What is the recipe for stuffed cabbage rolls? That’s the question that so many of my friends and family ask. These tasty Croatian cabbage rolls are known as Sarma and are a must-try food all over the Balkans.
Back in Sydney, the king of Croatian Sarma in our family is Tetak Zeljko (uncle), and he is absolutely famous for his Sarma recipe. Tetak Zeljko always brings a massive pot of sarma to each big family gathering, and the house immediately smells of sauerkraut (kiseli kapus). To some people, the smell is offensive, but I love it.
This Aussie girl also makes sarma and has done so for over 15 years. My Croatian sarma has never been as good as Tetak’s, although he has been kind enough to give me some tips.
However, he has never given me HIS actual recipe. I guess he doesn’t want to give up the throne just yet. Frankly, I do not blame him because this way, he gets all of the praise for having the best-stuffed cabbage roll recipe in Sydney.
Now that I am no longer in Australia, I find that people here are not only much more willing to share their tips, but they love to impart their knowledge on recipes that have been in their families for generations. When it comes to making Croatian food, I am blessed that I have so many teachers.
A few weeks ago, I spent some time asking different members of our family for their stuffed cabbage roll recipes. From that, I have a few new tips that will get me closer to having the perfect stuffed cabbage roll recipe. I’ve pinched the best bits from them to enhance my own recipe. After all, all good cooks would agree that it’s nice to find out how someone else cooks a recipe so you can improve your own.
I’ve taken my old faithful, blended it with the Croatian family recipe, and a few tips that I have been given along the way. So, now, it’s my turn to share with you how to make sarma. I hope you like it.
Brands We Use And Trust
How To Make Croatian Sarma – AKA Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Sarma are easy to make but does take a bit of time to prepare and cook. So, I’ve come up with the easy stuffed cabbage roll/sarma recipe to reduce the time it will take you.
You’ll need to start this at least 3 hours before the time you want to eat them. Once cooked, they taste better the longer they are left so that you can make them the day before. Anything listed as optional is to taste, so do add more or less of the flavors you like. Mr. Chasing the Donkey and I prefer a lot of paprika and smoked meat in our dishes, so you can cut back on any of these and still have a delicious-tasting dish.
Croatian Sarma Recipe (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)
My Croatian sarma recipe was years in the making. With hints and tips from Croatia and Australia, I've perfected my sarma recipe to now share it with you.
Ingredients
Sarma
- Entire pickled/sour cabbage head (do not use a regular cabbage)
- 1 kg of mincemeat (2.2 lbs). I prefer 50% pork neck and 50% veal, but you can use whatever you like best
- 200 g of finely diced špeck or smoked bacon (8 oz)
- 4 peeled & crushed garlic cloves
- 1/2 bunch finely chopped parsley leaves
- 3 Tbls. of soda water or a big pinch of bicarbonate soda
- 1 cup of uncooked rice
- 1 1/2 Tbls. Vegeta
- 1 Tbls. hot ground paprika (optional)
- 1 Tbls. sweet paprika (optional)
- 2 Tbls. breadcrumbs (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbls. olive oil
Sarma Sauce
- 2 onions, chopped fine
- 3 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil
- 100 g diced smoked špeck/pancetta or smoked bones (4 oz)
- 1/2 bunch chopped parsley
- 2 carrots diced small
- 400 g (small tin) passata (2 cups)
- 1/2 kg shredded sauerkraut (3 cups). Make sure you give it a very good rinse in fresh water before using
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Sarma Preparation
- Take an entire pickled cabbage head. You'll find these on Amazon or in European delicatessens in the chilled section. Wash each leaf thoroughly. Remove the thick part of the stem without tearing the leaves. It's best to allow the leaves to drain on some paper towel or pat each one dry
- Take a large mixing bowl, and combine mincemeat, speck, garlic, parsley leaves, soda water or bicarbonate soda, rice, Vegeta, hot paprika (optional), sweet paprika (optional), breadcrumbs (optional), Salt and pepper, egg & olive oil
- Mix all of the ingredients until well combined
Let's Roll The Sarma
- You want each of the leaves to be about the same size so that each cabbage roll cooks at the same time. So go ahead and cut any large leaves in half, and also join two smaller leaves together as you go
- Take approx 3 tablespoons of the minced meat, and gently combine in the palm of your hand. Do not roll or compress as this will make them too dense when you eat them
- Place the meat on the edge of the cabbage leaf and roll away from you. Then tuck in the sides of the leaf gently into the meat. There should be no exposed meat. If there is, remove some of the filling
- Set the sarma aside, and prepare the sauce
Sarma Sauce
- In a shallow saucepan, or even better, a Le Creuset cast-Iron dish, splash in some extra virgin olive oil, add the 2 diced onions and cook until transparent on low heat. Then add the 2 diced carrots, diced speck, and parsley. Continue to fry on low heat until carrots start to soften
- Add the shredded sauerkraut and create a layer on the bottom of the saucepan. Now, pack the Croatian sarma into the saucepan. They should be packed close together.
