I’ve been meal prepping all week, but I desperately need another vegetable side to balance things out. So, I whipped up a quick crunchy cabbage salad and coated it in my yummy sesame ginger dressing. It was just perfect. The crunchiness of the the cabbage, carrots, and peanuts is such a perfect contrast.
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“This salad is amazing! I have been making it for a few years now. It became a staple in our family for both weeknight dinners and big family gatherings. I always double and triple the recipe cause it gets eaten every single time. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!”
JULIA
easy crunchy cabbage salad recipe
As much as I love a leafy green salad, I was craving a crunchy, everyday cabbage salad that would hold up well in the fridge and go well with all my meals. Enter this red cabbage salad, which comes together in minutes, and my sesame ginger dressing, which is great to have on hand in the fridge to use on this salad or to use on those leafy greens when they do make an appearance.
Though I paired this salad with meatballs, it goes well with pretty much anything you’ve got planned, and can even work as a base for your main meal. If you’ve got leftover cabbage, not to worry, it lasts quite a while in the fridge, so you can make this braised red cabbage next week to use it up.
RECIPE SUCCESS TIPS
- Leave out the cilantro. You either love or you hate cilantro. It’s all good. If you’re not a cilantro lover, just leave it out of this salad. No need to replace it with anything. :)
- Use a food processor. To get the cabbage nice and thin, you can use the grater attachment on the food processor.
- Meal prep it. This salad holds up beautifully in the refrigerator, so it’s a great salad to use for meal prep! Just store the sesame ginger dressing separately from the vegetable salad mix, and add it just before serving.
Crunchy Cabbage Salad
Cost $3.40 recipe / $0.56 serving
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 cups purple cabbage (shredded, $1.17)
- 2 carrots ($0.20)
- 4 green onions ($0.40)
- ½ bunch fresh cilantro ($0.37)
- ½ cup peanuts ($0.25)
Sesame Ginger Dressing
- ¼ cup neutral oil (see notes $0.16)
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.27)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.05)
- 1½ Tbsp honey ($0.18)
- ½ Tbsp tahini ($0.10)
- ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil ($0.02)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- ½ Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.15)
Instructions
- Shred the cabbage as finely as possible. Grate the carrots and slice the green onion. Pull the cilantro leaves from the stems
- Add the shredded cabbage, carrots, green onion, cilantro, and peanuts to a large bowl. Toss to combine.
- To make the dressing, add the salad oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, tahini, toasted sesame oil, garlic, and ginger to a blender. Blend until the dressing is smooth and creamy.
- When you're ready to eat, drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss until coated. Serve immediately
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- White Cutting Boards
- Chef’s Knife
- Grater
- Small Blender
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Crunchy Cabbage Salad Step-by-Step Photos
Shred the cabbage: First, shred your purple cabbage. You’ll want about 4 cups once shredded, which, for me, was half of this small head of cabbage. To shred the cabbage, first cut it into quarters, then cut the core off the quarter. Finally, cut across the quarter to shred the cabbage as finely as possible.
Prep the carrots and green onions: Also shred two carrots (I use a cheese grater) and slice 4 green onions.
Get the cilantro ready and then combine with the other ingredients: Pull the leaves from about ½ bunch of cilantro (about 1 cup cilantro leaves). Add the shredded cabbage, carrot, sliced green onion, cilantro leaves, and ½ cup peanuts to a large bowl.
Make the dressing: Next, make the sesame ginger dressing. Add ¼ cup neutral salad oil (anything light-flavored oil like canola, peanut, grape seed, etc.), 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1.5 Tbsp honey, ½ Tbsp tahini, ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil, 1 clove garlic (minced), and ½ Tbsp grated fresh ginger to a blender. Blend until the dressing is smooth and creamy.
Toss the dressing with the cabbage mixture: Pour the sesame ginger dressing over the salad and enjoy!
recipe VARIATIONS
- Swap the cabbage. Pick up a bag of coleslaw, try napa cabbage, or use your favorite greens instead of the purple cabbage.
- Switch up the honey. For a vegan salad, use maple syrup or sugar.
- Instead of tahini. If you don’t have a jar of tahini in the pantry, use peanut or almond butter.
serving suggestions
This salad makes a great side dish, but you can also turn it into a main dish by topping it with our easy teriyaki chicken or orange chicken. For a vegetarian option, I like to make honey sriracha tofu or sesame tempeh. Sometimes I add cold noodles to this salad for extra oomph (this is the same base as my cold peanut noodle salad).
HOW TO STORE
This salad holds up beautifully in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Just store the sesame ginger dressing separately from the vegetable salad mix, and add it just before serving. The dressing will keep for up to 5 days.
I made a double portion of this cabbage salad to bring to a potluck and it was a huge hit, several people asked for the recipe. I suspect my partner will also be a big fan of this one (there weren’t any leftovers to bring home this time!). And FWIW I didn’t bother with the blender for the dressing, it came out just fine with a whisk. I also didn’t have a truly “neutral” oil so just went with what I did have, a cheap olive oil; the other flavors were plenty punchy enough to cover for it.
This salad is fantastic. I didn’t have fresh ginger so I left it out. Iswitched out the peanuts for almonds since we have peanut allergy in the family. So satisfying. I can’t wait to try it with the addition of tofu for a main dish summer salad.
This salad is amazing! I have been making it for a few years now. It became a staple in our family for both weeknight dinners and big family gatherings. I always double and triple the recipe cause it gets eaten every single time. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Cannot stop eating this salad!
This salad is amazing and the sauce in particular. We also have the sauce with crispy tofu and it’s just the best. Even our toddler loves it. Thank you for the recipe!
Amazing and super easy to prepare. A go-to for weekly meal prep.
I made this with a bag of the pre-cut cabbage slaw & it was delicious!!! I did make a few tweaks- replaced the salad oil with a little extra vinegar, soy sauce, and water (about 1T each) since I don’t have oil in my house, reduced the honey just a bit (1T), and added a spoonful of super crunchy PB to the dressing because sadly I did not have a full 1/2 cup of peanuts. I am positive the original recipe is probably perfect as-is too, so just wanted to share that even with tweaks, this one is repeatable. Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious!!!
Absolutely delicious and perfect as is. I made no changes. Served with honey sriracha tofu and was a huge hit!
This is so good and healthy!! Will probably be munching on it all day. I wish I had shredded my cabbage thinner and my carrots a little thicker. Food Lion let me down so I subbed PB for the tahini since they didn’t have it. Still delicious. My bf is a cilantro hater so I’m topping my bowls off with cilantro instead of mixing in.
This also works great with store-bought sesame dressing. Just in case I don’t have garlic or fresh ginger on hand and don’t want to make a trip to the store
Really enjoyed your crunchy cabbage salad. Great blend of flavors. Hit the spot on a hot, summer day.
I used napa cabbage as there wasn’t any purple available. I would definitely increase the sesame seed oil next time, and I quite liked it once I added in some sriracha.
Should the peanuts be raw, roasted, Planters dry roasted with salt or without?
Any of the above. :) I personally prefer roasted and unsalted, but it’s just going to be your personal preference.
Delicious