Move over, coleslaw! There's a new cabbage salad recipe in town. Crunchy, colorful, and tossed in a tangy dressing, it's an easy, delicious side dish.
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I can’t get enough of this cabbage salad recipe! It’s vibrant and colorful, crunchy and refreshing, made with red and green cabbage, crisp bell peppers, carrots, herbs, and toasty pepitas. But the real star of this cabbage salad recipe is the dressing. It’s a tangy, nutty vinaigrette. A couple tablespoons of peanut butter give it a lightly creamy texture, and apple cider vinegar adds amazing zip. It makes this cabbage salad so lively and unexpected. Serve it as a side dish at your next summer cookout, and everyone will ask for the recipe!
Cabbage Salad Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this cabbage salad recipe:
- Cabbage, of course! I use a mix of red cabbage and green cabbage here because I love the combination of colors, but if you’d rather just buy a single cabbage (totally get it!), feel free to choose one or the other. Napa cabbage or Savoy cabbage would also work, though it has a softer, less crunchy texture. You’ll need 2 small heads of cabbage or 1 medium to large one to make this recipe.
- Red bell pepper – It adds natural sweetness and a juicy bite.
- Carrots – Like the peppers, they add a great earthy sweetness to this salad. I like to julienne the carrots so that they incorporate evenly with the shredded cabbage.
- Fresh cilantro – It adds fresh flavor and appealing flecks of green.
- Toasted pepitas – For nutty crunch! Toasted sliced almonds would be great here too.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Cut Cabbage for Salad
You’ll need to shred, or thinly slice, the cabbage for this cabbage salad recipe. This is super easy to do using a sharp knife and a cutting board.
- Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage, and cut it in half through the core. Then, cut the half into four wedges.
- Place one wedge cut-side-down on the cutting board, and slice off and discard the tough core.
- Thinly slice the wedge crosswise. The cabbage will break apart into fine shreds.
- Repeat with the remaining wedges until you have enough shredded cabbage to make this salad.
For step by step photos and additional cabbage-cutting tips, check out my guide to how to cut a cabbage!
You’ll also need these ingredients to make the cabbage salad dressing:
- Avocado oil – Or any neutral oil you like.
- Apple cider vinegar – For bold, tangy flavor.
- Creamy peanut butter – It makes the dressing lightly creamy and adds delicious nutty flavor. Toasted sesame oil deepens the nutty flavor even more!
- Maple syrup – For sweetness. Honey would work here too.
- Garlic – For savory bite.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Cabbage Salad
This cabbage salad recipe is so simple to make!
Start by tossing together the vegetables. Cut the cabbage, julienne the carrots, and slice the peppers into thin strips. Roughly chop the cilantro. Place them all in a large bowl and toss to combine.
Next, mix up the dressing. In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the avocado oil, vinegar, peanut butter, maple syrup, sesame oil, garlic, and salt.
Then, dress the salad. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture, and toss to coat.
Set the salad aside for 10 minutes. It might be tempting to skip this step, but please, don’t! The raw cabbage and carrot will soften and soak up flavor as they sit in the dressing. These 10 minutes turn a good salad into a really great one!
Finally, season to taste and serve. Sprinkle the toasted nuts or seeds over the salad right before you dig in. Toss one more time, and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
This easy cabbage salad is a fantastic side dish for a picnic or cookout. Pair it with veggie burgers, black bean burgers, vegan hot dogs, BBQ tofu…whatever you happen to be grilling! Round out the meal with one or two more summer sides you love. Any of these classics would go nicely with this cabbage salad recipe:
This cabbage salad recipe also makes a great lunch! Bulk it up by pairing it with my baked tofu or air fryer tofu, or add a scoop to a grain bowl with quinoa and a protein like tempeh.
Want to meal prep this recipe or make it in advance? Go for it! It keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Just wait to garnish it with the pepitas or almonds until right before serving. If you add them too far ahead, they’ll get soggy in the dressing.
More Favorite Summer Salads
If you love this cabbage salad recipe, try one of these summer salads next:
- Creamy Coleslaw
- Vinegar Coleslaw
- Best Broccoli Salad
- Broccoli Slaw
- Carrot Salad
- Green Bean Salad
- Mango Salad
- Or any of these 51 Best Salad Recipes!
