Cabbage is one of the most underrated vegetables. It’s Low Carb, super nutritious, generally available year round, keeps in the fridge for weeks and weeks, and if cooked properly it’s super delicious. I love it raw shaved into salads or ‘slaw.
But it’s even better when cooked down into a soft pile that’s sort of like a big bowl of fettuccine. Waistline-friendly comfort food at it’s best!
If you want to make this even easier, buy pre-shredded cabbage. And don’t skip the vinegar! It really freshens everything up and makes the cabbage flavours come alive (in a good way). Ditto the salt and oil.
Magic Sausage & Cabbage Supper
Ingredients
- 1 large bag shredded cabbage (approx 500g / 1lb)
- 4 thick sausages
- 1 tablespoon sherry or wine vinegar
- mustard or mayonnaise (or both!), to serve
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 250C (480F). Place sausages in a roasting pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil.
- Roast for 5 minutes. If you want to use whole cabbage now is the time to slice the cabbage as finely as you can be bothered but don’t worry about cracking out the mandoline (the finer you slice the quicker it will cook).
- Turn the sausages. Add cabbage, salt and another drizzle of oil. Roast for another 10-15 minutes or until cabbage is soft and sausages are well browned and cooked through.
- Sprinkle over vinegar. Toss, taste and season with more salt as needed. Serve mustard / mayo on the side
Variations
vegetarian – skip the sausages and serve cabbage and onion with poached eggs, lashings of shaved parmesan or crumbled feta or a few handfuls of roast nuts (almonds or pinenuts would be my pick).
different meat – feel free to use chorizo, chicken thighs fillets or pork chops instead of the sausages.
different veg – replace cabbage with halved brussels sprouts, cauliflower florettes, broccoli florettes, diced eggplant, diced zucchini, capsicum (bell peppers) or chunks of sweet potato, butternut squash, parsnip or spuds. If using root veg expect the cooking time to be more like 30 minutes or longer. Sliced onion is great too.
herby – add some thyme or rosemary with the onion. Or toss in some flat leaf parsley once the cabbage is cooked.
extra cabbage hit! – serve with a side of simple sauerkraut.
more substantial (carb lovers)– serve with spaghetti, mashed potato or warm flat bread.
more substantial (low carb) – add some mayonnaise or walnuts.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
cabbage – will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for weeks, even months. Can be frozen but will have a wilted texture once defrosted.
sausages – freeze them.
sherry or wine vinegar – keep them in the pantry.
mustard / mayo – unopened in pantry or in fridge once opened.
Problem Solving Guide
bland – more mustard and mayo. Next time use more flavoursome sausages.
too dry – Overcooked! For now just serve with extra mayonnaise or a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Next time check earlier.
no oven – Pan fry sausages over a medium high heat until cooked through. Saute cabbage and onion in a large pot with a little butter on medium high heat. Add a few tablespoons water, cover and cook for a few minutes. Stir and recover repeating until the cabbage is soft. Season with lots of salt.
Prepare Ahead
Yes! Just cook as per the recipe but keep the mustard / mayo separately. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or can be frozen. To serve, warm cabbage and sausages in a frying pan with a little oil.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Jules, I recently read that there’s the tightly balled cabbage and loose leaf cabbage. The advice was to avoid eating the tight cabbage because of something in them that can be bad for our health. They recommended eating the loose leaf and cutting out the heart of the stalk or whatever to avoid whatever it is that is bad for you. Have you heard of this? What are your thoughts?
Never heard of it Colleen. Interesting.
This is one of my very favorite recipes – I make it frequently. I skip the mustard and mayo because it’s great with just the sherry vinegar. IMO it doesn’t need anything else.
ooh no mustard OR mayo – controversial Susan!
Love, love, loved this! Cannot believe how thinly slicing the cabbage and onions created even more sweetness. I’ve roasted lots of cabbage but never this thin. Thanks Jules!
Yay for cabbage Dana 🙂
I was going to make this earlier with chicken thigh fillet and sweet potato, but had some sausages left over from last week’s Mushroom, Sausage + Feta Hash, and decided that I wanted the Germanic combination of sausage, cabbage and mustard. I added extra veg (potato, capsicum, zucchini and mushroom) and substituted the juice of a lemon for the vinegar.
The other ingredients didn’t get the full benefit of roasting because they were blanketed by the cabbage, which started to burn on top until it was reduced enough for me to stir it in. It was good (especially with mustard and mayo!), although I’m wondering if the ‘no oven’ version might work even better, given how easily cabbage cooks down in a closed pot.
How good is mustard and mayo Mark!
Yes if you want to add other veg that will take longer to cook than the cabbage, I’d roast them on a separate tray and add them together at the end.
Or you could cook the cabbage in the pot as you suggest but then you’re missing out on the additional flavours you get from roasting.
Always options!
Oh my! This is our first Stonesoup meal plan recipe, and this was so ridiculously easy that our 10 year old son took charge & made dinner, following instructions & (mostly) to schedule (we have a non-fan forced oven to contend with in our new home). Simple, delicious, easy weeknight fare!
Wonderful Kelly!
And very impressed your 10-year-old was on cooking duties 🙂
What is the topping you illustrate in your Magic Sausage and Cabbage recipe?
Good question Teresa!
It’s actually a combo of mayo and seeded mustard – about 50:50 blend
Jx
I just wanted to thank you for these recipes and making them seem possible and not overwhelming. I happened to have the ingredients needed today for this recipe. First real stab at meal planning this week!
PS I would add a photo but I can’t figure out how.
You’re welcome Marina!
It’s always nice to read comments like this. The photo upload option is only available in the discussion group at this stage. However will see if I can work out how to get the ability to upload in the comments too.
Look forward to hearing how you get on with your meal planning this week.
Jx