Simple Cabbage Salad Recipe
This simple cabbage salad recipe comes together in minutes. You can use fresh cut cabbage, or purchase a pre-cut mix from the store. Either way, it’s quick, simple and delicious.
A good cabbage salad is an amazing way to enjoy a very filling meal, thanks to all that fiber, that actually tastes completely delicious.
Cabbage Salad
I love salads, especially for lunch. But I do get bored making the same salad over and over, even with different dressings and lettuces.
So one way I keep my salads interesting is by using cabbage instead of lettuce. It has plenty of crunch, is high in fiber and super filling. It’s also fairly low in calories.
It pretty much packs a great nutritional punch while filling you up for hours. Not a bad deal!
Red Cabbage Salad
Some folks will prefer to use all purple cabbage and that’s totally okay here. Purple cabbage has more beneficial plant compounds in it than green cabbage does.
Research shows that purple cabbage has 4.5 times more antioxidants than green cabbage. (1)
Personally, I enjoy it because I’ve read that it helps gut health. Something I’m trying to work on a lot these days.
Napa Cabbage Salad
For some folks, regular green or purple cabbage is a bit too tough. It has a little too much chew. If that’s the case for you, try substituting with Napa cabbage which is a little more chew-friendly.
Asian Cabbage Salad
If you’d prefer to make an Asian version of this, it’s fairly easy to do! You’ll simply want to use an Asian dressing, and then add a few different types of veggies to this. Examples are: grated carrots, green onions, snow peas and even some finely chopped, raw broccoli. Garnish with sesame seeds and voilá! Asian cabbage Salad!
Cabbage Slaw
This recipe is a bit similar to coleslaw or cabbage slaw, but not completely. While there are many different ways to make cabbage slaw, typically, a slaw will have very, very thin or small shreds of cabbage as well as finely grated carrots. You could totally do that here too if you want. But slaw doesn’t have bacon.
How To Shred Cabbage
If you don’t buy it pre-shredded, shredding cabbage at home is easy stuff. Here are a few options:
- Food processor – Some will have attachments you can use that will make quick work of the shredding process for many veggies, including cabbage.
- Cheese grater – You can use one of those handheld cheese graters on the largest grate. This will give you much smaller pieces of cabbage, but that could be a good thing for texture and ease of chewing.
- Knife – My go-to way to shred cabbage is with a chef’s knife. Slice thin, and then turn the slices and cut the other directions. You’ll have longer strip of cabbage that are perfect for a salad. Play the video in the recipe card below to see how it’s done.
Ingredients
2 cups shredded green cabbage – Again, if you prefer, you can substitute this with purple cabbage. But the combination here is nice.
2 cups shredded purple cabbage – If you prefer all green cabbage or a different variety of cabbage, substitute in equal amounts. This is a pretty versatile salad.
½ cup finely chopped purple onion – Get these chopped as fine as you can. Minced is probably a better description for what you want here. The finer the better so you don’t get a big bite of onion.
4 strips turkey bacon – I used Applegate Turkey Bacon because it has all clean ingredients (not paid to promote them). But use whatever bacon you feel comfortable with. Cook it separately the way you would normally cook your bacon. Then chop it into small pieces to add to the salad.
¼ cup all-natural mayonnaise – You can easily make your own mayo, or if you aren’t comfortable with that, look for a mayo without added sugars and other unwanted ingredients. Primal Kitchen and Chosen Foods both make a good, clean mayo (not paid to promote them).
1½ tbsp. white vinegar – You have a little wiggle room here. I’ve used plain white vinegar, white balsamic, rice vinegar and even apple cider vinegar to make this. All were good. You just don’t want to use a dark vinegar like balsamic. It will change the flavor too much.
2 tsp. honey – You can use whatever sweetener you feel comfortable with. Maple syrup works as do some granular sweeteners. The choice is yours, but don’t use more than 2 tsp. of any of them unless you want a truly sweet dressing.
¼ tsp. salt – I used a pink Himalayan salt, but any fine salt will work here.
How To Make Cabbage Salad
As with most salads, this is a pretty simple process.
Chop the cabbage and onions as fine as you can, then combine them in a mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss.
Serve as a side dish or main course.
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Cabbage Salad Recipe
Cabbage Salad
CLICK TO WATCH THIS RECIPE IN ACTION!
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife
- Large mixing bowl
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 cups shredded green cabbage
- 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
- ½ cup finely chopped purple onion
- 4 strips turkey bacon (cooked and chopped)
Dressing
- ¼ cup all-natural mayonnaise
- 1½ tbsp. white vinegar
- 2 tsp. honey (maple syrup works too)
- ¼ tsp. salt
Instructions
Salad
- Chop the cabbage and onions as fine as you can, then combine them in a mixing bowl.
Dressing
- In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss.
- Serve as a side dish or main course.
