I love homemade cole slaw, the crunchy texture of the creamy cole slaw makes it my favorite anytime salad.
My Easy Cole Slaw Recipe, also known as Coleslaw, can be made in 10- 15 minutes, and It’s the perfect side dish for all of your barbecue dishes.
I always serve it with BBQ Baby Back Ribs and my world famous Buffalo Style Chicken Wings.
My homemade cole slaw goes great on sandwiches (or with sandwiches), and my BBQ Beef Brisket is a delicious example! It’s great with pulled pork and a topping for tacos.
Looking for a dish to bring to a summer potluck? You can’t go wrong with my cole slaw , it goes with everything !
Ingredients for Cole Slaw
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Cole Slaw. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Basic Ingredients
- green cabbage
- carrot
- mayonnaise
- apple cider vinegar
- sugar (I use raw cane sugar)
- fresh lemon juice
- salt and black pepper
You’ll find some recipes include celery seed or celery salt, but I’ve never enjoyed the flavor of that seasoning. If you would like a more colorful coleslaw, you can add some shredded purple cabbage to the mixture.
How do I prepare the cabbage?
The first step is using a sharp knife, carefully cut the head of cabbage in half. Then remove the core and any of the thicker white parts of the cabbage
You can use a food processor with the shred attachment or slicing blade to cut make short work of the cabbage. If you slice the cabbage by hand or with the food processor it will still need to be chopped. How much is your decision. I like to chop it fairly small, but you can leave the pieces of cabbage up to about an inch if you like.
My favorite way to prepare the cabbage is with a box grater, making the pieces very small and tender.
How to make cole slaw dressing
- Add one cup mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to a medium bowl.
- Combine the ingredients mixing until smooth and creamy. *Refrigerate until needed.
This mayonnaise dressing can be made with light mayonnaise, and I have seen some recipes add sour cream to the dressing, but it’s not necessary.
How to make Cole Slaw
Add the shredded carrots to a large bowl with the chopped cabbage.
*You can use precut cabbage or coleslawmix at your grocery store, but fresh shredded cabbage is so much better.
Mix the carrots into the chopped cabbage.
Add the coleslaw dressing to the cabbage mixture.
Mix the slaw dressing into the cabbage mixture. Make sure that all of the cabbage mixture has been thoroughly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
The cabbage can be a little tough, so letting it marinate in the slaw dressing overnight will help soften the cabbage and improve its overall flavor. The cole slaw can be made up to 2 days ahead of time.
After one bite, I’m sure you’ll agree this is the best coleslaw recipe, and you won’t be buying store bought slaw any more.
Recipe FAQ’s
This is a personal decision. It takes all the work out of making cole slaw, but you will sacrifice a little flavor with any precut lettuce or cabbage. There are preservatives added and I can always notice the lingering flavor. But they do work well when you’re pressed for time and still a much better option than buying grocery store salads.
The short answer is no, but it really needs time to marinate in the flavors and soften the cabbage. Letting cole slaw sit for 2-4 hours will help the flavor and texture. If you can make it the day before it will be even better.
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Best Cole Slaw Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small cabbage shredded and chopped
- 1 large carrot shredded
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ tsp lemon juice fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt more or less to taste
- ⅛ tsp pepper more or less to taste
Instructions
- Cut the cabbage in half and remove the core from each side.
- Using a sharp knife cut the cabbage in very thin slices, then chop the slices into small pieces. Place the prepared cabbage in a large mixing bowl.You can use a food processor to slice or shred the cabbage, or you can also use a box grater to shred the cabbage and carrot. Personally, I prefer the box grater method but my wife doesn't like it that fine.
- In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Mix until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the slaw dressing over the cabbage and carrots. Thoroughly mix to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.Cole slaw is always better after sitting for a day, make sure to mix the slaw a few times as it sits in the fridge.
Notes
- you can buy a bag of pre-shredded cabbage, but I’m not fond of the taste that the preservative gives the cabbage.
- you can also buy cole slaw dressing, but none will taste as good as my homemade slaw dressing.
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