How to Cook Cabbage Step by Step

This is how to cook cabbage step by step on stovetop, in a Dutch oven. slow cooker, in the air fryer, Instant Pot or baked in the oven. All of our simple cabbage recipes make a cheap and halthy side dish to serve with any main dish for dinner.

How to cook cabbage in a Crock pot

If you are going for super basic I would start with our slow cooker cabbage. The pot basically does all the work for you on this one. I think butter is a must for this dish but if you are saving calories like I said, you can just use water or vegetable broth to soften.

We will talk about both colors but will start with green cabbage because that is the most commonly used. I will start off by saying it is very versatile. You can keep it super simple with just light seasonings like salt and pepper with just some broth to make it tender in a pot. That would be just the beginning.

How to Cook Cabbage on the Stove

With any of these you have to prepare your head first. To start with the outer leaves should be pulled off and discarded. Then you will want to slice the end off where it was attached to the plant. That is hard and not edible so get rid of that too. On the stovetop the easiest is How Long to Boil Cabbage in water or chicken broth.

How Long to Cook Cabbage

That depends on your method and size you slice it. I will say that 90% of the time I cube it, my term. Of course if you were cooking a whole cabbage you would just remove the outside leaves and that would be it. For almost all of the others I would slice in some shape or fashion.

1. Slice your head of cabbage in half lengthwise
2. Then set the cut side of your half down on a cutting board
   • Decide how to cut cabbage depending on what you’re making.
3. Cut into thick strips, about 1.5″ wide
4. Then turn your board to the side and slice those strips into “cubes” or squares if you will
5. You want them to be large bite size pieces knowing they will shrink as it cooks down

I use this technique to make Dutch Oven fried cabbage and most others where you want the pieces to be smaller so they can soak up all melted butter and other flavors.

How to Cook Cabbage in Instant Pot

You can do the same thing even faster in an Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi in a fraction of the time too. Just a bit of liquid + salt and pepper is all you need to make our pressure cooker buttered cabbage dish. I’d start from here and then move on if you are new to cooking this veggie. Now let’s move on to where to start;

What is a Good Seasoning for Cooked Cabbage?

Depends on what you are serving it with. If you were making corned beef and cabbage then you might want to leave it plain, lay on top of your meat and just allow it to wilt a bit before serving. That is what we did for years just because that is just what my Mom did in the past.

Once I got to experimenting and made our Instant Pot fried cabbage it became out go to. Never again did I leave it plain. It may not be “typical” but for the last 5 years I have made it this way, separate from the brisket entirely and it is out of this world delicious. With that said these are the sauces and flavors we think works best;

• Soy sauce adds a rich saltiness, way better than just salt itself. You could use aminos for a gluten free or keto option.
• Diced cooked bacon, and leave the grease in there when you cook it down….believe me, do it.
• Paprika
• Garlic salt
• Lawry’s seasoned salt
• Pepper
• Chili powder or red pepper flakes can add heat if you want it on a spicy side

Now if you add meat in with your leaves that in itself will add lots of flavor so keep that in mind. Let’s start with our cabbage and ham dish that we make often after the holidays. Many times the main dish isn’t finished completely, this is a great way to use it up. That protein already has a lot of sodium in it so you won’t need much beyond that.

How to Cook Fried Cabbage

With that said you really don’t want to add much at the beginning or it may become overwhelming, and not good. Too much salt will ruin a dish so go gentle on something like this. It is better to add just a pinch of this and that and then adjust at the time you serve it up.

Taste, see if it really needs some garlic salt and pepper and add then. You can mix it up too with green and makes fun Purple Cabbage Recipes too.

Now our Southern fried cabbage is made on the stove too and has a load of flavor. I mean would y’all down South do it any other way?? A tweak from my Grandmother’s classic dish she made back in the day this is an easy one to throw together in a pot, cover and goes with literally everything.

If you like a little more crisp on the edges instead of just tender and wilted you may want to use your Cosori or Foodi. If you didn’t know you could make air fryer cabbage you are in for a treat! You can cook in slices like you see below or diced with bacon and make a “fried” version too.

Easy Way to Cook Cabbage

You can do the same thing baked too though. Baked cabbage steaks are the bomb!! You just slice, lay a pat of butter on top of each one, sprinkle on your seasonings and that’s it!! If you are making your main dish in the oven too then you can make it all at once on different racks.

How to Cook Purple Cabbage

This color is just a bit more firm is all. You may call it red but whatever…… Go ahead and use this variety for any of the recipes you see here. There really isn’t a difference in timing, just taste. I will say that I didn’t experiment with it much until recently. First I just used the one above but with this variety and made red cabbage steaks. OMG was it incredible so I kept going……..

Red sautéed cabbage was my next creation, so good. I mean my teenager even tried it at lunchtime and was blown away. Honestly it was way better than if I had used green for this one served with grilled chicken.

Cooking Cabbage in Water

All the ways, we have all the ways and keep adding to this list week after week. We added boiled cabbage above which is better with broth than water for flavor. Typically submerging veggies in boiling water isn’t my favorite because the nutrients are sucked out that way into the salted water.

I prefer using a large skillet with a lid over medium high heat with just enough liquid, a bit of olive oil and broth works, to steam it until your cabbage is tender to your liking. The timing for all of these is subjective, keep that in mind. I personally like a bit of a “bite” to it meaning I don’t like it mushy or even close to that point. You may like it much softer than myself.

The thinner you slice it the quicker it will cook and softer it will become too. So shredded cabbage would take less time than my thick slices, obviously but important to keep in mind when you’re prepping all of these. I will share a simple way below in the recipe card but try the others with the blue links above and lemme know which is your fave!!

Cold Cabbage Recipes

For a cooler variety you could give our red cabbage coleslaw a whirl too. That is mayonnaise based with a thicker sauce of sorts. If you wanted a lighter side to serve with grilled chicken maybe you might like our Asian cabbage salad with a homemade dressing. Switch it up and see which is your fave.