Fried Cabbage
There are only 3 ingredients in my fried cabbage recipe and it’s simply seasoned with salt and pepper. It’s an excellent side dish that’s done in about 30 minutes. The flavor is just perfect from caramelization of vegetables and crispy bacon!
Even though fried cabbage is a super simple dish, there is always a way to make it your own and extra tasty. That is just what I do by using leeks and bacon with it. Leek will give you the hint of onion but in a mild way. And bacon always makes everything better!
Benefits of cabbage extant far beyond it’s taste too. Cabbage is packed with vitamins and nutrients like Vitamin C, Vitamin K, antioxidants, fiber, beta-carotene, anthocyanins, and so much more.
It’s low in fat and calories but high in fiber, this is great for your digestive system. Being packed with vitamin C and K is very helpful for your immune system.
Featured Comment
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I love cabbage. Even though this is fried it is still good for you. And your idea serving this with corn bread sounds so good. My mom would have loved this recipe. Her and I were the cabbage eaters in our family.” ~Kim
How To Make Fried Cabbage – Tips and Tricks
- This is a quick recipe, so get your ingredients prepped first!
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat and add diced bacon. NOTE: if using a non-stick pan, you won’t need much additional oil, maybe just a tablespoon, but if using a stainless steel or cast iron, you may need to add a little bit more oil.
- Cook bacon until it’s browned and the fat is rendered, no one wants to bite into a soggy bacon.
- Sauté until leek is softened and add cabbage until softened. You will need to stir every few minutes so that cabbage is cooked evenly throughout.
- Don’t stir too often to give the cabbage a chance to get browned on the bottom!
Storing and Reheating Instructions
- Storing. Store cooled fried cabbage in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it will last up to a week.
- Reheating. While reheating in the microwave is perfectly fine, I prefer to reheat fried cabbage in the sauté pan. Reheat it over medium heat until just heated through. If you want some more browning/sear, don’t stir the cabbage for a couple of minutes while it’s reheating.
How To Freeze Fried Cabbage
- You can either separate the whole batch into several smaller portions, or freeze the whole batch at once.
- Use either a freezer friendly storage container or a freezer zip-lock bag. Transfer cooled cooked cabbage into the container or a zip-lock freezer bag, get the air out, and close it tight. If using a container with a lid, make sure the lid is air-tight and wrap the container in foil.
- Label and freeze for 3-5 months.
- To thaw, pull frozen cabbage out of the freezer and into the refrigerator to let it slow-thaw overnight.
- To reheat cooked cabbage, it’s best to reheat it in a cooking pan, over medium heat. Reheat it just until it’s heated through.
What to Serve With Fried Cabbage?
- Fried cabbage is a great southern dish and goes well with some cornbread and biscuits.
- It goes well with many other main proteins like corned beef, roasted chicken, spatchcock chicken, meatloaf, and grilled steaks.
- Try it as a side with sandwiches like Cheeseburger, Irish Beer Burger, and Reuben.
- Pair it with other sides like roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, baked potatoes, or cornbread dressing.
- Fried cabbage is also delicious when mixed right with mashed potatoes or noodles.
Recipe FAQs
This is an interesting question because cabbage is actually a very good vegetable to eat. Although, fried cabbage is made with quite a bit of bacon and bacon is high in fat and sodium.
To make fried cabbage a little healthier, you can substitute turkey bacon and use olive oil or avocado oil to cook the dish. (There won’t be fats to cook the fish from turkey bacon so you will need to use oil.)
So bacon is a delicious addition to fried cabbage but not a must.
To make the dish vegetarian or vegan, omit bacon altogether and use a neutral oil to cook cabbage and leek. You can also mix it in with home fries for a delicious dish!
You can also use turkey bacon instead of pork bacon.
Try using sausage, but not breakfast sausage, instead of bacon. You can use raw bratwurst or chicken sausage and crumble it, or use smoked sausage and slice it.
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Fried Cabbage Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs cabbage green
- 2 large leeks white part only
- 1 lb thick cut bacon cold
- 1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- salt to taste
- fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep your ingredients first. Dice raw bacon and slice cabbage and leeks thinly.
