Delicious and easy to make purple cabbage slaw with carrots and with dried cranberries, pistachio and apple. Delicious for a quick lunch or as a side dish.

Purple cabbage slaw

Carrot and purple cabbage salad

First of all there is something odd about the name of this beautiful purple cabbage. In the Netherlands where I live we call this a “red” cabbage but let’s be honest; there is nothing red about it. It is totally purple but color aside I love this type of cabbage. It’s a pretty sturdy kind of vegetable with a beautiful color and if you want to cook it, like in this delicious cooked version of red cabbage you’ll need enough time to make it soft enough. If you eat it raw like in this recipe, it helps a lot if the pieces of the cabbage are not too thick and are made into thin strips. 

That is easy to do with a food processor, but you can use a sharp knife or a box grater as well. The making of this purple cabbage slaw is very simple and is a lot like making a regular coleslaw recipe. 

Making the purple cabbage slaw

For making the red cabbage slaw recipe you start by taking a large mixing bowl and you add the purple cabbage to the bowl. I grate the carrots as well in the same machine or one the same box grater and add it as well. 

Now comes the fun part as what you put in next it pretty versatile. In this particular case I went with dried cranberries but you can totally use raisins too. I added chopped pistachio for this time, but I’ve also made it with walnuts before. You can add sesame seeds, green onions, red onions, sunflower seeds or whatever other ingredients you fancy in crunchy salads.

Purple cabbage slaw

Creamy dressing

The dressing ingredients for the purple cabbage slaw are also pretty simple and are all based on mayonnaise as the main ingredient. If you’re not a fan of mayo based dressings you can definitely use olive oil instead. I like mayonnaise and I find it much creamier so I’d go with that. You can add some apple cider vinegar to the dressing or lemon juice. Balsamic vinegar is also a good option, although somewhat sweeter than the other options. Because I had some chipotle in adobo sauce I added a tablespoon of the adobo in there as well, making it a bit spicier. 

Adding fresh herbs is also a good idea. 

Perfect side dish

Making this delicious purple cabbage slaw is easy and it makes for a perfect side dish. Both for barbecue season, but it can also work really well during winter. The fun part is that it is even better the next day. You can keep it in an airtight container for up to a couple of days. It’s a popular recipe here and for good reason as I never make it the same twice. There are so many variations to this recipe that the list is endless. 

red cabbage and carrot slaw

Whole or not

Over here you can find purple or red cabbage pre-chopped. That would make this creamy red cabbage slaw an even quicker recipe, but it makes more sense to buy a whole cabbage. It’s more economic and you can do different things with that one cabbage. If you’re serving four people half a cabbage is usually more than enough for a side dish. The amount you’re left with is massive and it doesn’t wilt either. 

Purple cabbage slaw

Purple cabbage slaw with carrots

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GangSalad, Side Dish
KeukenDutch

Delicious as a side dish but also perfect for lunch and easy to take with you is this purple cabbage slaw with carrots
Cooking time 10 minutes
Total time 10 minutes

2 people

Ingredients

  • 200 gr red cabbage grated
  • 1 apple in cubes
  • 1 large carrot grated
  • 2 tbsp dried cranberries
  • 2 tbsp pistachio roughly chopped

Dressing

  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • pepper and salt
  • 1 tbsp adobo sauce from chipotle in adobo (optional)

  • Cut or grate the red cabbage finely. Mix it in a bowl with the apple pieces, grated carrot, dried cranberries and the pistachio.
  • Make the dressing by combining the ingredients and add pepper and salt to taste.
  • Serve with some fresh herbs such as basil or parsley

Nutrition Information per portion

Calories: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 1687mg | Potassium: 573mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 7240IU | Vitamin C: 67mg | Calcium: 85mg | Iron: 2mg

Disclaimer

The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.

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Simone van den Berg

Food- and travel blogger from the Netherlands. Loves good food. Loves to taste good food the world over. She also loves to share travelstories, delicious recipes and ok, cat pictures too. She sometimes feels the need to get really healthy for a while, always mingled with periods of insanely delicious sweets and other decadent treats. Lives in the Netherlands with her two cats; Humphrey and Buffy. Profession: Food photographer, food blogger, recipe developer and nutritionist