In essence, Norwegian Christmas Cabbage is a type of caraway-spiced sweet and sour sauerkraut.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon
- 1 large head cabbage, cored and shredded
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon caraway seed
- 1 pinch salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup white vinegar, or to taste
- ½ cup white sugar, or to taste
Instructions
- Lay two slices of bacon across the bottom of a large pot. Cover with a layer of cabbage. Sprinkle a light dusting of flour and a pinch of caraway seed. Season with a little salt and pepper. Repeat layering as many times as possible until you run out of room.
- Fill the pot with enough water to come about 3/4 up the side. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 45 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly, then stir in the vinegar and sugar. Use your own judgment. Add sugar carefully to taste. The idea is to strike a balance between the sweet and the sour, and therein lies the trick.
- Use a head of cabbage that has been in your refrigerator a while; try not to use a new cabbage. Why? The old one seems to hold up better in the cooking. Age has its rewards.
- A tasty sausage, sliced, or smoked pork hock can also substitute for the bacon, but there ought to be some flavor and fat in it. I sometimes add a couple of bouillon cubes too.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 206 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 14 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 322 mg |
| Sugars | 23 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We made this for the first time for a Norwegian themed Christmas dinner. It was a smash hit. We will add this to our regular dinner rotation.
This was pretty good. Next time I might add less liquid. Added the same amount of vinegar as sugar, and it was nicely balanced.
NO Christmas without this one here up north!! Not in this house at least 🙂 We boil it for several hours though, 3-4 I think.
It was ok until I started doing the vinegar and sugar. I started with a little of each at a time and it just got worse and worse. I guess this just is not a flavor I like. I would recommend cooking the bacon first to render some of the fat and then add the cabbage because the bacon had chunks of fat remaining after cooking.
Good flavor. I put a lid on it and checked it after 20 min. The cabbage was a little mushy. Next time I won’t put a lid on the pan and see if it’s better. I don’t want mushy cabbage, so not sure if 45 min of cooking it would make it mushy.
I had a lot of leftover honey-baked ham, so I cut it up and layered it in the mix. I also substituted celery seed for the caraway seed. This was so delicious that as soon as it was gone, my husband asked me to make another batch! I wish I could have given it 20 stars!
Before she died, I tried to get my Norwegian grandma to give me her cabbage recipe, but it was just “a little of this, a little of that” and I never felt confident enough to try. I’ve made this dish twice now, and it is delicious–tastes just like my grandma’s. Thank you so much for sharing–it means a lot to me to have this connection to my roots.
This was really good. It didn’t taste like saurkraut It was much milder. I cut up the bacon into little pieces instead of using long strips. Next time I will cook the bacon slightly first because the cabbage finished cooking before the bacon did. If I had used an older cabbage it might have been able to cook longer without going mushy, but if you cook the cabbage long enough to get the bacon done then the cabbage might be a bit mushy like mine was. Still, it tasted so good it was five stars. I took the advice and added the vinegar and suggar a little at a time till it tasted good to me and ended up using all the vinegar and a couple tablespoons less sugar but even with all the sugar I think it would have still been just fine. Everyone liked it. I made it as a side dish along side a whole Scandinavian menu, but if you used sausages in it or big Canadian bacon slices it could even be a main dish. Thank you for sharing it!
Love, love love this. I have made this at least 5 times and am always delighted by how delicious it is! I don’t add quite so much water, i fill my pot about 1/3 full. Turns out great everytime!
I just made this last night for my Bunco group, and we loved it!! I used the packaged cole slaw, angel hair style, almost 2 bags. I also cut up the bacon into bite size pieces. But everthing else, by the recipe. Great reviews from us all!!!
I loved this! If you like sauerkraut and Corned Beef & Cabbage type dishes you’ll like this, too. I didn’t have bacon so used smoked ham instead with fabulous results. I also added onion which was probably unnecessary but I’d do it again. Great recipe, thank you!
I cooked the bacon before as I was not sure you were suppose to do that…easy to make and tasted really good. I served this as a side to my Christmas dinner. i dont recommend this for that type of meal. This would be better as a side or condiment to hotdogs or brats (kind of had the sweet saurkraut taste and texture)..I will be making this again. THanks for the recipe
this was really good, great taste!! Yummy!!!
Very easy recipe, and came out quite tasty. I might try it without the bacon next time to make it healthier, and I’m pretty sure it would still be good.
We loved this. I served it with Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes with rutabaga.
This was so good with our ham. I used less sugar but otherwise followed the directions as written and it was perfect!
This was so good with our ham. I used less sugar but otherwise followed the directions as written and it was perfect!
I don’t want it to be quite so much like sauerkraut, so rather then shredding the cabbage, I cut it up into larger pieces (bite size or larger).
I didn’t have any caraway seed but it still turned out delicious. Will definitely make it again.
I took ideas from a few of the previous reviews to make this cabbage and it was delicious! I used bacon pieces instead of strips, apple cider vinegar and Splenda instead of sugar (Splenda is somewhat sweeter than suger so be careful). I also threw in a vegetable bouillon cube and used less salt; instead of pouring salt on all layer, I salted 2 of 4 layers. I don’t think you need as much flour as the recipe calls for; next time, I’ll use half. Also, I could have thrown in another head of cabbage after the first head boiled down to even out the juice. Even though there are some things that I would do differently next time, this was still the best cabbage I’ve made and I’ve made a lot of cabbage! You can not go wrong with following the recipe verbatim.
was easy and something different. My whole family liked it even the kids. I will definately make this one again