Ready, set, crunch! Crisp and colorful, this cabbage salad recipe is the perfect side dish!
This cabbage salad has a blend of fresh green apples, tangy red and green cabbage, and crunchy toppings, all tossed in a simple sweet and sour dressing.
Perfect for a quick side dish or a healthy addition to your next potluck, everyone will be coming back for seconds.
Cabbage Salad: A Crispy, Crunchy Side
Recipes for cabbage salad often involve a slightly soggy scoop of shredded slaw mixed with mayo, but not this recipe!
- A refreshing change from ordinary greens, this salad packs a colorful and crunchy punch.
- No more wilted leftovers; the sturdy cabbage base stays fresh for days.
- Prepare it in advance to save time.
- Homemade dressing with just a few simple ingredients, and ready in minutes.
- This cabbage salad is easily customizable; add your favorite veggies, nuts, or protein for a unique twist.
Ingredients & Variations
This salad has more additions than a traditional slaw recipe. It’s easy to get creative and mix things up with this recipe.
Cabbage: Combine thinly sliced green and purple cabbage for a delightful mix of crunch, color, and nutrients. Alternatively, use Napa, red, or Asian cabbage for variety. Add matchstick carrots, chopped kale, or shredded broccoli stalks for extra flavor and nutrition.
Granny Smith apple: Adds a tart and crisp touch; try other firm apple varieties like Honeycrisp or Pink Lady.
Cabbage Salad Dressing: A tangy-sweet blend of rice vinegar, maple syrup, and Dijon mustard is the perfect blend. Customize by swapping vinegar types or using alternative sweeteners like honey or brown sugar. Honey mustard dressing is a good alternative.
Toppings: Elevate your salad with tangy crumbled feta cheese, sweet dried cranberries, and nutty toasted pecans. Experiment with different cheeses, dried fruits, nuts, and seeds.
How to Make Cabbage Salad
- Thinly slice cabbage and apple (per the recipe below).
- Shake dressing ingredients thoroughly in a sealed jar.
- Toss together in a salad bowl and top with feta, cranberry raisins, and nuts.
Holly’s Tips
- Discard any wilted leaves before cutting the cabbage. Once cut, wash and thoroughly dry the cabbage to ensure a crisp, crunchy salad. The cabbage and be prepared ahead of time.
- Prepared coleslaw mix isn’t just for coleslaw; use it in place of cabbage to save prep time.
- If you’re not serving the salad immediately, add a squeeze of lemon juice to the apples to prevent them from turning brown.
- Allow the salad to rest for a few minutes after adding the dressing for flavors to meld together.
- Toast the raw sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, chopped walnuts, or pecans in a dry skillet for about 1 minute or until slightly browned and add just before serving.
Leftovers
Leftover cabbage salad doesn’t get soggy as tossed salad might. Just keep it covered tightly and refrigerate any leftovers for up to 2-3 days and give it a stir before serving again.
Ways to Use Leftover Cabbage Salad
Did you enjoy this Cabbage Salad? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Cabbage Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups thinly sliced cabbage
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1 small granny smith apple cored and cut into matchsticks
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 small clove garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
Toppings
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- 3 tablespoons toasted pecans chopped
Instructions
- Thinly slice green and purple cabbage, and core and cut a small Granny Smith apple into matchsticks. Place the cabbage and apple in a large bowl.
- In a jar, combine rice vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and vegetable oil. Shake well to combine the dressing.
- Gradually pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture, tossing to combine (you may not need all of it). If time allows, let the salad rest for 15 minutes or up to 1 hour to blend the flavors.
- Sprinkle the salad with feta cheese, dried cranberries, and chopped toasted pecans.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad, Side Dish
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Perfect salad, big party hit. Takes much longer than 15 min if you’re like me and chop everything fresh. Used 1 large green cabbage, 1/2+ red cabbage, 2 apples, walnuts, craisens, and added tablespoon finely chopped onion to dressing. I did change dressing ingredient from 1.5 maple syrup to 1 Mable syrup & 1 honey. Maple can tend to take over a dish.
That sounds like a delicious alteration! Thanks for sharing, Deborah.
Ok, not terrific or terrible. I think it would’ve been better with apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar and maybe some mayo. Also, I had to make 2.5x the amount of dressing, and I did measure and make sure there was the correct number of cups of cabbage.
Thank you for your feedback, Kara! I am glad you were able to enjoy it.
I made this recipe without the feta/pecans and it was wonderful! Thank you for sharing it. I can’t wait to make it again.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Msmoe!
This was really good and was a great addition to our pot luck. I used store bought honey roasted pecans dressing to save a bit of time and it was fantastic. The apples give it a unique taste…not the typical cabbage salad. MUCH BETTER!
At first I thought rice vinegar sounded odd, but the dressing turned out so well, both tangy and sweet. I used honey dijon mustard as i was out of regular.
I love the namebof your website…sounds
So glad you enjoyed this dressing, Pat! Honey Dijon Mustard sounds like a delicious substitution.
This is so good! I was pleasantly surprised. I used the bagged tri color cabbage so it was super easy to make.
I am looking for recipes with low salt for my husband with congestive heart failure.
I do not have specifically low salt recipes however some recipes can be made without salt (and with no sodium or low sodium products).
So good, and so easy! Thanks for this great recipe.
I wanted to make this for 2 but can not for the life of me figure out how much 0.67 tablespoon is nor 0.33 of a clove clove might be???? Your measurements are weird my dear perhaps if you weighed them in grams it would be helpful.
Your recipe sounds great but your way of measuring ????
Yvonne
Hi Yvonne, this recipe was measured and tested for 6 servings. Leftover cabbage salad doesn’t get soggy like tossed salad might, so you can store leftovers covered tightly in the refrigerator. You can also try this recipe convertor as well.
Love to! Thank you for the wonderful recipe and tips
I have always loved cabbage salad. And you’re right, this would go so well with any summer meal. Can’t wait to try!
We hope you love it Matt!