Name: Coleslaw with Vinaigrette Dressing
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: 1 pound Green Cabbage, or red (about 1/2 of a medium head); ½ medium Red onion, or any onion; 2 carrots; 1 celery stalk; ¼ cup vegetable oil, I used avocado ((63mL)); ¼ cup white vinegar ((63mL)); ¼ cup cider vinegar ((63mL)); ¼ cup liquid honey. ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar can be used if you do not have honey ((63mL)); 2 tsp sea salt; 1 tsp mustard seeds, or ¼ tsp of mustard powder; ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This Coleslaw with vinaigrette dressing is light and crunchy. The vinaigrette dressing is egg and dairy free and uses cider vinegar combined with cabbage making this coleslaw Good for your gut!

It has simple ingredients but has so much flavour.

What can I do with Coleslaw with Vinaigrette Dressing?

I love coleslaw and how it helps things out. A little on the side as a small salad cuts through a plate of fish and chips or fried chicken beautifully. It is excellent with grilled cheese, in a wrap or as a condiment for fish tacos! Great for a picnic of course, like the Mixed Bean and Avocado Salad, they do not contain dairy or eggs.

You can change up the vegetables a bit and use what you have, or use many and get your colourful vitamins in. I have used just green cabbage and a sweet onion, a bit pale, yes, but still good. I have also used red cabbage and it looks very special.

Coleslaw with Vinaigrette dressing served

Nutrition this Coleslaw with Vinaigrette Dressing

Cabbage

The star in any coleslaw either creamy or with a vinaigrette dressing is the cabbage.

Being high in dietary fibre and water, it keeps your digestive tract healthy. This helps the immune system which may reduce inflammation, the root of many diseases.

Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli and cauliflower. Cruciferous vegetables are known to reduce the risk of many cancers and heart disease.

The compound sulforaphane is a cancer fighter and is found in cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables.

Cabbage is very low in calories, less than 30 calories per packed cup (100g) of shredded cabbage.

It is a source of folate, important in the production of DNA and blood cells in the bone marrow (especially important during pregnancy) and K for normal healthy blood clotting and bone health, and is moderately high in vitamin C.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Cider vinegar, or Apple cider vinegar is fermented apple juice. A good brand of raw apple cider vinegar would contain the mother, you can tell because it is cloudy at the bottom. This is the “friendly bacteria” that is good for your digestion.

Honey

I have used liquid honey in this recipe. Natural raw honey has healing and protective properties.

Raw honey is a source of prebiotics and antioxidants.

I have added this as one of the last ingredients after the heated mixture has cooled slightly as well as the cider vinegar. Too much heat will kill the helpful bacteria in the cider vinegar and reduce the nutrition value and enzymes in the honey.

coleslaw with vinaigrette dressing ingredients

Preparing Coleslaw Vegetables

You will need about a pound of thinly sliced cabbage which is about half of a head of a medium sized cabbage.

Produce is always difficult to measure. There is moisture content that throws the weight off and volume, depending on how you cut things.

If you can imagine holding a pound (454g) of butter, minus the core part and assuming you have already taken the lesser leaves off, that would be about what you need.

Using a very sharp knife, slice the cabbage thinly, giving the cabbage a turn once in a while so you don’t have spaghetti like coleslaw.

You could also use a mandolin, again turning the cabbage from time to time to get a different angle.

Remember, if you think, or say, to yourself that you can get just one more slice, don’t. Just stop and slice the rest using a knife.

Sliced cabbage for coleslaw with vinaigrette using a mandolin.

You can use half of a medium to large red onion to equal a good half of a cup. You could also use a smaller Spanish onion, or a Vidalia onion if you want something more mild.

Slice North to South, or top to bottom for more even slices.

Use a sharp knife or mandolin, but finish the last bit using the knife.

You could put them in a colander and pour boiling water over to lightly blanch.

I used two medium carrots for the coleslaw, thinly sliced like match sticks. You could also use the large holes on a grater and hold the carrots on an angle.

Slice one stalk of celery, thinly, on an angle.

For the Vinaigrette Dressing

In a small saucepan add not more than half of the measured oil and turn on medium high heat. Once it has heated, add the mustard seeds, if using. As soon as they start to pop, carefully add the rest of the oil and remove the pot from the heat to stop the cooking. If you are not using mustard seeds, skip the heating part and add the mustard powder with the salt and pepper.

Carefully add the white vinegar, it may sputter a bit, then add the salt and pepper, then end with adding the honey and cider vinegar which you don’t want to heat too much.

Add some of the vegetable oil to the saucepan — *Pour not more than half of the oil into the saucepan and heat*

Add the mustard seeds to the oil — *Adding the mustard seeds to the hot oil*

Mustard seeds pop in the hot oil — *Mustard seeds pop quickly in the hot oil*

Add the remaining ingredients to the vinaigrette — *Adding the cider vinegar last*

Put all the vegetables in a large bowl to toss together. A steel or glass bowl is best.

Pour the vinaigrette over the coleslaw vegetables. It is fine if the vinaigrette is still warm.

Refrigerate for a few hours before serving so the flavours come together and the cabbage softens. Turn the vegetables over just before serving.

This will keep for up to a week refrigerated always.