- To prepare the leeks: Lay the leeks down on a cutting board and cut off the dark green leaves and the very bottom by the roots. (Discard the dark green leaves or save it for making homemade vegetable stock.)Cut the white stalks in half, length-wise. Rinse off each half under some cold running water. Make sure to get in between the layers because dirt likes to hide there. Shake the water off very well and the halves are not ready to slice. Slice them thin.
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat and add diced bacon. Note: if using a non-stick pan, you won’t need much additional oil (just about a tablespoon), but if using a stainless steel or cast iron, you may need to add a little more oil.
- Cook bacon until it’s browned and fat is rendered. Add leeks and stir well.
- Sauté until leeks are softened and add cabbage.
- Stir everything well and cook until cabbage is soft. You will need to stir every few minutes so that cabbage is cooked evenly throughout. Note: if you want more sear on your cabbage, don’t stir too often to give the cabbage a chance to get browned on the bottom.
Video
Notes
- Storing: Store cooled fried cabbage in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stores, it will last up to a week.
- Reheating: While reheating in the microwave is perfectly fine, I prefer to reheat fried cabbage in the sauté pan. Reheat it over medium heat until just heated through. If you want some more browning/sear, don’t mix the cabbage for a couple of minutes while it’s reheating.
- Freezing: Use either a freezer friendly storage container or a freezer zip-lock bag. Transfer cooled cooked cabbage into the container or a zip-lock freezer bag, get the air out, and close it tight. If using a container with a lid, make sure the lid is air-tight and wrap the container in foil. Label and freeze for 3-5 months.
- To thaw: pull frozen cabbage out of the freezer and into the refrigerator to let it slow-thaw overnight.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in March 2019.
Some More Side Dish Recipes To Try
Categories:
Dinner Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Side Dishes, St. Patrick's Day Recipes, Vegetables,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Can you use onions in place of leeks
Yes you can! I use leeks for their flavor, but you can use either a yellow of a Vidalia onion. I recommend you slice it thinly so it caramelizes better and doesn’t overwhelm the cabbage.
Hi, Can I pre cook this & reheat later or will it spoil ?
Yes, you can even freeze it. If you scroll up in the post I go over how to do so in detailed instructions. Enjoy! 🙂
I love cabbage. Even though this is fried it is still good for you. And your idea serving this with corn bread sounds so good. My mom would have loved this recipe. Her and I were the cabbage eaters in our family.
I am so glad you liked it, Ladale! 🙂
I’ve used this recipe, as is, for 2 years on St Patrick’s Day. I love it and it always gets rave reviews! Thank you so much!
I love hearing that, Kim! Thanks for stopping by to let me know!
Lyuba, I’m prepping all the ingredients now, for your Fried Cabbage & Bacon & I have two questions : First with the Leeks, do you dice all the white & Green part, or just the White & a bit of the Green leafs ?
Secondly: once doing up the bacon, do yo leave all the fat there, or just a few Tablespoons & does the bacon stay in the pot throughout ?
Finally, just wanted to thank you for the ‘Irish Lemon Aid’ ! It sounds fantastic & being a died in the wool Jack Daniels on the rocks /a twist guy for many years, I recently tried a Jameson on the rocks & it was great ! So this recipe will get me to pick up a bottle.
Thank You… Hope to hear back from you soon “Old Bill, from PA.”
Hi Bill!
For the leeks, just the white and a tiny bit of light green. The dark green you can either discard of tie in a bunch and cook in a soup broth (if you are making soup) and then discard after soup is cooked.
For the bacon, I leave it all in but I usually get the bacon that doesn’t have as much fat. So you can make that judgement call if your bacon is extra fatty, you can pour out some of the grease and leave a some in the pan. The bacon bits do stay in the pan the whole time, you add the cabbage to the cooked bacon bits.
I really hope you will enjoy the Irish Lemonade, it’s our favorite now!
I hope this helps and you enjoy it! Have a great week!
Wanted to read your article but with all of the ads and constant popups I gave up and went some where else. Looked good what little I could read
Sorry about that! Unfortunately, I do not control where they place the ads.
Yum! Pinning!
This looks delicious!