This amazing purple cabbage salad is so bright, healthy, and refreshing. You’ll love how the tangy dressing and olives balance out the earthy vegetables!

This red cabbage salad recipe is a refreshing departure from your typical mayo-heavy coleslaw. Packed with a vinegary dressing and puckery olives, it’s the perfect side dish to cool down a hot piece of protein.
Purple Cabbage Salad Video
How to Prepare a Purple Cabbage Salad
This recipe for tangy cabbage slaw requires you to chop up all the veggies and toss them in a homemade salad dressing.
- Make the Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk the oil, white wine vinegar, salt, cumin, minced garlic, and black pepper together. Set the dressing aside.
- Prepare the Veggies: Shred the cabbage thinly, dice the onions, and cut the tomatoes and olives into halves.
- Assemble the Salad: Place all the veggies in a bowl and toss the dressing in. Enjoy!


Tips for Purple Cabbage Salad
A couple of handy tips will help you make the tastiest purple cabbage salad on the planet.
- Enlist the help of a mandoline slicer. A mandoline slicer not only makes it easier to slice the cabbage, but it also ensures that the texture is perfectly consistent
- Prep the veggies ahead of time. If you are whipping this salad up for a party, prepare the vegetables ahead of time and keep them sealed in airtight containers in the refrigerator.
- Whip up the dressing in advance. To cut down on prep work and get a more flavorful salad, prepare the dressing a day or two in advance and let it marinate in the fridge.
Different Variations
Looking to tweak this salad to your specific tastebuds? Find a couple of ideas below to inspire you.
- Alter the Dressing: If you like it spicy, add some red pepper flakes to the dressing. If you want it more tangy, whisk in a tablespoon of dijon mustard or fresh lemon juice.
- Add Some Crunch: For more texture, mix in some slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds.
- Toss in More Veggies: Swap half the cabbage out for sliced kale. You can also add in minced green onions or broccoli.
How to Serve Purple Cabbage Salad
Our all-time favorite way to serve purple cabbage salad is with a lamb shoulder chop and creamy mashed potatoes. You can also use it to top a steak sandwich for extra crunch and a tangy contrast to the beef.
More Healthy Cabbage Recipes
- Green Cabbage Cucumber Salad with Herbs – Cucumber, dill, and green onion cabbage salad
- How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut – 4-ingredient pickled cabbage
- Curtido – Salvadoran cabbage slaw
- Quick Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe – Classic cabbage sauerkraut
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium purple cabbage
- 1/2 lb tomatoes
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 1/3 cup pimento filled olives
Purple Cabbage Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk all the dressing ingredients together with a fork. Set the dressing aside.
- Shred the cabbage into thin pieces and dice the onions into small cubes. Next, cut the olives and tomatoes into halves.
- Place all the veggies in a bowl.
- Toss the dressing into the veggies. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe.!
Hi Raschelle, My pleasure. Enjoy! 🙂
Great Salad...Delicious! Definitely on my anytime menu and/or holidays, special occasions😚
It is so simple with tons of texture, glad you enjoyed it too!
Next time I will use shallots, which will make the texture even better and more flavorable...the cumin really makes it pop and I added pepper flakes too!! It will go well with Lamb meat. Thanks again
Okay - now my stomach is literally grumbling! That sounds bomb. Cumin and lamb were made for eachother. Let me know how it turns out (although I have no doubts the answer is delicious). Thanks for sharing, Rae!
Hi olga, I believe I see 6 ingredients on dressing picture, but you have listed only 5. Which one are you missing? Im planning to make this salad today.
I am Natalya 🙂 pepper is missing but its kinda optional. Hope you still enjoyed it!
Amazing! Simple but genius combination of ingredients. Definitely will make it!
Olga, thanks... I cant really take the credit but this salad is so so good!!