
Robin Runner is the blogger behind www.kneadtocook.com. She grew up…
A super easy recipe for beautifully bright quick pickled cabbage. In just a few hours, you can be topping your sandwiches, salads and more with fermented purple cabbage.
Look at that color! This weekend I was a bit determined to make my first batch of pickled red cabbage. I love kimchi, anything fermented or pickled for my salads. Plus, it adds a big bonus for gut health. I’m a big fan of controlling what ingredients go into my food and when buying mass produced products, typically the salt levels are off the charts in conjunction with sugar overload. No thank you!
This recipe is super simple – seriously, you can’t screw it up for all those recipe phobic. Add this or remove that (referring to the jalapeño) and then let it do its thing.
So this recipe isn’t super, over the top, strong. I think it’s the perfect balance of acidity and crunch. Make sure your cabbage is sliced super thin for optimal flavor.
PrintQuick Pickled Cabbage
- Author: Robin Runner
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 minutes
- Total Time: 12 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Ingredients
- ½ medium head red cabbage
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup champagne vinegar
- 1 cup of fresh (filtered water)
- 1 teaspoon of a sweetener of your choice (I used coconut sugar)
- 4 larger cloves garlic (smashed)
- 1 jalapeno (sliced (optional))
- 3 dried bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons caraway or fennel seeds
Instructions
- Slice your cabbage on a mandoline or with a very sharp knife into super thin ribbons. Add those to a glass jar that you can use for storage.
- Into a saucepan add your water, vinegars and sugar. Bring to a boil, whisking to melt the sugar. Then remove from the heat and add your garlic, jalapeño, bay leaves and seeds. Pour the mixture over the red cabbage carefully. Push the cabbage down to compact it into the jar a bit. Cover and store at room temperature for 4 hours or so. It’s ready to consume at this point or store in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

Robin Runner is the blogger behind www.kneadtocook.com. She grew up around two of her greatest inspirations, her Italian grandmother and her aunt. Both believed in farm to table foods, purity in nature and love as the main ingredient for anything on their menu. Today, Robin is a strong advocate of farming and buying local ingredients, as well as composting to help repurpose food scraps into rich soil for our garden.