The cabbage – a delicious and healthy vegetable that is a lot of people’s least favorite to prepare. You can’t just cut cabbage like you would carrots, and it’s notoriously tricky to slice because it falls apart in your hands. To solve this pesky problem so you can enjoy yummy cabbage dishes at half the time, we have found some easy ways to shred the cabbage.
Let’s take a look at some must-have tools to help you shred the cabbage.
Greener Chef Extra Large Bamboo Cutting Board
First off, you need the proper tools in your kitchen to ensure the smoothest process. You need the appropriate cutting board that’s also of the right size for you to shred and store the shredded cabbage. This board makes it easy for you to slice the cabbage and comes with a lifetime warranty. It can withstand sharp edges, even those from a professional chef’s knife. The bamboo cutting board is not only useful for cabbage but other food as well.
Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef’s Knife
You can’t have a slicing board without a knife. This sharp tool comes with an 8-inch blade that can slice, cut, dice, mince, and chop! The stainless steel blade provides excellent precision and slices through cabbage, like butter. You will have the confidence to tackle any recipe that involves a head of cabbage. The patented and textured Fibrox handle makes it easy to thinly slice cabbage, without straining your wrist.
How to Shred Cabbage
- Whether you are planning on making coleslaw, soup, a stew, or any other recipe with shredded cabbage, learning how to cut this vegetable properly is a vital skill. You might have seen people use a grater for cabbage, and while it may save on time, the results are never as crunchy and are often too thin. The best thing is, all you need to create the perfect cut cabbage leaves is just a knife and a cutting board. Once you get the hang of the process, you will find that it’s super easy to cut cabbage.
- The first step is to rinse the cabbage thoroughly. Just like with all vegetables, you don’t want to consume any remaining dirt or grime on the outer leaves. You can also remove all the browned loose outer leaves, leaving only clean and crisp ones.
- The next part is to turn the cabbage over and remove the stem. Cut just enough so your head of cabbage sits flat.
- Once you have a clear bird’s eye view of your cabbage, you need to cut the cabbage in half. Slice cleanly through from top to bottom.
- Then you place each half facing down (so they look like domes) and then cut that those halves of cabbage in half again. Now you are left with four quarter pieces.
- Identify the stem and remove it. (The step is on the opposite end of the leafy parts). Just cut diagonally and just enough to cut off only the stem and not too much of the cabbage leaves.
- Now you can see you are left with wedges. The next step is to place the wedges on their side on the board. This is when you can start to slice the cabbage.
- Since we are talking about shredded cabbage today, make sure you thinly slice, and the pieces aren’t too thick.
- Keep going until the leftover part is too small to handle. What you do next is you turn the leftover piece flat against the board and continue to cut the cabbage.
- Continue with step 8 until you have a wholly shredded cabbage piece.
- If the pieces are too long, you can cut them horizontally down the middle to produce shorter pieces.
- Before you proceed with your recipe, store all the pieces already cut cabbage in a receptacle.
- Continue the same process with the other half of your cabbage.
Can You Shred Cabbage with a Cheese Grater?
As mentioned, shredding with a grater may not produce the same results. If you like smaller pieces of cut cabbage, then a cheese grater will save you a lot of time.
If you wish to do this, prepare the cabbage with the same process as above.
- Make sure you remove the stem and remove the outer leaves before you get to cutting.
- Run your knife through the cabbage until you are left with small wedges. The pieces should be cut to size and fit into your hand easily.
- Stand the cheese grater in a bowl (this is so the cut cabbage will directly land inside) and start grating.
Can You Shred Cabbage in a Food Processor?
Yes, you can. Again, this gives you less control over how big the pieces are. If you have a food processor handy, then you can follow these steps.
- Prepare the cabbage in the same way. Don’t forget to remove the stem and outer leaves.
- Then use your knife to cut the vegetable into wedges. They don’t have to be too small, but make sure they are not too big for your food processor.
- Bring out the slicing blade for your processor assemble it.
- Feed the cut cabbage pieces into the machine and push them through with the pusher.
- While you feed the cut cabbage pieces through, pulse the on button (or pulse button if you have it).
- Continue with this process and use all the pieces (sliced cabbage doesn’t have a long shelf life).
- When you are finished, you can proceed with your recipe!
Conclusion
The best way to properly shred a cabbage is with a knife. It gives you more control over how much you are cutting and how big the pieces are. Make sure to use a sharp knife to ensure precision and safety. Shredded cabbage is a great addition and makes for a great side dish for any recipe. Now you can prepare your head of cabbage in half the time!
