Red Cabbage Slaw

Crunchy, bright and tangy, this red cabbage slaw features apples and raisins with a sweet honey dijon dressing. This is the opposite of a heavy, creamy slaw and goes perfectly with all types of meat and fish.

I’ve never been a fan of coleslaw the way it shows up at a typical American BBQ. When it’s done in a light, bright and refreshing way, like this red cabbage slaw, however, I’m game.

In my opinion, coleslaw should be crunchy and vibrant, not weighed down by a creamy dressing. Using red cabbage is the perfect base for that eye-catching vibrancy and with added ingredients like carrots, green apples and raisins, it’s as interesting to eat as it is delicious.

This healthy purple slaw is incredibly versatile. It makes the perfect base for lunch where all you have to do is add a protein on top like shredded chicken or leftover pulled pork. It’s also great as a side dish to almost any grilled or BBQ meat and fish and goes exceptionally well with our pulled pork sliders. You can even use it as a taco topping. I love it with lamb tacos.

It’s a no-cook dish that comes together relatively quickly, especially if you use a food processor to grate the vegetables and like most slaws, it tastes better the longer it has to sit and absorb the dressing.

Red Cabbage Coleslaw Ingredients

The complete list of ingredients and directions can be found below in the recipe card. Keep scrolling.

Red cabbage: Cabbage is a volume veggie so you only need about half of a small to medium sized red or purple cabbage for this slaw.

Green apple: A Granny Smith apple works well for the slaw. You want something tart and bright.

Carrot: Carrots are a quintessential coleslaw ingredient as they bring some natural sweetness to the recipe.

Raisins: These can be controversial in slaw, but I love them paired with the green apple in this recipe. They bring a nice punch of sweetness to the flavor of the red cabbage.

Parsley: Minced fresh parsley adds a fresh herbaceous touch to the slaw. It’s a supporting character role that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Dressing: Unlike a creamy slaw dressing, this recipe uses olive oil, Dijon mustard, lemon, honey and shallots. It’s light and tangy and perfectly refreshing.

Shredding Cabbage For Slaw

You can attack cabbage (and the other veggies) in a few different ways for coleslaw prep. I personally like everything in the slaw to be uniform in size so I usually opt for the food processor option.

For all the options below, start by removing the outer leaves of the cabbage, cutting off the root at the bottom, cutting it in half through the stem then cutting it again to obtain quarters. Use your knife to then remove the core by cutting it out diagonally. Once you have cabbage quarters with the core removed, you can:

1. Shred by hand with a knife — Use a sharp chef’s knife to thinly slice the cabbage in the short direction.
2. Use a mandoline slicer — Carefully shred the cabbage using a mandoline slicer on the desired thickness setting. A medium slice is usually appropriate for coleslaw.
3. Use a food processor with a shredding disc attachment — Attach the shredding disc to your food processor and guide the red cabbage quarters through the shoot using the tamper so that it shreds evenly.

The same approach can be used for the green apple and carrot in this recipe so that all the pieces are uniform in size and thickness for the slaw.

How To Make Red Cabbage Slaw

Once the veggies are shredded and ready, mince the parsley and shallot using a chef’s knife.

Combine all the veggies with the raisins and parsley in a large bowl.

Whisk together the olive oil, Dijon mustard, lemon, honey and shallot in a separate bowl then pour onto the slaw.

Toss everything until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste and let sit until serving. The slaw tastes best if you give it 30 minutes to sit covered in the fridge after assembling and before serving.

Swaps and Substitutions

This is a very versatile recipe and you can make plenty of changes to suit your preferences or based on what you have on hand.

• Add other vegetables — crunchy options like red or green onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, radishes and celery can all be added. Make sure to finely dice or slice thinly.
• Try other herbs — parsley is suitable to most palates, but other fresh herbs like cilantro or fresh dill work nicely here too.
• Make it spicy — if you like heat, a minced jalapeño pepper would be a good addition.
• Change the sweetener — honey can be subbed for maple syrup or another sweetener of your choice.

Storage and Leftovers

To some extent, coleslaw tastes better with time. However, after too long, the vegetables will start to soften.

Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.

I don’t recommend freezing coleslaw.

Other Things To Do With Red Cabbage

Looking for ways to use up leftover cabbage? While you can always freeze cabbage for later, this ground beef cabbage stir fry or red cabbage sauerkraut are also great ways to use up leftovers.

If you prefer a creamy coleslaw, this Irish coleslaw is a good option to try.