Classic Cole Slaw

Classic Cole Slaw is an amazing salad to go with so many meals. We love it with BBQ pork, grilled sausages, beans and cornbread, ribs ... It brings freshness and crunchiness that is so welcome! It hardly needs a recipe, but read on to see how you can mix things up to match the flavors of the meal.

Make the dressing first.

At its simplest, the dressing is just mayonnaise mixed with vinegar. I usually use apple cider vinegar since it doesn't color the mayonnaise like red wine vinegar does. However, you can certainly use whatever vinegar you like to go with other dishes that you are serving at the same meal. White wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, or sherry vinegar are all great choices!

You don't like vinegar? That's OK. Any citrus does the trick, too! I use lime juice when I make Classic Cole Slaw to go with fish tacos and orange or lemon juice is great to go with grilled pork chops.

I whisk the dressing right in the bowl. Helps with clean up and it's easy to put the cabbage right in to mix. I also like to add other spices depending on what I'm serving the cole slaw with. You can add cumin and smoked paprika for a Mexican flavor, for example.

How to cut the cabbage for Classic Cole Slaw

Many people add red cabbage and carrots to Cole slaw and while I think that is pretty and tasty, I don't usually do it. The red cabbage usually "bleeds" into the dressing and I just don't like how it looks. However, if you like other vegetables in your Cole Slaw, you should definitely add them!

One large cabbage is usually about three pounds and I usually only use half of one. That gives me 6-7 cups of slaw and that seems plenty. Of course, that depends on how many people I'm serving, too, right?

Use a food processor if you want, a good chef's knife does the trick for me. Cut the cabbage into wedges, each of them being an eighth of the cabbage. Then cut across the wedges to make shreds. Just put them in the bowl with the dressing, stir it up, and you're ready to eat!