Air fryer cabbage steaks or quarters come out tender yet crispy on the edges with LOTS of flavor. If you love this vegetable, this is a new way to try it for St. Patricks Day or with dinner year round.
“Fried” green cabbage is yummy and there are tons of possibilities on what seasonings you can add too. It’s a keto friendly, low carb, and a side dish even the kids in my house love. Throw in some bacon and take this easy air fryer recipe to the next level!
Do you love baked cabbage steaks?? Well you can get the same deliciousness without turning your oven on this way now. It is faster and a great trick when it is hot during the summertime and you don’t want to heat up your house. 😉
I will be honest, it took me until about 40 years old to love this often neglected vegetable. You can make tons of cabbage recipes in any air fryer so that every bite is buttery and nearly a calorie free side dish left as is with seasonings.
Tips
Here is the biggest tip for cooking air fryer vegetables that are firmer like this and air fryer broccoli too. You need a bit of water underneath your basket to steam it while it’s being crisped! You may have never heard or have to do this before but it kinda’ makes sense if you think about it. Really firm foods need a bit of steam to break down and become less firm. Just take my word on this okay?
- You’ll want to lift the basket with holes on the bottom out
- Then pour 1/4 cup of water into the bottom bin
- Put air fryer basket back in
- Preheat to the desired temperature
- Follow recipe, put food in and cook
It’s a small step that will make a big difference. This isn’t really necessary when you’re making soft water filled veggies like air fryer zucchini or air fryer cauliflower, but for tougher varieties it is a must.
How Long Does it Take to Air Fry Cabbage
Well there is a range for sure depending on the thickness of your slices or wedges, and preferences. I like a little bit of “bite to it” so it is not super soft. My husband prefers a few more minutes. With this method it is easy to leave in longer for some and remove at the 8 minute mark as suggested below for others.
Only one will fit at a time so you may need to make several batches for your low carb lunch. If you are following a low calorie keto friendly diet this one is great to serve as a side dish or snack.
Ingredient Notes
You will want a head of cabbage to start with. Remove the stem on the bottom and then you will want a sharp knife to cut the cabbage into 1 inch steaks of sorts is about how big I make them.
I’m obsessed with this Old Bay recipe here, it is not just for seafood friends. I also add garlic salt, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste too.
Olive oil or butter should be added to the top so seasonings stick well and it keeps them from drying out too. I prefer salted Kerrygold butter myself but olive or avocado oil work too.
You can do this same thing with roasted red cabbage, whatever seasoning blend you love, or make spicy with red pepper flakes to make this vegetable side dish.
This time worked great for us but if you want it crispier you can check and then add additional minutes until it’s your kinda’ perfect.
Ready to air fry everything??!! Jump to recipe card to read all about it but we will explain and show you what we mean in more details below.
Air Fryer Cabbage Recipe
Equipment
- 1 air fryer
- 1 cutting board
Ingredients
Instructions
- Pour 1/4 c water underneath your air fryer basket. Preheat air fryer to 360 degrees for 5 minutes.
- Slice cabbage 3/4" thick so you have a slice of it.
- Place cabbage steak piece into preheated air fryer basket and top with 1 tbsp butter in the middle of each piece, or drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil. Then sprinkle seasonings of choice (we use what is listed above) on top.
- Close basket and set to 8 minutes.
- Open basket, if you want edges crispier add 2 more minutes and check again. Enjoy immediately for best results.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Want to make more simple cabbage recipes beyond this?? Our next favorite is this Instant Pot corned beef and cabbage dish.
How do you cook cabbage without making it soggy?
THIS is a great way to ensure that every bite is not soggy but actually has some crispy texture to the outside edges too. This small amount of water will do the trick for about 2 rounds. So if you do more than 2 rounds of air fryer cabbage steaks or quarters you’ll want to drain what’s left and pour in a new 1/4 cup.
Use this air fryer cook time sheet. If it doesn’t have your exact ingredient there will be something similar and you can base the time and temperature off of that.
Ninja Foodi Option
If you only have a Ninja Foodi machine you use the lid that is attached for this. They all basically work the same with a temperature setting and basket for your food. The biggest differences are the color on the outside and the size of the basket itself. Larger will cook bigger batches at once of course.
If you want to make Ninja Foodi cabbage cut into quarters like you see below, we have a simple recipe here. This one pressure cooks it first but if you only have an air fryer you can skip that and just make sure to add water to the bottom like we’ve directed here.
Other Vegetable Recipes You’ll Love
Looking for more easy Instant Pot cabbage recipes? We have a lot if you’re using your Instant Pot instead.
Our eggplant in air fryer recipe is the bomb I tell you! Then you’ll have to make air fryer okra and let us know which you like better.
I have a air fryer oven , I think it would hold two cabbage steaks.so do I need to add more water for two? Thank u.
No it should be fine as is.
This recipe did not work with mu Ninja Foodi 9-in-1. Might have me but it just never cooked a single “steak” even after 16 minutes. I gave up and pressure cooked 2 steaks for 8 minutes and they were delicious!
Did you add a bit of water underneath your air fryer basket in that as suggested in the recipe? If not that would be why it wouldn’t get tender. I also have a recipe for Ninja Foodi cabbage if you use the search bar, that uses pressure cooker, then air fryer in the Foodi specifically.
@The Typical Mom,
I have a Ninji foodi 9
Cooked to perfection. I used water & cut wedges.
Yum
So glad
Have you tried making this cabbage with other foods in the bottom on the pot? I have the Ninja Foodi and was going to make a slow cook recipe, then try to make these cabbage steaks as a side once the slow cook food was ready. I was wondering if the food below the air fry rack would provide enough moisture and serve as a substitute for the 1/4 cup water? Thanks for any advise!
Well if you use the slow cook function that would be pressure cooking, not air frying. You can certainly use the timing for the Ninja Foodi cabbage using that function (use the search bar to find that recipe timing). Just FYI the slow cooker function on pressure cookers don’t work really great. Also cabbage under pressure only would need 5 min. MAX so may not be able to cook together for that short of a time.
Mmmmmm. It turned out so yummy
I like the tray on your air fryer. What brand is it?
Cosori I love it
It took much much longer to cook and the outer leaves of the cabbage burned badly. The steaks were about 3/4 inches thick. The little I tasted to see if it was done was flavorful but it took too long to cook
@Belinda, That’s the same thing that happened with my Gourmia 7qt. Maybe I’ll try more water — a lot more. I preheated at 375 for 5 min. with the water in. I should have checked the water then. I cooked the cabbage 8 minutes. Still hard. Flipped it, added another 1/4 cup and tried another 5 min. Outside leaves VERY crispy. Inside still pretty hard. Ate it anyway. By then I was hungry. Not very satisfying.
do you rinse your slices before cooking?
I have a Emirill Legossi air frier oven will these recipes work in this?
Yes as long as you have a basket for it to sit in they all basically work the same
Will this taste good with red cabbage ?
I haven’t tried that but I’m sure it would work the same.
@The Typical Mom, I tried. It didn’t.
Thanks for sharing.
Hope it was a hit
I really loved this recipe for Cabbage. Yum, Yum, Yum lol….I saved it. 😊
@Sharon, What kind of air fryer do you have? Did you use green or red?