Pickled Cabbage is super quick, easy and cheap to make and you can easily customise this recipe based on the spices you like. It’s so versatile, you can have pickled cabbage on its own or add it into tacos, burgers, hot dogs, salads, noodle bowls and many more – think of anything you want to add a tangy crunch to! Also the good news is that quick pickling doesn’t require canning or fermentation, sooo you can tuck into your pickled cabbage already on the day of making!
Pickled Cabbage
🍴 Servings: 6 – 8
🕒 Hands-on: ~ 10 minutes
🔷 + Refrigerate ideally at least 2 hours
INGREDIENTS
- ½ red cabbage (500g), thinly sliced
- 100ml vinegar
- 50ml water
- 60g (5 tbsp) white sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 5 black peppercorns
- 1 – 2 star anise
STEPS
1 Add vinegar, water, sugar and spices into a small saucepan to make the brine. Heat over a medium low heat until sugar has dissolved, this should only take 2-3 minutes.
2 Meanwhile, shred the red cabbage using a knife. To do this, first remove any damaged outer leaves. Cut the cabbage in half through the core, and then make an angled cut to remove the core from the half you are using. Place the cabbage half cut side down and slice into thin strips. If you want the strips shorter, cut them in half horizontally.
3 Put the shredded cabbage into a container or glass jar(s), then place a sieve on top and pour over the brine. Give the cabbage a stir to evenly coat and leave to cool for about 10 minutes. Cover with a lid and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. This quick pickled cabbage can be eaten straight away, but it will have more flavour after chilling for at least a couple of hours.
Notes:
- Cabbage — You can substitute red cabbage for white as they have the same flavour
- Shredding — Slice the cabbage fine or coarse based on your preferences
- Vinegar — You can use any vinegar, I’ve made pickled cabbage with white vinegar, white/red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar and to be honest I cannot decide whether I prefer one over the other. Different vinegars naturally taste different, so choose your favourite or whichever you have in hand! You can also combine different vinegars
- Sugar — Sugar in pickling is used to balance the tartness of the vinegar. The sugar quantity varies a lot between recipes, some recipes only call for one tablespoon or so. This particular recipe is supposed to be relatively sweet but feel free to reduce the sugar
- Spices — These spices work really nicely together but if you for example don’t like cinnamon, leave it out! The great thing about pickling is that you can be pretty adventurous and test different flavour combinations in the brine. To give you an idea, common pickling spices include garlic, chilli flakes, bay leaves, coriander seeds and juniper berries, so the choice is yours
ALLERGEN & DIET INFO:
(VG) Note that not all sugar is vegan so just remember to check the packaging for your pickled cabbage to be vegan-friendly! For example, one brand’s granulated sugar may be vegan while other brand’s sugar is not.
Main equipment:
Small saucepan
Measuring cup
Chopping board + knife
Sieve
Container/glass jar(s) (1.5L)
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