Fresh Apple Cabbage Salad with Balsamic Dressing

This bright and crunchy fresh Apple Cabbage Salad is made with crisp apples, medjool dates, and a sweet balsamic yogurt dressing. Dried cherries and pecans add antioxidants, healthy fats and a beautifully satisfying texture.

All these flavors make a sweet and tangy flavor combination that is topped with our homemade balsamic maple syrup yogurt dressing. This salad makes the perfect summertime side to enjoy with our glazed salmon, pork roast and gravy, or our simple pan seared chicken breast dinner.

Cabbage and fresh apple make a satisfying pair and can be dressed with a wide variety of spices and dressings. You can get creative with the additional ingredients you use, which is part of what makes salads such a wonderful addition to your menu. Pick and choose ingredients that compliment the rest of your meal and suite your personal preferences.

What is the difference between coleslaw and cabbage salad?

Coleslaw is always made from a cabbage base while cabbage salads may contain little or even no cabbage. Our fresh apple cabbage salad with balsamic dressing is made from primarily green cabbage and could loosely be considered a slaw, but it will also qualify as a simple salad.

Is cabbage healthier than lettuce?

Cabbage usually contains higher amounts of vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds than certain varieties of lettuce such as romaine or even red and green leaf. Cabbages have a lot more crunch and will stay crisp and fresh longer than most lettuce, making it a great choice for a salad base.

Because cabbage is such a hearty green it needs to be sliced thin or even shredded when used in salads. Thick, strong pieces will be harder to chew and enjoy with the other ingredients in the salad.

To shred the cabbage

• Begin by washing the head of cabbage and removing the outer leaves. These leaves are usually tough and can be damaged or slightly browned.
• Cut the head of cabbage in half through the middle of the core at the bottom of the head.
• Cut those halves in half again and remove the core.
• Turn each quarter over onto one of the flat sides and very carefully cut the wedge into thin slices. This will reveal shreds of cabbage.

For very thin and delicate cuts of cabbage you can use a mandolin veggie slicer. Once you have your cabbage cut into quarters and the core is removed, very carefully slice each one into shreds. It is a much quicker method than using a knife and will result in much thinner and uniformed shreds.

What can you put in a cabbage salad?

Cabbage is a wonderfully versatile and easy green to enjoy in salads or slaw with a wide variety of toppings and other ingredients. Our fresh apple cabbage salad with balsamic dressing is our take to keep a cabbage and apple slaw real simple; but it’s only a starting point.

Here are some other ideas for how you can build on a white cabbage and apple salad.

• Shredded carrots, other varieties of cabbage, and onions
• Sliced or diced peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds
• Beans like white or great northern can be added to cabbage salads
• Peas, corn, tomato and thin slice cucumber
• Thin sliced peppers can be added for sweet crunch or heat
• Radishes, beets, and pickled onions are wonderful companions to cabbage
• Cold cuts like ham or salami, cooked deli chicken, and tuna can be added for protein
• Dill, parsley, and cilantro
• Wedges of pear, mandarin, or peach slices

What apples are best to use in a salad?

Uses fresh apples in a salad is a wonderful way to bring crunch and natural sweetness to your salad. Most apples will work just fine for a salad, but you do want to take care that they are fresh and crisp for the best flavor and texture.

Granny Smith, Cosmic Crisp, Jonagold, and Honeycrisp are all wonderful varieties to use in salads because they have wonderful crunch and a slight zing to their flavor. We chose to use Cosmic Crisp for our fresh apple cabbage salad.

The apples can be sliced thin, diced into fun squares, or kept larger for a bold statement and visual presentation.

The Greek Yogurt Dressing

It’s one of our all time favorite salad dressings for several salad recipes on this blog. Our garden kale salad, and green berry salad are also topped with this delicious balsamic vinaigrette recipe. You won’t run out of ways to use it!

Whisk it up and pour this delicious dressing on at serving time to give a piquantly sweet touch to this sweet-tart salad.

This recipe makes four large servings. The dressing should be put on right at serving. Go ahead and prepare the salad partially ahead of time, holding the apples and dressing until you are ready to enjoy.

Store the undressed fresh apple cabbage salad base in the fridge, in a zipped plastic bag. Slice the apples and dress this salad with your choice of toppings immediately before serving to keep it looking fresh and yummy!

Be sure to check out more of our delicious salads

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