Spicy Lime Coleslaw

Spicy Lime Coleslaw is ridiculous easy and so, so, so good for an interesting side dish. And this tasty coleslaw is low-carb, low-glycemic, meatless, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, and South Beach Diet friendly! Use the Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

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I think I made this Spicy Lime Coleslaw at least three times before it ever occurred to me that it might be a recipe people would like to see on the blog. It started as a variation of Spicy Mexican Slaw with Lime and Cilantro, but I didn’t have cilantro so I just left it out. The next time I made this as a quick side dish, I had shredded carrots in the fridge so I threw some of those in with the cabbage, green onions, and spicy lime dressing.

I loved this combination with the carrots so much, I almost didn’t miss the cilantro. And I know there are some people who (gasp) don’t like cilantro, so they’d never show the slightest interest in a recipe with cilantro in the title. This spicy lime coleslaw is just for you if you’re one of those cilantro-averse people, but even if you like cilantro I bet you’ll love this version of the salad as well.

This is a perfect recipe to chop up the cabbage, carrots, and green onions on the weekend and keep a bag of it in the fridge, but don’t mix on the spicy dressing until just before you serve it or the red cabbage will make the whole salad turn pink. If I was making this ahead for lunches, I’d have a bag of the cabbage mixture in the fridge with little containers of dressing, ready to mix in right when I ate the salad.

Finely slice and then coarsely chop 1/2 head green cabbage (2-3 cups chopped cabbage.) Finely slice and then coarsely chop 1/2 head red cabbage (2-3 cups chopped cabbage.) Grate 1 cup carrots (or use pre-shredded carrots like I did and give them a few chops.) I liked the coarser matchstick carrots from a bag in this, but grated or finely chopped carrots would also be fine. Slice 1/2 cup green onion (about 4 green onions thinly sliced.) Whisk together the mayo, light mayo, lime juice, and green Tabasco sauce (or other hot sauce of your choice.) Right before you’re going to serve the coleslaw, stir in the dressing and season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper. Enjoy!

More Interesting Variations on Coleslaw:

Blue Cheese Coleslaw from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Spicy Asian Slaw with Napa Cabbage, Carrots, and Ginger Dressing from Cookin’ Canuck
Napa Cabbage Slaw with Carrots and Fennel-Dijon Dressing from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Apple Fennel Slaw from Guilty Kitchen
Val’s Sweet Cabbage Slaw with Green Onion and Parsley from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Spicy Indian Slaw with Peanuts from Nutrition Unplugged
Spicy Cilantro-Peanut Slaw from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep  to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Print Recipe

Spicy Lime Coleslaw

Yield: Makes about 4 servings

Total Time: 20 minutes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Spicy Lime Coleslaw is so easy and makes an interesting side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced then coarsely chopped
• 1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced then coarsely chopped
• 1 cup grated or shredded carrots, lightly chopped (I like matchstick carrots in a bag, which are a bit thicker than grated carrots)
• 1/2 cup sliced green onion (about 4 green onions sliced)
• 4 T mayo
• 3 T fresh squeezed lime juice (I used my frozen fresh lime juice; see notes)
• 1 tsp green Tabasco sauce (or use other hot sauce of your choice)
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Thinly slice and then chop the 1/2 head of green cabbage and the 1/2 head of red cabbage and place in bowl.
2. Grate and chop the carrots (or use matchstick carrots like I did and coarsely chop them.)
3. Slice green onions and put carrots and green onions in the bowl with cabbage.
4. Whisk together the mayo, light mayo, lime juice, and green Tabasco sauce. (Taste the dressing to see if you want it a bit more sour or spicy.)
5. Salad can be prepared to this point and kept in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it. (It will keep in the fridge for a few days if it’s in a sealed container or bag with the dressing in a separate container.)
6. Just before serving, mix desired amount of dressing into the cabbage mixture, season to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper, and serve.

Notes:

I used my frozen fresh lime juice.

This recipe can easily be doubled and was adapted from Spicy Mexican Slaw with Lime and Cilantro that was originally found in Fine Cooking Annual 2008.)

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:

Due to the carrots included in the mix, this Spicy Lime Coleslaw would be for phase 2 or 3 of the South Beach Diet, and you may want to omit the carrots if you’re wanting to keep the carbs as low as possible. South Beach Recommends light mayo, but take your choice on that!

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

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