It’s a beautiful thing when you can make a cabbage salad that tastes just as good the second night — if not better — as it did the first night you served it.
For some reason during the last week or two of the Pantry Challenge, I ignored the contents of my vegetable drawer. Probably because it was just too full. The cold temps have had me drifting toward carbs instead of the abundance of fresh vegetables that I normally enjoy.
The other night while preparing Cheese Enchiladas and simple bean and rice side dishes, I decided to dig into the crisper and face the music. I’m so glad I did!
The cabbage, a few weeks older than when the farmer packed it in my produce box was still in very good shape. I thank my ten-year old KitchenAid refrigerator. I splurged on the bells and whistles which includes a crisper that does its job.
We had carrots, radishes, a few green onions, and cilantro, so I knew I could pull off a colorful and tasty salad.
We enjoyed the salad with our Enchilada supper one night and as a cole slaw the next night. Delicious both times! I’m going to make this with tacos next time. I think they’ll be a perfect crunchy filling.
How to make this good and cheap:
Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. While cabbage is pretty cheap year-round, I plan extra meals with cabbage in the late winter months when it goes on sale.
- Make your own dressings. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of salad recipes that call for bottled dressing. Those bottles are either way too expensive or full of junk. Make your own and save money.
Tools I use to make this recipe easy:
This is a pretty straight-forward dish. You don’t need any fancy equipment. However, having some good basic kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs. Here are the tools that I like to use in this recipe.
- plastic cutting boards – I have blue boards for veggies and white boards for meat.
- Ergo Chef chef’s knife – I’ve had my set for several years and they work well.
- salad spinner – I have this one and love the salad bowl bottom.
- cooking tongs – I use these all the time for cooking in a skillet.
- 1 head green cabbage thinly sliced
- 2 large carrots sliced into coins
- 5 scallions aka green onions, sliced
- 2 large radishes sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- In a large salad bowl combine the cabbage, carrots, scallions, radishes, and cilantro. Toss gently.
- In a small jar or bowl, combine the vinegar, garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. Add the olive oil and mix well. Toss with salad.
- Serve immediately. If desired chill and serve within 2 days.
Nutritional values are approximate and are based on 1/8 of the recipe. Refrigerate leftovers promptly and use within 4 days.
Are you looking for more good cheap eats?
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Post updated March 25, 2017.
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Don’tcha know I’ll be making this tomorrow! I have the same ingredients in my crisper (I need to pick up some cilantro on the way home). What a crazy week this has been for me. I haven’t cooked one night. Leftovers and Costco have provided our meals and the free pizza I scored from Target tonight (a red card reward). Four straight days of putting on workshops has left me totally blotto at the end of each day. Thank goodness my dh isn’t a demanding soul.
@Laurie, I made this tonight and it was a hit with the family. We’ll be eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, yum. (I think I need to toss my cumin and buy some fresh as the taste wasn’t as prominent as I would have liked)
@Laurie, glad you liked it!
It’s SO PRETTY! And looks yummy, too! : )
Thank you, Jessica for posting this. Gives me a more specific plan for the head of cabbage that I am sure will come my way with this year’s CSA share. Loving the inspiration.
And continuing in the vein of the Pantry Challenge, husband and I made a dinner of leftover Hubbard squash puree and arborio rice–the resulting risotto was good and filling. Perfect one pan dinner for a night when boy is not home to eat with us. I will either need to bake with the rest of the squash or put it in the freezer for future inspirations. Either way, we will use it. I absolutely cannot stand letting fresh produce go bad and have to be thrown out.
@Julie, I think that’s the trick to making a CSS work — having great recipes.
yum, what a great way to use up some red cabbage I have – and might just use parsley instead of cilantro – after all we still are on the LAST day of the pantry challenge! 🙂
did cave though — gonna try again in Feb!
That sounds & looks amazing.. M’honey will just have to do without since he doesnt like cumin or cilantro.. but my palate will be doing a happy dance. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your great salad!
We loved this with your Mexican Beef Tortas…had it for dinner and everyone raved! This slaw is lovely; colorful, flavorful and so crunchy!
@Brooke Kingston, that sounds like a great combination! Now to find chuck roast on sale so I can make tortas again.
I was so excited I received radishes & cabbage in my co-op basket yesterday. Definitely going to be making this salad/slaw this week.
Looks great, I am obsessed with cumin!
This salad looks amazing and I hope to make it soon, but I miss new posts! I think I got addicted to hearing from you everyday during the pantry challenge!!
I miss new posts, too! I’ve been swamped this past week with life. Hoping to share new stuff by the weekend!
I’m making this tonight. My family will be having tacos but I was planning on a taco salad and since I’ve had a head of cabbage in the fridge since January so I need to use it. I think I’ll use this as the base and add some black olives too. I don’t have any radishes.
This is a great base for taco salad. One of my faves.
It was really good! My new go to for taco salad. I added some black beans, black olives and crumbled goat cheese. I can’t wait to eat the left overs tomorrow.
Great!