56 Cabbage Recipes You'll Want To Eat All Year Round

Cabbage is a vegetable that's never been seen as unusual or trendy enough to get named a superfood – it probably doesn't help that it's been the "butt" of many jokes due to its, er, malodorous after-effects that may make you think twice before eating cabbage. What's more, superfoods tend to be pricey, and cabbage has long been one of the cheapest vegetables in the grocery store. That makes it a kind of stealth superfood in our books due to the fact that it's low in calories and carbs as well as being packed with vitamins and minerals, yet seems unlikely ever to be elevated to gourmet status with a resulting boost in price.

As cabbage is quite hearty and filling as well as inexpensive, it has long been used as the foundation for dishes all around the world. The recipes on this list span the globe from China to Poland to Ireland, with each culture putting its own spin on its cabbage preparations. Even a quick scroll through this list will show just how versatile this vegetable can be.

Quick, name a recipe made with cabbage! Chances are one of the first things you thought of was coleslaw. The very name is an Anglicization of the Dutch "koolsla," which literally translates to cabbage salad. This recipe is the mayonnaise-based version that's served up at backyard barbecues and fast food restaurants all over the U.S., although here we're using both green and red cabbage as well as carrots in order to give this slaw an extra-colorful appearance.

Recipe: Traditional Coleslaw

Cranberry sauce and candied yams may have Thanksgiving, and lamb-shaped butter has Easter. But even the humble boiled cabbage gets a holiday of its own: On St. Patrick's Day, it is the must-have side for its BFF, corned beef. Truth be told, corned beef and cabbage is not something people typically eat in Ireland, but it's long been a staple of American celebrations on a day when everyone's said to be a wee bit Irish (at least after a glass or two of green beer). In our version of the dish, the cabbage and beef aren't boiled on the stove top, so your house won't be quite so cabbage-perfumed. Instead, they are oven-braised in white wine for a slightly more upscale meal suited for a holiday celebration.

Recipe: Corned Beef And Cabbage

As we continue our world tour de cabbage, we now come to Eastern Europe where we find a recipe for the stuffed cabbage rolls known as holubtsi in the Ukraine and golabki in Poland. The stuffing for the cabbage leaves in this recipe is made up of a mixture of ground beef, ground pork, and rice. Once stuffed, the cabbage is then baked in a sweet and sour tomato sauce. The resulting dish provides meat, starch, and vegetables all in one neat little package, how convenient is that? Best of all, the leftovers should last up to a whole week in the fridge.

Recipe: Cabbage Rolls

Speaking of kielbasa, this Polish smoked sausage plays just as nicely with cabbage as corned beef does. In this stew recipe, the cabbage is cooked in a tomato broth along with onions, carrots, and even a few parmesan rinds if you've got them. (If not, grated parmesan works, too.) The kielbasa, sauteed separately, goes in at the end along with some orzo pasta and, for an extra boost of nutritious greens, a few handfuls of healthy kale. Starch, vegetables, and meat make up your entire dinner, although you might want a thick slice of bread to help you get every last drop of goodness out of the bowl.

Recipe: Kielbasa Stew

Sauerkraut isn't Germany's sole contribution to cabbage cuisine. Bierocks are kind of a western European take on the Eastern European stuffed dumplings known as pierogi. Bierocks, however, are larger and more bread-like as they are made from yeast dough. The bierocks in this recipe are filled with a savory combo of cabbage, of course, along with ground beef and onions, and they're flavored with caraway, nutmeg, and paprika. Needless to say, they would go great with a cold stein of Becks, St. Pauli, or any other German beer.

Recipe: Authentic German Bierocks

Europe does not have a monopoly on the world's cabbage use — far from it. Cabbage is widely used in Asian cuisines as well, and one dish that showcases it at its best is the Japanese pancake known as okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is typically made with flour and eggs, although finely-crushed dried breadcrumbs can also be used as in this recipe. The shredded cabbage that is mixed into the batter gives the dish its unique flavor. They are slightly reminiscent of potato pancakes, only with cabbage instead of potatoes and Kewpie mayo and soy sauce taking the place of sour cream and applesauce toppings.

