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. :)
This is part of our regular rotation. Very filling and quite yummy. Sometimes I double the sauce.
A wonderful dish. I made it with ground turkey and it was delicious
This recipe is so adaptable–I think I finally arrived at my perfect version today, though. Cabbage and matchstick carrots, and I added thinly-sliced red bell pepper. Instead of ground beef, I picked up a package of shaved beef steak (like you’d get for cheesesteaks) and cooked that with the ginger and garlic (plenty of both!). Husband does *not* do sriracha, so I added hoisin instead. Served over rice with another drizzle of hoisin over the top, and it was a hit.
I was given a cabbage this weekend and all of a sudden remembered this recipe that I used to make frequently!! I can’t wait to bring it back into my rotation! So so good. The sauce and all the flavors are so great! I ate as is- but added ramen noodles that I have been meaning to use up- for my kids – it was a hit !!
Loved this! I found the siracha was just a bit too hot for me but a dash of sherry vinegar calmed it down. This recipe was so easy yet delicious. Wouldn’t hesitate to cook it for friends or family. Will be cooking it again soon!
Pefect as written. This is a regular go to for a quick meal in our home. We make a vegan version with shredded tofu for our vegan peeps. Thank you sharing!
This is a great dish, but it’s even better if at the end you add Gochujang (a Korean chili sauce) instead of Sriracha. I like to serve this stir fry on a bed of brown rice. It is an amazingly flavorful dish!!
Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s a favorite in our house. We usually make it with ground soy and skip the sriracha bc our kids would lose it haha. It’s fantastic!!
I made this and doubled the sauce. OMG so good. Loved it! Thank you!
This is absolutely delicious. Beyond beef substitute works great, and I’m glad there’s still a half pound of it as well as a half a cabbage left because this is going to be made again in a couple of days, thankyouverymuch! =D
Absolutely delicious! Love how fast and easy this was to make. I will be saving this recipe to make again and to share with my sister.
This is my favourite with beef. Just so delicious and easy to make with my food processor. low carb but I eat with rice.
This dish was delicious and will be added to my list of favorite cabbage recipes. I used 1 lb of ground turkey, replaced the soy sauce with light tamari sauce, doubled the sauce, and added 2 extra cups of cabbage. The heat from the sriracha sauce was just right. Really enjoyed this a lot!
Made this. Made my cabbage a little crispy and fried a wonton wrapper shaped like a taco shell and added the mixture to the shell. Worked great.
omg that’s an amazing idea!!
I have made a version of this for years with cooked rice added to the mixture after the cabbabe has wilted – I like to add the rice and sauce and fry until the rice gets a little crisp. YUMMM!