- Pour in boiling water so that it just covers the sarma. Add the passata and a pinch of salt and pepper. Every 30 minutes, give the saucepan a shake (do not stir them or they will break) and let them simmer for 2 hours on a low-medium heat
Notes
Never mix with a spoon as you will break the sarma. Always shake the pot or use a spoon to gently move them around.
So, are you going to give this sarma recipe a try? How different are these sarma from your stuffed cabbage roll recipe?
More Tasty Croatian & Balkans Recipes
- Meat and Cheese Burek
- Stuffed Peppers {Punjene Paprike}
- Klipići {rolls}
- Under the bell {Ispod čripnje}
- Pasticada Recipe
- Octopus Salad
- Prezgana Soup (Brown Roux Soup)
- Lazy Apple Pie {Lijena Pita s Jabukama}
- Stuffed Vine Leaves (Japrak)
- Zagorje Cheese Strukli
- Zagrebački Odrezak {Zagreb Steak}
- Slavonian Freshwater Fish Stew
- Bijela Pita (White Slice Traditional Cake)
- Gulaš (Traditional Goulash)
- Somun Bread (for Cevapi)
Next time you see Tetak, snoop around for his recipe if he won’t give it to you willingly – great traditional recipes must live on!
I fear there is no written copy… it’s in his HEAD. I’ll have to tie him down and try some forms of torture on him…
Shame. Use all your Aussie charm, and use Baby Donkey as bait! (I mean, explain you want your son to enjoy these delights as you have, you want to hand down this family legacy!)
This looks really good. I need to find pickled cabbage, I wouldn’t have even know that existed!
Oh yes, it’s yummy! Or you could try making your own – that’s easy too. Here is how we did it
Wow, looks yummy! Please tell me you didn’t put any of that pig in these…
I can’t confirm nor deny…..
:)
Our stuffed cabbage in Hungary looks really similar to this one and I read the recipe, it is also quite similar!! One of my favorite dishes, thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! I would have thought yours would have loads more KICK with paprika.
They look seriously good. I really need to stop being so cowardly just because it’s outside of my cooking skills comfort zone and give it a try! Thanks for linking up with #recipeoftheweek. I’ve pinned and tweeted this post, and there’s a fresh linky live now for this week. I would love you to pop over and join in :) x
Sweet! Thanks for the prompt… I am heading over now to link up :)
This is very similar to my recipe. I cut my leaves in half so the each sarma is small and delicate traditional but refined ,bet you didn’t think that sarma could be refined !! Have you tried baking it in the oven .the heat is even ,I doesn’t stick to the bottom you don’t need to shake it and its so un croatian !!!! I cook my punjene paprike the same way!
Refine? Sarma hahaha, that is a laugh. A good idea for feeding lots of people though I have to say. My Mother in law bakes her paprike, but I had never thought of the sarma like that. Do you do it all the same? HOw long do they take to bake?
Sarma is not original Croatian recipe (food). It came from Turkey and it is one of the most popular food in Serbia. Bye.
Yup, and my Polish and Hungarian friends also have similar recipes. We are all in one big melting pot of the world.
and it is very popular in Croatia as we.. So what’s your point?
