Stuffed grape leaves are a delicious Mediterranean mezze. In my meatless version of this recipe, I stuff blanched grape leaves with rice, fresh herbs, and pine nuts. Lemon zest adds a lovely essence. They’re especially nice chilled, served alongside other salads and cold mezze for a light summer meal. If you’ve never tried them before, this is a fun vegan cooking project with healthy, delicious results!
Stuffing grape leaves used to intimidate to me. It seemed like such a complicated, foreign process. I sought advice from a friend of ours named Tony, who owns a Greek restaurant in Malibu. Tony makes the best meat-stuffed grape leaves ever (fingers crossed he’ll share his recipe with me soon!). He told me that stuffing grape leaves is a lot easier than it seems– all you really need is a little time and patience.
I decided to take his advice and try making vegetarian grape leaves first. And you know what? He’s right! There was a learning curve, but once I understood the process, it became second nature. The first time I made them, I used a simple herbed rice as a filling. Over time I tweaked it, adding more herbs, onion, and lemon for flavor and pine nuts for texture/protein.
The result? Delicious! Not to mention vegan, parve, gluten free, healthy– you get the idea.
How to Make Stuffed Grape Leaves
I’ve provided a clearly photographed step-by-step tutorial. Are you lucky enough to have a pesticide-free grape vine in the back yard? Use those leaves! If you don’t (wish I did!), you’ll need to buy 1 or 2 large jars of grape leaves. You can find these at Middle Eastern markets or specialty stores. They can also be found online. I usually end up using a little more than 1 large jar, since many of the leaves end up damaged and unsuited to stuffing. You can use the damaged leaves to line the bottom of the pot, which helps to prevent scorching.
When to Serve Stuffed Grape Leaves
I often make these vegan stuffed grape leaves for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. On this holiday we are encouraged to create dishes from fresh seasonal ingredients. Sukkot ushers in the autumn season, and menus are inspired by the bounty of the harvest. That means lots of apples, squash, eggplants, figs, grapes, and– you guessed it– grape leaves!
While these are very appropriate for Sukkot, you can obviously serve these stuffed grape leaves year-round. They’re especially nice served chilled during the hot summer months. Garnish them with fresh mint leaves, lemon slices and olives for a lovely presentation.
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Vegetarian Grape Leaves (Dolmades)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1/2 cup fresh minced dill
- 1/4 cup fresh minced mint
- 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 3/4 cups vegetable broth (a yellow broth is best), divided
- 50 large grape leaves (fresh or jarred)
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh mint leaves, lemon slices, and olives (for garnish - optional)
NOTES
Instructions
- Pour the pine nuts into a skillet and lightly toast them over medium heat till golden brown. Reserve.Pour ¼ cup of olive oil into a medium pot and heat it over medium. Add minced onion to the pot and sauté until soft. Add the rice to the pot and stir to combine. Sauté for another minute. Pour in ¾ cup vegetable broth and lower the heat; simmer the rice uncovered for about 10 minutes till the liquid is absorbed and the rice is half cooked. Do not cook the rice fully, or you’ll end up with mushy grape leaves! Just cook it to an al dente texture. Remove pot from heat.
- Add the minced dill, mint, toasted pine nuts, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice and lemon zest to the pot of rice. Stir till all ingredients are well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
- Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. As the water is heating, trim the leaves by cutting the stems off, flush with the leaves. Trim any large, hard veins from the leaves. Place the leaves in the boiling water and let them soften for 3-5 minutes till they become pliable (fresh leaves may take a bit longer to soften than jarred).
- Drain, then cover the leaves with cold water. Drain the leaves again and pat them dry.Note: If using fresh leaves, try to use younger leaves (medium size)—they’ll be more tender than the very large leaves.
- Place a grape leaf shiny (smooth) side down, vein (bumpy) side up, on a flat surface like a cutting board.
- Place 2 tbsp of rice filling at the base end of the leaf, near where the stem was.
- Fold the stem end up over the filling.
- Fold the edges of the leaf inward.
- Continue rolling the leaf till it forms a neat rolled package. Do not roll too tightly; the rice will expand a little during cooking, and if you roll it too tight the leaf will unravel as it cooks.
- Squeeze the roll gently to seal.Repeat the process with the remaining leaves till all of the filling is gone.
- As you roll the leaves, you may find some leaves that are damaged or have large holes. Place those damaged leaves into the bottom of your saute pan to line it and create a bed for the stuffed leaves.
- Place the stuffed leaves in the bottom of the saute pan. Don’t be afraid to pack the leaves snugly; this will help keep the leaves intact as they cook. Make a single layer on the bottom of the pan. When you run out of room, make a second layer on top.
- Pour 1 cup of broth, ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil, and ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice over the stuffed grape leaves. Heat the pan over medium until it begins to simmer (don’t boil, or the leaves will start to fall apart).Cover the pot. Let the grape leaves cook for 30-40 minutes. The leaves are finished cooking when they are fork-tender.
- Stuffed grape leaves can be served warm or cold, as-is or topped with a variety of sauces. I like serving them with fresh tzatziki or tahini sauce—recipes for both can be found on my blog. Store them in the refrigerator; they will keep for about 1 week.
Madhatter says
I wish Lily Angel would expound on her method of preparing fresh vine leaves. I have only gotten vague ideas of how to prepare the leaves for stuffing
Lily Angel says
I have made stuffed vine leaves often but this vegetarian version is the best. I use my own vine leaves. I have made this recipe numerous times. I added a small handful of currents to one batch and they were delicious.
