This website is published through the courtesy of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Any opinions expressed, however, are totally my responsibility.

Jim Andris, Sept. 17, 2003.

Note: This recipe, for reasons I don't entirely understand, comes up very near the top or first on a Google search for "fried red cabbage." So if you are from some far-flung spot on the globe and land at this recipe, please drop me a note. My mail address is jandris at swbell.net (replace at with @ and no spaces). Thanks.

German Fried Red Cabbage

I just threw this together one night years ago. I was thinking about German potato salad, but there were no potatoes in the house. It's definitely a German recipe, and you can vary the seasonings to taste. More comfort food that "my mommy made." Other ingredients are possible, like replacing the bacon with caraway seed for a vegetarian dish.

Ingredients

1 small to medium head of red cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
vegetable oil, I use olive oil
6 slices of crisply fried bacon
2-3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2-3 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

Put a modest amount of oil in a large frying pan with a lid. I use the Pampered Chef Wok with a glass lid. Heat on medium heat.

Toss in the onion and cabbage and fry with the lid off, stirring occasionally. This can take 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon and drain it. When it is cool, chop it.

When the cabbage mixture has begun to brown slightly and is limp, put the cover on the frying pan, and reduce the heat to low. Continue to cook and stir occasionally. This could take another 20-30 minutes.

When the cabbage is tender, add the copped bacon, vinegar and brown sugar and toss until well mixed.

Serve immediately or keep warm on the stove with the lid on until ready.

Number of Servings

As a side dish, this will serve four. As a dish with one other dish, this will serve 2-3.