Cabbage Salad Recipe: Easy Shredded Cabbage Dish

Cabbage salad, or cabbage slaw, is a mixture of shredded cabbage and other ingredients—such as shredded carrots, onion, cucumbers, apples, peppers, and fresh herbs—in a dressing. Cabbage is a gluten-free, low-carb food and a source of calcium, iron, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K.

Cabbage salad is similar to coleslaw in that they are both cabbage mixtures you toss in a dressing. While some cabbage salad recipes call for green cabbage, others might call for purple cabbage (also known as red cabbage) instead, or both. It’s possible to customize the flavor of a cabbage salad vinaigrette using apple cider vinegar, mayonnaise, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, or other ingredients.

Cabbage salad requires only a few minutes to assemble, but then it must chill for a minimum of one hour, making it a good dish to make in advance of a potluck. Alternatively, make it the morning before or night before you plan to enjoy it. Here are a few ideas when it comes to how to serve cabbage salad:

1. 1. Mix cabbage salad into quinoa salad: Toss a creamy cabbage salad or a tangy cabbage salad with cooked (but cooled) quinoa, toasted almonds, and dried cranberries. Quinoa has a neutral flavor, so your quinoa salad will absorb the flavors of the cabbage salad dressing well.
2. 2. Serve cabbage salad with barbecue chicken: Cabbage salad can add a bright flavor and visual appeal to meals, especially as a side dish to proteins. Brush grilled chicken breasts with BBQ sauce (or barbecue sauce) for BBQ chicken with a sticky, caramelized crust, and then serve the cabbage salad on the side.
3. 3. Spoon cabbage salad onto tacos: Pile pickled jalapeños, cilantro, fresh lime juice, and a creamy cabbage salad atop traditional Mexican tacos with for a pleasing contrast of flavors. Alternatively, dress a crunchy cabbage salad in rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds to add Asian flavors to your tacos.