Red Cabbage and Bacon Salad
I bought a red cabbage the other day to add to a chopped salad but that leaves plenty left for other things. I originally thought to braise some but opted instead to try this red cabbage and bacon salad from Lidia’s Italy in America. It’s pretty simple, other than the work of slicing the cabbage, which needs to be sliced thinly. A mandoline like this one (affiliate link) makes that job pretty easy, though. I just used about 1/4 of the cabbage so cut the recipe down accordingly.
I served this with a pork chop with pickled peppers.
Lidia’s Red Cabbage and Bacon Salad
Bacon, balsamic vinegar and red cabbage makes a tasty, colorful salad.
Ingredients
- 1/4 of a head of red cabbage, cored and thinly shredded
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- a quarter pound of bacon, cut in 1″ pieces
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Shred the cabbage as thinly as you can. A food process or mandoline makes this easier.
- Heat a skillet and cook the bacon until crisp.
- Pour off most of the bacon fat, then add the vinegar and oil, stirring to get up any bits of bacon. Pour over the cabbage and toss well, then add salt to taste.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
I’m sure it is is also very good with the onions. She probably has several different ways of preparing red cabbage. She has two similar recipe on her site. https://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/red-cabbage-bacon-salad/ and https://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/cabbage-salad/. One with onions and one without.
Lidia definitely cooks white or yellow onion slices in bacon grease for her version of this red cabbage recipe. Just watched on PBS. Will be making this week.
That sounds delicious but there was no onion in the book’s version.
I watched this episode last night….Lidia sauteed thinly sliced strips of onion towards the end, then added the dressing ingredients and lastly, poured over the cabbage and tossed all together. Curious as to why your recipe doesn’t call for the onion?
Her original recipe also calls for onion
just watched episode…she added water to cut acidity of vinegar…was optional.
You’re right; 2 tablespoons is much easier to understand. And in the original recipe she used a bit of olive oil to cook the bacon in. I just put the bacon in a pan without any extra oil so I removed the divided comment. Thanks!
Actually, I’m time there’s an error in the olive oil measurement. 1/8 cups is 2 tablespoons. Should it be something like 1/4 c divided?
What’s the purpose of dividing the olive oil?
Yes….watching a repeat of this show and she just added a bit of water …can’t wait to try.
She might have added a touch of water to deglaze the pan and then continued….
Hi Judy,
I did not watch that show but in the book she does not mention adding water, just the vinegar and oil.
Hi…glad I could find this recipe. I saw the show where Lidia made this neglected to write it down. I do, however, remember that she added a little water to the bacon drippings. Do you remember this? Sometimes the recipes on TV are not exactly like what is in the cookbooks. Not just her but I have found that with others.