Fried Cabbage
Fried Cabbage: A quick side dish or light main meal, this fried cabbage recipe is a tasty cabbage stir fry loaded with crispy bacon and the perfect combination of seasonings. Whoever thought cabbage was boring has never tried this fried cabbage with bacon recipe.
Of all the fried cabbage recipes this one is my favorite. It’s easy to make, requires very few ingredients, and packs quite a bit of flavor with each and every bite.
Serve it with Corned Beef, Soda Bread, and Smashed Potatoes for a complete meal that will make you feel like you are in Ireland.
Fried Cabbage is so easy to make that sometimes it hits the spot for even a mid afternoon snack. Make Fried Cabbage as a side, snack, dinner, or lunch. No need to limit yourself.
And DON’T wait for St. Patrick’s Day to add this to your menu. It is hearty, inexpensive, and delicious year round.
What You Need For Fried Cabbage
No matter how you make Fried Cabbage you are of course going to need the obvious ingredient, cabbage. Additionally, you can customize this dish and add a number of different things, which I will talk about later.
The brilliance of this Fried Cabbage recipe is that you can add other ingredients or just follow this simple yet delicious recipe and have a flavorful and fun dish.
Ingredients Needed:
- Bacon
- Yellow Onion
- Green Cabbage
- Granulated Garlic
- Smoked Paprika
- White Sugar
- Salt and Pepper
Just a handful of ingredients, most of which you probably already have on hand, and you have the makings for a dish loaded with pizazz.
How To Fry Cabbage
When you fry cabbage fry it over medium heat and don’t let it get too soft. But first, for this recipe let’s do a couple of other steps before we actually fry the cabbage.
- Chop: Chop bacon, onions, and core and slice the cabbage.
- Cook Bacon: In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy and then remove bacon from the pan, leaving drippings in the pan.
- Cook Onion: In the same pan add onion and cook until translucent.
- Add Cabbage and Seasonings to the Pan: Cook cabbage and seasonings in the same pan with the onion. Stir and mix everything well. Cook until cabbage is tender (5-7) minutes.
- Add Bacon to Cabbage Mixture: Stir bacon into cabbage mixture.
- Season and Taste: Season with salt and pepper and taste.
- Serve Immediately!
That’s it! A super low maintenance, easy dish, Fried Cabbage will become a fave!
Tricks and Tips:
Tip 1: Don’t Overcook Your Cabbage.
This is one of the most important tips. You don’t want your cabbage to become too soft. Yuck.
Keep an eye on the dish as it cooks on the stove top. Overcooking it will make it too soft.
Tip 2: Don’t Cook Bacon with Cabbage.
You’ll notice that this recipe requires you to take the bacon out of the pan and set it aside while you cook the cabbage. This was intentional.
Leaving bacon in the pan to stir fry the cabbage is a mistake. The bacon won’t stay crisp.
Make sure to follow the recipe and set the bacon aside.
Tip 3: You Can Use Oil Instead of Bacon Grease.
For a slightly healthier option you can stir fry cabbage in olive oil instead of bacon grease. However, I highly recommend using the bacon grease. It adds a stronger depth of flavor.
Tip 4: Add More Bacon.
You can use more bacon if you are a big bacon fan.
Tip 5: Add in Other Mix-Ins.
For a heartier meal or for perhaps making this Fried Cabbage more of a main dish, feel free to add some more protein like sausage to it.
Also depending on your individual palette there may be other spices or ingredients you may want to add to this dish.
Optional Add-Ins or Variations:
One thing that is so fun about this dish is that one day you can make this fried cabbage with bacon recipe and another day you can transform this cabbage stir fry into a completely different dish.
There are so many variations and add-ins you can do. Have fun with it. There are endless possibilities.
Optional Add-Ins or Variations:
- Turkey Bacon ( a healthier substitution)
- Sausage
- Red Cabbage ( for a little bit sweeter of a taste)
- Potatoes
- Green Apples
- Brown Sugar
- Balsamic Vinegar
Sausage and potatoes for a nice hearty dish or green apples with some brown sugar for a more summer salad feel, either way you will have a meal that will be delicious.
Or, keep it simple and just follow the recipe and enjoy a well seasoned, crispy bacon, cabbage treat.
Serve With:
Serve with Corned Beef and a side of Irish Soda Bread, followed by decadent Buckeye Brownies. Y-U-M-M-Y!
Cabbage Never Tasted So Good!
Get a serving of cabbage with this tasty Fried Cabbage recipe. So easy to make and such a delightful way to eat cabbage, this will become your new favorite side.
Follow this Fried Cabbage recipe and have a delicious dish or customize your fried cabbage meal with add-ins and variations that speak to you.
Whether you follow this recipe to a tee or use it as a base and add a little variation to the dish, either way this recipe will be one you will want to save to your recipe card. It’s just that good.
Other Great Side Dishes:
- Twice Baked Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
- Honey Balsamic Pan Seared Brussel Sprouts
- Best Ever Roasted Broccoli
- Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
Ingredients
- ½ pound bacon cut into small pieces, thick cut is best (4-6 strips)
- 1/2 cup yellow onion finely chopped
- 4 cups green cabbage, shredded or roughly chopped (about ½ a head, cored and sliced)
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep ingredients: Roughly chop bacon into small pieces. Finely chop onions. Core and slice cabbage, and set aside.
- In a non-stick skillet, over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy. Remove from pan, leaving all the bacon grease and drippings in the pan. Put bacon on a plate, and set aside.
- In the same pan, add onion and cook until translucent.
- Add cabbage, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, smoked paprika and stir to mix everything together well.
- Cook for 5- 7 minutes or until cabbage is tender.
- Add bacon to the cabbage mixture, and stir to combine. Taste, season with salt and pepper to achieve desired flavor.
- Serve immediately.
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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