Basic Coleslaw
A slaw is any mix of shredded vegetables, but coleslaw usually refers to a cabbage salad. Here are two recipes for a basic coleslaw - one with a creamy dressing and the other with a vinaigrette. Both of these recipes use red and green cabbage, along with carrots, but you could use just one color for a more dramatic salad.
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Basic Coleslaw
- Prep Time: 20 m
- Total Time: 20 m
- Servings: 8Nutrition info is for Creamy Coleslaw
Ingredients
- 3 cups shredded green cabbage
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- ½ cup thinly sliced white or red onion, about ¼ onion, rinsed with water
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- ½ teaspoon salt
Vinaigrette
- ½ cup white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 tablespoon celery seed
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- freshly ground black pepper
Creamy Dressing
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine the cabbages and onion in a large bowl, and toss with salt. Let the vegetables sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Before dressing the cabbage, drain away any liquid that has accumulated in the bottom of the bowl and add the shredded carrots.
- For the Vinaigrette: In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, sugar, mustard powder and celery seed to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the vegetable oil. Pour the hot vinaigrette over the cabbage and onions and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, cover and refrigerate
- For the Creamy Dressing: In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, celery seed salt and pepper. Add the dressing to the vegetables and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition Facts
Basic Coleslaw
Amount Per Serving
Calories 126
Calories from Fat 90
% Daily Value*
Fat 10g15%
Saturated Fat 1g5%
Cholesterol 5mg2%
Sodium 278mg12%
Potassium 164mg5%
Carbohydrates 6g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 1g2%
Vitamin A 2955IU59%
Vitamin C 24mg29%
Calcium 33mg3%
Iron 0.5mg3%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Delicious! Made it with the creamy dressing…so good! Thank you!
On a different note, Hazel and Loulou are adorable!
Thanks for sharing your talents with us.
Good morning Meredith,
Yesterday I made your banana nut bread and found it absolutely delicious.
I’m an 81 year old youngster and love easy few ingredient recipes. Thank you so much!
Allyne
made the creamy one for 4th of July cookout. Everyone liked it, and it was so easy to make. going to try the vinaigrette next. thanks Meredith
I make a creamy coleslaw with whipped dressing red wine vintage and sugar. My husband says it tastes just like his mother’s.
Love the recipe! Thanks.
I also really love the blue flowered mixing bowls! Where did you get those?
Thank you! The bowls were from the Temptations line on QVC.
Oh my goodness!
This is the best coleslaw that I have ever had!
I love all your recipes
Can you please recommend the amount of Stevia to substitute to make this more diabetic friendly? Thanks!
Hi Karen. I’m afraid I don’t have much experience with Stevia, so all I can recommend is to follow the substitution suggestions on the Stevia packaging or omit the sugar altogether.
The vinaigrette slaw is great, but I don’t recommend adding 1 Tbs of celery seed as written in your recipe as 1 tsp is plenty. I also added a chopped up Apple and we loved that. 😋
I made both versions for a barbecue last weekend and both were a huge hit! A couple of my friends are vegan and they were excited to have a vinaigrette option while the kids loved the creamy style. Several people put the creamy style on their pulled pork and had the vinaigrette as a side. I used pre-shredded cabbage as a short cut, but next time I will shred my own.
Love!! Made both had friends over for dinner and it was a huge hit!! Thanks, Again Meredith…your recipes are easy to follow and I have the ingredients.
Ever try using extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil? Wondering how it would work in taste. Thanks.
Vegetable oil is a neutrally flavored oil, while olive oil has a distinct flavor. If you like the flavor of your olive oil, you can absolutely use it. Sometimes a mix of both oils is nice.
This vinaigrette version of coleslaw is absolutely delicious!
I made the vinaigrette version last night and loved it! The dressing was so good!