Recipe: Easy Okonomiyaki

Ramen, if you are a Pastafarian, is the word you use to end your paeans of praise to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If you need a cheap meal, it's also a way to fill your belly for under a buck. If you live in Japan, however, you may know ramen as a complex, nuanced dish where noodles are just one of a long list of ingredients. This particular Japanese-style recipe calls for 20 different items (including cabbage, of course), and it requires a time investment of about three-quarters of an hour. What you'll reap in dividends, however, is a bowl of ramen that's a thousand times better than the kind that comes from a noodle brick and a seasoning packet.

Recipe: Ramen

Potstickers are Chinese dumplings that are very similar to gyoza in that they, too, are crescent-shaped and come with a variety of fillings. The ones in this recipe are stuffed with ground chicken and sweet potato vermicelli along with shiitake mushrooms, scallions, and carrots, with good old cabbage helping to pad them out. While these potstickers take a full hour to prepare and call for 19 different ingredients, they make a great meal prep project as they can be frozen prior to cooking.

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Potstickers

Drunken noodles may have a name that prompts giggles, although the dish itself is not something you could really get tipsy off of. This recipe does contain a small amount of alcohol, but 1 ½ teaspoon of sherry per serving isn't something you're likely to feel any effects from, not least because of all of the noodles and the cabbage that can help to absorb this tiny bit of booze. Here we are using napa, aka Chinese, cabbage, which is softer and more delicate than green cabbage. This texture makes it perfect for stir-fries such as this one.

Recipe: Drunken Noodles

Egg rolls, while they are served by nearly all Chinese restaurants, are more likely to be American in origin. While they do have some similarities to the spring rolls known in China, the egg rolls familiar to us are probably the creation of an NYC Chinese restaurateur (which one remains unclear as there are several conflicting claims). Whatever their provenance, egg rolls are a fun and flavorful appetizer. Our DIY version uses that classic combo of ground pork and cabbage as a filling along with mushrooms, onions, carrots, ginger, garlic, and other good stuff.

Recipe: Delicious Egg Rolls

Pancit is another Filipino specialty that may not be as well-known as lumpia but is equally tasty. The word pancit simply means noodles, which, as you can imagine, allows for a whole lot of leeway in preparation. Typically the noodles are stir-fried with meat or seafood, vegetables, and/or egg — if this sounds at all familiar, bear in mind that Filipino cuisine has been heavily influenced by that of China. This particular pancit recipe uses rice noodles in combination with chicken, carrots, onions, and cabbage, but it gets its distinctively Filipino flavor from the soy sauce/sugar combo used as a sauce.

Recipe: Authentic Pancit

The Korean condiment kimchi wasn't always popular with non-Koreans, but it's had a recent image makeover and turned into one of the biggest flavor fads of the late 20-teens, early 20-twenties (or however we're styling these decades). While the kimchi craze originally kicked off due to people's realization of all the health benefits attached to fermented foods.  you're probably not going to get a major power-up from kimchi-flavored mayo or a kimchi bloody Mary. Making your own homemade kimchi, however, will allow you to transform a head of cabbage into a large jar of spicy, nutritious goodness.

Recipe: Easy Homemade Kimchi

As we've seen, cabbage is a staple of both European and Asian cooking, but it's not unknown in Latin American kitchens either. In El Salvador, there's a traditional dish called curtido which is their version of coleslaw. It, too, starts with shredded cabbage, although the cabbage is briefly blanched to soften it. The not-quite-cooked cabbage is then combined with onions, carrots, and jalapenos and dressed with vinegar (although there's no oil involved). Curtido makes a great side salad, but you might also like to use it as a topping for tacos or sandwiches.

