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. :)
Can you use Tahini sauce in place of the sesame oil?
I haven’t tried that, so I’m not sure how it would turn out. There are two main differences that may affect the outcome, though. Tahini is very thick compared to the sesame oil and may not mix well into the sauce. Also, I find toasted sesame oil to have a much nuttier flavor than tahini.
Can u use canned corned beef?
I’ve never tried that, so I’m not sure how it would turn out. :)
I discovered this recipe while on a diet and I had to replace the sugar with sweetener (I used brown sugar substitute, erythritol) and reduce the oil (teaspoon instead of tablespoon) and it still came out perfect!! My partner also loves it and asks for it very often, as if he needs to! :D We’ve made it with beef and with turkey so far. We’ve made it a bit wilted, completely wilted, half wilted half crunchy, you name it. The most important part for success is the beginning, letting the garlic and ginger become nicely fragrant and browning the meat, but not drying it. Also, putting enough salt! Also, having good juicy cabbage! Also, having a LARGE pan, like the author says. Also, not rushing it! Take your time and let the flavors develop. Do this and you will have perfection.
This is one of my go-to recipes. Pretty healthy, and super delicious. I love the sauce, so I always double the amount called for. Works great for any type of ground meat. I’ve used ground pork and turkey for this as well.
Great recipe, thanks for sharing!
EXACTLY! We make this recipe almost every week. I also make more sauce. Also made it with turkey :D We were on a diet and we reduced the oil and replaced the sugar with sweetener and it still was perfect!
Come to think of it, we do not double the sauce! We double everything because we love the recipe and we want to make A LOT! I usually buy 1 pound of meat, so then I have to add more cabbage to make it balanced and then I actually do need to double the sauce. So I double the recipe! Hehe! I cannot recommend this recipe enough. Delicious and healthy!
This was amazing! We didn’t have any green onions, so we cut up a half a yellow onion and added it at the end. We used stir fry beef ( that’s what it said on package) and only a tsp of sriracha because we didn’t want it to hot. And also added mushrooms. Sooo good, no leftovers Lol. This will definitely be a regular meal with us now.
Could left overs be frozen?
This one doesn’t freeze all that well because the cabbage kind of breaks down and gets really watery.
We love this recipe! We added a little more soy sauce and used turkey instead of beef. 100% will cook again soon. It’s definitely being added to the rotation.
Awesome sauce! I used maple syrup instead of sugar. This sauce works for any type of stir-fry! Thanks for sharing! :)~
This is a delicious, delightful recipe. I rarely actually almost never make a receipt exactly as written. When I read this recipe I couldn’t think of anything that would make it better. And I was correct… it’s delicious and so full of flavor. This recipe is going on our rotation for sure!
Thank you 😋
It was terrible and I’m a seasoned cook. My daughter tried it and she didn’t know to drain the grease from the beef. Also, the sauce didn’t have the correct ratio. If you’re going to be a teacher..do it well.
Wow, Sam. A little harsh – especially considering all of the great reviews. If you can’t be kind, maybe just be quiet?
What a dick. Im sure you are very seasoned when you managed to screw up a basic beef and cabbage stir fry.
So I had some leftover red and green cabbage in the house I did not want to waste so I searched for a recipe to use it up and I found this recipe. SCORE! This is so simple yet so satisfying, so filling, and so good… Actually didn’t have sesame seeds or green onion just regular onion so that’s what I used and it was really delicious. This may just be a staple in my home and it’s super Duper Duper healthy.
Sounds like your daughter did not use LEAN ground beef. If she had there would be very little grease after cooking. The 1/2 Tbsp of oil and the grease released from cooking the LEAN ground beef are needed to help wilt the cabbage. I have made this recipe many times with great results.
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Wow! I made this twice using a ground meatless product and absolutely love it. It is so easy to make and incredibly flavorful. Thanks for a great recipe!
This is excellent! I like to make sriracha mayo to serve on the side for extra spice.
It’s missing something … one thing, onions? Wife agrees but ate it all up anyway!
It does have three green onions in recipe. It’s mixed in at the end. I used regular onion 🧅 that I chopped very fine.
This is a delicious recipe. I’ve made it several times. My husband recently bought me an Instant Pot. Do you have any instructions on how to convert this recipe to cook in an IP.
I think the IP instruction manual says that you have to have at least 1 cup water to make enough steam for it to come up to pressure. I think a larger skillet or wok might work better, or even if you have a super large soup pot?
just cook using the saute feature of the IP. I make cabbage recipes like this in my IP all the time. Not sure if needed though, as it’s a one pot meal you can easily make stove top.
I liked this as a stir-fry a lot, but I *loved* it stuffed in leftover tortillas with Thai sweet chili sauce as a dip. I realized in the middle of making it that the ingredients are used as filler for Chinese spring rolls (aka egg roll), minus the wrapper and maybe sub pork. Anyway, in a tortilla, it’s like having a giant tasty spring roll. TRY IT if you have leftover tortillas and sweet chili sauce.
Great idea! We make spring rolls with a very similar beef and cabbage or beef and broccoli (slaw) that we stir fry. Put into spring roll wrappers and convection bake. Comes out crispy! Dip in a mix of soy, white vinegar and pressed garlic. YUM!!!
Loved the recipe! Used ground turkey instead of ground beef and doubled the sauce. The cabbage sort of serves as a grain and you really don’t miss rice or noodles if you don’t have them. I purchased preshredded cabbage and the whole thing only took about twenty minutes. Will be in our rotation.
I love this recipe and have made with beef, turkey and chicken . Whichever ground meat is on sale, that is the one I buy!