Christmas Red Cabbage

This Christmas Red Cabbage Recipe is very slowly braised with onion, chopped apples, dried cranberries and warming spices – it’s a vibrant, flavourful addition to your festive table.

It can be made several weeks in advance and frozen, or it will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days, ready to be re-heated whenever you need it. So easy and hassle-free.

For me, red cabbage is a non-negotiable part of Christmas Dinner. But it’s far too good not to eat it all through the Winter months – it’s delicious with beef stew, cottage pie, hot pots, and casseroles. I particularly love it with slow cooker ham in coke.

This Christmas red cabbage recipe is packed with festive spice. It’s incredibly versatile – its sweet and slightly sharp flavour sits very happily alongside pretty much any roasted meat, such as roast turkey, duck, pork and goose.

It’s also delicious with sausages – hand me a plate of sausages, buttery mash, onion gravy and a generous helping of this spicy, aromatic red cabbage and you would make me a very happy girl indeed!

1. Shred the cabbage. Remove the tough outer leaves of the cabbage, cut it into quarters and remove the hard core. Now, shred the cabbage finely. If you don’t want your hands stained purple, wear disposable gloves!

You could shred the cabbage in a food processor if you prefer, but I prefer to use a large knife.

3. Add the spices to the pan – freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon, ground allspice and salt and pepper and cook for a minute or two before adding cranberry or apple juice, soft light brown sugar, 2 cored, peeled and diced apples, dried cranberries, red wine vinegar and butter (if you need this recipe to be vegan, this can be omitted).

COOKS TIP – Red cabbage can also be cooked in the oven, as long as you use an oven-proof dish. Prepare the recipe as directed and transfer it to a preheated oven (150C/130Fan) and cook for 2-3 hours, stirring every hour or so.

4. Cover the pan with a lid.  Turn the heat down as low as possible and leave for 2-3 hours. It won’t come to any harm if you leave it for a little longer.

COOKS TIP – Red cabbage can be kept warm for a few hours without spoiling. Once it has completely cooled, transfer any leftovers to a lidded container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

cooking tips and tricks

Red cabbage needs a long, slow cook to enable all the flavours to merge together.

It’s one of the easiest vegetable dishes you can make – all you need to do is chuck the ingredients in the pan, set it on a low heat and that’s it! Chopping the cabbage is the only part that requires any real effort.

COOKS TIP – Please note that my recipe is for a medium cabbage – if you are feeding over 8 people, it would probably be wise to double the recipe.

reheating braised red cabbage

To reheat, place the cabbage in a lightly buttered ovenproof dish. Cover the dish with a piece of tin foil and heat in a preheated oven 180C/160 Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4) for about 25 minutes or until very hot.

If you would prefer to reheat the cabbage on the hob, place it in a saucepan, cover with a lid and heat on medium, stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes or until piping hot.

To reheat in a microwave, place the cabbage in a suitable dish or container, partially cover with a lid and heat for 3 – 3 1/2 minutes or until very hot.