Red Cabbage with Apples is a really delicious way to transform red cabbage. Baked with apples, onion, and herbs until it's fall-apart tender it makes the perfect fall or winter side dish that can also easily be transformed into a main meal with the addition of some vegan sausages.
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Let's make cabbage the star of the show with this delicious Red Cabbage with Apples! Baked up in the oven with onions and herbs, the cabbage and apples are transformed into something amazing. So tender, sweet, tangy and juicy!
Fantastic as a holiday side or with vegan roast dinners and meatloaf, this hearty vegan side goes great with just about any dish. I love to turn it into a main meal by adding some vegan sausages towards the end of cooking. With some mashed potato and gravy it makes an amazing dinner!
Mel x
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Ingredients
This short list of ingredients is all you need to help the humble cabbage go from "blah" to "wow":
Vegan sausages are an optional extra. If you choose to use them you can use any type, but I do highly recommend either my vegan sausage recipe or Field Roast apple sage sausages because they work incredibly with this cabbage dish.
The addition of some red wine vinegar to the sweet cabbage, apples, and maple syrup gives a little tartness to give a really well-rounded, balanced taste.
The fresh herbs elevate this roasted cabbage recipe and add so much flavour. I really recommend not subbing dried herbs. You can usually find fresh herbs year-round in the produce section at grocery stores.
Variations
- Pears make a great sub for the apples although they won't hold their shape as well.
- Use green cabbage and apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar instead of red cabbage and red wine vinegar.
- Need a substitute for red wine vinegar? Balsamic vinegar is an easy replacement or you can use sherry vinegar for something more subtle.
Let's Make Red Cabbage with Apples!
Roasted Red Cabbage with Apples is really easy to make and oh so pretty!
Here's how it's done:
- Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage, slice it up then core and slice the apples. Add them along with everything else to a lidded oven-safe pot/dish. A small Dutch oven or similar is perfect. Placing the herbs on the top makes it easy to pick them out before serving.
- Cover and bake for just under 1 hour. The cabbage should be tender and smell very fragrant and delicious once done.
It's as simple as that. Such an easy recipe and it tastes like way more work went into it than it actually did!
Serving Suggestions
Serve this delicious Red Cabbage with Apples as a flavourful side with just about anything, from your Sunday roast, to midweek dinners. I love it with:
- Vegan Sausages
- Lentil Shepherd's Pie
- Beyond Meat Meatloaf
- Vegan Meatloaf with Gravy
- Vegan Chicken Breasts
- Vegan Roast
- Vegan Beef
Recipe FAQs
Red cabbage and purple cabbage are exactly the same. The colour of the vegetable will always be somewhere between a deep purple and pink (this depends on the pH value of the soil it's grown in).
Red cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable and is an impressively healthy food containing lots of fibre, vitamins and minerals. Read more about its health benefits here.
Recipe
Red Cabbage with Apples
Author:Ingredients
- 1 small head (about 1 kg / 35 oz) red cabbage , thinly sliced
- 1 large onion thinly sliced
- 2 medium apples , cut into chunky slices, cored but not peeled
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 small handful fresh sage
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar (omit for sugar-free)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil , (omit for oil-free)
- 1½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
Optional to make it a meal
- 4 Vegan Sausages (my recipe, Field Roast apple sage sausages or Very Good Butchers British Bangers are incredible with this)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 ° F (200 °C).
- To a large oven-proof dish add the red cabbage, onions, apples, thyme and sage.
- Pour over the red wine vinegar, maple syrup/sugar and olive oil and sprinkle over the salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.
- Cover with a lid or very tightly with foil, and bake in the oven for about 50 to 55 minutes, after which time the cabbage should be really tender and smell fragrant and delicious. If it's not, give it a few minutes longer. If you get caught up with something it's fine left in the oven longer. If it will be much over 30 minutes extra though turn the oven down a bit to 325°F (160 °C) after the initial 50 to 55 mins.