*as well
It is not Serbian, all the Balkans were under Ottoman Empire for 500 years so we adopted a lot from them, typical Serbs like usual use their lies and twist a truth, like they have lied (Propaganda) about Croatians to this day. My son loves Sarma and a Macedonian workmate made it for him but without meat and he did not like it , so there are many variations all over Balkans. I have Hercegovian background and mum makes Sarma and she makes fermented Cabbage as long I can remember every year in Barrel, she makes Sarma to take home because my son loves it, she makes it with Roux (oil and flour until golden then paprika until mixed then water until it bubbles then pour over and gently mix with Sarma pot) last 20 minute of cooking and no tomatoes, put smoke bones, Smoked bacon or Rind for taste in bottom and she puts broken scraps of Sauerkraut in too, and she will make some rolled in Spinach too
Sorry for being a few years late with this comment but since no one responded to this nonsense, allow me to remind you, Serbia and Crnagora were there before the Ottomon Empire took control and they’re still there today. Where is the Ottomon empire? I love Sarma.
Priatno.
Although your Sarma do sound good, they’re not like my Grandmother who was born and raised in Croatia use to make.. The mince meat combination was beef, pork, smoked butt, and bacon, with eggs, rice, onion, garlic, sweet paprika, salt and pepper..Once the Sarma were rolled, the broken or unused cabbage leaves, sauerkraut, smoked sausages, and onions were layered in between the rolls in the pot, with enough water to cover..Then a zafrig sauce, made of bacon drippings, browned flour, sweet paprika, and water or broth to thin to a gravy consistency, was poured over the top.. They were covered and left to simmer on low for 2 1/2 hours..They are out of this World, and even though it takes a lot of time to prepare them i do it often..I will give your version a try because I’m sure they are good as well..There are many different versions across Croatia I’m sure, depending on the area where you grew up.. My Grandmother was raised on a farm in Zagreb and I’m glad to see that people are still interested in carrying on the Traditional Old World recipes..Thanks for posting the one you are the most familiar with, I’ll add it to my collection..Have a Beautiful Day.. :)
Thanks Rosemary, I’d love to know more details about your recipe and try it too. I am always trying to look at ways to better my own cooking. My ones are much more plain than I have eaten in restaurants and often wonder what I can do do make them better.
Type on google Arambasi.that’s very popular dish in Dalmatia. Southern Croatia
Hi. Thanks so much for your sarma recipe. This is almost the exact recipe my mother and her mother made. However, like Rosemary, my mom makes a zafrig sauce to pour over the sarma. Interestingly, my family is not Croatian, we are Slovaks from Vojvodina in Serbia. I notice that Slovaks from Slovakia make a variation of this dish using fresh cabbage leaves and tomato paste, but the Slovaks living in Vojvodina make it this way. Thanks again!
Ohhhh I’d love to get a recipe and try the zafrig sauce – care to share? I have eaten it like that, but never knew how it was done.
You need zafrig, which is just oil, flour, and paprika stirred in a separate pan than poured over. It is the thickener, and enhances the flavour overall. My father comes from Nova Gradiska (slavonian part of Croatia), he taught me how to make Sarma which is beautiful, and something I can now pass down even though I’m only half Croatian in heritage :)
My grandparents lived in a town called Perusic–brought the recipe over.
Big hit in St. Paul,Mn
Paul
Whooo hooo, so cool! Dobar tek
It sounds a lot like my grandmothers Sarma recipe, she was from Zagreb. I miss her cooking.
Mary Kelly can you email your recipe
The interesting thing is that in Romania we have this traditional dish. It’s filled with a mix of rice and pork meat. And surprise…in Romanian it’s called “sarma” (plural “sarmale”) too.
The world is all connected – what Romanians do different?
Secret: cook it at least a day before you serve it ;)It makes a huge difference.
I cant wait that long…. hahahha
Very true always taste better the next day
I made polished cabbage rolls for years when I seen your recipe I had to make it it was a five star for sure my husband is croatian he always wanted me to make sarma
I used napa cabbage
Wthank you so much for this delicious recipes!
I find it hard to find them in Canadian measuring scales.Love your site! Keep giving us more!
You are welcome, though I have no clue how these compare to Canadian measurements – hope they work out for you.
