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.
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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.