18 Simple Cabbage Sides That Will Upstage Any Main

Updated October 23, 2020

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These simple cabbage side dishes are the perfect accompaniment to any meal. There are so many reasons to love cabbage: it’s cheap, versatile and packed with vitamins. Whether you roast it, sauté it or keep it raw, cabbage adds a delicious crunch. Recipes like Smothered Cabbage with Ham and Honey-Mustard Roasted Cabbage will help feed your love affair with this super-healthy vegetable.

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Smothered Cabbage with Ham

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Use up your leftover ham in this comforting one-pot dish made with cabbage and potatoes. The simple flavors get brightened at the end with a splash of cider vinegar. Serve alongside roast chicken or pork.

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Sautéed Cabbage

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This easy side dish takes only 20 minutes from start to finish. You can enjoy sautéed cabbage simply cooked with butter and onion or jazz it up with one of the variations (see below). Enjoy all the versions of this quick side dish with roasted pork or chicken.

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Honey-Mustard Roasted Cabbage

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Roasting cabbage brings out its sweet and savory side. Caraway seed is a natural pairing with this cruciferous veggie, and a combination of honey and Dijon mustard deepens the flavor. Serve as a side to pork chops, burgers or roasted chicken.

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Roasted Savoy Cabbage with Orange Vinaigrette

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Easy Savoy cabbage recipes can be far and few between, especially ones that are as delicious as this whole roasted cabbage. The outer cabbage leaves blacken during the long cooking time, but when removed they reveal a meltingly tender center. Orange blossom water adds delicate aroma to the vinaigrette that's drizzled on top. Serve alongside roast beef or pork, or over mashed potatoes as a main course.

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Roasted Cabbage with Chive-Mustard Vinaigrette

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In this roasted cabbage recipe, cabbage wedges are roasted at a high temperature, creating an amazing texture and sweet flavor. Serve the roasted cabbage wedges drizzled with the chive-mustard vinaigrette as a side dish for roast poultry, meat or fish, or alone with crusty bread.

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Red Cabbage Salad with Blue Cheese & Maple-Glazed Walnuts

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Serve this hearty salad recipe--combining red cabbage, blue cheese and glazed walnuts--as an accompaniment to roast pork or chicken. To slice the cabbage quickly, cut the head into wedges and slice in your food processor. A mandoline is also a great tool for the job.

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Charred Cabbage with Buttermilk-Herb Dressing

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If you want to serve this impressive yet easy side to a crowd, use the whole head of cabbage cut into 8 wedges and double the dressing.

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Vinegary Coleslaw

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Forget mayonnaise-laden coleslaw. The bright, clean flavors in this version go well with everything from tacos to barbecue.

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Skillet Cabbage with Bacon & Mushrooms

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Savoy cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and leeks are braised together in this earthy Italian side dish.

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Broccoli, Edamame & Cabbage Millet Salad

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Trying to eat more whole grains? Try millet--a gluten-free ancient grain with a slight corn flavor. In this grain-salad recipe, the millet is tossed with a white-wine vinaigrette, green veggies and apricots. Serve with grilled chicken, fish or tofu.

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Roasted Savoy Cabbage with Black Bean-Garlic Sauce

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Roasting cabbage brings out its rich, nutty flavor. We think Savoy is particularly beautiful, but green cabbage works as well.

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Classic Coleslaw with Attitude

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Lots of crunchy, aromatic seeds and the pungent agrodolce bite of quick-pickled raisins elevate this coleslaw recipe from plain to brilliant. If you're bringing it to a party, make sure to save some at home for yourself. You'll want to put it on sandwiches and salads, or serve it alongside pork chops.

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Simple Sauerkraut

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Want to learn how to make sauerkraut at home? For this easy homemade sauerkraut recipe, choose fresh, firm heads of cabbage and use canning, pickling or kosher salt (not iodized salt). To be sure your cabbage-to-salt ratio is right for fermentation, start with as close to 5 pounds of untrimmed cabbage as you can. To ensure success, pack the cabbage mixture into the container as tightly as possible (eliminating any air pockets) and be sure it stays submerged in the brine at all times.

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"Use a Spoon" Chopped Salad

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When Paul Newman and Michel Nischan opened their Westport, Connecticut, restaurant Dressing Room, Paul's request was that the menu always include a chopped salad that you could eat with a spoon. This chopped salad recipe is full of great flavors, colors and textures, featuring celery, carrots, red pepper, apple, cucumber, greens, cabbage, goat cheese and almonds. This is great for any holiday meal: you can let it stand and it stays crisp.

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Hot & Sour Slaw

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This slaw, a combination of cabbage, red bell pepper, scallions and bamboo shoots, is tossed with a dressing full of the classic flavors of Chinese hot-and-sour soup. Serve with grilled pork tenderloin and a glass of Riesling.

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Quick Kimchi

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This quick, spicy, tangy cabbage side dish stands in for the traditional salty Korean staple. Unlike fermented kimchi, this quick variation is best eaten shortly after preparing and does not keep its crunchy texture when stored. Enjoy it with grilled meats or chicken.

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Napa Cabbage & Carrots with Rice Wine-Oyster Sauce

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Napa--also known as Chinese cabbage--is the preferred cabbage in this healthy Asian stir-fry recipe because it's much sweeter and more tender than green cabbage. If napa cabbage isn't available at your grocery store, try Savoy cabbage or bok choy.

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Green Apple Slaw

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This fresh-tasting slaw combines Granny Smith apples with the traditional cabbage. Grapes and a light poppy seed dressing sweeten it up.

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