This easy slow cooker red cabbage recipe is perfect for Christmas dinner or any meal where you want to serve a delicious veggie side dish.
The sweet and tangy red cabbage is cooked slowly in a crockpot, which saves space on the hob. It's flavoured with apples, onions, and mixed spice, which makes it a perfect match for turkey or gammon.
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Simply add all the ingredients to your slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 6 hours. The result is tender, flavoursome braised red cabbage that's ideal with roasts, sausages, or your favourite festive meals.
Plus, this recipe is incredibly versatile-you can make it ahead and freeze it, cook it the day before and reheat in the microwave, or let it slow cook fresh on the day for ultimate convenience.
Looking for another easy slow cooker side dish? Try my easy slow cooker roast potatoes recipe.
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✔️ Why should you try it?
- This slow cooker braised red cabbage recipe is incredibly simple and requires very little prep work. Just toss the ingredients into your slow cooker and let it do the work for you.
- It's perfect for serving as a side dish at your Christmas dinner or any other meal.
- The combination of apples, onions, and mixed spice gives this dish a delicious and unique flavour.
- By cooking the red cabbage in a slow cooker, you'll free up valuable hob space for other dishes.
- It can be made ahead of time and reheated when you're ready to serve it. This makes it a great option for busy festive meals when you need to prepare multiple dishes at once.
🥘 Ingredients
Red Cabbage - 1 medium red cabbage, shredded.
Apples - I like to use Bramley apples for their tart flavour but Granny Smiths would also work. The apples need to be peeled and chopped.
Onions - 2 thinly sliced onions, or substitute with red onions if you prefer.
Dark Brown Sugar - Substitute with light brown sugar or caster sugar.
Cider Vinegar - Or use white or red wine vinegar. The vinegar helps to keep the pH of the cabbage acidic, thus ensuring its vibrant colour through the long cooking time.
Mixed Spice - or use ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
Salt and Pepper - seasoning.
🔪 Instructions
One: Place all of the ingredients into your slow cooker basin, switch on to low, and cook for 6 hours.
🍴 Serving suggestions
Slow cooker red cabbage is a delicious addition to your roast or Christmas dinner. Serve it with turkey, gammon, slow cooker roast beef, polenta roast potatoes, honey roasted root vegetables, creamed cabbage, sausage meat stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts, carrot and swede mash, devils on horseback, and bread sauce.
It also makes a tasty side dish for sausage casserole, slow cooker lamb breast, and pork chops.
📖 Variations
- Add 100g of dried cranberries to the red cabbage for a delicious sweet taste.
- Add the juice of 1 orange or lemon.
- Grate in a small amount of fresh nutmeg. Star anise, caraway seeds, juniper berries and allspice can also be used to add flavour.
- Add a splash of port or red wine.
- Swap the apple cider vinegar for balsamic vinegar.
- Top with a few knobs of butter and sprinkle over crispy bacon and fresh herbs, such as thyme leaves, just before serving.
🥡 Storage
Allow the slow cooker red cabbage to cool completely before storing. Keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.
For longer storage, it can be frozen for up to 3 months-simply thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating. Reheat gently in a saucepan or microwave until piping hot.
❓ FAQs
Yes, you can freeze red cabbage. If you have leftovers from your slow cooker red cabbage recipe, you can store them in an airtight container or freezer bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. However, it's important to note that the texture of the cabbage may change slightly after freezing and thawing, and it may become a bit softer. To reheat frozen red cabbage, simply defrost it in the fridge overnight and then reheat it on the hob or in the microwave.
Red cabbage is a good source of vitamin K and provides small amounts of calcium, magnesium, and zinc. It's also high in fibre, which helps keep your digestive system healthy.
😋Related recipes
More delicious slow cooker recipes to try.
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Recipe
Easy Slow Cooker Red Cabbage Recipe
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Equipment
- Chopping Board
- Knife
Ingredients
- 1 Red Cabbage shredded
- 2 Bramley Apples peeled and chopped
- 2 Onions peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar
- 60 ml Cider Vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Mixed Spice
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients into your slow cooker basin.1 Red Cabbage, 2 Bramley Apples, 2 Onions, 3 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar, 60 ml Cider Vinegar, ½ teaspoon Mixed Spice, ½ teaspoon Salt, ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
- Give everything a good stir with a wooden spoon.
- Cook on low for 6 hours. You can also cook it on high for 4-5 hours if you prefer.
Lima Ekram says
Was looking for a colorful side dish with my roast chicken tonight - this is it! Cant wait to try it!
Stephanie says
I love using the slow cooker! This was delicious and so easy to make with the slow cooker.
Janat Brockwell says
Did it go must or did it stay firm
Dannii says
This is how we make our red cabbage too and it is a must every christmas. So much easier than cooking it on the hob.
Beth says
As a German I love red cabbage but have never made it myself. That will change from this moment forward. I will always make it in the slow cooker. So easy and flavorful! Thanks!
Lisa Maskery says
This was so easy to make and was delicious. Made it on Christmas Eve and heated it in the microwave for Christmas lunch.
Elaine Malpas says
Can I use eating apples
Beth Sachs says
You can, but use a tart eating apple, not a sweet one.
nicola scantlebury says
Do you not need to add any water to this please?
Diane says
Very good. We love red cabbage.
Diane says
Very good
Mary Rynearson says
Could you please tell me what is in mixed spice!
Beth Sachs says
Hi Mary. Mixed spice is a British spice blend and includes some or all of the following ground spices: cinnamon, coriander seed, caraway, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, and mace.
Becci says
Made this for Christmas & froze a couple of other portions, which we've just had with a roast... I'm not a fan of red cabbage & have been known to cook it at Christmas for others & not touch it myself - this one is yummy!! I used nutmeg & cinnamon, as well as substituting the cider vinegar with balsamic (all of which I'm sure I saw somewhere, but now can't find!!). This will be a very used recipe from now on - we've already decided to slow cook up a further batch. Thanks 🙂
Diane says
I never ate red cabbage in my life but I'm bingeing on this now. I put my slow cooker on a timer so it cooks at night. But could you perhaps add a note that red cabbage stains? These take a couple of days to clear, next time I'm going to use gloves.
Lynsey says
Hiya ! How much cider vinegar mixed spice and brown sugar please 🙏 x