Grain Free Cabbage Noodles
Cabbage noodles. The term sounds humorously humble and a little bit intimidating. But, if you are looking for a healthy, non-inflammatory replacement to regular pasta, this may just hit the spot!
Over the past few years that I’ve been completely grain free, I’ve experimented with numerous types of pasta substitutes. My favorite is zucchini noodles, which I make with my $7 secret kitchen tool. But recently, I was chopping cabbage for coleslaw and thought that the long shreds of cabbage, when cooked, may make a wonderful base for pasta sauce. I had also seen a few recipes where sliced cabbage was baked with cheese and sauce to create a faux-pasta casserole.
Sure enough, after a quick boil, the sliced cabbage worked wonderfully as a bed for a sauce I whipped up with roasted garlic, olive oil and sausage.
You can also use good ol’ tomato sauce for this recipe, like I show in the picture. (Actually, that’s not tomato sauce in the picture… it’s salsa. Yeah, I don’t really plan ahead well for food photo shoots and we didn’t have any tomato sauce in our cupboard but we did have a dusty jar of salsa in the back of our pantry. But seriously, use tomato sauce, not salsa, because you’re actually going to eat this, not just take a picture of it.)
I’m not telling you that a plate of cabbage noodles is going to taste like wheat pasta. It’s not… because that’s not the point! The point is this: these cabbage noodles, loosely inspired by traditional pasta, provide a quick, healthy, grain free meal.
- 1 head cabbage
- Your favorite pasta sauce or toppings. (Such as meat sauce, marinara sauce, homemade cream sauce or even just butter and salt)
- Remove the tough outer leaves of the cabbage.
- Use a serrated knife to cut the cabbage - this is important. Now, cut the cabbage in half.
- Place the cabbage half cut-side-down and start slicing lengthwise to create thinnish strips of cabbage.
- When you reach the core, start cutting on the other side. Now flip the core over and cut the cabbage that is left on the core off. And then cut this piece of cabbage into lengthwise strips. Always go against the grain and around the core.
- Repeat with the other half.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a big pinch of sea salt. Add the sliced cabbage and boil for 4-5 minutes, until tender but not mushy.
- Drain and top with your favorite sauce!
Do you make any type of vegetables noodles? Have you tried cabbage noodles before?
For years I have been enjoying cabbage as a pasta substitute, or doing 50% cabbage 50% pasta. Glad to see that other people do this too 🙂
I tried these noodles but used a an asian style dressing to stir fry eggplant and zucchini to put on top. It was great! Kind of like a noodle free chow-mein. thanks for the idea!
Actually I make a Mexican cabbage casserole so the salsa works quite well! Just add some cheese and meat or beans, etc. I am trying to add more vegetables into our diet and cabbage blends wonderfully in casseroles.
I make veggie lasagna and use whole cabbage leaves folded in half as the noodles. It helps to blanch the cabbage head to get the leaves to come off in one piece. Peel off a couple and blanch the head again. The outer leaves I cut out the thick rib and then fold the leaf. As you move in the rib gets small enough you can let it stay.
Its like cabbage rolls deconstructed.
Cabbage noodles with tomato sauce
Using Sauerkraut is even better, just squeeze it before