Instant Pot Low Carb UNStuffed Cabbage Rolls with ground turkey or beef and fantastic sweet and sour sauce is the perfect keto stuffed cabbage family dinner!
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time4 minutesmins
Pressure Release10 minutesmins
Total Time34 minutesmins
Course: Appetizer, Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Rough chop one onion and evenly spread it on bottom of Instant Pot.
Chop onion and rough chop the cabbage and place into a bowl. Set aside.
In a Large Measuring Cup, or bowl, add all sauce ingredients (diced tomatoes w/ juice, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, coconut oil (or Crisco), mined garlic, Sour Salt (OR juice from 2 lemons OR 2 teaspoons True Lemon Crystals), brown sugar substitute, salt and pepper) and whisk together well.
In another large mixing bowl, add ground turkey (or ground beef), riced cauliflower, egg, salt, pepper, minced garlic, xanthan gum and Worcestershire sauce. Mix together well.
Use a Large Cookie Scoop and form meat mixture into meatballs. [They do not need to be perfect.]
Gently, place half the meatballs (10-12) to the Instant Pot.
Add half the remaining onions and cabbage. Lightly press down the cabbage and onions, being careful not to smash the meatballs.
Pour half of the sweet and sauce over the onions and cabbage.
Form the rest of the meatballs and place them in the Instant Pot.
Spread half of the remaining cabbage and onions over the meatballs.
Carefully pour the rest of the sauce over the cabbage and onions.
Spread the rest of the onions and cabbage over the meatballs and slightly press down. The pot will be very full.
Lock on lid and close pressure valve. Cook at high pressure for 4 minutes.
When beep sounds, wait 10 minutes and then manually release the rest of the pressure (if any is left).
Remove lid and give it a mix.
Serve in bowls or plates.
Stovetop Cooking
All all ingredients to a large Dutch Oven and simmer for 30 minutes.
Sour Salt gives a nice sour flavor. Sour Salt is not a salt. It is just citric acid. Sour Salt adds an authentic Old World flavor to the recipe. I recommend Lieber's Sour Salt and Geffen Sour Salt.
Pro Tip:If you prefer a sour sauce and not a sweet and sour sauce, simply leave out the brown sugar. You can also adjust the amount of Sour Salt used by adding more to increase the sourness of the sauce.Food Service Gloves are great to use for mixing up the meat so that your hands stay clean and you can quickly touch the other items.
Ground Turkey or Ground Beef
Ground turkey is less colorful and flavorful than ground beef, so a bit of Worcestershire sauce will “beef” up the flavor. Ground turkey is also very wet. Therefore, a bit of xanthan gum will bind the meatballs and when you open the pot, you’ll actually see nice whole meatballs.
Pro Tip: Skip the xanthan gum if using ground beef and reduce Worcestershire sauce to two teaspoons.
Make Riced Cauliflower
No need to buy riced cauliflower as it is simple to make.
Cut about 1/4 of a cauliflower into large chunks and toss into Large Food Processor. Push the pulse button just one second at a time, until the chunks of cauliflower have turned into riced cauliflower.
Layering Cabbage and Onions
The first layer of just onions acts as a buffer, a barrier between the bottom of the pot and the meatballs. This way, the meatballs are not directly above the heating element on the bottom of the pot and ensures the pot will easily come to pressure.
As the bottom of the pot heats up pretty quickly, the onions will start cooking and break down, which will add nice flavor to the sauce.
The layering of the rest of the onions and the cabbage will create various textures to the finished dish, which is nice. Some of the cabbage will disintegrate, some will be very soft and the rest will be less soft. All will be nicely cooked.
Very Full Pot is Okay!
Cabbage and onions are very bulky and to start out and will take up a lot of room in the pot. Don't worry about filling up the pot to the top.
The cabbage and onions will quickly shrink down (much of it before even reaching pressure) to a fraction of their raw self.