Coleslaw Recipe

Our coleslaw recipe gives you simple instructions for the quick and tasty salad you’re looking for. It has bite-sized crunchy vegetables drenched in a creamy, sweet, and tangy dressing.

If you’re a busy person, this salad will save you plenty of time because you can keep it in the fridge for days. It’s best when allowed to chill, and it goes well with almost any savory dish.

You can click here to go straight to the ingredients list and instructions for coleslaw. Or, read on to learn more about this dish.

What Is Coleslaw?

Coleslaw is a salad made with shredded vegetables in either a mayonnaise- or vinaigrette-based dressing. The term “coleslaw” is said to derive from the Dutch word, “koolsla,” which means “cabbage salad.”

Typical vegetable choices for coleslaw are green cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, and sometimes corn and bacon. Interestingly, this modern version differs significantly from its first appearance in a 1770 Dutch cookbook.

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The original recipe calls for only cabbage and a dressing made of melted butter, vinegar, and oil. This beautifully simple salad soon became popular and took on different forms.

In today’s coleslaw recipe, we’re tackling the most popular form — cabbage coleslaw with mayonnaise dressing. We’ve paged through plenty of online recipes for mayonnaise coleslaw and noticed a clear need for improvements health-wise.

Is This Recipe Healthy?

Coleslaw can be a healthy salad — it contains plenty of nutrients from the cabbage, after all.

One cup of cabbage contains impressive amounts of vitamins K and C. Vitamin C supports our immune system, while vitamin K plays an important role in clotting blood, preventing excessive bleeding.

Cabbage is also a good source of fiber, which helps to improve digestion.

However, in order to truly make coleslaw a healthy part of your diet, you need to keep an eye on the mayonnaise dressing.

According to the USDA’s dietary guidelines, we should all try to limit our sodium and saturated fat intake. The sodium you consume on a daily basis should not exceed 2300 mg and saturated fat should make up less than 10% of your total calorie count.

Mayonnaise happens to have these nutrients in abundance, and many recipes we saw use plenty of it in the dressing. The result might look appealing, but it’s often unhealthy to consume the designated portion size.

We chose to cut back on the mayonnaise and added a touch of salt, heavy cream, and milk. The dressing in our coleslaw recipe thus remains rich and flavorful but has acceptable amounts of sodium and saturated fat.

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You can check our guidelines to learn how we create our daily meals.

Types of Cabbage to Use

Coleslaw is usually made using green cabbage (plus a small portion of red cabbage and carrots for vibrant colors). Occasionally, chefs will use just red cabbage .

Other types of cabbage can be used in coleslaws, too. Juicy napa cabbage and leafy savoy cabbage are perfect candidates.

How to Cut Cabbage for Coleslaw

If you want to recreate a KFC experience, chop the carrots and cabbage into fine pieces. You can speed things up by using a box grater.

We chose to slice our vegetables instead, but with a mandoline rather than by hand. Dealing with the cabbages that way was fun and took less than a minute.

If you also use savoy or napa cabbage, note that there’s no way to cut them using a mandoline or box grater. A sharp knife and a clean cutting board are the tools you need in that case.

The mandoline can’t slice carrots into strips either, so we sharpened our trusty knife and got busy. We sliced the carrots (on a bias) into thin slices, then stacked the slices up and cut them into thin strips.

We could have sliced the onions as well, but having tried coleslaw with diced onions and loving its occasional pungent bites we decided to go that direction instead. You can choose either way.

Dressing

We are coating our coleslaw with a mayonnaise dressing. It’s creamy, bright (from the lemon juice), and lightly sweet, much like KFC’s version.

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You can switch this dressing for a simple vinaigrette if you want a less creamy alternative. Here’s our vinaigrette recipe that works with any salad:

In a bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar. When the sugar is dissolved, toss this dressing with the vegetables.

Going for the vinaigrette dressing, you practically have to add a handful of cilantro on top. Its freshness perfectly complements vinaigrette coleslaws.

Can You Freeze It?

Yes, you can, at least if you didn’t use mayonnaise.

If your coleslaw has a vinaigrette dressing, you can pop it straight into the freezer.

If it’s dressed in mayonnaise, you can’t freeze it because mayonnaise contains eggs, which don’t thaw well. Mayonnaise coleslaw should be stored in the fridge only.

How Long Does It Last?

Our mayonnaise coleslaw stays good for two days. Be sure to cover the salad bowl with cling wrap or place it in an airtight container before refrigerating.

What to Eat With Coleslaw

There are many things you can serve with coleslaw.

The most popular pairings with coleslaw are fried chicken and fries — the classic KFC combo. You can make the healthier, grease-free versions of these fried foods by checking out our buttermilk chicken and fries, all made using an air fryer.

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Coleslaw also goes well with burgers. Typical beef burgers are great matches, but if you want something else, our salmon burger and chicken burger might be helpful.

Vinaigrette-based coleslaw also goes great with fish tacos. If you haven’t got something in mind, this salmon taco recipe might be up your alley.

Coleslaw Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Our coleslaw recipe is simple, easy, and turns out an awesome salad in just minutes.

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• prep TIME 5 mins
• total TIME 15 mins
• INACTIVE TIME 10 mins

• COURSE Side Dish
• CUISINE Global
• SERVINGS
  4

  servings
• CALORIES 210 kcal

INGREDIENTS

1x2x3x

• 8 oz green cabbage (sliced thinly)
• 1 oz red cabbage (sliced thinly)
• 2 oz carrots (peeled and julienned)
• 1 oz yellow corn
• 1 oz onions (diced)
• 6 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
• 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tbsp whole milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Image instructions

1

In a large salad bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tbsp heavy cream, 1 tbsp whole milk, and 6 tbsp mayonnaise.

2

In the same bowl, add the vegetables (8 oz green cabbage, 1 oz red cabbage, 2 oz carrot, 1 oz yellow corn and 1 oz onions) in and toss to coat evenly.

3

Chill in the fridge for at least 10 minutes and serve.

NUTRITION

Nutrition Facts

Coleslaw Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 210Calories from Fat 144

% Daily Value*

Fat 16g

25%

Saturated Fat 3g

19%

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 1g

Cholesterol 32mg

11%

Sodium 247mg

11%

Potassium 197mg

6%

Carbohydrate 12g

4%

Fiber 2g

8%

Sugar 8g

9%

Protein 1g

2%

Vitamin A 2528IU

51%

Vitamin C 28mg

34%

Calcium 39mg

4%

Iron 1mg

6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keywords: coleslaw, coleslaw dressing, coleslaw recipe, how to make coleslaw