Skillet Fried Cabbage is supreme po’ folks food. It’s about as down home as you can get. When it’s cooked in bacon grease in a cast iron skillet, it doesn’t retain a large amount of its green color. In fact, Skillet Fried Cabbage isn’t the prettiest dish you’ll ever eat. There’s not one thing fancy about it. But is sure does taste good.
I understand that you eat with your eyes and food should look appealing. But there’s no getting around the fact that some foods are more photogenic than others. Baked goods are the most photogenic. They always look good in pictures. Cooked vegetables can be some of the most difficult to photograph, especially the way Southerners are prone to overcook them. And , as mentioned in the previous paragraph, our cooking vessels sort of cover up the prettiness, too. Cast iron and bacon drippings turn things dark. That’s part of our culture. And it’s real cooking.
I recently found myself lamenting food styling trends of a well-know Southern lifestyle magazine, for which I have been a subscriber longer than I’ve know some of my children. Their food photos are starting to look too made up. Vegetables are placed in serving dishes raw so as to photograph them with all the color and shape retained. A raw pod of okra and a cooked pod of okra look different. They are supposed to look different. A recent edition displayed a fruit pie with a lattice top that showed perfect dry pecan halves popping out from the lattice-work. If I ever take a lattice top pie from the oven with pecan halves floating on top of the lattice after they were supposed to be baked in the filling, I’d be scared to death! Just as soon as I could get over being scared, I’d get rid of my oven and buy a new one.
All the fussing and fuming to make Southern food look like anything but Southern food, doesn’t appeal to me. Our food is fine and full of character just the way it is. I see no reason to be shamed of it and every reason to be proud. It was part of our ancestor’s lives. It’s part of our lives.
Y’all come see us!
Skillet Fried Cabbage
Fried doesn’t always mean deep-fried. In this case, it means cooked in a cast iron skillet in some bacon grease.
6 pieces bacon, (or 8 or 10 or a pound. You decide.)
1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 medium head green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup water
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
Fry bacon in a 12 inch cast iron skillet until crispy. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towel.
Cook onion in bacon drippings 3 to 4 minutes or until soft.
Add cabbage to skillet and stir. Continue cooking and stirring until cabbage starts to cook down. Make sure it’s coated with bacon drippings. FLAVOR!
Add salt and water. Stir well.
Leave uncovered and cook on medium for 15 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Stir occasionally. Add more water if necessary. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
Add red pepper flakes and crumbled bacon, if there’s any bacon left, and stir.
You might also enjoy:
Skillet Fried Cabbage
Ingredients
- 6 pieces bacon (or 8 or 10 or a pound. You decide.)
- 1 medium sweet onion thinly sliced
- 1 medium head green cabbage cored and thinly sliced
- 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Fry bacon in a 12 inch cast iron skillet until crispy. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towel.
- Cook onion in bacon drippings 3 to 4 minutes or until soft.
- Add cabbage to skillet and stir. Continue cooking and stirring until cabbage starts to cook down. Make sure it’s coated with bacon drippings. FLAVOR!
- Add salt and water. Stir well.
- Leave uncovered and cook on medium for 15 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Stir occasionally. Add more water if necessary. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
- Add red pepper flakes and crumbled bacon, if there’s any bacon left, and stir.
Jean says
I love cabbage! I don’t care how it looks just so it’s good. I could eat a plate of your cabbage right now and it’s still early!
Jackie Garvin says
It’s mighty good!
Lorie says
I’m wondering if you could add sliced polish sausage, or Italian sausage and make it a meal with some corn bread on the side?
Jackie Garvin says
Of course! We made a meal out of just what you see on the plate in the picture. 🙂
CWil says
You sure can!! They would both add great flavor! One is only limited by their imagination pretty much when cooking! Enjoy!
Mary says
Fried cabbage is one of our favorites….yummy! I agree about Southern magazines trying to “citify” their magazines. Shame on them!!! Since these magazines have become so unlike what they used to be..I cancelled my subscriptions. I get my Southerness from blogs like yours. So keep up the good work and keep bringing good ol’ Southern food. Thanks!
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks, Mary! More power to our Southerness!
Marquita says
I absolutely love “Garden and Gun” magazine! It’s a bit upscale but fantastic nonetheless.
Solidly Southern. Lovethe stories, recipes and there is always a dog story and some great humor written in the Southern vernacular.
Sue, a Florida Farm Girl says
OMG! You’re killing me here, girl!! That looks fabulous. ‘Course, since we never have bacon in the house, I guess I’ll drool over yours.
Jackie Garvin says
Sue,
So sorry about your bacon situation. 🙁
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
I’ve never had fried cabbage like this. It looks terrific!
Jackie Garvin says
Maureen,
It’s really good. We make a meal off fried cabbage and lacey cornbread.
msippigurl says
Is there a recipe link for your lacy cornbread? Sounds awesome!
Jackie Garvin says
Here it is! https://syrupandbiscuits.com/hot-water-cornbread/
Cheryl Stewart says
Jackie,
This lacey cornbread definitely makes me think about Granny. What a great cook she was! I love reading your blog. Wished we could get together sometime. I’d love to see you.
