Cabbage Kobenhaven Casserole

This casserole takes its name from Copenhagen and its flavors from the Scandinavian tradition of pairing cabbage with warm spices and tomato-sauced meat. Shredded cabbage gets layered between seasoned ground beef in a covered dish and baked until everything melds together.

The spice blend is what sets this apart from a basic cabbage roll filling. A pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of ground cloves, thyme, and basil stirred into the tomato sauce give the meat mixture a fragrant, slightly sweet warmth that you don’t expect from a ground beef casserole. Those warm spices are common in Northern European cooking and they pair naturally with the mild sweetness of cooked cabbage.

Layering matters here. Cabbage on the bottom, meat in the middle, cabbage again, then meat on top. The cabbage layers steam inside the covered casserole and shrink down considerably, which is why the dish starts overly full but settles during baking. The tomato sauce from the meat layers soaks into the cabbage, flavoring it from both sides.

Drain the browned beef well before adding the sauce and spices. Excess grease trapped in a covered casserole has nowhere to go and will pool at the bottom.

Pro Tips

• Shred the cabbage into thin strips so it cooks down evenly during the 45-minute bake. Thick wedges won’t soften fully.
• Simmer the meat sauce for the full 10 minutes before layering. This thickens it so it doesn’t run to the bottom of the dish.
• Don’t peek during baking. Keeping the lid on traps steam that cooks the cabbage through.

Variations

• Add a layer of thinly sliced potatoes on the bottom for a more substantial one-dish meal.
• Use ground lamb instead of beef to lean further into the Northern European flavor profile.
• Stir a tablespoon of caraway seeds into the meat mixture for a more distinctly Danish character.