Crunchy Red Cabbage Salad for Winter
Cabbage is a northern staple and I’m a big fan of red cabbage. It’s a main part of my diet through the winter, and we easily go through a whole head of cabbage each week during the colder months. Cheap, easy to store, and delicious if prepared well, cabbage is truly a winter gem – and this red cabbage salad is a fantastic way to use it.
This wintery purple cabbage salad is made with orange juice instead of vinegar and it’s certainly on the sweeter side. Red cabbage can be a little bitter, especially raw, and adding something sweet lifts it a bit. The combination with orange and pomegranate is excellent.
It’s great to have some raw vegetables in your diet in the winter since we’re so reliant on cooked foods during the colder months. Even if you don’t really care about the nutritional benefits of eating both raw and cooked vegetables, it’s just nice to have something crunchy! This lasts several days in the refrigerator, so it’s a good option if you like to prep some food on one day to tide you over over for a few and you have enough space to keep it.
I first shared this recipe in 2018. It’s been updated with improvements to the recipe and instructions, new photos, including step-by-step photos, and more helpful information.
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Ingredients You’ll Need and Why
These are my notes from testing – I make this salad on rotation about six months of the year – and you can see the full recipe card below.
- Cabbage: use red (or purple) cabbage and look for a head that’s firm and has a good colour. It’s certainly possible to use green or savoy cabbage if that’s what you have, the only real difference will be in the colour.
- Orange: I’ve never tried making the vinaigrette with bottled orange juice but I think it would probably be fine. Juicing the fruit yourself includes pulp so the dressing is a bit thicker.
- Pomegranate: this is entirely optional. Omit if you don’t have pomegranate or don’t like it. The seeds add more sweetness and textural variation.
- Sweetener: maple syrup and honey are used interchangeably in this recipe. Stick to maple syrup, of course, if you’re vegan. Sugar can be used in a pinch.
- Mustard: use any kind of mustard you like, just not hotdog mustard. I use Dijon or Mittelscharf mustard.
How to Make Red Cabbage Salad
It’s not quite as easy as a green salad with store-bought dressing, but the best thing about cabbage salad is that it last ages. Yes, you need to get your hands in there to mix, but you can make enough for the whole week!
Step 1: slice the cabbage very finely and add it to a large bowl. Make sure to remove the white core of the cabbage (the white part of the stem that extends into the centre base) carefully with a knife beforehand.
Make prep easier: if you have a mandolin, certainly use it to slice the cabbage. I use the slicing attachment on my food processor. If you have neither, you can also use a box grater, either the side for slicing or the large shredding side.
Step 2: add the remaining ingredients to the salad to make up the vinaigrette. There’s no need to mix the vinaigrette first or in a separate dish, since the salad is mixed so thoroughly.
Step 3: use your hands to mix very well, squeezing the cabbage as you mix so that it softens slightly. If you can’t use your hands for this, mix well with a spoon, then leave the salad to rest at room temperature for about an hour before serving instead.
Step 4: top with optional pomegranate seeds and orange slices and serve. The fruit does add salad in terms of flavour and texture but both can be left out and I often do omit one or both.
My Expert Tips for Perfect Cabbage Salad
- Let it rest: I recommend trying to make this at least an hour in advance of serving, but you can skip the resting time if you massage the cabbage a while longer. It is a bit like kale in that it’s a bit too chewy or hard without taking that step.
- Double it: this makes a fairly small salad, and I usually double it if I’m prepping it for the week. If you know you’ll like it, then just double it from the get-go, and if you’re not sure, stick to this the first time.
- Meal prep this salad: it does last a few days, so you can make a larger batch and store it for later. This makes up the longer than usual active time needed for another salad. To make ahead, I recommend mixing the cabbage and dressing, the topping with the orange and pomegranate right before serving.
- Add vinegar: if you like more acidic food, try adding a little balsamic vinegar to the salad, or rice vinegar for a more Asian-inspired flavour. I love acid and I like the salad without, but the option is there.
- Use your hands: they are your best tool in the kitchen, and by far the best way to mix this salad. If you have eczema or can’t use your hands for any other reason, see step 3 above for an alternative option (I used to have terrible eczema on my hands – I get it!).
More Winter Cabbage Recipes
Look, I love cabbage, and I grew up eating a lot of it. When we first moved to Germany in 2016 it was so cheap and we were so broke that we ate it almost every day, and we’ve continued that habit. It can be tricky to grow and you need a lot of space but is well worth it. These are the recipes I make all the time when cabbage is in season or stored over winter.
- If you’d like to eat more raw cabbage but want to change it up a bit, try Swedish pizza salad (it doesn’t not, in fact, contain pizza, but is served alongside it), easy German-style vegan coleslaw, or get into fermenting with my dill pickle sauerkraut.
- Have lots of red cabbage to use? Make one of my go-to recipes with roasted red cabbage, sautéed red cabbage, or this beetroot soup with lentils.
- Of course white cabbage is just as good as red. Use it in cabbage lentil soup or a comfort-food cabbage potato hash.
If you make this Red Cabbage Salad or any other vegetarian side dish recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.
Red Cabbage Orange Salad
Description
Ingredients
- ½ medium red cabbage ~300 grams (10 oz.)
- Juice of an orange ~50ml (¼ cup)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon maple syrup or honey (to taste)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large orange peeled and thinly sliced
- ¼ pomegranate seeds
Instructions
- Slice the cabbage very finely by hand or with a mandoline or food processor, and place it into a large bowl. Add the orange juice, olive oil, mustard, maple syrup, salt, and pepper.½ medium red cabbage, Juice of an orange, 2 tablespoons olive oil, ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon maple syrup, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Use your hands to mix very thoroughly, massaging for about a minute.
- Add the orange slices and pomegranate arils and either serve immediately, or store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to five days.1 large orange, ¼ pomegranate
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
You don’t appear to say what the “spices” are. I’d love to make it but I can’t really without knowing.
Hi Lisa, I think you’re looking at the labeled photo and not at the actual recipe. Scroll down to the recipe (or use the jump to recipe card) to see it written in full.
It’s just easier to write spices on the picture (as pepper is indeed a spice, and salt colloquially known as such). The recipe needs salt and pepper as called for.
I could see myself eating this entire jar! Lovely flavors and crunch FTW! I LOL about German food being bland. Perhaps this is why I've not really explored this area of food? Delicious work and beautiful captures Alexandra! xo
This is perfect while on the go