Yummmmm ♡♡♡
That’s got nothing on my recipe
Doesn’t even put garlic in it! Amateur…
Yes it does stop being a hater
Oversight. Still 4 cloves…
Mmmm ……. SJ maybe not my first choice at 33 degrees in the shade. 3️⃣3️⃣‼️
Um, it’s Winter in Australia you know…
Bést recipe for Croatian summer SJ: #1 get a glas with half a liter of cóld beer. #2 move it up, polako !!!, put it down again and wait for two minutes. #3 do exactly the same again until empty. #4 put empty glas aside and do the same steps again, again and again. #5 if having more guests, just multiply these simple steps.#6 go to sleep and redo same procedure next day.
bahahhahaha!!
My favourite
One of my favourites!
there’s a summer variation – “filana paprika” or “ćufte”.. can’t cook sarma at winter… key ingredient is missing ;)
Is that Punjene Paprike?
Yum! So right ! Yes it is. My boys like Punjene Paprike without Paprike lol
Uriah Hvala Four cloves not enough for you? How many you want?
Oh my. My mother and aunt made the best sarma ever. How I miss my Croatian food
Omg greatest ever
Yeh ! …sounds good !!
Olive oil , parsley , breadcrumbs ????
Neko se zaigrao !!!
Yum
Haha I saw this last night. Is this my hint to get cooking?
Sounds lovely! I’ll be ready to eat in a month
OMG one of my all time Fav.
Okay! I love Croatia and Croatian food but Sarma or Sarmali or Dolma or Ebrak is a Turkish food that influenced many cultures, such as Romania, Greece, Serbia and Lebanon and many more.
How many hundred years ago?
Chasing the Donkey Croatia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarma_(food) I love Croatian food and I have tried an amazing cake in Dubrovnik made with carob ? best ever
Most likely it was the Turks that brought that dish back to the Empire from abroad than vice versa. Cabbage is essentially a continental European crop and stuffed cabbage (regardless of what you call it specifically) exists in most European cultures.
I’m a Turkish citizen and my wife is Romanian.I explained this story to all my Romanian friends too who understood the origin of sarma and they use the same Turkish word for this meal in their country.If it was a European meal it should not been written or pronunciated Turkish.Europeans had these ingredients but if you look the word sarma which is a Turkish word means that roll something, it explains that it’s a Turkish meal and all Balkan regions use this meal after Turks when exactly Ottoman Empire appeared in Balkans.Because, we don’t see sarma meal in Balkanic Recipe Books before Turks arrived there.Same story for dolma.
My mother in law was Croation. Sarma has been a great meal to enjoy.
I have found alot of variations from country to country. I watched a polish lady make Sarma, so different as well as Italians who’s base is more tomato.
I suppose like most things people add or vary a recipe.
My mother in law used pork and veal,plus alot of what thus recipe has except I’ve never had carrots with it. Saurkrete yes and smoked bacon bones for extra flavour. She would always serve with mashed potato.
Was so good. So if it’s from Turkey there’s alot of countries cooking Sarma in there own way.
Eaten it my whole life. Cooked by my grandmother, my mother, all our relatives, all our family friends. Many foods are not original to the certain areas. But, that’s okay because we the people aren’t original to those areas either. Over the millennia, we brought our food and traditions with us as we migrated across the world.
They sound a lot like mine. We always soured heads when we made kraut.
anyway, my late Grandma came over from Split and made the best Sarma and meat strudel.
Ohhh yes, nothing beats Baba’s cooking!
Your killing me! winks…… Yummy.
My Mom was German so she made them with sweet cabbage but that is the only difference. :-)
Ohhhhh nice, I have never tried that.
oh my goodness… drooling!!!!
Yummy!!!!
been craving this so much
Would love to try this and hope it’s very similar to my.late mom’s recipe and family friend’s but I don’t know what is meant by passata. Please clarify.
It is tomato purée. Google it to see what I mean.
