This fried cabbage with bacon recipe will become an instant favorite from the very first bite. 
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 this fried cabbage with bacon all by myself.
Everything’s Better With 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.
Fried Doesn’t Mean Swimming In Vats of Fat
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.
Fried or Sauteed?
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.
Lets ‘fry’ some up now..
Ingredients for Fried Cabbage with Bacon 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 instead of ‘cooking the bacon’ you know it’s gonna be good.
I spooned out all of the grease except for about two tablespoons
What meat could I use as an alternative to bacon?
You could use ground beef but I use using turkey bacon. But keep in mind there won’t be as much oil for the Fried Cabbage so a little olive oil works fine in place of this of the bacon grease.
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 the 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!
What goes well with cabbage?
You can add a little protein by serving this dish with ground beef or ground turkey. And some additional herbs can spice this dish up a bit too. I have experimented with ginger, mustard and a touch of honey and all were real good. I had this as a side dish with our low carb Meatloaf too and boy was it good.
Ingredients
- 6 oz bacon that's about 5-6 slices, add more or less depends on preference
- 1 cabbage head, 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 (add two tablespoons olive oil if using turkey bacon). 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.
Nutrition
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Sheet Pan Cabbage and Beef Tips
Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples,
don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.
~Bill Meyer
I have a few (only need one!) organic cabbage heads growing beautifully in my garden, this year. Can’t wait to go buy some bacon (wish I had an organic pig, lol) to make this recipe. It sounds delicious! Everything I eat and drink is organic! It’s so healthy! And I love growing all my organic vegetables, in my garden, so I don’t have to eat all those pesticides, herbicides, and other nasty chemicals, they spray on grocery store veggies, while their growing!
Organic pork sure drew a laugh out of me today 🙂 lol. We enjoy turkey bacon these days, no more pork at all for us, but your garden sounds delicious from start to finish! Have a blessed day!
I used to run accounts and other things at an Italian restaurant, the old Italian was a great cook and staff had pasta & sauce for staff meals, when just us two he used to make fried green cabbage as a side dish. Olive oil, garlic and chilli in pan, when hot tip in shredded cabbage that had been steamed for couple of minutes and left to drain, it was a great dish. I am old and alone so I some times do it for myself, will have to try things some of your comments suggest. Always looking for simple healthy things to cook with few ingredients, not a lover of ready meals. Thanks.
You can add. Milk too!! Yum!!!
I love fried cabbage cooked in a little bacon grease with salt and pepper and a little bit of sugar, my mom always cooked it like that and I do too. BUT every now and then if I have an apple, I will chop it up and cook it in with the cabbage, it’s good that way and gives it a little sweetness from the apple. Try it sometime. I love your website.
I will have to give it a try, thank you so much for sharing!!!
I love this recipe I added diced onions to the bacon and added all the rest of the ingredients and roll them into egg rolls very delish thank you very much for this recipe