Fried Cabbage- and Southern Misconceptions
I’m going to start this post by letting you know, in the interest of full disclosure, that while the recipe I am bringing you today serves about four or five people (give or take), I ate every blessed bit of it all by myself. ~grins~ I know, I’m proud of me, too. It took me more than one meal but I’m no quitter! It’s that kind of steady work ethic that has gotten me where I am today. “Well, Christy, where exactly are you today?” I’m glad you asked coz I’m gonna tell ya. I’m waist high in laundry, ankle deep in dirty dishes, shoulder high in kids, and about as happy as a pig in slop! Life couldn’t be any better.
So now on to the business of bacon. As I’ve been focusing on filling up my bacon grease jar all week I’m going to bring you one more bacon dish that utilizes both the drippings and the bacon itself. I dearly love cabbage in all forms. Raw, boiled, fried, and even sauerkraut. In fact, there would have been a lot more in this dish had I not of eaten so much of it raw while I was chopping it. Out of all the ways I eat cabbage though, this is the absolute best in my eyes.
Don’t let the “fried” part scare you off. Some folks hear “fried” in relation to Southern food and they automatically think vats of oil, like we sit around in our hoop skirts on the lawns of plantation houses gnawing on fried chicken all day long. ~sighs~. God love’em. You know I was talking to my friend Jyl the other day and we were talking about how neither one of us have ever known a rich plantation owning Southerner, but all of the movies and such would have you believe that the majority of us are descended from them. Boggles the mind, really.
With regards to fried foods though, there is a simple reason why so many of our recipe titles start out with “fried”. You see, we refer to a large skillet as a “Frying pan” and so everything we cook in it usually gets labeled “fried”. We’re not big on fancy words like “saute’”, which is really what we are doing here. The definition of “Saute” is cooking something in a small amount of fat over high heat. No, Southern cooking doesn’t put on any airs, so we just call it “fried”. You ask any old timer in the South what sounds better, Fried Cabbage or Sauteed Cabbage, and I’d be willing to put money on them choosing the first.
As far as the misconception about all Southern food being deep fried goes, I’ve decided that when anyone thinks like that about us, I’m just gonna let them keep on thinking that way and I think you should, too. That just means more of the good stuff everyone else!
Lets fry some up now..
Ingredients are simple, as they are in all of the best dishes! Cabbage and bacon. We’ll also salt and pepper it a bit.
Chop your cabbage up however you like to chop your cabbage up. I do mine in medium sized pieces but some people prefer larger or smaller, whatever cranks yer tractor.
I have to quit chopping at this point because the longer I chop the more I eat and I want to have some left over to actually cook.
The instructions begin with my favorite sentence in the world: “First, you fry you up some bacon…”
Anytime a recipe starts with that you know it’s gonna be good. (be sure to check out my sweet and sour green bean post!)
I spooned out all of the grease except for about two tablespoons
This is what you’re left with after that is done. It may not look like much, but it is the makings for some fine cabbage!
Place all of your cabbage back in the skillet
Crumble your bacon and add that, too. Stir it up a bit and cook on medium high heat for about five minutes, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to low and cover skillet. Continue cooking just until cabbage is as tender as you like it, five to ten minutes.
When it gets as tender as you like it to be, or when you just can’t wait any longer, dig in!
Fried Cabbage
Ingredients
- 5-6 strips of bacon (more or less if you like)
- 1 head cabbage, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In large skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Place bacon on paper towel lined plate and remove all of the bacon grease from the pan except for about two tablespoons. Place chopped cabbage in skillet and crumple cooked bacon on top of it. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for about five minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover. Continue cooking until cabbage is done to your desired tenderness, five to ten minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste.
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Ingredients
- 5-6 strips of bacon (more or less if you like)
- 1 head cabbage, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In large skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Place bacon on paper towel lined plate and remove all of the bacon grease from the pan except for about two tablespoons. Place chopped cabbage in skillet and crumple cooked bacon on top of it. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for about five minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover. Continue cooking until cabbage is done to your desired tenderness, five to ten minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste.
Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples,
don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.
~Bill Meyer
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Gratefully,
Christy
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Jul 9 2010. Filed under Side Dishes.
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I love to eat a little ketchup with my food too!! I eat it on scrambled eggs, fried rice, fried chicken, fried pork chop!! ha! I think it taste great!!
I have made fried cabbage for a long time, my husband loves it. I do something a little different and thought some one might like to hear what it is.
When the cabbage is done and ready to eat. I take 2 table spoons of apple cider vinegar and 2 packets of Spenda and mix together and pour over cabbage and mix.
