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. :)
Hi I am just wondering whether this meal would be able to be frozen and reheated for quick meals?
This one won’t work so well for freezing, unfortunately. It will further break down the cabbage and vegetables and it will likely be very watery upon reheating.
You could always fry the ground beef or other meat ahead of time and have it packaged in a 1/2 lb. container ready to use. I’ve done that before with other recipes. Great to just take out of the freezer for a quick meal.
I made it super easy and used a bag of coleslaw mix!!!!! This recipe is a family fave! Thank you so very much!
This was delicious! I made it using a full pound of ground turkey to bulk it up for my crew of hungry guys, and it was a hit. Thanks!
How does this hold up for meal prep?
It does soften with each day, but I enjoy the leftovers quite a bit. I think this one is going to be more of a personal call.
I can’t wait to try this one! I love that it’s low carb. When I make it, I’ll probably leave out the brown sugar. Question: why do so many recipes add sugar? I can’t see that the flavor is enhanced that much by it.
Brown sugar is really important for balancing acidity and heat. :) And depending on what the recipe is, it can play other roles in the chemistry of cooking and affect texture as well as flavor.
This is really good!! Thanks for the recipe!
Any idea what the serving size is, and calories per serving? Thank you! Love this recipe by the way!
Serving size is about 1.5 cups each (listed on the recipe card), but unfortunately I don’t have the nutrition information.
I have to say I was skeptical about this recipe, but my husband loves cabbage so I decided to give it a try. Soooo glad I did, this is seriously delicious! I added bean sprouts and baby corn and used the pre-bagged coleslaw mix with some extra carrot. It’s already on the menu to have again next week!
The Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry is delicious. I served the dish on top of some Ramen noodles. Thank you for the amazing recipe, Beth!!
I made this tonight….used green giants cauliflower rice and pork. It was very good. I tripled the recipe and it served 6 easily and was a quick fix. Will keep this recipe handy for quick week night dinners.
Can I make a request that the ingredient 1 cabbage is updated? In the method it says to leave half a cabbage for another recipe. I’ve made this several times and always end up with 2x more cabbage because I’m shopping from the ingredient list! Super tasty recipe thanks :)
Hmm, where are you seeing 1 cabbage? When I look at the recipe card it says 1/2 head green cabbage.
5 Stars! ⭐️
Absolutely delish! I love that it’s low carb for hubs and I but can serve it with rice or Asian noodles for the boys! We devoured it last night, and am looking forward to the little bit of leftovers for lunch 😋 thank you!
Do you know the net carb count per serving?
No, I’m sorry, I do not have the nutritional information.
After taking out the green onions and carrots, My net carbs came out to 6.7 net carbs for 1/4 of the recipe. Hope this helps!
Thank you Theresa for the net carbs info. This is very important for those of us on a law carb diet to know.
I’m going to try it meatless. My doctor doesn’t like me having a lot of meat. I make a meatless chili and it is really good. My grandkids even eat it. But this cabbage and beef with the hamburger is too good. My daughter has me hooked on it. And it is easier to use the bag cabbage with the carrots already in it. it makes it very simple and quick to make.