Yes, this cabbage is burned. But we’ll just call it “blackened cabbage” because it sounds nicer, good? No matter what you call it, I promise it is deeeeeeelicious.
Let me just give you a little background to explain why I burned my cabbage. We had some friends in town a couple weeks ago and we met them at a new BBQ joint in town. While searching the menu for something even remotely healthy I spotted their “spicy grilled cabbage”. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I loved cabbage, so I ordered it. What I got was a dish of smoky charred cabbage covered in a light layer of creamy, spicy sauce. To say it was delicious would be an understatement.
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Blackened Cabbage is Actually a Thing!
Fast forward to me at home brainstorming about how to recreate that yummy dish at home without a grill. I did a quick google search for “charred cabbage” and found that I wasn’t the only one who loved burned cabbage. I took notes from this recipe found on Bon Appétit and did my burning in a cast iron skillet instead of using a grill. It worked like a charm. I added a few minutes with a lid at the end to steam the cabbage and make sure it was tender all the way through, but the process was still incredibly simple.
How to Serve Blackened Cabbage
This cabbage is great on its own (with just the pinch of salt and pepper added during cooking), but I had to have that creamy spicy sauce. I don’t know what they used at the restaurant, but this quick chipotle mayo that I whipped up did the trick. You can drizzle it over top, smear it on the charred surface, or even cut the cooked cabbage into pieces and toss it in the sauce. Either way, it’s awesome.
Goes great with: Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork, Chili Lime Pork Loin, Honey Spice Chicken Thighs, Glazed Pork Chops, or any grilled or BBQ meat.
Blackened Cabbage with Chipotle Mayo
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1/2 head green cabbage* ($0.39)
- 2 Tbsp high smoke point cooking oil ($0.08)
- Pinch of salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise ($0.28)
- 1/4 tsp chipotle powder ($0.03)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.09)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
Instructions
- Begin heating a 10″ or larger cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Allow it to preheat, before adding the oil, for at least five minutes.
- Remove any damaged leaves from the cabbage and rinse it well. Cut it in half, then cut one of the halves into four wedges. Leave the core intact (cut off the very end if it is dirty or damaged). Reserve the second half for a different recipe.
- Once the cast iron skillet is fully heated, add 1-2 Tbsp of oil and swirl to coat the surface of the skillet. Add the cabbage wedges to the skillet, making sure that each piece is laying flat on the surface of the skillet. Season the pieces with a pinch of salt and pepper. Let the cabbage cook undisturbed for about 7 minutes, or until the bottom side is well blackened.
- Flip the cabbage and season the second side with a pinch of salt and pepper. Let cook undisturbed on the second side for about 7 minutes, or until well blackened. The skillet may be smoking, so be sure to turn on your vent hood.
- Once the cabbage pieces have a good amount of black on each side, turn off the heat, place a lid on the skillet, and let it steam until the cabbage (including the core) is tender (5-7 minutes).
- While the cabbage is cooking, prepare the chipotle mayo by combining the mayonnaise, chipotle powder, garlic powder, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil in a bowl. Set the chipotle mayo aside until ready to use. Once the cabbage is tender, place a wedge on each plate and drizzle the chipotle mayo over top.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Blackened Cabbage – Step by Step Photos
Before you begin prepping the cabbage, start to preheat a 10″ or larger cast iron skillet (I use this one) over medium-high heat. It needs to have about 5 minutes to fully heat through. You want it hot, hot, hot. Remove any dirty or damaged leaves from the cabbage, and cut it in half. You’ll only need half of a 3 lb. cabbage for this recipe. Cut the half into four wedges. Leave the core intact to hold the wedges together as they cook.
Once the skillet is very hot, add one to two tablespoons of a high smoke point cooking oil (like canola or peanut) to the skillet and swirl it to coat the surface. Add the cabbage wedges, making sure that each piece is laying flat on the skillet. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Let the cabbage wedges cook undisturbed for about 7 minutes, or until they are charred on the bottom.
Carefully flip the cabbage (I used tongs) and cook on the second side for another seven minutes, or until the second side is blackened. Season the second side with a pinch of salt and pepper again. You can flip them again if you want even a little more blackening action. After cooking on the second side the cabbage should be fairly tender and probably slightly brighter green. The skillet may produce quite a bit of smoke as it cooks, so make sure to turn on your vent hood or open a window!
Once it’s blackened to your liking, turn the heat off, place a lid on top, and let it steam for 5-7 minutes, or until the cabbage is nice and tender. This also helps hold in some of the smoke and infuses that smoky flavor throughout.
While the cabbage is cooking, prepare the chipotle mayo. In a small bowl stir together 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 tsp chipotle powder, 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp olive oil. I added the lemon juice and olive oil just to thin it out a bit so that I could drizzle the sauce, but if you don’t have lemon juice don’t despair. It’s good without it, too.
Plate the cabbage wedges and drizzle that delicious sauce over top (or just skip it if you want to keep things simple).
And that’s it! Super simple, super delicious, Blackened Cabbage with Chipotle Mayo.
Loved it and so easy!
Great simple recipe. Made my mayo with lime juice and canned chipotle sauce.
My husband ate an entire half of cabbage for dinner, and he’s super picky about how his veggies are cooked, so a winning recipe for our family. I was going to make your cabbage sausage skillet with mustard sauce for dinner, we make it regularly, but it was hot here yesterday, so I took it to the grill instead with this. It was a great change of pace. Thanks for all the great cabbage recipes! It’s become a favorite veggie of ours. I love that it stays good in the crisper a long time.
This was absolutely excellent!! I highly recommend and the chipotle mayo more than makes it!!! Great way to use up cabbage, was a hit with my family.