My husband said a a little more meat and that is a complete meal for him.
Judy B
“The instructions begin with my favorite sentence in the world: “First, you fry you up some bacon…””
I’d take bacon over a box of chocolates any day!
Any suggestions as to what else will complete the meal? Or is this a one-dish wonder? The fellers at our house aren’t shy at the supper table, so any suggestions are surely welcome!
Oh oh oh I’d make the House Autry Pork Chops in the link below
http://www.southernplate.com/2010/08/house-autry-pork-chops.html
Then I’d even it out with fresh sliced tomatoes and some fried corn if I had it!
Oh and Hoe Cake or corn bread…
Check out this post for tons of links to sides and breads and desserts
http://www.southernplate.com/2009/08/six-meals-to-a-marriage-proposal.html
It’s great with meatloaf, and I add onion to mine!!!
I always have mashed potatoes with Fried Cabbage, and I always put Polish Sausage in with the cabbage. Make a skillet of buttermilk cornbread, this meal is slap somebody good! LOL
We like a meal of fried cabbage, corn bread, blacked peas and fried side meat. Side meat is cured but not smoked bacon or you can use sliced salt pork. Dredge the side meat in flour lightly and fry in hot grease until crisp. If using salt pork soak the slices in hot water for ten minutes to remove the excess salt then fry like the side meat. Oh Lordy!, this is just heaven. I also like to add a large sliced yellow onion with the cabbage. Seems like I can’t cook anything without onion and garlic.
My mother-in-law made fried cabbage as a main course. She added a little onions to the cabbage and when it was tender added cooked bowtie noodles.
This is such a big hit with my family – a great way to get our veggies in!
I’ll have to try this. I’ve got a head of cabbage in the fridge and a pack of bacon. And cans of green beans. mmmmm. Fried cabbage and green beans (its my weakness). I wish my husband ate vegetables so he would know the joy of fried cabbage…but then again, if he did that would be less for me!
My dear Mother made fried cabbage at least once a week. I make it for my kids and they love it as much as I ever did as a kid. We were at a restaurant one Sunday, talking about what I should cook for the next week, and I mentioned fried cabbage, well, the kids were very excited! 2 people from other tables came over to ask me what fried cabbage was, I explained it to them, and they said they had never heard of it, but were gonna try it. My mother would have been so proud to know that her recipe was gonna go to someone new! Thanks for talking about Fried Cabbage.
My Mom did too….and now I’m craving me some cabbage!
[...] Stone – I made your yummy hamburger steaks recently for my husband who LOVED them along with the fried cabbage! I also made your strawberry-pecan bread a few weeks ago for decoration at my church & everyone [...]
Love Fried Cabbage–with Bacon of course. I also add a 4 oz. can of chopped green chilies right before I dish it up from the stove. Hadn’t tried frying with onion as some suggest but some good Vidalia’s would put it over the top. Serve with some fresh corn on the cob and fresh tomatoes with cucumber salad and dinner is on the table. Delicious eating! Love your website and the ease of the recipes.
YUM! My husband does not like the smell of cooked cabbage, so I will be having this the next time he is out of town on business!
After frying the bacon i then put in onions, bell pepper and garlic. Saute until tender then add the cabbage and a quart bag of chopped tomatoes. Red pepper to taste and serve with grilled pork steaks and hot water fried corn bread.
I made this receipe and it was delicious. Reminds me of what my grandma used to make.
This is how I cook my cabbage, but, I add some onions and some red and green bell peppers. Now my Mama always boiled her cabbage…I love it boiled, too, but, fried cabbage, to me is the only way to go. I love some cornbread with it and that’s a meal!!
This is soooo good, and like you I also have a weakness for fried cabbage. But I cook it 2 ways…….one way is with the bacon, and the other is with fatback which is the way my mama made it along with pork chops and whatever vegetable she had on hand. Of course she had to use 2 heads of cabbage—– I am the oldest of 9!
WE LIKE TO FRY OURS UNTIL IT BROWNS SOME, I ALSO ADD ONION TO IT, FER A CHANGE.. EAT WID CORNBREAD. YUM YUM
JOHNNY
I absolutely love this great Southern dish. I make it every chance I get because its just that stinking good. My husband feels the same way. At times I may put a little onion in mine though, just to give it a little more Southern flavor.
I ate a whole pan of this just the other day…minus the bacon. To make this completely low calorie, just use a little bit of water and steam it. It tends to brown a little bit from sticking, but doesn’t taste burnt…and you can pretend like the brown parts are bacon! lol
I fry cabbage all the time using the same basic recipe, but add sliced onion to mine. This is one of my favorite dishes and I could easily eat the entire batch all by myself.
if you throw some no yolks egg noodles in with this and let it steam/fry together til tender…oh my goodness good eating with cornbread salad i am certain!
