Sesame Sautéed Cabbage
Hi Everyone! It’s Friday and as per usual, I want to get dinner on the table as quick as I can…so I can relax more with my family! Enter my 5 Ingredient Sesame Sautéed Cabbage with a side of grilled chicken (check out this recipe for a quick and easy, make-ahead option), or whatever else you want to serve this with, and dinner. is. done! Not to mention delicious!
Cabbage is not something I have always liked. I know, as a dietitian, I should inherently love all super healthy foods, right? Wrong! I am just like anyone else in that some things take longer for me to love than others. Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli would all fall on that list for me. Hmm, do you sense a pattern here? All of these vegetables are in the cruciferous (or brassica) family of vegetables. That might explain it! They have some similarities when it comes to flavor. Much like you might have the same hair or eyes as your cousin.
Anyway, I did what I would tell anyone who struggles with not liking a healthy food to do. Eat it MORE often and eventually you’ll grow to love it (or at least like it). One HUGE factor for me on liking any food, is making sure it is prepared the right way. Case in point: growing up, my mother would cook asparagus until it was very soft and then drown it in milk and butter. The rest of the family loved it this way, but me? Not so much”¦and it was the one vegetable I was not “forced” to eat because that meant they all got more. Then, when I was working in the test kitchen, I had roasted asparagus that was cooked crisp-tender, and it was love at first bite.
Cabbage is similar, and when I first had sautéed cabbage kind of like I make it now, it was SO GOOD, it stuck with me, and now I have a hard time making it any other way!
By the way, I’m sure you’ve heard that cruciferous vegetables are some of the healthiest vegetables around, but in case you haven’t, here’s a quick bit of info. One research study, looking at the correlation of cruciferous vegetable intake and health, found that people who eat more of these vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, etc.) tended to live longer and have lower rates of cardiovascular disease (aka: their heart were healthier) compared with people who ate less of them. Kind of makes you want to learn to like them if you don’t already, huh? Try my recipe below and you just might fall in love with cabbage!
What are your favorite ways to cook cabbage? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!
P.S. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it makes so much. It’s great for a dinner party. But, my favorite thing to do is turn the leftovers into Chinese Fried Cabbage (think Chinese Fried Rice) the next day for a super quick, satisfying lunch.
Sesame Sautéed Cabbage How To Photos:
Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet.
Cook carrot, onion, and sweet pepper in coconut oil in the same skillet.
Isn’t this just the most perfect head of cabbage you’ve ever seen?
Coarsely shred the cabbage by thinly slicing it across the ribs.
Grind the toasted sesame seeds using a clean coffee grinder.
This is what they should like after grinding.
The cabbage mixture after cooking it for the 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the cabbage with the ground sesame seeds, salt, and pepper.
And now you’ve got yourself a lovely side dish that didn’t take long to make!
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil
- 1 medium carrot, cut into thin bite-size strips
- 1 red or orange sweet pepper, chopped
- 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced (about ½ cup)
- 1 small green cabbage (1 ¾ pounds total), cored and thinly sliced to make coarse shreds (about 7 cups total)
- ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup ground black pepper
- White and/or black sesame seeds (optional)
- In a large dry skillet cook sesame seeds over medium-low heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly toasted, shaking skillet occasionally to toast seeds evenly. Transfer seeds to a small bowl; set aside to cool.
- In the same skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add carrot, sweet pepper, and onion. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cabbage; toss to combine (skillet will be full). Add water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, transfer cooled sesame seeds to a clean coffee grinder. Grind until the seeds are coarsely ground. Sprinkle ground seeds over cabbage mixture. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Toss to combine. If desired, sprinkle with additional white and/or black sesame seeds before serving. Enjoy!
- 80 cals, 2 g pro, 8 g carb, 5 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g sat fat, 3 g fiber, 166 mg sodium
Great recipe but I thought 1/4 cup pepper insufficient!
Thanks, Mary! I’m sure you can easily increase the pepper amount to your liking. Happy Cooking!
I substituted sichuan pepper for the pepper and soy sauce for the salt.
Those sound like good substitutes! Thanks for sharing!