Do you think this would work with purple cabbage?
This looks amazing!!! Could I cook/char the cabbages the night before, refrigerate then reheat the next day? Trying to do a New Year’s Day easy meal for my hubby and family while I will be out of town.
Yes you could give it a try!
This is my go to cabbage recipe and I go to it a LOT! I like to season with tahini and soy sauce but whatever you choose, this is absolutely delicious!
Yum!
I’ve been looking for more ways to get veggies into our diet at home. This one was a HIT even with the skeptics! YAY for vegetable success! I used some asian-style chili oil with mayo to make the sauce.
Dagum!!! Beth! This was delicious. Honestly, it stole the show from the rest of our dinner. It has the most balanced flavors. I’ve yet to make anything I don’t love of yours. Who do we need to call to get you a show on Food Network?!? Wonderful dish, thanks for sharing all these great recipes!
Made it three times last week!! Ended up shredding the cabbage after to cook it a bit faster.
Oh so good…wonderful recipe…I used Savoy cabbage and it was perfect for charring. I’ll be making this again fo sho.
So flavorful and filling! And easy, to boot! If you can’t get your hands on chipotle powder, from my experience paprika is a decent substitute. The mayo tastes awesome with it.
This was so good! The cabbage had a delicious flavor and was perfectly soft. I added a few tablespoons of water for the steaming step, which helped it get just a bit softer while maintaining a good texture. The chipolte mayo was bomb too (I also used sriracha to season mine). I served the cabbage as a side dish to dry rubbed pork steaks that i grilled. I’ll definitely make this recipe again!
Wanted to try this recipe for a while, and I finally gave it a go.
I never knew cabbage could taste so amazing! I also love how simple this recipe is. Thank you!
Soooo delicious! Regular rotation recipe now!
We loved this! I love cabbage but never really had any easy ways to prepare it as a side. I’ll definitely make this again.
I didn’t have chipotle powder so I mixed in some sriracha instead and I thought it tasted great!
Sooooo I was skeptical, but after reading the comments I decided to give it a try. And jesus. Seared cabbage is awesome. I just put pepper, salt, sesame oil and a bit of soy saucce at the end and it was great :3 Thank you for the idea
I made this for dinner tonight – so delicious! The sauce was also excellent on grilled chicken. Thanks for the recipe!
Grilling some lamb chops this week and excited to serve this alongside!
This looks amazing – one question though and this might be me being paranoid but is eating burnt stuff not bad for you? Or is it fine as long as you do it in moderation?
I haven’t seen any research on that, but I’m not going to worry myself about it since it’s not a common thing for me. ;)
Yum!!!! We loved this one!! Thank you :)
I love you beth but seriously……
Really Shirley? Did you even try it? But seriously………
This looks awesome! It reminds me of “grilled romaine salad” which I feel has become more popular. Excited to give this a try this summer.
Am eating this right now and really like it! I made my own chipotle(-garlic) mayonnaise with 1 egg + juice of 1 lime + 1 clove of garlic + 1 tbsp chopped chipotles in adobo + 1 c veg oil. Had to let it sit for a bit to develop the flavor, but when it did… :-D
I was just looking at the half of cabbage I had left over from making corned beef. I was pondering coleslaw, but I knew I’d never eat that much.
I can’t wait to try this, I love burnt things. Maybe I’ll use a little of the left over bacon grease from this morning to make it an extra savory dish.
This looks so good! I love charred cabbage
This looks so good! I have half a head of cabbage left over from our St Patrick’s day dinner so I’ll be making this tonight.
Does steaming at the end make the charred bits less crispy? I was wondering if I could steam the cabbage first to cook it through and then grill it.
This sounds delicious! I’m always looking for vegan recipes since I have a vegan son – recipes I will like too lol and soy free is a need so this fits the bill nicely!
I can see substituting halved Brussels sprouts to replace the cabbage. Any thoughts?
A few people have mentioned in the comments that they do this with Brussels sprouts. :)
Have you done any experimenting with frozen cabbage? I froze some in wedges from our CSA last year. For a recipe like this: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-roasted-cabbage-with-bacon-recipes-from-the-kitchn-105338 I’ve found it works best to thaw in the fridge first, and drain.
I still have some frozen cabbage, so I may try this recipe. :)
Interesting! I haven’t experimented with freezing it yet. I guess I just assumed it would get too limp or watery. I’ll need to try it now. Thank you!
If you plan to use it quickly, it works to freeze without blanching, but eventually unblanched cabbage will change color in the freezer. The stuff I’ve frozen I’ve followed the method here: http://www.food-skills-for-self-sufficiency.com/freezing-cabbage.html . After thawing, you are right, the consistency is not the same as fresh cabbage. BUT: after cooking as above, I can’t really tell a difference in the end result.
At some point I’ll try this recipe and let you know how my frozen cabbage fared. :)
Nice, thanks for that link!! :D
Ditto what Liz said, but maybe I’ll just make it for myself!
Beth, I’ve been making a ton of your recipes lately, and they have all been great,
Have you heard of Okonomiyaki? My favorite restaurant here in Charleston serves this cabbage pancake with an option, among other toppings, for “pork candy,” and it is divine!!
http://www.postandcourier.com/food/thanks-to-xiao-bao-biscuit-charlestonians-get-okonomiyaki/article_cab01e8b-19f3-56cd-a418-6a4d1341c20d.html
I actually just experimented with okonomiyaki recently! (recipe here) I didn’t make the traditional sauce, which everyone says is amazing, though. :P That pork candy sounds AMAZING. But how can something with that name not be drool-worthy. :D
This looks sooo good. I wished my husband shared our love of cabbage!!!!