Tori Avey says
Glad you’re enjoying the recipe Lily. 🙂
Dolores Salomon says
Hey, my grape leaves were a HUGE hit with everyone! I am so glad my best friends daughter, requested vegetarian ones. I was a little put off by the request at 1st (how dare anyone not just be thankful I am making them at all)! But reluctantly, I gave in, and lucky for me. My family, who had never had veg. home made ( we use lamb) ones couldn’t believe how good they were compared to the deli ones. And although I did make some with lamb, we could have done just fine with veg. only.
Here’s the thing though….to me, the biggest pain in the a….is separating the individual leaves! It was sheer torture. Time consuming and difficult until……I changed brands. I don’t remember the name of the ones I hated, but they come in a fat jar. But the ones that saved the day are PELOPONNESE. They are easy to separate and a nice large size to work with. Trust me, it makes a difference. Later D
Tori Avey says
Great tip Dolores, glad you liked them!
dena says
Tory, just wanted to let you know that I recently made an unstuffed stuffed grape leaves casserole from Vegetarian Times. Let’s just say that I was less than satisfied with it and ended up recommending your stuffed version instead.
Tori Avey says
Glad you’re enjoying this recipe Dena! I like deconstructed and unstuffed dishes from time to time, but unstuffed grape leaves seem a bit like defeating the purpose… 🙂
Dolores Salomon says
Recipe sounds great. I want to make them for thanksgiving. I don’t want to do it all on Wed. What parts can I do on Tues. and have them be fresh? More importantly, I do have access to fresh leaves, but don’t know when top pick them or how to store them. I know my aunts used to. Do you know? Thanks! P.S. It’s too late for this yr. I know. Oh and does it matter if they are wine grapes?
Tori Avey says
Hi Delores, the grape leaves can be made completely in advance and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. So you can actually make them on Tuesday and serve them on Thanksgiving day without any problems. As for the grape leaves, best to pick larger leaves while the grapes are in season. They are stored in brine, although I’ve never brined the leaves so I can’t give you specifics. I shouldn’t think that the type of grape leaf would make much of a difference, as long as they’re the right size.
Doreen says
Hi Just wondering if I could use grape leaves from my garden? As well, Do these freeze well? Thanks for the great recipe and pictures!!
Tori Avey says
Hi Doreen– of course you can use from your garden! As long as they haven’t been sprayed with lots of pesticides. You’ll need to boil them a bit longer to soften. Specific instructions are in the recipe. I have never frozen these so I couldn’t tell you if they freeze well or not. I can tell you that they’re very tasty. 🙂 Enjoy!
Christine Davis says
I just made stuffed grape leaves last night (my grandfather was Armenian, and I am familiar with this dish)… with mine, the rice was a little chewy, although I cooked it a long time. I left off the plate. Could that be why? Or should I have cooked the rice first?
For your reader who doesn’t like grape leaves, but likes the filling, I seem to remember my mother making these with cabbage leaves as well (although those might have been the hot with meat version). She might try that.
Tori Avey says
Hi Christine– in the recipe, I wrote that you should parboil the rice for 10 minutes till half-cooked. Did you miss that step? If yes that is likely why the rice didn’t taste done in the grape leaves. If you did parboil the rice and it was still undercooked, try parboiling for 20 minutes with 1 1/4 cups broth till the liquid is absorbed, then you won’t have any trouble with chewy rice. Good suggestion on the cabbage leaves.
Pheona says
While visiting friends in California they asked for a meatless version and we minced mushrooms to replace the meat in my recipe. They were yummy!
Laura says
Great recipe! I just made them for a party and not one remains. Such good flavors. They had to cook a little longer than suggested, but I had a small-ish, pretty crammed, pot to work with; the top layer had tough skins but all the rest were tender. I’ll definitely make these again!
Tori Avey says
Great Laura! Happy to hear it. 🙂
Kristie says
To tenderize the leaves you can freeze them after rinsing and patting dry. They are perfect for rolling after you thaw them out!
Tony says
I tried this variation, but I tend to like the Lebanese version of ingredients better.
cesium62 says
Well said!
Don’t worry about tenderizing the leaves in hot water. Don’t worry about patting the leaves dry. We cook ours in a heavy-bottomed pot, covered with a lid. And after filling the pot 2/3rds full with rolled Yubra, we sprinkle with salt and cover the top with lemon halves, cut side down.
Bre says
I just made these! They are delicious- the rice could even go well on its own. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Peg Kutchukian says
I laughed when I read that the grape leaves keep for a week in the refrigerator – mine are always gone the same day!
Nice recipe, first time I tried this one.
clowe says
these sound wonderful but how many per serving and how many calories are in them.
thank you
clowe
Carol says
I don’t know how I missed this recipe. I will definitely put this on my list of things to try.
A'ppetizer says
These look really good. I have been quite nervous about using vine leaves, I wanted to substitute it for the nori I used when making a warm sushi as I think the fishy taste was too overwhelming. I think I’ll try it this way with long grain rice too. Great recipe.
Elaine says
I am salivating…………………..
Amanda Tempel says
Love your recipe, and your pictures are fabulous!
A New York Foodie says
Your leaves look wonderful. When I made mine they were not as nice looking. They tasted great, but unfortunately didn’t look nearly as good as yours. 🙁 So I guess I will have to make them again! 🙂
kim turim says
these are fun to make!!
i can eat these every day!