Braised Red Cabbage and Apples

Perfectly cooked braised red cabbage with apples is a simple side dish in which cabbage is slow cooked with onion, red wine, apple cider vinegar and apples. The sweet and sour flavors of this dish compliments and balances the richness of any roast meat like roast chicken, pork or even German sausages.

Braised cabbage

1. It’s simple! Handful of ingredients are slow cooked in a pan until red cabbage is tender. Though prepping braised cabbage is a bit time consuming, it requires minimal prep work, and mostly hands-off cooking.
2. Converts you into cabbage fan! If you haven’t been a cabbage fan, give this recipe a try, might convert you into a fan. And if you like cabbage and never tried braised red cabbage recipe, you are missing out!
3. Healthy side dish! As cabbage cooks, wilts in the pan it soaks up all the flavors turning into an incredible dish. It’s hard to resist.
4. Tweak the recipe. This recipe is easy to customize according to your personal taste. Add more maple syrup if you like it sweet, add ½ to 1 teaspoon red chili flakes to give it a kick, add more apple cider vinegar to give it more tang, vary cooking time to cook cabbage to your desired consistency.
5. Bacon makes everything better, this dish is going to delight you!

Ingredients needed

Here’s what you’ll need-

• 4 strips bacon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 small bay leaf (optional)
• 2 cloves clove (optional)
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 medium red cabbage, cored and sliced thin
• 1 tart apple, cored and grated
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup red wine (optional)
• ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Bacon – I like to dice bacon into small bits. Thick-cut bacon or thin streaks of bacon can be used.

Butter – skip butter if bacon oozes a lot of fat.  You can swap butter with olive oil.

Bay leaf & clove – optional. I like the flavors that whole spices adds to the dish.

Onion – I have used sliced white onion. You can use yellow onion or red onion too.

Red cabbage – You’ll need a head of cauliflower, sliced thin.

Apple – use tart apple like Pink Lady, Braeburn apples, McIntosh appes, Jonathan apples.

Broth – I used chicken broth, you can swap chicken broth with vegetable broth or beef broth.

Red wine – optional. It adds wonderful flavor to braised red cabbage.

Apple cider vinegar – adds acidity to the dish.

Maple syrup – brings out the sweetness of the cabbage. You may substitute maple syrup with honey, brown sugar or white granular sugar.

Dijon mustard – adds a touch of savory flavor to balance out the sweetness of the dish.

How to make braised cabbage

Use a large pot like Dutch oven to make braised red cabbage as raw cabbage will need a lot of space.

First cook diced bacon in the pot until crispy and golden brown. Remove crispy bacon using slotted spoon onto a plate or bowl.

Add butter to the same pot. If bacon oozes a lot of fat skip butter.

Add a small bay leaf and 2 clove.

Saute onion in the pot for a minute.

Add sliced cabbage along with stock, red wine and salt to taste.

Cover and cook on medium low flame for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent cabbage from burning at the bottom.

Note: adjust cooking time based on how you like the consistency of cabbage. 20 minutes time will make the cabbage tender and soft, if you like to have little crunch cook for less time.

Add apple, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, freshly ground pepper. Continue to cook with occasional stirring for another 4-5 minutes.

Finally stir in apple cider vinegar to braised red cabbage. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.

When ready to serve stir in crispy bacon and serve immediately.

Tips and tricks to make best braised cabbage

Though you can add all ingredients at once into the pan and slow cook it, I prefer this method to saute ingredients briefly and adding ingredients one by one. This way the dish has layers of flavors and makes a difference.

Use a large pot like dutch oven to make braised red cabbage as raw cabbage will need a lot of space.

Adjust cooking time based on how you like the consistency of cabbage. 20 minutes time will make the cabbage tender and soft, if you like to have little crunch cook for less time.

FAQS

Storage instructions

1. Store leftover braised cabbage in air tight container and refrigerate it for up to 3 days.
2. To store for longer period, store the dish in freezer safe air tight containers and freeze it for up to 3 months.
3. To reheat frozen cabbage thaw in the fridge overnight and then reheat on stove top until warm. You might need a splash of water or broth while reheating.

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📋Braised Red Cabbage and Apples

Jyothi Rajesh

Perfectly cooked braised red cabbage with apples is a simple side dish in which cabbage is slow-cooked with onion, red wine, apple cider vinegar, and apples. The sweet and sour flavors of this dish compliments and balance the richness of any roast meat like roast chicken, pork, or even German sausages.

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Course Side Dish, Sides

Cuisine American, German

Servings 8 servings

Calories 126

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 4 strips bacon chopped
• ▢ 1 tablespoon butter
• ▢ 1 small bay leaf optional
• ▢ 2 cloves clove optional
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 medium red cabbage cored and sliced thin
• ▢ 1 tart apple cored and grated
• ▢ 1 cup chicken broth
• ▢ ¼ cup red wine optional
• ▢ ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
• ▢ Salt & pepper to taste
• ▢ 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Instructions

 

• Use a large pot-like Dutch oven to make braised red cabbage as raw cabbage will need a lot of space.
• First cook diced bacon in the pot until crispy and golden brown. Remove crispy bacon using a slotted spoon onto a plate or bowl.
• Add butter to the same pot. If bacon oozes a lot of fat skip butter.
• Add a small bay leaf and 2 cloves.
• Saute onion in the pot for a minute.
• Add sliced cabbage along with the stock, red wine, and salt to taste.
• Cover and cook on medium-low flame for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the cabbage from burning at the bottom.
• Note: adjust cooking time based on how you like the consistency of the cabbage. 20 minutes will make the cabbage tender and soft if you like to have a little crunch cook for less time.
• Add apple, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, and freshly ground pepper. Continue to cook with occasional stirring for another 4-5 minutes.
• Finally, stir in apple cider vinegar to braised red cabbage. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
• When ready to serve stir in crispy bacon and serve immediately.

Notes

Nutritional Info – Please keep in mind that the nutritional information provided is only a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.

Nutrition

Calories: 126kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 3gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 231mgPotassium: 353mgFiber: 3gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 1233IUVitamin C: 62mgCalcium: 60mgIron: 1mg

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