Smothered Cabbage

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This creamy cabbage dish comes out tender, with a smoky bacon flavor all wrapped up in a delicious garlic sauce flavor that the whole family will love.

And you can enjoy this Smothered Cabbage side dish along with your favorite mains for quick weeknight dinners, lunches, or during festive holidays when you need to impress like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter.

This is a tasty southern style recipe that delivers tons of flavor, yet requires minimal prep time and effort. If you like cabbage try this Roasted Red Cabbage Recipe.

Easy Smothered Cabbage

Just like easy Smothered Potatoes and delicious Smothered Green Beans, the great thing about this recipe is that it only requires a few minutes of prep time and 5 simple ingredients pantry ingredients to make.

Ps it goes really really well with creamy dreamy Smothered Chicken.

Why Make This Recipe

• Quick and easy – less than 25 minutes of cook time in one pot with everyday pantry ingredients.
• Re purpose leftovers – great for using leftover cabbage, bacon, and other meats.
• Meal prep friendly – double or triple the recipe for meal prep.
• Versatile – this can be a light main dish, or serve as a side for main dishes including fish, meats, or other veggies.
• Diets – Suitable for gluten free, low carb, Paleo, and Keto diets.

Ingredient Notes

You only need a few ingredients to make this delicious recipe.

• Cabbage – This recipe calls for sweet white cabbage. If using savoy cabbage the cooking time will be different.
• Bacon – Smoky bacon adds great flavor but you can use any that you have, or start with store-bought bacon bits or ham hock.
• Stock – this recipe calls for chicken stock but you can use vegetable stock or broth instead. 
• Seasoning – We are keeping it simple with garlic salt, but add other seasonings if you like, such as cajun seasoning, creole seasoning, or old bay seasoning.
• Shallots – Using quick-cooking shallots speeds this up, but feel free to use very finely sliced onion or green onions, which are even quicker.
• Optional – a heaped teaspoon of minced ginger and some butter and freshly ground black pepper make great add-ins.

How To Make Smothered Cabbage

Get full ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet or large saucepan or dutch oven and sauté shallots for a couple of minutes until softened and lightly browned.
2. Add bacon (a third of it) and the cabbage pieces and fry for 1 minute.
3. Stir in garlic salt, chicken stock, and any add-ins, then cover with a lid and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally for 10-12 minutes (fork tender cabbage with a little bite) or for about 17-20 minutes (softer cabbage).
4. Uncover, adjust seasonings and switch off the heat, and toss in the remaining bacon.
5. I love serving this as a low-carb dish topped with extra smoky bacon.

Recipe Tips

• Cut the cabbage to the same size pieces so it cooks at the same rate.
• Cook time will depend on the size of the cabbage pieces. These are 1-inch pieces and need between 10-18 minutes. Larger 2-inch pieces may need up to 25 minutes.
• Add more liquid and a little extra bacon to make it into a delicious cabbage soup.

Delicious Variations

This smothered cabbage recipe is delicious as is, but here are a few variations to try:

• Change the meat – Use sausage, ham, or smoked turkey instead. Great for using up leftovers.
• Add heat – easily with some chipotle, red pepper flakes, or adobo.
• Add cream – make this creamy and over the top delicious.
• Vary seasonings – use Italian Seasoning, Cajun seasoning, oregano, thyme, Creole seasoning, and more.
• Vegan version – want this vegan, then skip the meat and swap out stock for vegetable broth.

Storage And Meal Prep

• Refrigerate – allow to cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
• Don’t Freeze – I do not recommend freezing this dish at all.
• Separate leftovers – in single serve-sized portions, place in airtight meal prep containers and allow to cool completely with the lids off before closing and storing.

Weight Watchers Points

There are 7 Blue Plan SmartPoints in one serving of this.

More Recipes You May Like

• Smothered Pork Chops. Perfect combination.
• Easy Smothered Chicken. Work well together.
• Southern Style Smothered Potatoes. One of my Fav potato dishes.
• Instant Pot Cabbage. So buttery and easy.
• Roasted Red Cabbage Recipe. A great festive recipe.
• Jamaican Cabbage. An easy taste of the Caribbean.

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