Easy Sautéed Cabbage with Garlic (Healthy Recipe)

Super simple and flavorful, this Sautéed Cabbage with Garlic is a healthy and easy side dish to pair with any meal. All you need is a head of cabbage, some olive oil, and some garlic to make this delicious 15 to 20-minute side dish.

This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for details.

Hey Internet, it's been a while since we dis a simple side dish with big flavor. Cabbage is such an underrated vegetable. It's cheap but it has great texture, nutrients, and it can take on a lot of flavor.

We actually don't currently have a lot of strictly side dishes on our website. When we cook vegetables, we tend to make it one big dish with protein, starch, and veggies (like our Sheet Pan BBQ Tofu or Vegan Yaki Udon) but we must admit it is nice to have a few simple side dish recipes in your back pocket to serve with various different meals. Our current inventory of side dish recipes includes Air Fryer Frozen Asparagus, Vegan Squash Casserole, Roasted Apple Brussels Sprouts, Vegan Roasted Potatoes, Easy Butter Bean Mash, Air Fryer Frozen Brussels Sprouts, and Vegan Green Bean Casserole. Of course we have a lot of salads too.

But today, we're talking about this really easy sauteed cabbage recipe. This simple recipe is one of our favorite ways to eat cabbage (and one of the easiest ways to prepare it) and it's so versatile, making it the perfect side for any weeknight dinner. And, while the cabbage cooks, you can be getting other components of your meal together.

This recipe goes especially well with anything with caramelized onions, so we had to come up with a recipe that used those to pair this delicious side dish with. That recipe is our Braised Tofu which has really big flavor. We also served it with our Vegan Mashed Potatoes for pure comfort food.

Another nice thing about this recipe is you can really use any kind of cabbage you want. We used standard green cabbage (also called white cabbage), but other nice options include napa cabbage, red cabbage, or savoy cabbage. This method also works with other vegetables such as bok choy or chopped Brussels sprouts. 

This easy sautéed cabbage recipe comes together in under 20 minutes and is a great way to get your veggies in. Raw cabbage can be a lot for some people, so cooking it in a hot skillet with minced garlic, a little olive oil, and a little soy sauce and/or salt really improves the texture and flavor making it a dish the whole family will enjoy.

Cabbage is not just for St. Patrick's Day. Cabbage is so inexpensive (and frequently on sale), plus it's loaded with nutrients like vitamin c. Cabbage are also part of the family of cruciferous vegetables, making them extra good for you.

Anyway, enough yapping about how good this sauteed cabbage recipe is. And, if this is your first time cooking cabbage, don't worry, we'll talk you through it.

Why You'll Love This Sautéed Cabbage Recipe

• Simple Ingredients: All you need for this recipe is a small or medium head of green cabbage (other cabbage is fine), fresh garlic, soy sauce (optional), salt, and a little extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil. We also recommend a tiny pinch of cane sugar to caramelize it, but that's optional.
• Budget Friendly: Cabbage is a pretty inexpensive vegetable as is (especially green cabbage), and often it is on sale for less than a dollar a pound (sometimes our local grocery store has it for as cheap as 39-cents per pound!), so you can get a lot of cabbage for not a lot of money. This recipe is the perfect way to use up a lot of cabbage, as is cabbage soup and our plant-based Egg Roll in a Bowl recipe.
• Easy to Customize: Cabbage is a blank slate so you can really add any type of seasonings here you like. Fresh herbs, caraway seeds, a pinch of red pepper flakes or black pepper, etc. You can add an acid too, like a splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. We just really like it exactly how it is in the recipe card below, so that's how we're sharing it.

Ingredients

Pick up the following basic ingredients for this delicious yet simple cabbage recipe the next time you're at your local grocery store. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredients, instructions, and accurate nutrition information (to the best of our ability; please consult your physician, registered dietitian, or healthcare professional if you have specific dietary needs or need to meet certain daily values of any nutrient). we give substitutions for the ingredients in the section below this one, so most people can still make this recipe!

• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Avocado Oil: Use whatever cooking oil you like, actually! Sesame oil would lend itself to more Asian-inspired flavors, while olive oil is a little more mediterranean. Avocado oil is pretty neutral. And honestly between the two, you don't have that much of a difference.
• Medium or Small Green Cabbage: We used a medium head (it's kind of subjective) but the rest of the recipe should work for a small to medium head of cabbage. You can add or reduce the other ingredients as needed depending on how much cabbage you have.
• 3 Cloves Garlic, Sliced or Minced: Minced garlic has a bigger punch of garlic flavor, but sliced garlic can be a lovely textural element, so use whichever works best for you.
• 1 Teaspoon Sea Salt: How much salt you use is up to you, but a teaspoon of salt is a pretty good amount for a medium cabbage. You personally may want more or less.
• 1-2 Tablespoons Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce, Optional: We really love the umami flavor this adds, but it's optional. If you can't tolerate soy or gluten, go ahead and leave it out.
• 1.5 Teaspoons Cane Sugar, Optional: Just this tiny amount of sugar slightly caramelizes the cooked cabbage and it is REALLY good. But it is optional.

Substitutions

• Oil: You can use plant based butter if you like the flavor of butter in your cabbage (sounds great, honestly). If you want to remove the cooking fat entirely, you can. Simply add a little water during the beginning of the saute process to keep your cabbage from burning.
• Cabbage: Other cabbages such as red cabbage, savoy cabbage, and napa cabbage work great here too, but they may require a different amount of cook time. That is also subjective anyway, since some people like it on the less cooked side (crunchier) and some people like it more cooked (softer). Of course, you could use this on other vegetables too, but cabbage is kind of the main ingredient in this recipe, anyway.
• Garlic: We REALLY love the flavor of garlic in this, but if you can't have it, go ahead and leave it out. The cabbage will still be delicious.
• Additions: Add any seasonings or flavorings you like here. A pinch of red pepper flakes, black pepper, caraway seeds, celery seeds, nutritional yeast, fresh herbs or dried herbs, or a squeeze of lemon would all be lovely additions. We kept it simple with a pinch of salt and a little soy sauce and it has honestly become one of our favorite side dishes.

How to Make Sauteed Cabbage

1. Prepare Cabbage: We want chopped cabbage for this recipe, not shredded cabbage (shredded will cook very fast but it will end up rather soft and can easily get mushy). Using a large cutting board and sharp knife, slice off the stem bottom of the cabbage and sit it on the new flat surface you just created. Slice through halfway, then slice each of those halves in half. Cut the core out of each quarter. Then cut in 1-inch squares until all the cabbage is chopped.
2. Heat the Oil: In a large skillet or large pan with tall sides, heat the oil (the surface of it should shimmer when the heat is right) over medium heat.
3. Add Garlic: Add the garlic to the pan and stir. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring frequently.
4. Cook the Cabbage: Add the cabbage to the skillet and stir well to coat all the cabbage with the oil and garlic. Put a lid on it and let it cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring once or twice during the process. Some of the smaller more delicate leaves might brown a little bit. This adds a lot of flavor, but feel free to turn the heat down if you think it's getting too hot. Conversely, if you want more of a char, cook it uncovered over medium high heat until lightly golden brown.
5. Season the Cabbage and Continue Cooking: Add the remaining ingredients, stir well, and cook for 4-8 more minutes until desired cabbage texture has been achieved. The cooking time will differ depending on individual preferences. Some people like their cabbage a little less cooked so it's more crunchy, and some like it a little more cooked so it's more soft. We like ours somewhere in between, where there are still some crunchy pieces from the more fibrous parts of the cabbage, yet some tender more delicate leaves that end up cooking a little faster. Keep in mind that if you intend to have leftover sautéed cabbage the next day, that undercooking it (cooking it for less time) slightly usually yields better results.
6. Serve: Serve cabbage immediately. If you have a lot of liquid in the bottom of the pan, you may want to use a slotted spoon to serve it. 
7. Storage: Refrigerate leftover sautéed cabbage in an airtight container for up to 3 or 4 days, though for textural reasons, the sooner you eat it, the better.

Pairings

• Braised Tofu
• Vegan Mashed Potatoes
• Seitan Chicken
• Vegan Loaded Baked Potatoes
• Miso Noodles
• Boiled Baby Potatoes
• Tofu Steak
• Vegan Roasted Potatoes
• Vegan Creamy Pasta
• Vegan Drumsticks
• Vegan Potato Kugel
• Bang Bang Tofu

Print

---

---