Fresh & Easy Turkish Red Cabbage Salad Recipe

Last year, I went through a period of several months where I was obsessed with cabbage because winter is long here in Minnesota, and cabbage is a cold hardy salad vegetable that is great for fresh salads in the winter months. I took ordinary cabbage through many flavor spins to bring some color into my meals throughout the long winter and early spring.

We love incorporating the Mediterranean style of eating when we can, however, we typically find ways to include more protein than the traditional diet would include. We grill and smoke a lot of lean meats for quality protein sources, and we love working the many diverse Mediterranean flavors into our meals. That’s why we LOVE this Turkish cabbage salad!

Cabbage makes a delicious salad. I love cabbage for winter–the crunchy texture of the cabbage withstands dressing well, meaning you can continue to eat the leftovers for days when fresh greens are more sparse.

Turkish salad, also known as kebab shop salad, has many different variations, but this recipe is pretty basic and utilizes simple ingredients. It doesn’t require you to have a lot of different fresh veggies on hand, making this a super easy throw-together weeknight side salad to make a complete meal when you impulsively bought the prettiest purple cabbage at the store that week (it’s not just me that does that, is it?)

To make this delicious Turkish red cabbage salad, you just need a few simple ingredients:

• Red Cabbage– Our main ingredient! Red cabbage is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. Use one small head of red cabbage for this recipe.
• Fresh Parsley– This adds freshness and some beautiful color variation to our salad.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil– This healthy oil is the base of our dressing, adding creaminess and healthy monounsaturated fat. You can swap this for whatever oil you prefer if needed. While I find olive oil to be the best oil, avocado oil would be my next choice.
• Red Wine Vinegar– I love the tangy flavor of red wine vinegar, but white wine vinegar can also be used.
• Lemon Juice– I love adding a little lemon juice in addition to the vinegar to elevate the brightness of the dressing.
• Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Follow the simple steps below to make Turkish kebab salad:

1. Thinly Slice Cabbage

Remove the loose outer leaves on the head of cabbage. Slice the cabbage in half and de-core. Then slice each half in half again so you have quarters. Put the cabbage cut side down and use a sharp knife and cut into thin slices. Repeat for all the cabbage quarters, and then put the sliced red cabbage into a large bowl.

You can also use a food processor for this if you prefer.

2. Chop Parsley

Remove the long stems for the bunch of parsley. Finely chop the leaves with the knife and add the finely chopped parsley to the bowl of cabbage. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup of chopped parsley, but you can use as much or as little as you want.

3. Make Dressing

In a small separate bowl or glass jar, add the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Whisk the dressing ingredients together until combined.

4. Dress & Toss Salad

Add the dressing to the salad and toss to combine. You can serve this salad immediately or refrigerate it until it’s time to serve.

That’s it! This easy recipe is a great way to eat the rainbow and include more plants in your diet.

While this recipe is intentionally left pretty basic, it is pretty easy to customize. Try adding thin slices of red onion, chopped cucumber, shredded carrot, red bell pepper, or diced tomatoes for more colors, flavors, and textures. You could even mix some green cabbage with the red!

Just know that this recipe is equally delicious even if you keep it very simple. 🙂

Want to try another healthy salad recipe? Try my Winter Kale Salad or my Copycat Chick-fil-A Kale Crunch Salad!

Serve this salad with a good dose of lean protein, such as my Traeger smoked whole chicken or my Moroccan Sheet Pan Chicken Meal.

This recipe makes 6 generous servings. For one serving of this recipe, the nutritional info is as follows:

• Calories: 113
• Protein: 1.4 grams
• Fat: 9.2 grams
• Carbs: 7.4 grams
• Fiber: 2 grams

This Turkish red cabbage salad is best eaten within a couple of days. After 2-3 days, the salad texture is no longer crunchy enough to enjoy. However, it is not hard to eat this salad up pretty quickly!

You use red cabbage in a salad by finely slicing it or chopping it into small pieces. Red cabbage has a delicious taste and texture, but since it can be a little tough in large chunks, it is more enjoyable when the pieces are cut to manageable sizes for chewing.

All cabbage can be considered healthy by most experts, but red cabbage has an extraordinarily high amount of vitamins and antioxidants compared to green cabbage.

Do You Love this Kebab Shop Salad?

I’d love to hear how you made this your own. Please leave a comment and review! It means the world!