Easy Slow Cooker Red Cabbage with Apple

Red cabbage is one of those side dishes I associate with a proper autumn or winter dinner, although I probably make it most often around Christmas. It’s lovely alongside a roast, gammon or other warming meals, and the colour makes everything on the plate look considerably more interesting too!

I make mine in the slow cooker with Bramley apples, balsamic vinegar and a little dark soy sauce. The apples add sweetness as they soften, while the vinegar gives the cabbage that sweet-and-sour flavour that works so well with richer meals.

Using the slow cooker is particularly handy at Christmas because it’s one less pan taking up space on the hob. When I’m trying to work out where everything for Christmas dinner is going to cook, anything that can quietly get on with itself somewhere else is a bonus.

My recipe takes around three hours on HIGH, although I’ve included a hob method too if you’ve remembered the red cabbage rather later than planned!

Why add apple to red cabbage?

I use Bramley cooking apples in my red cabbage because they soften beautifully as they cook and add sweetness without turning this into something that tastes like pudding.

There’s quite a lot of cabbage here – I use two red cabbages – so the apple helps balance the balsamic vinegar and the slight bitterness you can sometimes get from red cabbage.

You don’t need to worry about getting beautifully neat cubes either. Once everything has spent three hours in the slow cooker, nobody is going to inspect your apple-chopping skills!

If you’re buying apples specifically for this recipe, I’d choose a cooking apple such as Bramley rather than a very sweet eating apple. If you’re using apples you already have, though, you can experiment rather than letting perfectly good fruit go to waste. I have a guide on cooking with apples from your garden or local orchard full of ideas that may also be useful.

Why I make red cabbage in the slow cooker

For me, the biggest advantage isn’t that red cabbage is difficult to cook on the hob. It isn’t.

It’s that the slow cooker frees up space.

That’s useful for a Sunday roast, but it’s even more useful at Christmas when there always seems to be something else demanding a saucepan, oven shelf or bit of worktop.

I can shred the cabbage, chop the apples, add everything to the slow cooker and leave it cooking for around three hours on HIGH while I get on with everything else.

There’s very little evaporation in a slow cooker, which is why this recipe only uses a relatively small amount of added water. Don’t be tempted to pour loads more in because the cabbage doesn’t need to be swimming!

How finely should I slice the red cabbage?

You want the cabbage shredded rather than chopped into enormous chunks, but don’t worry about making every piece identical.

Remove the tough core first, then slice the cabbage into fairly thin strips. If you’ve got a food processor with a slicing attachment, this is exactly the sort of job where it earns its cupboard space!

I usually do it with a knife, although two whole red cabbages produce rather more chopping than you initially expect.

The thinner pieces soften more easily and are nicer to eat with the apple mixed through them, so I wouldn’t leave the pieces too chunky.

Balsamic vinegar and soy sauce – really?

Yes!

Balsamic vinegar gives the cabbage acidity and a little sweetness, while the dark soy sauce adds a savoury flavour that stops the finished dish becoming overly sweet from the apple and sweetener.

There’s only a tablespoon of each in a fairly large batch, so the finished cabbage doesn’t taste like soy sauce.

I like that balance of sweet, sharp and savoury alongside a roast dinner. If you’re changing the quantities or substituting ingredients, taste the finished cabbage before adding lots more sweetness or vinegar because it’s much easier to add something than take it back out again.

Do you need to add sweetener?

My original recipe uses granulated sweetener because I first developed it when I was following Slimming World.

How sweet you like red cabbage is very personal, though, and the Bramley apples already bring some sweetness once they’re cooked.

If I were making this for the first time, I’d be quite happy to start with less sweetener and taste it towards the end. You can always add a little more if the vinegar makes it sharper than you like.

If you’d rather use sugar instead of sweetener, that’s another option, although you’ll need to adjust the amount to taste rather than assuming they’re interchangeable spoon for spoon.

Red cabbage for Christmas dinner

This is probably when I make red cabbage most often.

One of the reasons it’s such a good Christmas side dish is that you can get it cooking without using another hob ring. Mine takes around three hours on HIGH, so it doesn’t need to occupy the slow cooker from breakfast until Christmas dinner either.

It goes particularly well with gammon, which is handy because I’ve also got a guide to making gammon in the slow cooker. If you happen to own more than one slow cooker like I do, you could theoretically have both going at once. This is the sort of situation that finally justifies owning three!

I’d serve the cabbage alongside roast potatoes, vegetables, stuffing and whatever main part of Christmas dinner you’re having.

It works just as well if you’re having a vegetarian Christmas dinner too. I’m vegetarian myself, and I’ve always thought the side dishes are one of the best bits of Christmas dinner anyway.

Can you make red cabbage ahead for Christmas?

Yes, and that’s one of the things I like about it. Anything I can prepare without adding another job to Christmas morning gets my vote.

You can make the red cabbage ahead, cool it properly and store it covered in the fridge, then reheat it thoroughly when you need it.

It’s also suitable for freezing, which means you can make it well before Christmas rather than discovering on Christmas Eve that you’ve still got two enormous cabbages to shred.

I’d freeze it in sensible portions rather than one enormous container. That’s much more useful if you want some with a roast later without defrosting enough red cabbage to feed the entire street.

Follow current Food Standards Agency advice for cooling, storing, freezing and reheating cooked food.

Can I cook this red cabbage on the hob instead?

Yes. If you don’t have a slow cooker or you’ve left it too late to wait three hours, you can make the same recipe in a large saucepan.

Add the prepared cabbage, apple and other ingredients to the pan and cook for around 30–40 minutes, stirring regularly so it doesn’t catch on the bottom.

Keep an eye on the liquid because cooking on the hob allows considerably more moisture to evaporate than using the slow cooker.

The cabbage should be softened but still have enough texture that you know you’re eating cabbage rather than purple mush!

What about Slimming World red cabbage?

I originally shared this recipe when I was following Slimming World, which is why older versions of the page focused much more on Syns and used granulated sweetener rather than sugar.

The plan has changed over the years, so I’d recommend checking the current information for whichever ingredients you use rather than relying on an old Syn value.

You don’t need to be following Slimming World to make it, of course. For me it’s simply an easy red cabbage recipe that works particularly well with autumn, winter and Christmas dinners.

More Christmas recipes and ideas you might like

If you are looking for more inspiring Christmas recipes and ideas then check out the following articles I think you might like!

5 Christmas dinner ideas for vegetarians

A red lentil soup as a great starter for Christmas

Beef Bourguignon makes a good meat alternative for Christmas dinner or for Boxing day when you don’t want to cook!

Here is a great Yorkshire pudding recipe.

Potato recipes for Christmas

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