Recipe: Authentic Curtido

Have you ever noticed how certain meats have their go-to sides? Steak has potatoes, burgers have fries, and chicken has waffles. As for pork, there's no meat that pairs better with cabbage. In this dish, pork sausage meat is mixed with chopped cabbage and baked in butter to make an incredibly simple, cheap, and filling casserole. Bonus: if you're counting carbohydrates, with this dish you can probably do so on the fingers of one hand. Well, you may need two hands, but still, this is an extremely keto-friendly recipe.

Recipe: Cabbage And Sausage Casserole

Chow mein has been a staple of Chinese-American restaurant menus since back in the days when these types of places, along with the occasional pizzeria, were the only ones offering takeout or delivery. (Yes, children of the DoorDash era, your elders really had things tough back in the day.) It can also make for a thrifty make-at-home meal — in this recipe, just over half a pound of chicken is stretched out with noodles and cabbage to feed four people.

Recipe: Quick Chow Mein

If you need a plain, basic side dish to accompany a meaty main course, chances are you're going to think of something along the lines of potatoes, rice, or pasta. What if you're trying to cut down on carbs, though? In that case, a hearty, yet non-starchy, vegetable is going to be your best bet, and we can't think of one better suited for the purpose than cabbage. Slice, it, sauté it in heart-healthy olive oil, then season it with salt, and pepper, along with vinegar or lemon juice, and it's fit to accompany any type of meal.

Recipe: Sauteed Cabbage Recipe

Cabbage rolls, which are Eastern Europe's answer to the stuffed pepper, are a great dish for feeding a crowd without breaking the bank. In this recipe, just two ounces of ground beef is used per serving as that beef is stretched out with plenty of rice and onions before being wrapped in a large leaf of cabbage. The rolls are then slow-simmered in tomato sauce in a preparation that's made fairly effort-free via the aid of a crockpot.

Recipe: Simple Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls

Egg rolls are great as an appetizer, but they're not the sort of thing you'd typically make a whole meal of. Not if you're concerned about your health, that is, as deep-fried foods are delicious but not so nutritious. With this recipe, however, we're taking the ingredients typically found in an egg roll filling — seasoned ground pork, onions, carrots, and cabbage — and serving them up minus the crunchy outer coating. Eaten on its own, this bowl is tasty, healthy, and low in both carbs and calories. If you spoon it over rice or noodles, though, you could double the number of servings for just pennies more.

Recipe: 20-Minute Egg Roll In A Bowl

When you're hungry for a thick, juicy steak, well, we're not going to lie to you, cabbage is no substitute, no matter how you cook it. If you've already gone meat-free, though, you may enjoy these cabbage wedge "steaks" baked with a light coating of olive oil and a sprinkling of garlic, salt, and pepper. Plus, if you're Team Omnivore, there's no reason you couldn't serve these green steaks alongside the beefier kind as a garden-and-turf combo plate.

Recipe: Quick And Easy Cabbage Steak

The standard coleslaw you get with your fast-food fish or chicken is likely to consist of little more than green cabbage, carrots, and mayonnaise, but this tropical-inspired slaw is anything but basic. It ditches the mayo, for one thing, in favor of a yogurt-lime dressing, while red cabbage takes the place of the green stuff to add some vivid color. What really makes this coleslaw stand out, however, are the cilantro and the tangy fresh pineapple that give it a whole flavor makeover.

Recipe: Creamy Pineapple Coleslaw

Typical tacos made with ground beef are often topped with lettuce, but with fish tacos, you're more apt to see cabbage. Why the veggie swap? Probably because cabbage is associated with coleslaw and coleslaw is often served with seafood. While you can use any kind of cabbage in this recipe, the purplish kind would make for a nice contrast with the pink salmon and the green from the avocado-lime sauce.

