I used to really hate coleslaw until I made my own homemade coleslaw. It’s so fresh, crunchy, and creamy, and not at all gloppy or heavy like the storebought stuff. AND you can make it different flavors to suit your meal! This Cumin Lime Coleslaw has a bright and sunny dressing made with fresh lime juice, earthy cumin (which has always smelled kind of lemony to me), and a small pinch of cayenne. Green onions and shredded carrots add color and flavor to the crunchy cabbage and round out this easy, breezy coleslaw.
How to Serve Cumin Lime Coleslaw
As with any coleslaw, this one makes a great side dish for things like Cilantro Lime Chicken, Hearty Black Bean Quesadillas, or Turkey Taco Skillet. But you can also pile it onto a sandwich, use it to top tacos, or even use it as a base for a bowl meal! And last week, I served it as a side to some tacos made with my Chili Rubbed Pulled Pork and Pickled Red Onions. That combo was to die for!
Take a Short Cut
If you’re short on time, you can skip shredding your own cabbage and carrots and use a bag of coleslaw mix (pre-shredded cabbage and carrots). You’ll want one bag (14-16oz.) for this recipe.
How Long Does it Stay Fresh?
This cumin lime coleslaw stays good in the fridge for about 2-3 days. It does soften a bit as it refrigerates, but it’s still quite tasty. You’ll want to give it a good stir before serving each time to redistribute the dressing.
Cumin Lime Coleslaw
Servings 6 3/4 cup eachIngredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise ($0.80)
- 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1/2 lime) ($0.50)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.01)
- 1 tsp sugar ($0.02)
- 1/2 head green cabbage (about 6 cups shredded) ($0.68)
- 2 carrots ($0.16)
- 4 green onions ($0.22)
Instructions
- Prepare the coleslaw dressing by stirring together the mayonnaise, lime juice, cumin, salt, sugar, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Refrigerate the dressing until ready to use.
- Remove the core from the cabbage and then finely shred. Peel the carrots, then use a large holed cheese grater to shred the carrots. Thinly slice the green onions.
- Combine the shredded cabbage, carrots, and green onions in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over top, then stir until everything is well coated in dressing. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. After refrigerating, make sure to stir the slaw well before serving.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Cumin Lime Coleslaw – Step by Step Photos
Begin by making the dressing so the flavors have a little time to blend. Combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Finely shred 1/2 of a head of cabbage (about 6 cups), shred two carrots using a cheese grater, and slice four green onions. Add the cabbage, carrot, and onions to a large bowl.
Pour the dressing over the vegetables and then stir until everything is well coated. Serve the Cumin Lime Coleslaw immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. As will all slaws, the salt in the dressing will cause the cabbage to slowly soften and let off a little water, so be sure to stir the slaw before serving to redistribute the dressing.
But if you need to prepare it ahead of time, go ahead and make the dressing and prep the vegetables, but combine the two just before serving for the crunchiest coleslaw possible.
This recipe looks delicious! I’ve never been a fan of mayonnaise, so I’m substituting 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt for the dressing. I did the same with the curried chicken salad and it turned out great!
I have never liked Lime or Lemon in my food. The moment I taste it, I can’t eat whatever it was.
Somehow this coleslaw is so very good and the lime does not bother me. This is an awesome find. Great stuff!
I do NOT like cole slaw. At all. But I was given a head of cabbage, so I tried this, and it was delicious! I’ll definitely be keeping this recipe on hand for summer potlucks.
This is a revelation. Up till now, coleslaw was for me something that came with my set meal in a fast food restaurant, and I plodded through the contents of the sad plastic bowl only because I felt guilty eating fast food in the first place. Now there’s no going back for me to that travesty.
We used half mayo half greek yogurt and it was too tart, as you warned. I sweetened it more to correct my mistake and it was delicious. My 4 year old and I ate huge helpings. Husband doesn’t like cumin enough to gobble it but that’s his problem. We had it with vegetarian chili cheese (sweet potato) fries
This looks great! Im going to try it and the roasted ceaser cabbage as well.
Do you think this would work with red cabbage? I have half a head of it left over from making the SNAP Challenge stir fry this week…
Can confirm. Yup, red cabbage is a bit more dense, but it worked just fine.
Yep, it is a little more “waxy”, so make sure to slice it super thin, but other than that it should be fine. :)
This looks great! And it can easily be made vegan-friendly by using Vegenaise, Just Mayo, or any other egg-less mayo. :)
I forgot to ask if cilantro would be a nice addition to this? Maybe sprinkled on top or mixed in.
Absolutely, yes! I almost added it myself, but then just decided to add it to my tacos later instead of including it in the slaw. :)
Beth, coleslaw is something I love to eat, but I’ve never made it before. Looking forward to trying this recipe out. Cumin and lime… can’t go wrong!
Well, I’m from Buffalo where it’s mandatory that you eat two things 1) Chicken wings and 2) coleslaw. But it has been occurred to me that I could make it myself or that I should add lime. And 50 cents a serving sounds great to me.
This looks very yummy- I love cumin…I’m a printing this out. I just wanted to let you know that I just found your site and it is awesome. I love the easy print feature.
I have recommended this site to my fellow homeschooler types- we might have big families and need to double (or triple) the recipes, but it is doable because of the ‘budget’ part of this. I made a double recipe of the zuppa toscana and my husband also took it for lunch twice. Pefect! Anyways- thanks for this site!
This sounds delicious and super simple to make. Do you have a version that’s oil based instead of creamy?
I don’t currently have an oil based version. I think I’d have to experiment around with that before saying for sure how to do it.
i love your site, but commenting for the first time… why the sugar, it sounds strange, do you think it adds that extra something to this salad?
The sugar helps balance the acid from the lime juice. You can try making the dressing without the sugar first, and if it’s too acidic, just add a little until it tastes better to you. You may find that you don’t need a whole teaspoon. :)
I’m not a huge coleslaw fan, but I really like the flavors in this coleslaw. It’d be great with a spicy burger. :) I’d have to substitute greek yogurt for mayo because I have a slight fear of it. Haha.
Be careful, though, because Greek yogurt is much more acidic than mayo, so the lime juice may put it over the top.
I made this over the weekend with Greek Yogurt I don’t care for mayo. I didn’t find it to be to acidic. I really enjoyed this coleslaw and to be honest it was the first time I’ve ever had coleslaw and liked it. The lime and the cumin are a great combo.
It was so good I ate a huge bowl for lunch yesterday.