Simple Cabbage Salad with Asian Dressing

Easy cabbage salad recipe with an Asian homemade dressing. Healthy low carb side dish that goes with any main dish for dinner. Just one of many simple cabbage recipes on our blog we make often at our house.

Green cabbage is a thing in our house, like we make it often in a variety of different ways. Diced into small bits so it’s easier to eat, tossed with our dijon mustard dressing is just killer. A light addition to any buffet or brunch you’re hosting with guests. (affiliate links present)

You can make this for St Patricks Day with your corned beef and cabbage for a fun twist or to serve as a vegetarian snack. Quick to make and even kids love this one.

Easy Cabbage Salad

We have shared how to cook cabbage all different ways throughout the years. Most are cooked and served warm but it is nice to have a cold and cooler version to enjoy especially during the summertime. You could use green cabbage or red cabbage for this one but the first is more traditional. Mixing the two would be pretty as well.

Beyond just the main veggie you are going to want to add a few others to mix it up a bit for flavor and texture. I kept it on the green theme here and went that direction as far as using cucumber, bell peppers and celery. Could add more color too with green and half as a Purple Cabbage Recipe.

For more you could go with chives and/or green onions as well. It’s quite versatile as far as that goes. Once you fall in love with this you are going to want to use the dressing on other things too, like our raw carrot salad! All shredded produce works.

You can tweak this to add all sorts of flares to it. Add curry to make it more of an Indian cabbage recipe, Old Bay to pair it with a seafood dinner. If you were serving this as a vegetarian meal exclusively you might want to pair it with something warm like grilled brussel sprouts or corn.

Simple Cabbage Salad Dressing

Cauliflower steaks go nicely with this too, the dressing could easily be doubled to drizzle it over both items for a bit of continuity. Mustard dressing just goes with everything if you ask me. I mean even on meat too right? I mean St Patricks Day dinner is a given but brushed on chicken legs is always a hit around here too.

Ingredients

• 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp lemon juice

And then you’re going to need a large bowl, and prettier serving bowl if you want to transfer it into something nicer once it is incorporated.

Asian Cabbage Salad Ingredients

• 1/2 head of raw cabbage is used here, green. This one had a sweetheart variety but “regular” or Napa are other options
• 2 stalks celery diced
• 5 sprigs dill, or 1 tbsp if all you have is bottled dry seasonings
• Cucumber finely diced
• A green bell pepper

Of course the sauce is up to you. There are TONS of choices out there to choose from if you want to buy one bottled at the store. You could go for a Thai flare, we found this Asian sesame dressing that would go well with it too, or go with easy peasy with Italian shaken and tossed. For a homemade style (if you don’t want to use our mustard version below), this is what you’ll need;

Cabbage Salad Dressing without Mayo

• 1/4 cup olive oil, white wine vinegar and soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 Tablespoon white sugar

Whisk this together in a bowl and you could use this. Adjust the sweetness to your liking, or add more soy for a deeper salty flavor. Top with sesame seeds if you like with freshly diced chives and even sliced almonds are nice.

I will say that if you are having a party or brunch with a lot of people over it is nice to have both. Our Hawaiian coleslaw mix is always a hit with a bit of fruit inside which lends a sweeter option of the two. Both are cheap and you can tweak them in a variety of ways, a salad bar of any kind is always a hit.

If you are having a themed green party let’s say, this one would be perfect. However if you love lots of color it would be easy to switch things up. Use red and yellow bell peppers instead, add some chopped jicama in there for some white sweetness, a few pre shredded carrots would bring in some orange….just go with it!

How to Make Green Cabbage Salad

• Finely chop or slice shredded cabbage and put in a deep bowl.
  • this is how to cut cabbage in different ways, I like shredded or chopped for this
• Also finely chop the green bell pepper and cucumber, add to the bowl.
• Add your finely chopped dill and chopped celery stalks in there.
• Mix dressing with olive oil, lemon juice and Dijon mustard in a bowl.
• Pour your whisked dressing into a bowl of vegetables, add salt and pepper.
• Mix everything thoroughly and cover the salad with a lid.
• It is best to let it sit for at least 5 – 10 minutes to marinate a bit so the flavors can deepen
• Then mix again and serve.

What could you top this with?? If you had Asian cabbage slaw you can crush a package of ramen noodles and sprinkle those on top with sesame seeds.

If you used a Mexican sauce, go with crushed tortilla chips for some crunch and added texture. With either adding chopped up cooked chicken breast would make it heartier and more of a meal than a side.

Shredded Cabbage Salad

If you are prepping this ahead of time for your get together you can save time by cooking the meat, if you’re adding it, and cool in the fridge in a freezer bag. Make the dressing and store in a Mason jar, sealed. You will want to dice the vegetables fresh though so the colors are as vibrant as possible.

After you fall in love with this one you might like another unusual blend. Check out our shredded brussel sprout salad with kale for another one.