Coleslaw: store bought, homemade or half-homemade?
Half-homemade coleslaw. Photo by Lindsey Nair.
Last week, a friendly farmer gave me a huge head of cabbage he’d just harvested from his field. I carried my treasure home with dreams of fried cabbage and homemade coleslaw dancing in my head.
The fried cabbage I cooked that very night on the side burner of our gas grill. The slaw I made this past weekend to go with some pulled pork barbecue I slapped together for the Crock Pot. While I was making the slaw, I thought about how simple it is if you have a food processor.
Chop cabbage, whiz it in the food processor, dump it in a bowl. I didn’t even peel the carrots – just scrubbed them and trimmed them and threw them in the food processor, as well. But then it came down to the moment of truth: Should I use a bottled slaw dressing or make homemade dressing?
Well, honestly, I’ve never made homemade slaw dressing. Isn’t it just mayonnaise and vinegar and sugar? Howard picked up a bottle of Marzetti’s “Simply Dressed” coleslaw dressing made with olive oil. I wasn’t crazy about it at all. I added more celery seed and a couple of tablespoons of prepared horseradish to liven it up. As a side note, I have used Marzetti’s Creamy Coleslaw dressing, which comes in a bigger jar, and thought it was better.
As for pre-shredded and bagged coleslaw mix, you can have it. I don’t think it’s nearly as good as freshly chopped cabbage and carrots, with their natural juices mingling with the coleslaw dressing as it sits in the refrigerator. But that’s just my opinion.
If you’ve got a great homemade coleslaw dressing recipe, one with some nice bite and not overly sweet, it would be great if you would share it with us. Heck, if you have a homemade slaw recipe at all, we’d love to hear about it. Tis the season for one of the coolest, easiest side dishes around!
July 26, 2011 - 9:49 AM
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I’ve used Marzetti’s before and it’s good, but lately I’ve made my own, with about 1/2 cup mayo, a tablespoon each of white wine vinegar and sugar; add a little more vinegar or sugar according to taste. I also use my food processor to chop the veggies, and have added green pepper and/or radishes for more color. Hubby likes ground red pepper in his cabbage, cooked or not, so I sometimes sprinkle a little of that in as well.
Are you kidding ? Homemade baby !
I do use the good old sugar, vinegar and mayo dressing 99% of the time as it still rocks for me and you can so easily adjust the tart/sweet ratio. I have also used the bottled dressings but have not found one better.
Cabbage, carrots, broccoli and turnips make a good slaw IMO and I agree that the bags are quick and easy but less tasty than the fresh chopped/sliced.
Looking forward to reading some new ideas.
I think next time I’ll mix up some mayo, vinegar, sugar and horseradish. I like to play up the natural bite that cabbage has. Plus, this last cabbage I had was so sweet it didn’t have any of that radish-like bite to it. That’s why I added some horseradish.
Sandi, do you use apple cider vinegar?
My moms homemade, very simple. She just uses cabbage and mixed sugar, white vinegar and mayo until she gets the right flavor. Looks kinda plain but man is it good, especially on a hot dog or BBQ sandwich
I make my slaw the way I learned from my mom, and that was a combo of cabbage and onions only. Never did care for carrots in the slaw, but I sometimes add a tad of green or red bell peppers. I have a little mini food chopped that’s excellent for the chopping chore. For the dressing, it’s a ratio of mayo, sugar and vinegar with a little salt and pepper. For example, measure the mayo first, then use half of the mayo measurement amount for measuring the sugar, then half of the sugar measurement for the vinegar. Never fails and everyone loves it!
We made up a broccoli slaw this weekend to put on some fish tacos. I mixed a light dressing for it of soy, rice wine vinegar, a little demerara sugar, some smashed garlic, and powdered ginger. The ginger and garlic gave it a nice heat.
We just stuck the broccoli stumps and carrots in the cuisinart…it was very easy.
Less mayo than you think, more vinegar than you think and a little salt and sugar. I like my slaw to be “cabbagegy” instead of creamy.
Homemade all the way (any kind of dressing–or really anything storebought–is chock full of way too much sugar and salt and wholly unnatural ingredients). The best homemade coleslaw dressing I’ve found to date is adapted from the new Gwyneth Paltrow cookbook. I don’t have the recipe nearby, but it’s Vegenaise (which you can find in most health food stores), cider vinegar, salt, raw local honey and celery salt to taste. I don’t like too much dressing on my cabbage and shredded carrot mix, so I adjust the amounts just by eyeballing it.
This slaw has no mayo and is fantastic with BBQ
Harvey House Slaw
Chop cabbage, carrots and 1 small onion fine
Place in bowl that can be sealed
Pour 1 cup of sugar over slaw mix
In sauce pan bring to boil;
½ cup oil
2/3 cup vinegar
1Tbsp sugar
1 Tsp celery seed
1 Tsp dry mustard
2 tsp salt
Pour mixture over slaw mix with sugar on top
DO NOT STIR
Seal quickly and put in fridge at least 4 hours, better if over night
Stir and serve.