Thank you for sharing your recipe for Sarma. My mother came from Lika, Croatia and her Sarma was famous in Portland. However, her recipe was very simple. She used a fermented head of cabbage leaves, ground beef and ground pork, rice, salt and pepper. Then she would make the cabbage rolls. In the meantime she had a big pot in which she layered some canned sauerkraut on the bottom and then put in the rolls. In addition she would put in a half of a ham with a bone in it and add it to the pot with more sauerkraut. She would add water to cover and then boil until cooked. Wow, did that ham add flavor to the Sarma. She would also boil potatoes in their skins and peel the potatoes when ready to serve. Your dish would have the sarma, sauerkraut, potatoes and ham. What a dish to set before your family and friends.
DELICIOUS.
Ohhhhh yummy, I like the potatoes idea. I may just try that next time. Dobar tek.
Sounds just like how mama makes it.
My mother and Grandmother never used tomatoes of any sort in SARMA JUST SAUERKRAUT AND SOME KINF OF SMOKED HAMthis sounds like my mothers.
This looks very much like my grandmother’s Sarma.
Very good indeed!
This is like my Mom and Grandma made! No tomatoes!
At last someone who makes sarma right! No tomatoes in it.
My mom came from hills just out side of Dubrovnik and this is close but no tomatoes!! Tomatoes are not native to Europe or anywhere except North America. Mom made it a one dish meal by starting with a layer of 1/4ed potatoes in the bottom of a roasting pan (traditionally rutabaga or other root veggie as potatoes are not native either) layer cabbage rolls and some kind of smoked cover all with sour kraut do not rinse all the goodness out .Bake for 2 hours or longer dependIng on how big a roaster you filled!!
Simular but we add sourkraut and never any tomatoes !!
I live in Lika and your grandmother’s recipe is what we make here, too!
Making it tomorrow!
So similar to my moms passed down recipe.. The simple ingredients mesh together to create an aroma & taste that’s like heaven.
I have a slow cooker full of Sarma cooking now…I found this recipe when looking to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything…and now I learned younuse sauerkraut! My grandmother came from west of Zagreb and I don’t remember her ever usingmsauerkraut! Is that always a requirement.l.maybe I just didn’t remember, or maybe the sauerkraut was added in certain areas of Croatia. Please let me know if I should add sauerkraut.
I visited Croatia last summer.l.it wasmfantastic,but wemstayed alongmthe Adriatic in the Dalmatian region . I never saw Sarma in a restaurant and finally a Split restaurant owner told me that Sarma is normally a northern Croatian dish. Since I didn’t get the opportunity of having it there please let me know. Thank you….Locha noche
I have always used it, and so do all my friends. So yes, add it – you’ll enjoy it.
Sarma is Serbian dish. That’s why you couldn’t find in any restaurant. So maybe your grandma is Serbian who lived in Croatia :)
Both parents from Bribir. I am going back 60 years and can smell the wonderful odors coming from the big roasting pan full of sarma. There was always room for one or two more. May just try to do it myself.
Hey Niko. We are waiting with great anticipation to try your great creation. I will bring Kum Mike and Skippy.
See you soon.
Da, jesti cemo sarmu i piti vino. Dovedite i Blackie, a mozda i Valter i Frankie Spoja
thank you for sharing this article, all the photos here are very good quality
thanks for sharing such delicious and delicious food with me
The food look great. I will try following your recipe.
I’m sure there is different recipes for stuffed cabbage rolls from all around East and West Europe. My grandmother was from Gospic, Croatia. She used sour heads of cabbage and the sarma’s were slow cooked in crushed tomatoes. It didn’t matter whether tomatoes, way back, were used or not used. Her sarma’s were just damn good!!!!
YUM, that option sounds fab too! I must try to find one like that and try it.
My Great Grandparents were named Milinkovich and were from Gospic! We make sarma every holiday! We also use crushed tomatoes and ketchup! I wonder if we are related?! :)
Ne pomidor sos, masnoća – suho meso…..????????????
There are many European countries with different cabbage roll recipes.
I tried this one and it was an absolute hit! I even got the thumbs up from my very fussy eater husband, who grew up eating this dish. Will definitely try more of your recipes!
hooo hooo!!! I am so so so so glad. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely amazing recipe. Nothing better than Croatian Sarma. We’ve been making them for years. This is a great authentic recipe. We also add smoked meat to it as well.
