For dinner on Christmas Eve, it is customary in Denmark to dish cooked pickled red cabbage. This recipe comes from my mother and is quite simple to make. It goes excellent with any roast duck, turkey, or goose. I like to add a spoonful of black currant jam when reheated to improve the flavor.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 small head red cabbage, cored and shredded
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 cups white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Place the cabbage in a large saucepan, and stir in the sugar, vinegar, salt and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer over medium heat for 1 hour. This can be served immediately, or chilled and reheated later in smaller portions.
Reviews
Wow! Made this to go on fish tacos but can see it going on so many other things! I added a little more vinegar for and extra bite and less than half the sugar. So great! So easy to adapt to any meal!
Exactly what I was looking for. Didn’t change a thing. It was sweet and sour. Next time I may use less sugar, just a bit less. But it is really good.
I’m torn on how to rate this because I made a pretty big change. After looking over the ingredients and reading the reviews, I knew 2 cups of sugar would be way too much for us. Maybe traditionally it is indeed that sweet but I knew that was a no go for us. I decided to start with 1/2 cup and had intention of adding another 1/2 cup but it didn’t even need that. I stopped at 1/2 and it was plenty sweet. It’s a pretty dish and simple to make but 2 cups of sugar is way too much.
This was very simple, that is what I was looking for. I followed the recipe exactly. While it is very good it is lacking something. Next time I will cut the sugar down. It definitely needs mor of a twang.
I love it! I have made this the last two years. It is the closest recipe I could find to what my mother and grandmother always made. I love being able to carry on this Danish tradition for our family. Thanks for the great recipe!
Made with 1 1/2 c sugar. Still sweet. I may cut it back a bit more but I still Loved this so much. Sweet and sour cabbage. Perfect with pork chops and mashed potatoes.
A very good recipe, easy to make and tastes great. Everyone always enjoys!
Made it. Didn’t change anything. Used it cold in a salad. Yummy.
The amount of sugar and vinegar are way way off . maybe a quarter cup of each. Check other recipes for the same thing. This recipe needs to be deleted before someone gets poisoned.
My husband is Danish so we makes this ever year for turkey, pork roast and duck. The only thing different is that I use 4 cups of water instead of three.
I love this stuff, and never really realized it until I made it this Fall. I am danish, so maybe that’s why I lean towards my roots!
This has become a staple for our christmas. Everyone loves it.
I made this to accompany grilled brats. It’s great hot or cold and keeps forever in the fridge. I also serve it with grilled pork chops. We even got crazy and put some on grilled pastrami and Swiss sandwiches. Hmm I think I’ll make a batch tomorrow!!
I tried this as a side dish at a restaurant and since both my son and I liked it, decided to make it at home. I made a half batch and used 1/2 c white vinegar and 1/2 c red wine vinegar. I also added some crispy jalapeño bacon crumbles to the dish after cooking. The texture and saltiness of the bacon worked well with the rest of the ingredients.
My family is Danish, and we make this for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is so good on a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich! We make it a little different, though. We add a few tablespoons of red current jelly while it’s simmering and usually use red wine vinegar. Also, we don’t add that much water. The cabbage is watery enough as it cooks down. 🙂
Loved it as is but switched up a bit to suit our preferences the second time around. I traded a jar of blackcurrant jelly for the sugar and sprinkled with a generous helping of crumbled feta for serving. So very good.
My favorite recipe have made it many times and always tastes authentic.
I didn’t change a thing, but I will try 1/2 cup less of sugar next time. It was a hit in my Polish family.
I layer red cabbage with butter and small amounts of flour to the cabbage, water and vinegar.
I halved the recipe and it was enough for our large group with a Christmas turkey dinner. We really loved the flavour and it was nice to be able to make it ahead of time and just reheat when the rest of dinner was ready. It added gorgeous colour to the table. I will make this again and won’t change a thing.
I used the suggestion that Gitte1 made, to use red currant jam and vinegar instead of the white sugar and vinegar. It was good! But — I started with a small head of cabbage and a full jar of jam, the 1/2 cup of vinegar and maybe 1/4 cup of broth. It was waaay too soupy. So I had to buy another big head of cabbage to add to the sauce. It’s cooking now. Delicious taste! It really cooks down, so you’ll wind up with much less than you start with. And it smells up your home. But the taste is worth it!