Greek Egg-Lemon Stuffed Cabbage

This is another one of those great comfort food recipes. You know, the recipes that just make you feel better when you make and eat them. What’s interesting is that I used to be that person who did not like eating cooked cabbage. On Saint Patrick’s Day, my mom always made corned beef and cabbage. That was probably my least favorite meal. There was something about cooked cabbage that did not appeal to me. However, that changed when I tasted my mother-in-law’s recipe for Greek Egg-Lemon Stuffed Cabbage. This is our treasured family recipe for that wonderful comfort food.

When making the Greek Egg-Lemon Stuffed Cabbage, there are four distinct steps:

1. Prepare the cabbage
2. Cook the filling
3. Assemble the Greek Egg-Lemon Stuffed Cabbage
4. Make the Egg-Lemon sauce

Now, let’s take a look at each step.

Prepare the Cabbage

In this step, the cabbage will be pre-cooked. First, peel off the outer leaves and wash the cabbage head. Next, core the center of the cabbage. This will allow the leaves to fall off around the cabbage when the cabbage is set in boiling water.

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• Fill a large pot with water and set on the stove to boil.
• After the water is boiling and the cabbage is cored, carefully place the cabbage into the boiling water with the core facing up. After 3-5 minutes, the outer leaves of the cabbage should be soft and can be removed from the water. If necessary, use a knife to cut the leaves away from the core. Continue this process until you have 10-14 leaves of cabbage. The cabbage should not be too soft because it needs to hold together for the filling. In addition, the cabbages will be cooked a second time in the egg-lemon sauce.

Retain 3 cups of the broth used to boil the cabbage. This water will be used to make the egg-lemon sauce.

Cook the Filling

In my opinion, the thyme and lemon give this filling it’s delicious and unique taste. I have made this recipe with both ground beef and ground turkey. Both are equally good.

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• Cook 1-cup of dry rice and set aside.
• Chop a whole medium-sized onion and sauté in a pan with 1-tablespoon of olive oil for 5 minutes.
• Next, add in the protein (e.g. ground turkey, chicken, or beef). Cook the protein until there is no pink remaining.
• Mix ½ teaspoon of thyme seasoning into the mixture.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Combine the rice with the protein mixture.
• Squeeze the juice from one lemon and add that juice to the protein/rice mixture. The addition of the lemon juice gives the mixture an extra special flavor.

Assemble the Greek Egg-Lemon Stuffed Cabbage

This is the fun part. Take one cabbage leaf and add 2-3 tablespoons of the filling to the center of the leaf. Because the leaves of the cabbage get smaller as you peel them from around the cabbage, use your judgment for how much filling to add. Just remember, you need space to fold the sides over and the top/bottom over. Below are the directions for folding the cabbage leaf over the mixture.

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• First, fold the right side of the leaf over the mixture and then fold the left side of the leaf over the mixture.
• Second, fold the non-core side of the leaf up and over the right and left folds.
• Third, fold the core side of the leaf down over the non-core side. Assuming that the cabbage has not been cooked too much, this fold should hold nicely together without any support.
• Forth, place the folded cabbage into the same pot that was used to boil the cabbage. Place the folded core side down in the pot.

Continue this process until you have used up the filling. When I make this recipe, I am generally able to fill 10 cabbage leaves. It just depends upon how much filling is placed in each cabbage leaf and the size of the cabbage leaf.

Make the Egg-Lemon Sauce

In this step, we will combine lemon juice, egg yolks, and the broth from the cabbage to create a delightful sauce for the stuffed cabbage. Another name for the egg-lemon sauce is Avgolemono. Avgolemono is a Greek sauce that is a combination of egg and lemon.

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• Squeeze 3 lemons and place the juice into a bowl.
• Separate the yolks from 4 eggs and place the yolks into a separate bowl.
• Pour the lemon juice into the egg yolks and whisk together.
• Stir the egg-lemon mixture into 2-3 cups of the cabbage broth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The egg yolks work to thicken the sauce. Finally, pour the egg-lemon sauce over the stuffed cabbages. Cook the stuffed cabbages for 20-25 minutes on medium heat (gently boil). When serving, place cabbage on a plate and spoon 3-tablespoons of the egg-lemon mixture over the cabbage. Enjoy!

You might also enjoy, the following Greek recipes:

• Greek Egg-Lemon Chicken Rice Soup
• Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)
• Greek Spinach and Rice

If you want to learn about growing cabbage in your garden, check out this article “How to Successfully Grow Cabbage in your Garden“.