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!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!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. :)
I made this last night using the ready chopped coleslaw mix. It was a quick and easy make which everyone really enjoyed. I’m not a spice lover so only used a tsp of sriracha in the sauce. I will definitely make this again. It reminded me of the inside of an egg roll. My daughter suggested that next time add some raw ramen noodles for an extra crunch.
One of my favourite go to recipes. Low carb, high protein, delicious! Shared it with a friend from work and she loves it too.
Any thoughts on if i could freeze this?
This one probably won’t freeze well. You’ll get a lot of texture loss and water seepage from the cabbage.
I add mushrooms and onions to this dish, then put a fried egg on top. It’s currently one of my favorite meals, super easy and fast, high protein and low carb (for hubby’s diet).
I stumbled across this recipe a month ago and my family (even my veggie-hating children) BEG for this meal once a week. Tonight I’m going to quadruple the recipe because we go through it so fast and everyone wishes we had leftovers. Seriously one of the easiest and best meals ever!
Loved it! So dang delicious! To save even more time because I’m super tired with a new baby, I used a bag of coleslaw mix (without the dressing Obvi).
Awesome dish, I used spice pork sausage and litehouse sesame Ginger dressing.
Just made this…then entered it into recipe builder for weight watchers. It comes to 11 smart points per serving.
My daughter (who hates cabbage) wrapped it in a tortilla and loved it!
I turned the leftovers of this into stroganoff and it was the best stroganoff I’ve ever had.
This is a stellar addition to my repertoire of low-carb dinner recipes. My husband gave this a big thumbs-up, and it cannot be beat for time-savings, cost-savings, and taste. Thank you!
Could I used shredded beef for this?
Was it cooked with any other ingredients? You just want to make sure there are no clashing flavors.
Nope, just simple shredded beef. It turned out pretty well! Even my toddler liked this; we’ll be eating it again.
I made this recipe and doubled it.
It was very yummy…almost addicting
I didn’t have green onions so I used diced white onions. Sauted them and celery with the meat.
Also didn’t have the sesame seeds on hand.
I wanted to last a bit so made some rice to serve with it so there was leftovers for lunches.
Happy 2 days…:)))
I had napa cabbage on hand and used that instead. Also threw in mushrooms I had to use up and added cooked rice to the cooked ground beef, before adding the veggies. Turned out very well!
I made this recipe but doubled it. It was DELICIOUS! I will definately make it again!
My husband said that if had to eat one meal for the rest of his life, this would be it. The second time I prepared it, I used pork sausage and a can of chopped water chestnuts. Great recipe!
Wow!! Thank you!