If you’re one that struggles to work vegetables into your diet (isn’t that pretty much all of us?) you’re going to love this Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry. It’s full of vegetables and absolutely addictive. And the best part? It uses vegetables that are super inexpensive so you can know that you’re doing your body and your wallet good. Winning!
Can I Substitute the Beef?
Yes, you can definitely make this cabbage stir fry recipe with other types of ground meat! I think pork or even ground turkey would work just as well or better, and will most likely be less expensive than beef. You can use a whole pound of meat if you like extra protein, but I found that the half-pound I had provided me with just the right ratio of meat to cabbage.
What Other Vegetables Can I Add?
In addition to the cabbage, I also added some shredded carrots and sliced green onion to this beef stir fry for color. There are so many other fun things you can put in your beef and cabbage stir fry. Try adding some of these vegetables:
- sliced mushrooms
- thinly sliced red bell pepper
- water chestnuts
- snow peas
- broccoli
- baby corn
Make it even FASTER!
You can totally take a shortcut here and buy a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix to replace the 1/2 head of green cabbage and carrots listed below. Sometimes that’s a more economical purchase and saves you from having a half head of left over cabbage. :)
What to Serve with Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry
This Ground Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry goes great with Easy Egg Drop Soup, Thai Cucumber Salad, Savory Coconut Rice, Pork Gyoza. Although most of the time I just eat it as is! You can also serve it over a bed of rice to bulk up the servings.
Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry
Servings 4 (1.5 cups each)Ingredients
STIR FRY SAUCE
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce ($0.18)
- 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil ($0.33)
- 1 Tbsp sriracha* ( $0.05)
- 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar ( $0.02)
STIR FRY
- 1/2 head green cabbage ($1.78)
- 2 carrots ($0.22)
- 3 green onions ($0.17)
- 1/2 Tbsp neutral cooking oil ($0.02)
- 1/2 lb. lean ground beef ($3.90)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger ( $0.13)
- Pinch of salt and pepper ($0.05)
GARNISHES (optional)
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.08)
- 1 Tbsp sriracha ($0.05)
Instructions
- Prepare the stir fry sauce first. In a small bowl stir together the soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sriracha, and brown sugar. Set the sauce aside.
- Shred the vegetables so they are ready to go when you need them. Cut one small cabbage in half, remove the core, and then finely shred the leaves of one half the cabbage (4-6 cups once shredded, save the other half for another recipe). Peel two carrots, then use a cheese grater to shred them (1 cup shredded). Slice three green onions. Mince two cloves of garlic. Peel a knob of ginger using either a vegetable peeler or by scraping with the side of a spoon, then grate it using a small-holed cheese grater.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add the cooking oil, ground beef, garlic, ginger, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the beef until browned (about five minutes).
- Add the cabbage and carrots to the skillet and continue to stir and cook until the cabbage is slightly wilted (or fully wilted, if you prefer). Stir in the prepared sauce and the green onions. Top with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a drizzle of sriracha, then serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
Video
P.S. If you love cabbage as much as I do, check out our Cabbage Soup Recipe!
How to Make Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry – Step by Step Photos
Prepare the easy stir fry sauce first, so it’s ready to go when you need it. In a small bowl stir together 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil (it has a dark amber color and VERY nutty flavor, not always labeled as “toasted”), 1 Tbsp sriracha, and 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar. This makes a medium-spicy stir fry, so if you’re sensitive to heat, start with 1 tsp sriracha.
Next, shred the vegetables. Cut one small cabbage in half, remove the core, then slice half of it into fine shreds (save the other half of the cabbage for another recipe). You’ll need about 4-6 cups of shredded cabbage. Peel and shred two carrots (about one cup). I used a large-holed cheese grater to shred the carrots. Slice three green onions. You’ll also want to mince two cloves of garlic and grate about 1 Tbsp of fresh ginger (I use a small-holed cheese grater for this). More info on working with ginger can be found here.