Goodness that sounds good!!
This is a ‘beach’ recipe in our household. We always make it at the beach. We add boiled shrimp to it & stir in some sour cream. OMG!!!! Sinfully wonderful!!!! And yes, it is one of those wonderful dishes you could eat all by yourself, but it is a great dish to share with friends!
Your comment about Southern Plantations brought to mind my opinion of Tara and that is I wouldn’t mind living like Scarlett did, minus the Civil War, but I would have settled for everything else. Oh yes, I would have skipped being laced into a corset too.lol
I like bacon, however, I abbhor frying it in my kitchen. I’m a bit of a clean-freak and greasy messes are one of the few things that I can’t stand. So instead of frying bacon, I opt for something as equally unhealthy to fry my cabbage: a whole stick of good, old-fashioned, real, salted butter. And salt and pepper. I prefer my cabbage on the salty side.
Place bacon on cake cooling rack and set on cookie sheet (with sides). Very little mess. I hate that sputtering all over the stove and counter, too!
Made this for supper last night. We were camping and at a loss what to do with a partial bag of commercial coleslaw mix. Decided to pop it in a tinfoil pan covered with foil wrap with some water and butter and steam it over the open fire. Not only could you smell cooking cabbage all through the campground but it was driving us nuts just smelling it cooking. Got some nice little crispy bits in it when the natural sugars started to carmelize. It was oh so delicious with bbq’d burger patties and mac and cheese salad. Too bad it was only a partial bag because we could have just kept eating. Yum! Will definitely be a staple on the camping food list from now on
Yummy!!! I hope you have a wonderful time camping with your family!! And I hope it isn’t as hot there as it is here.
Mid temperatures
Actually on Saturday we had golf ball sized hail, lots of rain to the point of flooding some parts of the city and SNOW – so much that the snow plows had to go out and clear the highways, and yes that was the 6th of August !
Oh Christy – I thought of you tonight as I made this. I had my bacon cooked, and my cabbage chopped up waiting for me. Then my husband came into the kitchen to talk while I cooked. I turned around and half of my cabbage was gone!
I just fried some cabbage with the bacon….I added in some collard greens….WOW! I can’t stop eating. I don’t know if it will make it to the dinner table!
I make my fried cabbage with smoked sausage instead of bacon. It makes it a one dish meal!!! Yummy!!! Serve with hot cornbread!!!
When I was in high school, the cafeteria ladies made something we called “chock bar’s. They used Graham Cracker crumbs, honey and peanut butter and made these and sliced them into bars. I’ve known some of the kids to actually fight to get one someone didn’t want. I would love to know how much of each you use to make these. They are not baked, just mixed and put in a pan and let set and then slice. They are wonderful, especially with the government peanut butter!!
[...] Fried Cabbage [...]
I was born and raised in New England…so definitely not a southern lady, but I have to say, this recipe is WONDERFUL. I saw fried cabbage mentioned on another blog but had never heard of it. After a quick search, I was led here and I’m so glad that I was. I just made my first batch of fried cabbage a couple of minutes ago. I’m in heaven. The cabbage is so naturally sweet mixed with the saltiness of the bacon. It will definitely be a new go-to side (or meal straight from the pan!!) at my house!
I am so glad you found me and that you liked the fried cabbage. It is one of my favorites!!!
gonna have to try that one, looks good. Reminds me of bubble and squeak. My mother used to fry up left over mashed potatoes and cooked cabbage in a bit of butter. (of course I think you could use bacon grease too.) It is named after the sound it makes when you stir it in a hot fry pan.
I love this recipe for fried cabbage. So easy and so good. Thank you.
[...] check out Crispy Breaded Pork Chops with MeMe’s Mashed Potatoes and Milk Gravy, or try some fried cabbage and Sweet and Sour Green Beans. For dessert, how about peanut butter or coconut pie? YUM! [...]
Nothing better than a plate FULL of fried cabbage—i do add a little sweet onion and if i have left over potatoes—they get sliced & fried up with the cabbage–Christy girl, you sure know how to get the “juice” flowing!!!!!!!!
My mom was Hungarian, and a standard Friday supper was fried cabbage with chopped onions and cooked wide egg noodles stirred in near the end of the cooking time. This is called Galushka, and it makes a very tasty and inexpensive meal – ieasy and quick to prepare too. I am always amazed how each culture has its own version for what is universally delicious but simple food. My husband is Mexican and he LOVES this dish.
