Rolled Cabbage with Hot Dogs and Tomatoes

September 13, 2025By American Vinegar Works

Cabbage and Hot dog rolls on white plate

Rolled Cabbage with Hot Dogs and Tomatoes

Name: Rolled Cabbage with Hot Dogs and Tomatoes
Ingredients: 1/3 cup AVW California Olive Oil; ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper; 1 medium yellow onion minced; 2 garlic cloves minces; 1 bay leave (broken in half); 1/3 cup of Italian parsley chopped; 5 medium tomatoes roughly chopped; 1 small to medium green bell pepper cored and chopped; ¾ teaspoon of sea salt (across two steps); 1 small to medium green cabbage; 8 hot dogs (preferably of a beef and pork blend); 1/3 cup of white wine; 1/3 cup of Quince &amp; Chardonnay Vinegar

This week’s recipe is a comfort dish from my childhood. It is cabbage stuffed (or rolled) with hot dogs—bear with me, I know that doesn’t sound super sophisticated but it is tasty, easy, and economical. If the hot dogs really affront you I am sure you can sub in higher end sausages or, especially this time of year, find nice German links instead. But really, the hot dogs are pretty good…

Full Disclosure: Given that I have no German or eastern European background I am guessing this recipe for stuffed cabbage from my childhood is definitely not an authentic representation of the original concept. The only thing I can guarantee is that it’s a tasty meal, made for home comfort. We start with olive oil, tomatoes, green peppers, and herbs and stew those into a chunkier sauce that is more Mediterranean in palate and then add in both shredded cabbage and finally hot dogs rolled in green cabbage leaves. It ends up being a slightly brothy dish best served with buttered or herbed rice.

This recipe features our NEW Quince Chardonnay Vinegar and AVW California Organic Olive Oil.

Rolled Cabbage with Hot Dogs and Tomatoes

Ingredients

1/3 cup AVW California Olive Oil
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 medium yellow onion minced
2 garlic cloves minces
1 bay leave (broken in half)
1/3 cup of Italian parsley chopped
5 medium tomatoes roughly chopped
1 small to medium green bell pepper cored and chopped
¾ teaspoon of sea salt (across two steps)
1 small to medium green cabbage
8 hot dogs (preferably of a beef and pork blend)
1/3 cup of white wine
1/3 cup of Quince & Chardonnay Vinegar

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Directions

Gather your ingredients and a large pot with a well-fitting lid
Add olive oil to pot over medium heat. Once hot (don’t let it smoke—should just be a few seconds) add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, parsley, and the broken bay leaf. Stir
Allow the allium and herb mix to cook on medium heat stirring occasionally. You want the onions to begin to soften and become somewhat translucent but you do not want them to brown
Roughly chop your tomatoes. Core the tip but do not deseed and keep the tomato water. You want to retain the moisture from the vegetables to stew this dish.
Core and chop the green bell pepper. You are looking for pieces that are about a half inch to an inch square
Add chopped tomatoes and green peppers to the pot.
Add ½ teaspoon of salt and stir. Note that you are reserving a ¼ teaspoon of salt for another step. Cover pot and cook for about 7 minutes allowing the tomatoes and peppers to stew a bit. Stir every once in a while, to make sure no burning or sticking
Wash your cabbage, slice off the stump and remove/toss the first two outer leaves (they’re usually tougher/more fibrous).
Carefully remove 8 outer leaves and reserve them to roll your hot dogs
Cut and roughly chop or shred half of your remaining cabbage head (reserve the other half for another use)
When the tomatoes look like a chunky sauce move on to next step
Add the chopped cabbage to the tomato sauce. Add the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt and stir. Cover and let cook a minute or two while you wrap the hot dogs
Roll the hot dogs in the reserved cabbage leaves. Don’t worry if they are not super neat ( going for home comfort dish so don’t stress). I have found that it is best to roll the dogs from the side edge of the leaf, going parallel to the center stalk. If you try to roll them perpendicular (ie on top of) the center stalk it will just snap the leaf as you roll.
Place the rolled dogs on top of your stewing mixture in a single layer if possible.
Drizzle on the white wine and vinegar. If you don’t have wine you can just use ¼ cup of water and ⅓ cup of vinegar though the flavor will not be as concentrated.
Cover the pot, put on medium/low heat and let stew about 30 minutes (check on it as it cooks) undisturbed
Uncover and with a spoon see if you can nudge the dogs and the sauce (will be liquidy/chunky enough to move) so that the top layer of the wrapped dogs sink into the sauce a bit more. This is also a good time to taste test the sauce and see if you need to salt. Cook covered another 15 minutes.
Plate by carefully placing wrapped dogs on a plate and then spooning some of the chunky sauce on top. You can then add chopped herbs (eg parsley) on top for a brighter visual. Serve with buttered white rice.
Cooking Pot Note: I did this in a regular pot so that everyone could easily replicate. Normally I would just use a pressure cooker (and imagine a slow cooker would work well as well) to do this and make a much faster cook. You are basically just steaming the upper dogs(which are already cooked) using a wine/vinegar/vegetable juice liquid base so pressure cooker is great and fast. If you use a pressure cooker you should still follow the initial parts of the recipe with an open pot – the pressure part of the cooker only comes in for the longer steam cooking/lid on final step.
Cabbage Note: I recommend going with green cabbage for this recipe. I have found that it has the right balance of moisture (to give sauce/help cook) and texture to hold up in this dish. Feel free to experiment with others but I have found red cabbage too tough and Savoy and Napa cabbage to not have enough body
Rolling/Stuffing note: I know these are not as pretty as the little cabbage pillows we normally associate with stuffed cabbage—but they are so much faster and taste the same… If you want to upgrade the look I will not be offended.
Bad tomatoes?: If you think your tomatoes are duds you can add one tablespoon of tomato paste to the wine and vinegar mix (stir well) and that should cover up their deficiencies. Paprika (¼ teaspoon) is a good back up to the backup if you dont have tomato paste
Make a head note: This is the type of dish that is even better on the reheat so feel free to make it ahead of time or on a weekend then just reheat and serve the next day. Ideally make the rice fresh on the day you plan to serve it.