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Half a baking dish of the casserole, showing the cut cross-section
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Kålpudding - Swedish Lazy Cabbage Rolls

A Swedish home cooking classic, featuring juicy meatloaf nestled between layers of buttery caramelized cabbage and served with a rich and savory cream sauce. This makes for a delicious and filling weekend meal when the days turn colder.
Prep Time30 minutes
Active Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Casseroles, Main Course
Cuisine: Swedish
Keyword: Comfort Food, Fall, Gluten free, Winter
Yield: 4 servings

Materials

For the Cabbage

  • 600 g white cabbage (1⅓ lb., or 5-6 cups) in bite sized pieces
  • 1 large onion, or two smallish chopped
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • salt and white pepper to taste, can substitute black pepper
  • 1 tbsp ljus sirap / golden syrup or to taste, could substitute slightly less brown sugar
  • coarsely ground pepper

Meat Filling

  • 500g mix of ground beef and pork (1 lb.) or ground pork
  • 300 ml cooked rice (1¼ cup) good use for leftover rice
  • 1 large onion, or two smallish chopped finely
  • 2 tbsp butter for softening the onion
  • 1 egg
  • 100 ml heavy or double cream (⅓ cup)
  • ½ tsp table salt
  • ¼ tsp white pepper or use black
  • ⅛ tsp ground allspice
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce (gluten free if needed)
  • 2 tbsp liquid beef stock concentrate
  • OR enough Better than Bouillon or crushed cubes to make 500ml/2 cups of broth, plus an extra teaspoon of soy sauce and enough water to make about 2 tbsp total

Cream Sauce

  • 200 ml pan juices from the casserole (or ¾ cup) plus water as needed to make the full amount
  • 150 ml heavy or double cream (or ½ cup; see notes)
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 50 ml milk (or ¼ cup) plus extra if needed for consistency
  • 1 dash ground allspice
  • white pepper to taste it probably won't need more salt

To Serve

  • 750 g firm-cooking boiling potatoes (or 1½ lbs.)
  • butter as desired
  • 1.5 tbsp chopped parsley fresh or frozen
  • lingonberry jam preferably the less sweet rårörda lingon
  • OR tart whole berry cranberry sauce

Instructions

Ingredient Prep

  • Assremble and prepare your vegetables.
    I cut the cabbage in advance, and wished I'd used more as called for here.
    A zip bag of already cut cabbage sits with an onion and a pan with raw potatoes in it
  • If you're cutting/peeling larger potatoes, keep them to the side in water to cover.
  • Soften the more finely chopped onion in butter. Reserve to the side to cool.
    Chopped onion frying in a pan.
  • Start the oven preheating to 180℃/350℉.
  • In the same pan, start frying the cabbage and other onion over medium heat. After coating in the melted butter, add some salt and pepper and cover to let it steam in its own juices to soften for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • In the meantime, assemble the ingredients for the meatloaf layer.
    Assembled ingredients for the meat filling
  • Place all the filling ingredients into a suitable mixing container, and combine well.
    Mixing with your hand(s) is the way to go here, and disposable gloves are awesome.
    Unmixed meat ingredients in the bowl ready to be mixed
  • This will result in a pretty loose mixture, but don't worry. It will firm up when it's cooked.
    Tip: One quick and easy way to test for seasoning while you can still adjust it, is to place a bite of the raw meat mixture on a suitable dish and microwave it for maybe 30-45 seconds or until it looks cooked. You could also fry it. This did need a little more salt.
    A very wet meatloaf mixture in the mixing bowl
  • The cabbage may be close to done by now. Once it is on the slightly more tender side of tender-crisp, remove the lid. Fry for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.
    You want at least a little browning. Near the very end, drizzle on a little syrup (or sprinkle sugar). Taste to adjust seasonings. I have to say I was initially skeptical of the syrup addition here, but just a subtle hint of added sweetness did work well. That will also help it caramelize if you want it browner, but I didn't want to risk seriously overcooking it to take it very dark.
    The cooked cabbage.
  • Grease an 8"x8"/20cmx20cm baking dish. Layer roughly half of the cabbage on the bottom.
  • Add on an even layer of the meatloaf mixture.
    The same Pyrex baking dish with the meatloaf mixture layered in
  • Top with the remaining cabbage.
    Cooked cabbage layer on top of a layered casserole in a Pyrex baking dish

Cooking

  • Bake the casserole for 45 minutes.
  • While that's cooking, put on the potatoes to boil in well-salted water.
  • When those are done, drain well and gently stir in some butter and the parsley. Don't worry about absolutely even distribution at this point.
    Cover and set aside. They should stay plenty warm until everything is done.
    A pan of boiled potatoes with butter and parsley
  • Assemble your sauce ingredients, and have a heatproof measuring cup ready to go.
    A collection of ingredients for the cream sauce
  • When the baking time is up, carefully pour the collected juices from the baking pan into the measuring cup. Top the liquid up with water to 200ml (or ¾ cup).
    Stainless steel measuring cup with pan juices
  • Put the casserole back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
  • Pour the cup into a small saucepan. You can measure out your cream in the same cup. Pour that into the pan too.
  • Add in the seasononings. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
    A saucepan with ingredients before thickening
  • While that heats, stir the cornstarch into the milk for your thickening. Turn the sauce heat down to barely simmering, and whisk in the milk and starch mixture to thicken.
    Adjust seasoning and consistency to your liking, with a little more milk and/or starch. Hold at a low simmer for a minute or so. We're looking for the slightly thinner side of a medium thickness here.
    The finished sauce.
  • When the casserole is done, let it rest out of the oven for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Serving

  • Serve with the parsley potatoes, sauce, and a dollop of lingonberries on the side. Enjoy!
    A plate featuring a square of kålpudding served with parsley potatoes, cream sauce, and lingonberry jam to one side of the plate

Notes

On the sauce measurements: That's not an exact measurement conversion, but more how I would make it using US measurements. A little different proportions, but it should give you a very similar sauce either way.