Crazy for cabbage? Check out our 17 Best Cabbage Recipes!
Cabbage Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups shredded green cabbage
- 4 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and very thinly sliced
- 1 cup julienned carrots
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ cup toasted sliced almonds or pepitas
Dressing
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, toss together the green cabbage, red cabbage, red pepper, carrots, and cilantro.
- Make the dressing: In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the avocado oil, vinegar, peanut butter, maple syrup, sesame oil, garlic, and salt.
- Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss to coat. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the cabbage to soften.
- Season to taste and top with the almonds. Toss and serve.
So clean and delicious, thank you! I tend to overdo it with the fresh cilantro, and I added a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger to the dressing. Yummy! 😋
This was delish and suoer simple! I tweaked a bit based on what was in the house. I used sunflower seeds instead of almonds, and I completely omitted the avocado oil using just the apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, maple syrup, and garlic for the dressing. Oh, and I added 4 ounces of shredded chicken leftover from last night. I have already added it to My Fitness Pal so it will be a staple.
Hi Jennifer, I’m glad you loved the salad!
Good, solid foundation for a tasty dressing that just needs some “zip” and texture. Threw in a large handful of sweet roasted peanuts into a small food processor when blending it all, then 2 Tbs of sugar free Thai chili sauce, and any other sauce addition would work, spicy or not (gojuchang, hoisin, soy).
An excellent salad as written. We like it even more when usi tahini instead of peanut butter.
Added toasted black sesame seeds, smoked paprika, and dried cranberries to boost the flavor.
I’d have to agree with a few others that this salad was meh… until I added some hoisin sauce to the dressing. Ithe salad also lacks some flavor highlights. I added some pickled onions I had and some chicken.
This cabbage salad was fun to make. (Yes, fun. I enjoyed cutting all the vegetables up.) I made it exactly as written and used pepitas. It was deliciously crunchy.
Aw, so glad you loved it, Maria!
SO GOOD!!! It’s exactly what I was looking for!
I’m so happy to hear!
This was Excellent! Changes: 6 cloves of garlic, 1 bunch of cilantro, doubled the sesame and used “hot” sesame. Has a Thai overtone that we both loved!
sounds delicious!
Love!! Baked some chicken “nuggets” using pasture raised chicks and put on top of salad.
Not a fan of the cabbage salad. I love cabbage, but the combination of ingredients and dressing was not great. My son liked it better than I did.
Looks delicious,and it attract the eyes,it squize the syliver out of you tounge
I can not stop eating this salad. I’ve made 3x in 7 days and shared the recipe with multiple people. I have turned this into a main meal by adding quinoa. On my second attempt I did add minced red onion and crushed peanuts, rather than almonds. It’s so versatile and just simply delicious!
Thanks! I felt it needed some tbh ing more & that did the trick! I added some fresh lime also 👍
I’ve made this twice so far and I love it! The dressing is absolutely perfect. The second time was for a potluck, and almost all of it disappeared. Thank you!
Hi Marla, I’m so glad the salad has been such a hit!
I’ve made this a few times this summer. We absolutely love it. Tonight I charred some local corn and added it in. Sooooo delicious.
Made this the other day for a family dinner, and it was delicious! Will be making again soon – perfect summer salad!
Hi Gina, I’m so glad you loved it!
Can’t wait to make this to go along with our rice bowls. A nice change from the veggie salad I usually make. It was great with some leftovers from the grill I want to recommend the toasted sesame oil and hoisin sauce from Krogers/fry’s house brand. I’m incredibly impressed with both quality and price. The hoisin is so good I’ve been making lo mein weekly and using a ton of veggies cabbage is now a weekly purchase so I’m looking for additional recipes to take advantage of the versatile veggie.
Thank you for another terrific post and recipe!
I’m so glad it’s been so versatile!
Absolutely delicious and healthy, wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Made this salad and added sliced radishes and sunflower seeds. Family allergic to nuts and sesame so I subbed out sunbutter for peanut butter and used olive oil. Worked great.
Hi Julie, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is excellent! I didn’t have bell peppers on hand so I added bean sprouts, and used pepitas instead of almonds. The fresh cilantro is a must. This will be a go-to recipe when I have a lot of cabbage and am craving a fresh, crunchy salad.