Heat a LARGE skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add 1/2 Tbsp neutral cooking oil (something like canola, corn, vegetable, safflower, peanut, etc.), 1/2 lb. ground beef, the minced garlic, grated ginger, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the beef until fully browned.
Add the shredded cabbage and carrots to the skillet and continue to cook and stir until the cabbage has wilted slightly. I like my cabbage to still have a little crunch, so I only cooked it until it was partially wilted. If you like the cabbage fully cooked and soft, just cook it a bit longer.
Pour on the prepared stir fry sauce…
… and toss in the sliced green onions. Stir until everything is evenly combined.
Garnish the Beef and Cabbage stir fry with a little drizzle of sriracha and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. I particularly liked the sesame seeds for the texture they added to the dish!
And that’s it! This Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry is probably one of the easiest dishes I’ve ever made. :)
It says low carb but I don’t see how many is considered low. Please add nutritional info.
Nnnnngh, just made this with ground turkey and a bag of coleslaw mix. I was a little skeptical of how much I’d like it, especially without rice, but you’re absolutely right that I want to eat the entire batch immediately. A+++ as always.
You can also use bagged cole slaw mix. It’s pre-shredded, and already has carrots in it. I love this stuff!
My daughter made this tonight and it was amazing! My husband who never eats seconds had three helpings!
Thank you for sharing.
I made this once just to use up some leftover cabbage and adapted it to what I had. Doubled the beef (for my husband haha), tripled the sauce and mixed it with 3 packs of ramen noodles to feed more people. It was so good! My hubby requested it immediately for the next week’s meal plan and I’ve made it twice since then
Made this tonight as written. It was so yummy! Will make again!
We enjoy this recipe. I can often find bagged shredded cabbage pretty inexpensively, which makes this an even faster, less prep recipe. I love the idea of using broccoli slaw and will try that next!
This recipe was very good and easy to make. I plan to make this often.
Maybe my expectations were too high, as I really love a lot of recipes from this website. And it has really good reviews. I followed the recipe almost exactly, and it was just ok. Maybe I overcooked it a little, and wilted the cabbage too much (?) I’m not sure. Anyways, almost all the recipes I’ve tried from this site (a lot!) I’ved loved. I will try this recipe one more time.
Love this recipe! My husband and I just started a keto diet where we cut out carbs and sugars. I use this recipe minus the sugar and it’s still so good! I like upping the amount of siracha for my tastebuds but if I’m sick of spicy I also will sometimes add some alfredo sauce or ceasar dressing to make it a creamy and savory meal. I’ve tried adding avocados, bacon, different cheeses (Gorgonzola crumbles -yum!)and eggs, both together and separate. It’s all good! I love this meal because I can make it taste a dozen different ways depending on what I toss in with the basic meats and slaw. You can also modify the “slaw” part with broccoli or even zucchinis. And the meats can be anything from ground turkey, chicken, beef, pork…pork and ground chuck being my favorites! So, point is, this a great stand alone recipe that can also be a good base for modifying it to your tastes and needs.
This is sssoooo YUM! We loved it and it has instantly become my favourite mince recipe. AND easy AND cheap! Thank you so much for the recipe 😀 Can’t click on the stars with my iPad to rate but definitely 5 stars!
Amazing! Just made this tonight and it’s delicious. Doubled the recipe for our size family and I’m glad I did. Just found your website and I’ve been making lots of dishes. All of them pretty dang good so far! Thank you so much for sharing
Loved this! Used minimal siracha as my hubby does not do spice. Just added extra to my plate. We are trying to incorporate more veggies in our diet so this was a great meal for us. I doubled the cabbage. My husband LOVED it so I am making it again a week or so after the last batch.
Nice flavours, good light lunch or dinner. Hoping it freezes well, big batch! Will add more sriracha next time though….or maybe some hot pepper flakes
love this recipe! i have to make at least double because my 9 year old will eat it all over the next few days before anyone else gets some!