Creamy Coleslaw
Cabbage and carrot in a dressing balanced between mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. The technique that matters is salting the cabbage first, which is what stops the bowl filling with water an hour later.
Photograph credit: Coleslaw by Red Lobster Lover Joe twitter:RLLoverJoe · Public Domain Mark 1.0 · Flickr
Make Ahead and Storage
Refrigerate up to 4 days. It softens over time but stays good; drain off any liquid before serving.
Making Creamy Coleslaw
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Toss the shredded cabbages and carrot with the tablespoon and a half of salt in a colander set over a bowl.
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Leave for 1 hour. A surprising volume of water will collect underneath.
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Rinse the vegetables thoroughly under cold water to remove the excess salt, then spin or squeeze them very dry in a clean cloth.
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Whisk the mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery seeds, remaining salt and pepper until smooth.
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Fold the dressing through the drained vegetables and the onion.
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Chill at least 2 hours before serving so the flavours settle and the cabbage relaxes into the dressing.
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Taste before serving and adjust with more vinegar for sharpness or sugar for balance.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Tips for Success
- Rinse well after salting or the slaw will be inedibly salty. Then dry it thoroughly.
- Shred the cabbage as finely as you can — a mandoline or a food processor slicing disc is worth using.
- This is one of the few salads genuinely better made a few hours ahead.
Some Background
Salting the shredded cabbage draws out a startling amount of water through osmosis. Draining that off before dressing means the mayonnaise stays thick and clinging instead of being diluted into a puddle within the hour.
Serving Ideas
Pulled pork or fried chicken · Burgers and hot dogs · Barbecue of any kind
Common Substitutions & Variations
- Out of buttermilk? The usual stand-in is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred into 250 ml of ordinary milk and left five minutes; it is thinner than cultured buttermilk, so a batter may need a little less of it.
Creamy Coleslaw FAQ
How long does Creamy Coleslaw take to make?
15 minutes of preparation and of cooking, plus 3 hours of chilling, so allow 3 hours 15 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 8.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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