals at home in courses, too? Or would it be traditional to serve this with cheese alone?
Appreciate your blog and time!
Hi Renee, first of all, I am SO sorry that you won’t be able to go to Italy after planning and saving for so long. I think when we all are able to travel again, we will just appreciate it so much more. I love how you’re dealing with it by cooking authentic Italian dishes, too! That’s brilliant! We learn so much through food. I was supposed to be in Italy the entire month of June, so I’m right there with you. :(
I don’t know if you have seen my cucina povera list of recipes yet, but what I wanted to say is that, although, yes, this would be served as a course (not alongside anything else), it’s a peasant dish, therefore, it would probably be the only one course. You might be served this dish at at agriturismo, but probably not at a restaurant. That said, at your house, serve it as you like, especially during these trying times!
Thanks so much for your note and let’s keep our eyes set on when we can travel again.
Stay safe, CC
Delicious! I made it with white cabbage and sushi rice and 1 T. tomatoe paste and the last bit of tomato sauce from a jar–pandemic cooking.
Brava! Very resourceful, and so happy you liked it! (Please leave a star rating inside the printable recipe card?) Thank you!!
HI! I’ve come over from Facebook to let you know that I heeded your advice not to go with coleslaw for the first attempt – and we waited, and we used cabbage :-) DELICIOUS!!! We all polished off our bowls.
I *DID* tweak slightly – added a chicken stock cube, and since minced garlic; and then my bowl got a couple of drops of sriracha (You know, that well known Italian hot sauce!! hahahaha!) because I fancied it :)
The pot we made will feed us again tonight, and PROBABLY supply some lunches. It was HUGE!!!
This is awesome to hear, Wendy! Fantastic! I’m so happy you and your family liked it so much! Try hot pepper (cayenne) powder or cayenne next time if you like it spicy. Enjoy and thanks for the lovely review! CC
We made this again and added crumbled Italian sausage. All I can say is Fantastico!!
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know, John!