This red cabbage coleslaw is a delicious, crunchy, and creamy classic salad made with finely shredded carrots and cabbage, all coated in a tangy tahini dressing, fresh lime, and cilantro.
Perfect for backyard barbecues with fried chicken, burgers, ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, or simply a great side for Thai beef koftas, bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, or a juicy oven-baked chicken breast.
The shredded vegetables can be prepped in advance and sauce added last minute for convenience and meal prep option.
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Ingredients
- Cabbage — Red and white cabbage. The younger, the better, as old cabbage tends to be bitter sometimes and extremely watery.
- Red onion — Make sure it's good quality, young, and sweet.
- Carrot — Nice, firm, and fresh.
- Herbs — I used cilantro (coriander). Below are some variations on this.
- Tahini — Use a good natural brand. Nothing emulsified.
- Sesame oil — Use a fragrant toasted sesame seed oil.
- Mayonnaise — Either make lemon mayonnaise or use something like Hellman's real. They don't pay me for saying that.
- Sesame seeds — Make sure to toast them in a pan if not toasted already. I use a mix of white and black. It looks nice.
- Honey — Natural runny honey. You could also substitute with other sweeteners. See the section below on variations.
Instructions
- Wash all the vegetables and herbs thoroughly. Shred the cabbage with a mandolin or a sharp knife and grate or julienne the carrots.
- Chop the cilantro(coriander). Add it to the vegetables, and season the mix with a pinch of salt.
- Whisk the ingredients for the coleslaw sauce together until well combined.
- Mix the sauce into the vegetables, making sure it's all evenly distributed.
- Let it sit in the fridge for 10 minutes so that the salad can come together. Give a fresh mix-through after ten minutes and drain any excess water that might have leaked out.
- Serve with a few lime wedges, fresh cilantro (coriander), and toasted sesame seeds.
Top tips
- Use crunchy fresh vegetables.
- Shred them all evenly and not too chunky to ensure the best texture.
- Season the vegetables as well as the sauce, otherwise, the coleslaw will be bland. Make sure to drain off any excess water that releases after 10 minutes in the fridge.
Storage
Coleslaw will lose its crunch the longer it sits in the sauce. It will spoil quickly at room temperature, so keep it in the fridge if you can.
It will last for about 3 days stored airtight in the fridge. It's not suitable for freezing.
While it sits in the fridge, the moisture will leak out of the vegetables. Simply pour it off and remix the salad before serving.
Variations
- Vegetables and fruit — Add kohlrabi, green papaya, and apple or dried fruits like apricots or raisins. Reduce the honey in the dressing to avoid it being overly sweet.
- Herbs — Substitute the cilantro for parsley, chervil, chives, dill, basil, tarragon, mint, or a combination of these.
- Oil — Most extra virgin oils can be used in place of sesame oil. Just be mindful of the intensity and flavor so that it does not overpower the coleslaw.
- Mayonnaise — You could easily replace the mayo with sour cream or yogurt to make it healthier and lighter.
- Nuts and seeds — you could substitute the sesame seeds for roasted peanuts, cashews, pecans, or seeds like pumpkin sunflower, and flaxseeds.
- Heat — If you like it spicy, you could turn up the heat by adding in some chopped chilies, chili flakes, hot sauce like homemade sriracha, or a small spoonful of adjika paste.
- Sweetness — Use powdered sugar, maple, or agave syrup instead of honey.
Make it vegan
Make a vegan creamy coleslaw by replacing the mayonnaise with vegan mayonnaise, or you can leave out the mayonnaise and replace it with this fresh and bright green cashew and mint sauce.
Serving suggestions
Frequently asked questions
I normally go for 150 grams of side salad. This measure works for any side salad, and it's what we use in professional kitchens mostly.
No, the texture will be horrible once defrosted.
Coleslaw can be kept for about 3 days in the fridge. Keep in mind though that the cabbage will give off a lot of juice, so stir that back in. Make sure it's properly covered to avoid taking any other flavors from the fridge or drying out.
Useful equipment
Mandoline
Electronic Kitchen Scales
Gyuto Japanese Chefs Knife
Storage Containers
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Recipe
Coleslaw with Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 200 g (3 cups) white cabbage - finely shredded
- 200 g (2 ½ cups) red cabbage - finely shredded
- 100 g (1 cups) carrot - grated
- 30 g (3 tablespoon) red onion - finely sliced
- 20 g (1 cups) fresh cilantro - chopped
For the tahini dressing
- 30 g (2 tablespoon) tahini
- 10 g (⅔ tablespoon) dijon mustard
- 3 g (¾ teaspoon) sesame oil
- 100 g (½ cups) mayonnaise
- 30 g (1 ½ tablespoon) honey
- 4 g (⅔ teaspoon) fine sea salt
- 4 g (¼ tablespoon) white wine vinegar
- 1 g (½ teaspoon) black pepper - freshly cracked
Extra for serving
- 5 g (2 ½ teaspoon) sesame seeds - toasted
- 1 (1) fresh lime
Instructions
For the salad
- Wash all the vegetables and herbs thoroughly.
- Shred the cabbage finely with a mandolin or a sharp knife.
- Grate or julienne the carrots finely.
- Chop the cilantro(coriander) finely
For the Sauce
- Whisk everything together until well combined.
To assemble and serve
- Mix the sauce into the vegetables making sure it's all well mixed in. You could bruise the vegetables a bit to make sure the sauce mixes in nicely.
- Let it stand for a few minutes to macerate so the cabbage release a bit of juice.
- Serve with a few lime wedges, fresh cilantro(coriander) and toasted sesame seeds.
Notes
- Make this coleslaw vegan by using a vegan mayonnaise or omitting completely
- If you are allergic to sesame then skip the tahini, sesame oil and sesame seeds.
- Use this coleslaw with pulled pork tacos, smoked beef brisket, and as burger topping.
- You could add sliced apples, raisins, curry powder, toasted almond flakes or pumpkin seeds to jazz it up even more.
- To make a complete omnivore salad, add some hot smoked salmon, grilled chicken or fried strips of steak.
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