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!
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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
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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 think I have made this at least a half a dozen times already. A great way to get a filling meal without any starch. Full of flavour and tastes great reheated for lunch the next day. I do always add some thinly sliced red bell pepper and I also seem to need to double the sauce every time. Perhaps my green cabbages are just really big here lol Thanks for the recipe! I have sent the link to your site to a number of friends.
I made this tonight. Exactly as written. It is DELICIOUS!!! i am serving it with szechwan beef, instead of rice. I am so happy to have this recipe. Yum Yum. Thank you.
On a snowy day, dinner had to come from what was in the house. I took beef from the freezer, carrots and cabbage from the bin and seasonings from the pantry and made the best meal we’ve had in weeks. Absolutely delicious. I’ll absolutely make it again.
WOuld this be as good without the meat?
I don’t think it would be as good.
Have made this 2 Times now and it is a big hit . Love the flavor and I have made it with ground beef and tonite a mixture of ground beef and pork . For sure will be making this again .
I followed this recipe to a T, and it was amazing. My family liked it so much, I made it twice last week. :) I served it with sticky rice. Your recipes are phenomenal!
This is sooooo yummy. I could not of course follow the recipe to a T but…..it is super easy to add/subtract on most of Beth’s great recipes. I use red bell peppers and cooked ramen noodles and we did not cook the green onions but put them on top so they were crisp.
I am making it again tomorrow to use the other ½ head of cabbage, yes it was that good!
I wil cook the meat, then add the carrots that I cut to matchsticks not just shred. Then add peppers and then add the cabbage so it is not cooked much at all. I added the sesame seeds but we did not get much out of them but that might have been because we added cooked ramen noodles.
It is so tasty. Way more than I thought the ingredients would lead you to believe.
I love your website. This was easy, filling, tasty and will be making again. I saved the other half pound of cooked ground beef.Maybe I’ll do the Southwest Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry with the other half of cabbage and beef! I love all things cabbage too, stays so well in the fridge!
I would try this with already shredded coleslaw mix to cut down on the prep time.
What a pretty, colorful dinner dish! And the recipe lends itself to so many add-in options!
Since I was cooking up a full pound of ground beef anyway, I used it all in this recipe. We agreed with the poster that using just 1/2 lb. would have been a better ratio of meat to vege.
I used about 2 tsp of the Siracha, which was plenty of heat for us. We really liked it!
Next time I will probably use my Dutch oven, since I spilled food out of my 10″ skillet onto the stove top during stir-frying.
Full of flavor and super easy to make. Everyone loved it!
THIS WAs really good! I added some bean sprouts and double the amount of the sauce. Next time I will Lon ale sure to have some egg rolls to go with it.
Super quick and tasty, pretty good, wouldn’t plan for special, but great for using up odds and ends in the fridge.
I made this tonight with jasmine rice. it was super easy make & tasty~ doubled the sauce recipe and used about a tablespoon of diced white onion instead of green. ( i didn’t have any) perfect combination of flavors!
Thank you for a delicious recipe!
Made this tonight Feb 12, 2018. It was awesome! My teenage son finished his entire plate!! This is a keeper. Thanks