- Check the seasoning before serving and add a little more salt and pepper if required. Be sure to stir it in well.
To make it a main meal
- If you want to turn it from a side to more of a meal, add some vegan sausages. If using Field Roast or Very Good Butcher's sausages (or similar that are already cooked and just need to be heated through), slice them up and add them to the cabbage ten minutes before the end. If using raw vegan sausages like Beyond Meat style, cook them on a tray in the oven alongside the cabbage or in a saute pan then add them either sliced or whole to the cabbage for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.
NOTES
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Lora says
Mel, this is such a good recipe! I made it the other day and the only thing I didn't have was fresh sage, it's not available where I'm at. so I had to use ground sage but everything else was the same and oh my goodness this is fantastic! easy to put together and did not disappoint in flavor! I even gave a portion to my neighbor who eats meat and he really liked this recipe!
I'm going to try the apple cake next cuz I need to get some dates in my system. thanks for the great recipe!
Joanne says
Wow was this good. So simple healthy and delicious. Loved the tips to keep onions and apples chunky. Had this with Gardein Supreme spicy Italian “sausages”. Will be on repeat. Thanks!
Samantha says
YUM - This was super easy! I omitted the oil and sausage - great side dish!
Marie says
So good and I'm preparing the recipe for the third time.
Karen says
Could you substitute red wine vinegar for lemon juice or just omit?
Boston Vegan says
Delicious! I missed the “chunky” part of prepping apple slices, so mine kind of disintegrated, but that didn't matter at all.
Georgia says
Hi Mel,
Could I make this on the stove top, low heat for an hour? Would I need to add a cup of veg broth to prevent sticking?
Many thanks for all your amazing recipes!
Melanie McDonald says
I've never tried it, but I'm sure it would be fine. I would add a cup of veg broth and be prepared to add a little more as necessary if it dries out. Enjoy!
Ingeborg says
A different yet very tasty take on our Dutch rode kool met appeltjes 😊We use cloves, cinnamon and bayleaf so this version is a very nice but slightly different one to add to our menu. I really love love love red cabbage with mashed potatoes and vegan hachee, goulash or stooflapjes (no idea how to translate that one 😆) My winter comfort food for sure!
Alex Eve says
Similar to the red cabbage with smoked meats my mother used to make. Also see Jane Grigson's Vegetable Cookbook. You can add raisins and sultanas which swell and become succulent. I had some sun dried apricots in the store which I added, with yummy results tonight.
Christine Albanese says
Wonderful recipe and so quick and easy to prepare! I found that my cabbage only needed 45-50 mins to cook, but leaving it in for longer wouldn’t harm it either.
Theresa says
Full of flavour. A quick prep dinner. We used the Field Roast apple sage sausages. Great the next day too - right out of the fridge!
Doris says
So yummy. We are not vegan but it was a wonderful dish to create and add more veggies to our table.
Doris says
Just wondering if it can be cooked in a slow cooker rather than the oven?
A Virtual Vegan says
The recipe hasn't been tested in a slow cooker. I'm sure it could be cooked in one, but you wouldn't get as good a flavour as you would when cooking it in an oven. Cooking in the oven concentrates the flavours. For some reason slow cookers make food taste a little bland and with that characteristic slow cooker taste, at least in my experience.
Michelle says
I have red cabbage from my garden and apples... this looks like a great Xmas side dish! Looking forward to giving it a try. Thanks Mel!
A Virtual Vegan says
Hope you enjoy it Michelle!
Patricia Giannelia says
Looks great - a variation on the German stewed red cabbage that I grew up with. It also has onions and apples, and then juniper berries or whole allspice for an amazing flavour.
Also, living in the Okanagan now, I find that the sweeter apples - Royal Gala, Ambrosia, Delicious are so sweet, I don't need added sugar.
Looking forward to trying this version for our Christmas dinner this year!