Recipe: 20-Minute Fish Tacos

Corned beef is usually sold already prepared, but if you're a true DIY aficionado and happen to have a lot of time on your hands, it is possible to make it yourself out of beef brisket, salt, sugar, and a whole bunch of spices (mustard seeds, peppercorn, ginger, and allspice, to name but a few). After you brine your beef, you'll then smoke not only the meat but also the accompanying vegetables: potatoes, carrots, and, of course, cabbage. The best part of smoked corned beef and cabbage is that, unlike the boiled kind, it actually smells amazing as it cooks.

Recipe: Smoked Corned Beef

A classic Reuben is one of the all-time great sandwiches, but admittedly it's not the healthiest thing out there as it can be rather fatty as well as messy. Here we're giving it a leaner, cleaner makeover, using whole grain bread instead of rye, thin-sliced turkey in place of pastrami, low-fat Swiss cheese, and light Thousand Island dressing. Even the sauerkraut is replaced with raw shredded cabbage for a sandwich that's not your typical Reuben but is less likely to drip all over your shirt or raise your cholesterol.

Recipe: Healthy Turkey Reuben Sandwich

Ever notice how nearly every recipe seems to include the word "enjoy" as if it were a directive? Well, unless Marie Kondo's in your kitchen, it's not likely that every single thing you eat is going to spark joy in your life. Corned beef and cabbage, in particular, is a dish that has quite the opposite effect on many who simply don't care for the stuff despite the fact that it seems to be considered de rigueur for St. Patrick's Day and thus gets trotted out year after year.

Using those same ingredients to fill crunchy egg rolls, however, may in fact, bring some real joy, This dish completely changes the nature of the old standby while, at the same time, giving more than a passing nod to tradition. Plus, as has previously been noted, corned beef and cabbage is in itself a type of fusion cuisine due to the fact that the meat originally used to make this Irish-American dish was supplied by Jewish delis. In that case, why not throw a little Chinese influence into the melting pot, as well?

Recipe: Corned Beef Egg Rolls

The great thing about gyoza, besides the way they taste, is that these cabbage and pork-stuffed Japanese dumplings are a perfect dish for meal preppers to make. While the gyoza in this recipe do take some time to stuff, fry, and steam, once they are cooked, they can be frozen for later use. You don't even have to thaw them when you want to heat them back up — just put them in a frying pan with a bit of water and they'll thaw and reheat in just that single step.

Recipe: Authentic Fried Pork Gyoza

Goulash is a meaty, paprika-spiced stew, although the American version is a more of school cafeteria mishmash of ground beef, canned tomatoes, and elbow macaroni that often omits the paprika. This veggie version, while it lacks the meat that defines a true goulash, does at least retain its signature spice. This dish is primarily composed of mushrooms, although it also includes cabbage, onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, and canned tomatoes. It makes for a great side dish as-is, although you could also add some protein to it to turn it into an entrée. 

Recipe: One-Pot Vegetarian Mushroom Goulash

Kale is very nutritious, to be sure, but it can also be tough and bitter. If you want to get all of the health benefits while minimizing the less palatable aspects of this not-so-super-tasting superfood, it helps to include a lot of other ingredients in your kale salad. Here we're supplementing the leafy greens with a wide variety of wholesome produce including cabbage, broccoli slaw, brussels sprouts, apples, and cranberries, while the dressing is made from orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, and vinegar. In keeping with the whole healthy motif, pumpkin seeds are used in lieu of croutons to add some crunch.

Recipe: Sweet Kale Salad

If you think egg rolls are kind of "meh," that may be because you've never had truly fresh ones. If you get them with an order of takeout, they've had quite a bit of time to cool down en route from the fryer to your house, and sadly, the quality of an egg roll depreciates even faster than the value of a new car once you drive it off the lot. Egg rolls made from this quick and easy recipe, however, go together with minimum effort. All you need is a pound of ground chicken, a bag of shredded cabbage and carrots, and a few other seasonings, plus a package of egg roll wrappers. Fill them, drop them in hot oil, then eat them fresh from the frying pan and you'll finally understand what an egg roll can truly be.

Recipe: Easy Chicken Egg Rolls