Christy, next time, finish off your serving of fried cabbage with a dollop of sour cream. Oh my goodness!
This is one of our all time favorites. I do add fresh onion to mine..it is such a good side with beans and cornbread.
the person who mentioned “galushka” hit it on the nail. My Husband is Polish and this is one of his famiy side favorite dishes. I like it too !!
I’ll have to fry….I mean try this….When I cut up my cabbage, I cover it with water and let it sit in the bowl while I fry the bacon. I saute some onion in the bacon fat, then take the cabbage out of the water by the handful and put it in the bacon fat, cover it, and let it steam a little, then stir, add salt and pepper and a little sugar. The water that stays on the cabbage helps it to steam. I cook it until it tender and then turn it off so it won’t over cook.
It is also good cooked with olive oil instead of bacon fat.
We also like fried cabbage. We add pepper sauce before eating. I like to fry squash the same way, except I don’t put the crumbled bacon in the squash, just use the bacon grease to cook it in and lots of chopped onion. Let this fry down til it begins to stick a little bit, stir it around and let it stick a little more until it browns however much you like it. Salt and pepper the squash to your own taste, but we like lots of pepper in the squash. Add a plate of fresh sliced tomatoes and a pickle jar filled with cucumber and onions soaked in half vinegar and half water (so it is not so strong, salt and pepper. Just round the meal out with sliced beets, also soaked in vinegar and water and a pan of cornbread. Oh my goodness it is so gooood. What else would you need to make a meal fit for a king ( and his queen of course).
Fried cabbage is so simple but tasty,and the leftovers are tastier than it was the first day,also a little tip I know it’s a bit more expensive but if you are using a sugar substitute please try stevia it’s a natural sugar substitute,the other sugar substitutes are either cancer causing or neurotoxins ,stevia is marketed as truvia and similar names,thanks
I put bell pepper and onion to mine
My husband makes the best fried cabbage I’ve every tasted. He starts with frying the bacon and cabbage but adds some chopped banana peppers in too. Gives it a little kick! Delicious.
This is a recipe I picked up in a Chinese cooking class about 35 years ago. It as finished it off with a splash of toasted sesame oil. Great for a side when making oriental food.
My Mama used to make fried cabbage. I’m from the south–Scarlett, no less! Mama didn’t do hers exactly this way. She put a little bacon grease in the pan with about half a cup of water and a little sugar (maybe 2 tablespoons) and proceeded to “fry.” She stirred it a lot to keep it from burning and it eventually turned a light brown color. It was delicious. I made this dish a few times years ago but had forgotten how long to fry it and found this site. It really is a wonderful dish. Thanks so much. And I enjoyed all the comments too–made me feel like I was among friends!–Oh, someone asked what you serve it with: I cook a big pot of soup beans, fry some potatoes and make a big skillet of cornbread. I’m talkin’ YUMMMM!
[...] – Lately I’ve made the Tender Baby Back Ribs, Creamy Chicken Skillet, Fried Cabbage, Hobo Packets, Slow Cooked Pork Roast, Fried Corn and Grilled Chicken Tenderloins (Without the [...]
I’ve been making this fried cabbage for years (never called “sauteed). Love your recipes and enjoy your southern twists on recipes familiar to us up here in New England. Yup, I’m a real Yankee from NH complete with all those Colonial ancestors back to the 1600′s! You’ve sure brought back memories of my Grandma’s and Aunties home cooking. A big thanks!
I did a version of this tonight for supper. Cubed new red potatoes and browned them in the bacon grease then added the cabbage. Yummy!
Ohhh, that sounds so good Karen!! Thank you for sharing!!
Any time we have bacon I bake it at 375 for 20-25 minutes (depending on oven and bacon thickness) on a foil lined cookie sheet. Comes out crisp and very litte mess. My boys love it this way for sandwiches etc because it lays flat. I also add a tablespoon of sugar or some splenda to my cabbage, and a dash of Franks Hot Sauce. Mmmmm, may be headed to Kroger for cabbage to go with Dirty Rice for dinner.
YUMMY! Can I come for dinner Ann?
I love the reminder of fried cabbage. It reminds me of my visits with my sweet grandmother. She was a wonderful cook and I have so many precious memories. She would always ask me what I wanted for supper and my reply was , in the summer garden lettuce, green onions, radishes and hot bacon drippings poured over the salad and good corn sticks. Yum, Yum. Then second was fried cabbage, crowder peas and fresh fried corn with cornbread, fresh from the garden. Then dessert was always her great fried peach pies, she made from drying her peaches. She taught my Mom and me so many special things and the memories are such a part of me.