Leave it to Southerners to fry even the vegetables! This Southern fried cabbage recipe is a side dish that is simple to fix, inexpensive, and of course, tastes wonderful. How could it not with all that bacon? Just a spoonful of its tasty goodness helps the cabbage go down. 😉
I can remember both sets of my grandparents enjoying this simple recipe which they passed down to my parents and then to me. As a kid, I didn’t care for it (not surprising really) but now I love me some Southern-fried cabbage! It must just be in the genes.
Ingredients
To make Southern-style fried cabbage you only need a few simple ingredients.
- cabbage
- bacon
- onion
- Salt and pepper
How to Cut Cabbage for Frying
Coarsely chop a head of cabbage. You can cut it into squares or strips, you just don’t want to finely chop it like you’re making coleslaw. It needs to be a little chunkier than that. Strips are easiest honestly.
Finely chop a small onion as shown below. You want the cabbage to be coarse but the onion to be fine. The onion is more about flavoring the cabbage than biting into onion pieces as a separate ingredient in the final dish. Make sense?
How to Make Fried Cabbage
Cook the bacon in a large iron skillet until crispy. I like mine extra well done so that there’s still a nice crunch to it once it’s mixed back in with the cabbage.
Remove the bacon and allow it to cool enough to handle. Crumble it by hand (or with a knife if you prefer) and set it aside.
Leave the bacon grease in the skillet and scrape the bottom of the skillet to loosen any bits of bacon.
Add the chopped cabbage and onions to skillet and pan-fry over medium-high heat in the bacon grease, stirring occasionally about 7 minutes.
Return the bacon crumbles to the skillet and continue to pan-fry until the cabbage is al dente.
Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste.
Serve warm.
FAQ
I love this shortcut for a lot of my recipes, but it doesn’t work well with this fried cabbage recipe. You really need those bacon drippings to flavor the cabbage.
Fried cabbage will still be tasty even if you use a more modern pan, but for the most authentic taste, be sure to cook it in a well-seasoned iron skillet.
No. The bacon grease will soften the cabbage perfectly as it cooks.
Other Southern Recipes
Now that you know how to fry cabbage, what will you serve with it? May I recommend this chuck eye steak recipe? I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Plus you’ll learn just how versatile your iron skillet can be. Once you’ve mastered how to make Southern fried cabbage and enjoyed your chuck steak, you can use your skillet or Dutch oven for stewed tomatoes too.
Southern Style Fried Cabbage Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small head of cabbage cored and coarsely chopped
- 5 strips of bacon
- 1 small onion chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook bacon in a large skillet until crispy.
- Remove bacon, crumble, and set aside.
- Leave bacon grease in the skillet and scrape the bottom of the skillet to loosen bacon bits.
- Add chopped cabbage and onions to skillet and pan-fry over medium-high heat in the bacon grease, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
- Return bacon to the skillet and continue to fry until cabbage is al dente.
- Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper to taste.