I love this homemade coleslaw recipe, the crunchy texture of the creamy coleslaw makes it my favorite anytime salad. I promise after tasting this American Classic this will be your go-to coleslaw.
My Easy Coleslaw Recipe, can be made in 10- 15 minutes, and It’s the perfect side dish for all of your barbecue dishes.
I always serve it with BBQ Baby Back Ribs and my world-famous Buffalo Style Chicken Wings.
My homemade coleslaw goes great on sandwiches (or with sandwiches), and my BBQ Beef Brisket is a delicious example! It’s great with pulled pork and a topping for tacos.
Looking for a dish to bring to a summer potluck? You can’t go wrong with my cole slaw, it goes with everything!
Ingredients for my Coleslaw Recipe
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Coleslaw Recipe. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Basic Ingredients
- green cabbage
- carrot
- mayonnaise
- apple cider vinegar
- sugar (I use raw cane sugar)
- fresh lemon juice
- salt and black pepper
You’ll find some recipes include celery seed or celery salt, but I’ve never enjoyed the flavor of that seasoning. If you want a more colorful coleslaw, add some shredded purple cabbage to the mixture.
How do I prepare the cabbage?
The first step is using a sharp knife carefully cut the head of the cabbage in half. Then remove the core and any of the thicker white parts of the cabbage
You can use a food processor with a shred attachment or slicing blade to cut make short work of the cabbage. If you slice the cabbage by hand or with the food processor it will still need to be chopped. How much is your decision. I like to chop it fairly small, but you can leave the pieces of cabbage up to about an inch if you like.
My favorite way to prepare the cabbage is with a box grater, making the pieces very small and tender.
How to make the dressing
See this post for more information on making my coleslaw dressing.
- Add one cup of mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to a medium bowl.
- Combine the ingredients mixing until smooth and creamy. *Refrigerate until needed.
This mayonnaise dressing can be made with light mayonnaise, and I have seen some recipes add sour cream to the dressing, but it’s not necessary.
How to make my Coleslaw Recipe
Add the shredded carrots to a large bowl with the chopped cabbage.
*You can use precut cabbage or coleslaw mix at your grocery store, but fresh shredded cabbage is so much better.
Mix the carrots into the chopped cabbage.
Add the coleslaw dressing to the cabbage mixture.
Mix the slaw dressing into the cabbage mixture. Make sure that all of the cabbage mixture has been thoroughly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
The cabbage can be a little tough, so letting it marinate in the slaw dressing overnight will help soften the cabbage and improve its overall flavor. The cole slaw can be made up to 2 days ahead of time.
After one bite, I’m sure you’ll agree this is the best coleslaw recipe, and you won’t be buying store-bought coleslaw anymore.
Recipe FAQ’s
This is a personal decision. It takes all the work out of making cole slaw, but you will sacrifice a little flavor with any precut lettuce or cabbage. There are preservatives added and I can always notice the lingering flavor. But they do work well when you’re pressed for time and still a much better option than buying grocery store salads.
The short answer is no, but it really needs time to marinate in the flavors and soften the cabbage. Letting cole slaw sit for 2-4 hours will help the flavor and texture. If you can make it the day before it will be even better.
Place the shredded cabbage in a colander, sprinkle the cabbage with a tablespoon of salt, mixing to distribute the salt. Let the salted cabbage sit for an hour or two, then rinse it with cold water to remove the salt and pat dry with paper towels. You may want to cut back on the salt in the recipe, as the cabbage will absorb some of the salt.
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Best Coleslaw Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small cabbage shredded and chopped
- 1 large carrot shredded
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper more or less to taste
Instructions
- Cut the cabbage in half and remove the core from each side.
- Using a sharp knife cut the cabbage in very thin slices, then chop the slices into small pieces. Place the prepared cabbage in a large mixing bowl.You can use a food processor to slice or shred the cabbage, or you can also use a box grater to shred the cabbage and carrot. Personally, I prefer the box grater method but my wife doesn't like it that fine.
- In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Mix until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the slaw dressing over the cabbage and carrots. Thoroughly mix to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.Cole slaw is always better after sitting for a day, make sure to mix the slaw a few times as it sits in the fridge.
Notes
- you can buy a bag of pre-shredded cabbage, but I’m not fond of the taste that the preservative gives the cabbage.
- you can also buy cole slaw dressing, but none will taste as good as my homemade slaw dressing.
Country cook
Just made it! Very tasty, might need more slaw dressing unless it liquefies a little, as it probably will. Was out of regular ap. cid. vinegar, had to use ‘organic unfiltered with the mother type’ that we use to deworm chickens….added bonus, we get dewormed! Thanks
Chef Dennis Littley
It does break down a bit, so you should be okay. I know sometimes I get a larger cabbage and it doesn’t look like its enough, but usually turns out fine.
david a arnold
This cole slaw recipe is a huge hit in my house. My mother asks for it all the time.
Thank you so much for sharing it with us
Chef Dennis Littley
You are very welcome and I’m happy to hear you’ve been enjoying my coleslaw recipe!
Lourdes Valencia
Wow!! Absolutely delicious!! The BEST coleslaw dressing EVER, nice and sweet. It’s so tasty you don’t have to wait overnight to chill or anything. It’s that good. For the dressing I didn’t add salt or pepper until after I had whisked the other ingredients. It barely needed any because the mayonnaise has plenty, I suppose. If you are looking for the BESt coleslaw recipe, look no more, this one is it!
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed my coleslaw recipe, and thank you so much for the great comment and review, you really made my day!
Captain Ski
The dressing is the best!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it.
Joan
So easy and delicious. I will never buy jar dressing again!
Chef Dennis Littley
That’s what I like to hear! Thanks for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed the dressing.
Amy
Best tasting slaw dressing. It was good immediately after mixing. I didn’t have to wait to enjoy it. Amazingly good!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thats what I like to hear! Thanks for the great review!
Travis
Made this for a fish fry. Everyone absolutely loved it. I added a little dill weed to it and it was amazing!!
Chef Dennis Littley
I do love coleslaw with fried fish, its a match made in heaven! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the coleslaw with the added dill weed, it was definitely a good addition.