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. :)
This recipe was fantastic and so easy to adjust it based on whats in the house. I didn’t have green onions so I sauteed up half of a small brown onion with the meat substitute I used (cooking for a vegan) and then I also used half red cabbage half green cabbage and threw in some edamame for an added protein boost. It turned out fabulous! .
Beth- I love you! This was so good! And very fast! It was pretty spicy so I would do a little less sriracha next time.
This was absolutely delicious, and truly only took 15 minutes to cook (my husband did the 15 of prep before I got home)! This has been added to our two-week meal plan as perfect for the days when I get home from university at 7pm. So much yum!
This is really good and really veggie-ful. I made it full on veggie by using 8oz of mushrooms instead of the beef. I subtracted a tablespoon of the soy sauce because the mushrooms produce their own juice, and added a tablespoon of cooking oil to make up for the beef’s oil (next time, I might cook the ‘shrooms in sesame oil rather than regular oil to boost the flavor). It makes a really filling dish.
Thank You!
Hey Beth,
I’ve legitimately cooked from this website almost exclusively since 2010 when I was a broke student. Now slightly less broke, still love it!
I made this, it’s amazing in every way ever. Weirdly substituted tahini (from the Purple Power Bowls ;) ), because I forgot the toasted sesame oil. worked awesome!
Question: I made like, 5 pounds of it and live alone. Freezing prospects/ techniques you’d recommend?
Cheers!
I haven’t tried freezing it, but someone else did leave a comment saying that it froze well for them! :D
It freezes very well. I also live alone but made a full recipe; then I made one serving size packs to put in the freezer. I have been grabbing one on the way out the door to work and it tastes just as good when thawed.
This is delicious! Quick and easy. I used half the amount of cabbage and added cooked lo mein noodles, which I stir fried in the sauce. The leftovers were amazing – I ate it cold with an extra drizzle of Sriracha and some crushed cashews.
When I first read this recipe, I immediately thought ground pork would be a great substitute for the ground beef. Unfortunately my market was out, so I used ground turkey. Super delicious and super easy. Already looking forward to my lunch leftovers.
Ooh boy this is tasty!!
I doubled the exact recipe and three of us devoured most of it in one evening, kept going back for just a little more. 😁 Thank you for this..plus it’s very economical.
I used ground turkey, ginger juice instead of fresh ginger, and let the cabbage fully wilt – it was delicious. I also ended up doubling the turkey, accidentally. I was planning to use a pound of turkey and a whole head of cabbage, but the cabbage wouldn’t fit in the pan so it ended up being a pound of turkey and a half a head. It was very good, maybe a little meaty for me, but I’m not a big meat lover and I think most people would prefer the extra meat.
It’s a bit weird for my tastes to not eat this with some kind of carb, and it doesn’t go as far, so I made butter sesame noodles and ate it on top of these.
I’ve made a similar recipe for years that I learned when I lived in Germany. It uses ground beef, cabbage, and carrots but the sauce is a grainy mustard, salt and lots of black pepper, some water while cooking, and some flour to thicken it up. It’s delicious and I eat this over Spätzle egg noodles, but I suppose curly egg noodles (chicken soup style) would work in a pinch.
Made this last night and accidentally mixed the garlic and ginger in with the veggies, and it was still oh so good! The leftovers for lunch today were even better. I was skeptical that there wouldn’t be enough sauce but I’m hooked!
OH my… this was amazing! I love German cabbage pockets and was thinking there have to be other cabbage and beef recipes out there and I stumbled on this one. I doubled the recipe, and added half an onion. I missed the “Toasted” sesame oil part and just used regular sesame oil and it was still delicious. I’m going to cook this again, it was a hit!
I made this and it was a hit! nice flavour and I served it with rice to make it a little more filling. Great easy weeknight recipe.
This is so good! I just picked up a case of 12lb of ground turkey at my grocery store’s “case lot sale”, and have been gathering recipes to use it all in. I made this last night, and my husband has requested that we use all the turkey exclusively on this recipe, we both loved it that much! It is also really good leftover.
I made this tonight and its amazing. I used a pound of ground pork and it turned out so rich, flavorful, and delicious. Just the right amount of heat. I can’t wait to make it again – next time I think I’ll add some mushrooms to the vegetable mixture. Thank you!