Love,
Cheryl Stewart
Jackie Garvin says
Cheryl,
Granny was my greatest inspiration for cooking. Not only did she teach me how to make food taste good, she taught me the connection between food and the heart.
I would certainly love to see you, too. It’s been a long time.
Chris Thomas says
Love this. Sometimes I add a little ground beef to the mix, along with diced tomatoes and serve it over rice. It’s kinda’ like an inside-out Golumpki.
60+ years ago, for us poor Irish folk in NYC, the fare was lamb and corned beef. You couldn’t tell that by today’s prices.
BTW: corned beef is Jewish, not Irish.
God bless
😉
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks for the history lesson, Chris! Ground beef used to be cheap, too. Not any more. 🙁
Maryalice Hammmerstroem says
Back in the 60’s ground beef was 69 Cents per pound and white bread was 25 cents.
Terry Combs says
Love this dish and have made this before. I got the recipe from a local restaurant in the town I live in. They add a little bit of sugar to it and call it sweet fried cabbage.
Jackie Garvin says
Adding sugar makes sense. I put it in a lot of my veggies if they have a strong or bitter flavor. Might have to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.
Lois Read says
I remember my mom boiling cabbage many years ago. She always added a little sugar, because she said the taste could be a little bitter. I loved her boiled cabbage too.
Jackie Garvin says
Lois,
I think I’ve always loved cabbage, even as a child. I’m a big cole slaw fan, too.
Paula Holder says
I too have let most of my magazine subscriptions run out…the computer is so easy to go to and find any recipe….this cabbage is great…..have made a similar one for years….and of course being the good Texas southern girl that I am….I serve it with pan fried potatoes and
onions….and of course cornbread…
Jackie Garvin says
Paula,
That sounds like a wonderful meal. The best kind of eating. 🙂
Laura J says
I made this tonight for the family and we loved it. It’s a keeper. Everyone was saying what they want to eat it with next time!
Jackie Garvin says
Laura,
YAY! Thank you for letting me know that you and your family enjoyed it. 🙂
sewassbe says
I often joke that I will someday write a cookbook entitled, “Looks like Hell, Tastes Like Heaven!” Lol. My food doesn’t always LOOK appetizing, but it sure tastes good. I love cabbage, so I am totally going to try this dish.
Jackie Garvin says
Haha! You’re book would be a best seller, I’m sure! 🙂
msippigurl says
Love fried cabbage! I make it fairly often, sometimes with smoked sausage and tomatoes. And yes, cornbread is a must with it!
Jackie Garvin says
The addition of sausage and tomatoes sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing that tip.
Ginger says
I’m from northern CA and I love cookin’ in my CI skillet. I also appreciate learning about southern cooking, so thank you for clarifying what it should actually look like upon presentation. I’m hoping that I can fit a whole head of cabbage in my 10 in. CI skillet if I add it in thirds as it cooks down.
Jackie Garvin says
Ginger,
Cabbage cooks down so much I think a whole head, cooked in thirds as you mentioned, will fit in a 10 inch skillet.
Lynita Cunningham says
To make fried cabbage appealing try thinly slicing a few Collard greens and peppers with the cabbage. Mild red and green peppers make it nice
Jackie Garvin says
That’s a great suggestion, Lynita. I try to find cabbage with a lot of dark green leaves for that very reason. I don’t why those leaves get cut off.
Jim Allen says
In many recipes calling for cabbage, it will say use a “small” head or a “medium” head or in a few a “large” head. I always wonder what constitutes the size of a head of cabbage. Is there a measurment that divides the sizes? Just wondering….
Jackie Garvin says
Jim,
That’s an interesting question. Most heads in the grocery store are all about the same size. That’s what I consider average but I have nothing to back that up.
Isabelle Boyd says
I tried the cabbage with bacon it is was the hit .
Jackie Garvin says
Isabelle,
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Debra St Louis says
I make my cabbage fried also but do not add extra water.. Water will take out the nutrient. I also slice it very thin makes it taste better.
Once you wash it and have fried your bacon and onions then I start to add my cabbage. and you will see water come up from it and I just keep stirring till it is done but I put on a low fire and cover while cooking and try not to cook it to soft that way it could be over cooked learned that from my day. My family from georgia.
My seasons are Goya pkg bouillon, blk pepper, Ms. dash , and little added seasons and everyone loves it..
As I write this I am cooking it for sunday for a friend and grand kids and I eat slome also.
Jackie Garvin says
Your version sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Harry Satterwhite says
My grandmother was a southerner and made this quite often, which I loved. So now, I make it, too. I lived in Moscow, Russia a few years ago and found that the babushki there cooked carrots along with their cabbage. I started grating a few carrots in with the cabbage and it is even better that way. Try it!
Jackie Garvin says
What a great tip, Harry! Thanks for sharing.
Ivory says
This looks amazing, and being a southern girl who grew up eating cabbages to. I can hardly wait to give your recipe a try. Thanks for sharing.
Jackie Garvin says
Thank you, Ivory!
Paula Stafford says
Yummy for my tummy. Thank you for recipe.
Jackie Garvin says
You’re most welcome.