Sweet and Sour Beef Cabbage

Sweet and sour beef cabbage is a cheap and easy meal idea and is part of our free Meal Plan #2.

Ground beef, onion, lentils, and bell pepper and cooked on the stove. Chopped cabbage and a sweet and sour sauce are poured on top. Everything is baked in the oven for a delicious and filling recipe.

Why We Love This Cheap Meal Idea

• cabbage is a cheap vegetable that is healthy and filling
• Ground beef can be paired with lentils to help stretch them out.
• It's sweet and sour! The sauce adds the perfect delicious taste to this recipe.
• Everything is cooked in one pot. First, the ground beef is browned, then cabbage as added on top with sauce and baked in the oven.
• Ground beef is inexpensive, but can easily be replaced with ground pork, ground turkey or ground chicken.
• This recipe is part of our free MEAL PLAN #2. Inside I share 5 delicious printable recipes, a free meal plan, grocery list, and cooking video showing how to make them all. Click here to see the free Meal Plan #2!
• For more one pot recipes try our easy one-pot spaghetti with ground beef, our one-pot chicken thighs with tomatoes and sweet potatoes, an easy weeknight dinner one-pot taco pasta, or our one-pot chicken burrito bowl.

Need more cheap meal inspiration? Try our 109 Cheap Easy Meal Ideas which are simple, perfect for busy nights, and budget-friendly.

Recipe Ingredients

• GROUND BEEF: 1 lb of ground beef is used as the recipe's base. Feel free to swap with any ground meat including ground pork, ground turkey, and ground chicken.
• LENTILS: Adding beans to ground meat can help to stretch it out and make it last for more meals. Lentils are smaller beans that are typically easier to digest than other bean styles.
• VEGETABLES: Green cabbage is inexpensive and filling. It's an easy vegetable to pair with ground beef. Other vegetables added to the recipe are yellow onion, celery, and bell pepper.
• BASE INGREDIENTS: The flavor is made from tomato sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

How To Make Sweet and Sour Beef Cabbage

Everything is cooked in one pot, making clean-up easier. Here’s a quick overview with full instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

1. Slice the cabbage into wedges. Mix the sweet and sour sauce ingredients.
2. In an oven-safe pot, brown the ground beef with onion on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Drain excess grease. Stir in the lentils, chopped celery and bell pepper. Mix in spices and breadcrumbs.
3. Add cabbage wedges on top of ground beef. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour the sweet and sour sauce on top. Cover and bake until cabbage is tender.

Leftover sweet and sour beef cabbage recipe can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave or in the oven.

Recipe Tips

• Cover the dish with foil while baking. This will prevent the cabbage from burning.
• Use an oven-safe pot on the stove like a cast iron dutch oven. Then you don't have to transfer anything during the cooking process.
• The recipe is baked for about 1 hour. Smaller wedges of cabbage will cook faster if you're in a pinch for time. Test for doneness by poking with a fork.
• This recipe makes a great lunch and can be reheated in the microwave.
• Feel free to serve with a side of rice, pasta or mashed potatoes for a more filling meal.

More Beef Recipes

• Beef Rice Cabbage Roll Everything is cooked together in one pot, making clean-up easier.
• Beef Burrito Bowls Just dump and bake!
• Ground Beef Sweet Potato Skillet is an easy 30-minute dinner.
• Slow Cooker Beef Stew with mashed potatoes.
• Sheet Pan Nachos with Ground Beef is great for Friday night dinner!