Czech Braised Red Cabbage

Whether with pork or duck roast, braised red cabbage is a staple of Czech cuisine. In this recipe, you will learn how to cook sweet and sour red cabbage like Bohemian grannies used to make it.

About the Recipe

Czech braised red cabbage is made from a whole head. A shredded cabbage head is stewed in a base of fried onions and caramelized sugar. Vinegar, salt, and caraway seeds ensure a great flavor.

The result is a sweet and sour red cabbage, and it’s the best accompaniment to pork roast and roasted goose or duck.

TIP: In Czech, this red cabbage is called “dušené červené zelí”. If you like cabbage dishes, definitely try my following recipe for braised sauerkraut!

One fresh head of cabbage is enough for about six servings of braised cabbage, served as a side.

Ingredients

• Red / purple cabbage head
• Onion; finely chopped
• Lard; possibly cooking oil, e.g., sunflower or canola oil
• Sugar; classic white
• Caraway seeds; whole
• Salt
• Vinegar; white wine vinegar works great in this recipe

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

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Quick Instructions:

1. Halve the head of red cabbage, cut out the tough stem and remove top leaves.
2. Chop the cleaned head roughly.
3. In a saucepan, fry onions in the fat, add sugar and leave to caramelize.
4. Add cabbage, season with salt, vinegar, and caraway seeds. Stir well.
5. Simmer under a lid until the cabbage is soft.
6. Serve the braised red cabbage as a side dish with the roast.

Detailed Instructions with Photos

STEP 1: Halve the cabbage, cut the tough stem from both halves of the head. Remove the wilted top layer of cabbage leaves. Slice or grate the cabbage thus prepared.

STEP 2: Peel and finely chop the onion. In a large enough pot, heat the lard and fry the onions in it until light brown.

STEP 3: Move the onion to the side of the pot, sliding the pot if possible, so that the onion part is away from the heating source.

STEP 4: Put the sugar on the free surface of the pot and let it melt; if necessary, increase the heat to speed up the caramelization of the sugar.

STEP 5: Once the sugar starts to turn golden, add the chopped cabbage and mix everything. Don't be alarmed if the sugar forms hard lumps – it will dissolve as the cabbage stews.

STEP 6: Now salt the cabbage, add caraway seeds, and pour in vinegar. Stir, turn down the heat. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer at low heat for about 45 minutes.

STEP 7: Remove the lid, raise the heat to be medium and allow any liquid that the cabbage has released to drain. Stir from time to time.

Once the liquid has evaporated and the cabbage starts to fry and stick to the bottom of the pot, you're done! This takes another 30-45 minutes.

Serving

If you wonder what to make with cabbage, here is how we eat it in the Czech Republic: The best option is to serve braised red cabbage warm as a side dish with roasted meat - pork, goose, or duck.

Potato dumplings or bread dumplings are suitable as an additional side dish!

Kitchen Equipment

A wider pot or pan with higher rims is suitable for preparing braised cabbage. Cabbage is quite a lot, so you need cookware that can handle a larger volume.

I took myself a cast iron pan with a diameter of 11 inches (28 cm).

Useful Tips

• In this recipe, I got inspired by the Czech Great Cookbook of Bohemia and Moravia. Roman Vaněk, the cookbook author, recommends adding a tablespoon of lard at the very end of the stewing and stirring. This step will polish the cabbage and give it a little more flavor.
• Cabbage in the recipe doesn't need to be thickened. Neither with floury roux nor with grated potatoes.
• The longer you simmer the cabbage under the lid and then without, the darker its color will be.

More tasty recipes

• Čočka na kyselo – Czech sweet & sour lentils
• Braised sirloin steaks – Czech "roštěnky"
• Chicken Paprikash – with dumplings

Recipe