Ooh, I’ve had that kind of slaw before, RM, and really liked it. Thanks for the recipe!
We make our slaw dressing using juice from our homemade sweet pickles. The syrup in the canning process is sugar, cider vinegar and pickling spices. We use a few spoons of the syrup, mayo and a little mustard. Makes a slaw with a “kicked-up” taste.
I make my own, just mayonnaise or salad dressing (the Miracle Whip kinda stuff), dill pickle juice, sugar, and freshly ground black pepper. Just mix it to your taste, some like it more creamy, others with more twang, and so on.
I always make my own dressing and usually use this old recipe from Cooking Light magazine.
Creamy Coleslaw
6 cups very thinly sliced green cabbage
1/2 cup chopped onion
I like to add finely chopped green bell pepper sometimes too.
Dressing
2 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp mayo
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well. Pour over cabbage mixture, toss to coat well and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Occasionally I make green apple slaw. Just add a little honey to the dressing instead of sugar.
KFC is the best!
I don’t make slaw that often. But last year when I made some I added some curry powder. It gave it an interesting twist.
Anyone that enjoys Lexington,NC style BBQ, knows the slaw is finely chopped and brown. Here is the dressing recipe for the cabbage:
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketsup
1/4 cup brown sugar(packed)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1/2 to one teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Mix until sugar is desolved. Can be stored in fridge.
Try one of these variations depending on your mood! In neither one could you guess what the secret ingredient is, it’s just good!
To your usual mayo (or salad dressing)/vinegar/sugar slaw dressing, add pineapple juice to taste. Add to your cabbage with onion, carrot and green pepper. I always save the juice left over from canned pineapple to use in slaw, stir-fry sauce, marinades, all sorts of things. Just pour it into a baggie and freeze. it’s easy to break off what you need and return the rest to the freezer.
-or-
Instead of the pineapple juice, put in a some creamy caesar salad dressing, about half as much as the amount of vinegar you use.
Both of these may sound odd, but really add appropriate flavor.
I love this untraditional slaw I discovered in one of the Moosewood cookbooks.
Alabama Hot Slaw
Serves 8 to 10
The “hot” in the name of this delicious slaw refers not to pepper but to the cooking technique. Dressed with a simple heated dressing, which softens and mellows the flavor of the onions and bell peppers, this is a colorful, festive-looking slaw. For a “hot” hot slaw, increase the Tabasco or other hot sauce in the dressing to make it as spicy as you wish. Unlike many other slaws, Alabama Hot Slaw is great served right away; it doesn’t need sitting time for the flavors to develop. Leftover slaw can be reinvigorated by adding just a splash of vinegar, if needed.
1 small head of cabbage (about 1 pound)
2 celery stalks
1 1/2 cups peeled and shredded carrots
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 heaping Tbsp. minced red onions
1/4 cup white or cider vinegar
1 to 2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. prepared mustard, such as yellow, brown, or hot
Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce to taste
1/4 cup canola or other vegetable oil
Finely shred the cabbage to make about 4 cups and place it in a large bowl. Halve the celery stalks lengthwise and thinly slice them crosswise. Without mixing together, pile the celery on top of the cabbage and follow with the carrots, bell peppers, and red onions.
In a small bowl or a cup, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, and salt until clear. Stir in the black pepper, mustard, and Tabasco to taste and pour on the vegetables. In a small pan, heat the oil to just smoking: you should see a few ripples in the oil and some heat waves. Pour the hot oil over the vegetables, aiming especially for the onions and peppers. Let sit for 3 or 4 minutes.
Toss and serve or refrigerate for later.
— Moosewood Daily Special
Pineapple juice sounds really good, Connie. Any fruity influence in slaw doesn’t sound bad to me.
These have been a lot of really great recipes and ideas. Thanks for sharing, everyone. I may never use store bought slaw dressing again!
Lindsey, yes I always use cider vinegar. Unless a recipe calls for the “clear” vinegar, I prefer the cider. I have used clear when I was out of cider and people insisted it was fine but I felt you could taste the difference. Actually I use the same sauce for broccoli salad as well as my cole slaw. Certainly the horseradish would give it a kick, as does a crisp turnip.
Cole slaw, like potato and macaroni salad are “too taste” so if you like it, go for it and experiment.
BTW, my ratio is
1 cup mayo
4 Tblsp sugar
3 Tblsp cider vinegar
Whisk till frothy, and taste. It should have a bite at this point so it does not get lost in the slaw ingredients. “Doctor” as preferred from here on out.