Lemon Garlic Sauteed Cabbage

One of my favorite cabbage recipes! See how to make delicious sautéed cabbage with fresh lemon and garlic. Simple, quick, and delicious!

Watch The Video

My Favorite Way to Cook Cabbage

This is a simple, delicious, and healthy recipe for cooking cabbage. It’s also my go-to method (same goes when we are cooking zucchini or a variety of vegetables). If you have never sautéed cabbage before, you need to start. As the cabbage cooks in the pan, it wilts, turns tender, and becomes sweet. Cabbage may sound like a boring side, but this is one of our favorite sides to make. We also love roasting cabbage and turning it into kimchi.

Cabbage is underrated and is a nutrient powerhouse. It’s good for you with high levels of vitamin C, is antioxidant-rich, and has been shown to have anti-inflammatory benefits.

We love cabbage in many forms, but our favorite way to cook it is to saute it in a little fat on the stove. In this easy recipe, we stay on the healthier side and cook the cabbage in olive oil, but you can swap the olive oil for other fats.

Try butter, coconut oil or nut oils like walnut. You can even cook a few pieces of bacon before the cabbage and use the rendered bacon fat for extra flavor — we do this for our easy bacon fried cabbage recipe.

Making The Recipe

Making this cabbage recipe could not be simpler. Heat some fat in a skillet, add shredded cabbage (I’ve shared my tips for shredding cabbage below), a bit of salt and pepper, and the cook until wilted and sweet.

Simply sautéed cabbage cooked with olive oil, salt and a bit of pepper is quite delicious, but when we have them in the kitchen, we love to add minced garlic and fresh lemon juice.

The garlic adds flavor, and the lemon brightens up the dish. If you don’t have a lemon, apple cider vinegar is an excellent substitute.

If you love the lemon and garlic combo, try our balsamic sautéed Brussels sprouts, garlic butter sautéed green beans, easy sautéed kale or this lemony sautéed spinach!

How to Shred Cabbage

I love shredded cabbage in this recipe. Here’s how I do it:

1. Remove any tattered or bruised outer leaves.
2. Cut the cabbage into quarters, and then cut out the core.
3. Slice the cabbage quarters into thin shreds. You can hand shred with a knife (like in the photos below), use a mandoline or use your food processor shredding attachment.

More Easy Cabbage Recipes

• Leftover cabbage? Try our popular recipe for coleslaw with a creamy dressing. Or for a mayonnaise-free coleslaw, try our coleslaw with cilantro and lime.
• We add cabbage to our healthy homemade vegetable soup. It’s delicious.
• Here’s another way to cook cabbage! Our Ham and Cabbage Soup is easy to make and tastes incredible.
• If you love the garlic and lemon combination, try our 10 Minute Bok Choy Recipe.

More Cabbage Recipes