This recipe looks delicious! My family and I are challenging ourselves to prepare a meal from every country, and this week we chose Croatia! In your introduction, it says it takes about 3 hours to prepare. Approximately how much time does it need to cook ones it’s fully assembled and cooking on the cooktop? I want to make sure I get this right and don’t serve undercooked meat or rice! Thank you!
It simmers for around 2 hours. The meat and rice will be cooked well before that though, its the make the meat soft and absorb all of the flavors. Enjoy.
My family is Serbian and I’m doing my best to carry on with limited people left to teach me! One of my earliest memories is stomping sauerkraut in the big crock, after my Baba had thoroughly washed my feet! :) I remember my Baba’s Sarma so well and have not been able to quite replicate the softness of the mixture or the flavor. She always used the sour heads of cabbage and I cannot buy them in my local grocery. I cook mine with sauerkraut, but wondering if you have any additional ideas for me?
Why not try making the heads?
There appears to be a bay leaf in the picture. I that optional?
Yes, sometimes I throw a few in. Sometimes I do not.
hi there, we want to make some tomorrow, I am Croatian too, trying to make it really authentic and yummy. question- why the water and not tomato juice for example? I would think water doesn’t give enough flavour. and in the recipe under sarma sauce, I don’t see it saying anything about boiling water ( in instructions it says pour water over rolls?) assuming water to just cover the rolls?
and do you cook on stove Assuming this can go in oven too, Would I keep it covered and what temp 350 for 3 hours maybe?
tnx :) Sue
It’s just my version, feel free to make it how you like with water or tomatoes. I don’t cook them in the oven, so I can’t say.
Hi. I forgot to mention when I asked question yesterday that I am using regular. Cabbage not sour
Do you have a video by chance. ? That would be helpful My rolls are always long. I hate that. I’m trying to follow your recipe best I can. I added some water and some tomato juice and Passata and see what happens :). Wish me luck
You have to use sour cabbage for my recipe. And, no, sorry I do not have a video. To stop them being long, cut the leaves to the size you like.
I always use fresh savoy cabbage. The sour pakages are too soft for my family and don’t taste as fresh.
two heads will give you enough large leaves and the rest is cut up and used instead of the sauerkraut.
Fill a stock pot big enough to float the head with hot, not boiling, water. Add white vinegar 1 cup per gallon. Core the cabbage and remove the tough outer leaves and discard. Float the head for a couple of minutes until the outer leaves become soft.
Pull each wrapping leaf off the head individually. As the cabbage parboils, the leaves will soften and become quite easy to remove. Once the leaves are too small for you to use remove the head and shred for the bottom of your roasting pan. Usually takes two heads because my grocer does not stock the big ones.
My recipe is basically the same except I use twice the speck/pancia/bacon. It roasts in about the same time. Your nose will tell you when its ready.
My recipe is similar. No tomatoes. I use the brined cabbage, which is getting more difficult to find. The Slovenian butcher shop in our neighborhood used to make a ton of them for the holidays. Make the zafrig, too. Let ‘em sit a day.
I have a question about the sour cabbage head. Usually my mom made it but I purchased one from the store. Do I need to boil it? I once got one from the Mennonite market store and I didn’t do anything to the pickled cabbage head except fill it and all the cabbage rolls were terrible. I had to keep cooking it and it and the cabbage leaves never got soft so now I’m scared? and I don’t want to ruin this new batch.
HELP!!
If you have purchases a soured head, then you should not have to boil it – just separate each leaf and wash them. Sometimes they are VERY sour and pricing each leaf helps. Enjoy!
What did she mean trim cabbage leave vein. I was told to cut vein out and this kind of ruins the roll. Also, I am so ,glad to hear of sour head. My husbands background is Croatian and the other recipes are so different. We put layers of kraut, sausage from old meat market, makes broth red , and then lay rolls on top and top off with kraut. Delicious. Does any one else use this method?
Looking forward to reading your blog and trying out some of your recipes
Thanks Elise, hope you enjoy them!
Someone said sarma is from Turkey. Wrong! It was brought to Pannonian basin with Sarmats and in Sarmatian language (close to Ossetian) it means winter dish – from sarma=zima.