Red Cabbage Apple Slaw

You'll love how quick and easy it is to make this red cabbage apple slaw. Shredded cabbage and crisp apples go together perfectly in the creamy dressing. This colourful and tasty side dish is great for gatherings or to brighten up your next meal!

Table of Contents

• Ingredient tips
• Step by step pictures
• Substitutions and variations
• Serving
• Storage
• More Recipes:
• 📖 Recipe

Red cabbage is good for you! It's full of nutrients as well as antioxidants, as its dark purple appearance suggests. 

This clearly makes a case for eating more of it, but not everyone knows where to begin with incorporating it into their diet. 

Luckily, we love to come up with new recipes that help us get more different veggies in our bodies, and that we actually love to eat!

Of course, you can cook with red cabbage, but we really enjoy it raw. It adds some nice variation and colour to a mixed leaf salad. It's also easily added to accompany lettuce in wraps, such as our spicy tofu wraps. 

But for this recipe, raw red cabbage takes the centre stage in a red cabbage and apple slaw.

We keep it simple with just red cabbage and apple as the bulk and a nicely balanced, vegan mayo-based dressing. (If you'd prefer a recipe without mayo, try our Asian Inspired Cabbage Carrot Slaw instead.)

This red cabbage apple slaw recipe is:

• Crunchy
• Creamy
• Easy-to-make
• Vegan-friendly
• Gluten-free 
• Refreshing

Ingredient tips

Here's what you'll need to make this vibrant red cabbage slaw:

Red cabbage, also known as purple cabbage: Look for firm, compact heads of red cabbage for the best texture. You'll need about half of an average size cabbage for this recipe, or you can easily double the recipe to use up the whole head. 

Strip away the outermost - often slightly wilted - leaves, cut into quarters, rinse, cut away the thick white root and then you're ready to slice!

Apple: Choose crisp apples for the best texture. Flavour wise, you can choose either tart apples like Granny Smith for more tang, or sweet apples such as Honeycrisp or Braeburn for a sweeter taste. 

Mayo: Choose your favorite brand of vegan mayo for a creamy dressing, we used Hellmans. Alternatively you could use homemade vegan mayo.

Step by step pictures

Here's a visual guide on how to make red cabbage apple slaw. For the full, adjustable and printable recipe, see the recipe card at the end of the post.

Substitutions and variations

To make a more traditional red cabbage coleslaw you can swap the apple for some shredded carrots and sliced red onion.

As an alternative to apple cider vinegar, you can use lemon juice or even lime juice. 

In place of maple syrup, try agave, date, or another plant-based syrup. You could also use 2 teaspoons of brown sugar per 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and briefly dissolve it in the vinegar before you mix it into the marinade.

Serving

This simple salad makes a great side dish to plant-based proteins, such as our Crispy Baked Tofu or Sticky Tempeh. 

The rustic flavours also pair well with nutty wholegrains such as brown rice, bulgur wheat or rye sourdough bread.

For added crunch and flavour, you can sprinkle toasted nuts or seeds on top of the slaw just before serving. Walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds all go brilliantly with red cabbage.

Storage

Store leftover slaw in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3–5 days. Stir well before serving. 

You can also meal prep individual portions in mason jars to grab and go for work or your next picnic!

📖 Recipe