I ate my teriyaki meatball bowls all week as meal prep and absolutely loved them, but I desperately need another vegetable side to balance things out. So, I whipped up a quick crunchy cabbage salad and coated it in my yummy sesame ginger dressing. It was just perfect. The crunchiness of the the cabbage, carrots, and peanuts was such a perfect contrast to the meatballs and rice.
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Meal Prep It!
This salad holds up beautifully in the refrigerator, so it’s a great salad to use for meal prep! Just store the sesame ginger dressing separately from the vegetable salad mix, and add it just before serving. The salad mix (minus dressing) should stay good in the fridge for about 4-5 days.
How to Serve Crunchy Cabbage Salad
This salad makes a great side dish, but you can also turn it into a main dish by topping it with some Easy Teriyaki Chicken, Honey Sriracha Tofu, Easy Orange Chicken, or Sesame Tempeh. You can also add some cold noodles to this salad for extra oomph (this is the same base as my Cold Peanut Noodle Salad).
What if I Don’t Like Cilantro?
You either love or you hate cilantro. It’s all good. If you’re not a cilantro lover, just leave it out of this salad. No need to replace it with anything. :)
See the full post for the Sesame Ginger Dressing for more information on the ingredients and step by step instructions.
Crunchy Cabbage Salad
Servings 6 1 cup eachIngredients
Salad
- 4 cups shredded purple cabbage ($0.97)
- 2 carrots ($0.15)
- 4 green onions ($0.22)
- 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro ($0.40)
- ½ cup peanuts ($0.25)
Sesame Ginger Dressing
- ¼ cup neutral salad oil* ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.27)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.06)
- 1.5 Tbsp honey ($0.18)
- 1/2 Tbsp tahini ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil ($0.02)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger ($0.15)
Instructions
- Shred the cabbage as finely as possible. Grate the carrots and slice the green onion. Pull the cilantro leaves from the stems
- Add the shredded cabbage, carrots, green onion, cilantro, and peanuts to a large bowl. Toss to combine.
- To make the dressing, add the salad oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, tahini, toasted sesame oil, garlic, and ginger to a blender. Blend until the dressing is smooth and creamy.
- When you're ready to eat, drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss until coated. Serve immediately
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Equipment
- White Cutting Boards
- Chef’s Knife
- Grater
- Small Blender
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Crunchy Cabbage Salad – Step by Step Photos
First, shred your purple cabbage. You’ll want about 4 cups once shredded, which for me was half of this small head of cabbage. To shred the cabbage, first cut it into quarters, then cut the core off the quarter. Finally, cut across the quarter to shred the cabbage as finely as possible.
Also shred two carrots (I use a cheese grater) and slice 4 green onions.
Pull the leaves from about ½ bunch of cilantro (about 1 cup cilantro leaves). Add the shredded cabbage, carrot, sliced green onion, cilantro leaves, and ½ cup peanuts to a large bowl.
Next, make the Sesame Ginger Dressing. Add ¼ cup neutral salad oil (anything light-flavored oil like canola, peanut, grape seed, etc.), 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1.5 Tbsp honey, ½ Tbsp tahini, ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil, 1 clove garlic (minced), and ½ Tbsp grated fresh ginger to a blender. Blend until the dressing is smooth and creamy.
Pour the sesame ginger dressing over the salad and enjoy!
This salad is amazing! I have been making it for a few years now. It became a staple in our family for both weeknight dinners and big family gatherings. I always double and triple the recipe cause it gets eaten every single time. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Cannot stop eating this salad!
This salad is amazing and the sauce in particular. We also have the sauce with crispy tofu and it’s just the best. Even our toddler loves it. Thank you for the recipe!
Amazing and super easy to prepare. A go-to for weekly meal prep.
I made this with a bag of the pre-cut cabbage slaw & it was delicious!!! I did make a few tweaks- replaced the salad oil with a little extra vinegar, soy sauce, and water (about 1T each) since I don’t have oil in my house, reduced the honey just a bit (1T), and added a spoonful of super crunchy PB to the dressing because sadly I did not have a full 1/2 cup of peanuts. I am positive the original recipe is probably perfect as-is too, so just wanted to share that even with tweaks, this one is repeatable. Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious!!!
Absolutely delicious and perfect as is. I made no changes. Served with honey sriracha tofu and was a huge hit!
This is so good and healthy!! Will probably be munching on it all day. I wish I had shredded my cabbage thinner and my carrots a little thicker. Food Lion let me down so I subbed PB for the tahini since they didn’t have it. Still delicious. My bf is a cilantro hater so I’m topping my bowls off with cilantro instead of mixing in.
This also works great with store-bought sesame dressing. Just in case I don’t have garlic or fresh ginger on hand and don’t want to make a trip to the store
Really enjoyed your crunchy cabbage salad. Great blend of flavors. Hit the spot on a hot, summer day.
I used napa cabbage as there wasn’t any purple available. I would definitely increase the sesame seed oil next time, and I quite liked it once I added in some sriracha.
Should the peanuts be raw, roasted, Planters dry roasted with salt or without?
Any of the above. :) I personally prefer roasted and unsalted, but it’s just going to be your personal preference.
Delicious
Hi thank you for this recipe, it’s a staple in our house… it’s so flavorful and it keeps really well in the fridge! Do you have any slow cooker pulled chicken recipes that would pair really well with this salad to make it a complete meal? Any sort of Thai inspired slow cooker chicken recipe you’d recommend? Thanks again and please keep posting!!
Hmm, I don’t have a recipe like that but you might like Jessica Gavin’s Honey Hoisin Garlic Chicken. It’s on my website, but it’s from her cookbook.
I love this recipe – I eat it so often now! Last night, I was making the dressing and absentmindedly added two tablespoons of soy sauce. Instead of throwing it out and starting again, I doubled everything else, so I have a ton of dressing. Now, I do still have half a cabbage so I’d be more than happy to just make it again, but I was wondering if the dressing would freeze – do you think it would survive? Thanks!
Hmm, honestly I’ve never tried to freeze a dressing like this! I think the only bad thing that could happen would be for the emulsion to separate, but I’m sure if you just whisk it up again it would be fine. :)