Restaurant-Style Coleslaw

  4.7 – 962 reviews  • With Mayo

This recipe for imitation cole slaw is modeled after cole slaw from a well-known restaurant.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Additional Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  1. ½ cup mayonnaise
  2. ⅓ cup white sugar
  3. ¼ cup milk
  4. ¼ cup buttermilk
  5. 2 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
  6. 1 ½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
  7. ½ teaspoon salt
  8. ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
  9. 1 (16 ounce) package coleslaw mix
  10. 2 tablespoons minced onion

Instructions

  1. Stir mayonnaise, sugar, milk, buttermilk, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper together in a bowl until smooth.
  2. Combine coleslaw mix and onion in a large bowl. Pour mayonnaise mixture over top and stir until well combined. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 184 kcal
Carbohydrate 17 g
Cholesterol 11 mg
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Protein 1 g
Saturated Fat 2 g
Sodium 248 mg
Sugars 9 g
Fat 13 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Virginia Ortega
Too sweet, and very liquidy. I added more vinegar to fix the sweetness. Next time I’ll use sour cream or yogurt in place of some of the milk. Is now marinating in the fridge. I’ll need to taste it with the minced onions. Yum
Kenneth Gonzales
I doubled this recipe for a big family. I omitted the buttermilk, milk and vinegar. I used whole greek yogurt to replace all those. Added another TBSP of lemon juice for a bit more tang. I also did not use bagged slaw mix and opted to chopped my own green, red cabbage, and shredded my carrots with a veggie peeler followed by a rough chop. We prefer the chunkier version. I also added bit more onion, personal preference. IT IS DELICIOUS!!!!! Variation is to add in some dried less sugar cranberries, or even match stick apples also delicious.
Cameron Chen
Sugar needs to be left completely out. Far far too sweet. More like a pudding.
Jessica Green
I’ve tried all kinds of recipes for slaw to serve with pork bbq, and glad I finally found this one! Didn’t have buttermilk, but subbed with half-and-half with a little bit of cider vinegar. Worked perfectly, and the slaw was really good, with restaurant-quality taste. Thank you for this one!
Elijah Smith
I been making this for years. I only add some of the sauce at the beginning & save the rest. This keeps the slaw from being too runny. I add more sauce as needed.
Donna Lee
I made this Cole Slaw recipe today to go with Schwan’s Blue Hake fish & Trader Joe’s frozen tater tots. Since it is just my husband & I only I made a 1/2 recipe of ingredients for the Cole Slaw. The dressing was rather bland, so I added some more sugar & white vinegar. I prefer a more sweet & sour dressing. Also, it is a little too much salt. Next time I will use half of the salt in the recipe. Otherwise it was good.
Mr. James Hart
Very, very good. It was a bit runny as other reviewers noted. I used powdered buttermilk vice fresh because of the small quantity required. Next time, I think I’ll leave out the 1/4c of water (required with 1Tbs powdered buttermilk) and that should make it a little less runny. And there definitely will be a next time! That’s for sharing.
Laurie Keller
Great recipe! Easy to make and only a few simple ingredients. We made it to go with our fried chicken and it was perfect.
Beth Taylor
This was REALLY good and easy to make. I reduced sugar to 1/4 cup as many have said it was too sweet and that was perfect for me. Next time I will add some cayenne pepper, it definitely felt like spicy would mix well with this.
Alexandra Smith
Wonderful recipe. I did a few things a little different as I’m a diabetic on insulin. I didn’t use sugar as I didn’t feel like I would need to and I used miracle whip for mayo. I did use white vinegar but you could easily use most any other vinegar to change the taste a little. If you choose to not use sugar and later feel that it needs a little you can add it later and let it rest again.
Richard Adams
We have been struggling to find a great coleslaw to go with the all the BBQ things we make. The day before we tried this one, we tried 5, yes 5, different recipes and none of them were good enough. Then we tried this one. This is fantastic! It is a bit more watery than others, but the flavor is fabulous. I also did what someone else suggested to combine half the cabbage mix with the dressing and then just before we were about to serve, I added the other half of the slaw mix. Lots of great flavor and crunch.
Lauren Nelson
Made this recipe as is and my entire family devoured it up. Thank you for sharing!
Robert Lopez
excellent recipe: the buttermilk sugar combo makes a sweet, smooth dressing. this is my go to recipe for the moment.
Nathan Henson
I’m not a fan of coleslaw but my wife is, so I tried this recipe for her. She loves it and strangely enough… so do I.
Jacqueline Luna
I’ve been looking for a sweet creamy coleslaw recipe and this was it! So happy that I’ve found one this good & easy that I can make anytime!
Mrs. Bethany Fuller
I doubled the amounts for onion and sauce. I added half to the slaw and saved the rest for an amazingly versatile dressing! Wow. I love this stuff!
Ashley Morris
Tasty, but very watery. Way too many liquids in proportion to the mayonnaise. Especially after the veggies also contribute to the wetness.
Kelly Hall
My efforts to perfect a truly wonderful tasting, well balanced coleslaw have been quite frustrating. This recipe is what I’ve been attempting to create. It is fantastic IMO! Thanks
David Holt
This makes fantastic cole slaw. I, too, use celery seed instead of poppy seed and also use Miracle Whip for the base. If you want to take it up a notch add cooked Ditalini pasta (1/3 box) to the slaw. I discovered the true awesomeness of this addition when eating cole slaw from a nearby bbq restaurant. Rave reviews!
Jean Fry
Pardon my french, but f*** kfc coleslaw, I’ll be using this from now on. I stopped eating there awhile ago, but missed their version. I won’t miss it anymore. The only thing different I did was use fresh cabbage and carrots. I don’t like using packaged stuffs. It’s really amazing.
Christine Clark
Made this just as written to try for the first time (except I had no lemon juice). My hubby only likes KFC slaw– which is a shame because our local store is not very good. But he liked this one so I don’t have to worry any more. This recipe will be a keeper!!

 

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