Thai-Style Spicy Cabbage Slaw with Mint and Cilantro
Even in the winter when you have to buy the mint, this Thai-Style Cabbage Slaw is worth the splurge! And this tasty cabbage salad with Thai flavors is low-carb, meatless, and South Beach Diet friendly, and if you use gluten-free fish sauce it can easily be gluten-free.
Click here to PIN Thai-Style Spicy Cabbage Slaw with Mint and Cilantro!
Mint is something I have in abundance in the summer, and it’s so prolific that I’m glad I have a garden bed divided into thirds so the mint is contained. Maybe it’s because I have so much free mint in the summer, but I have a hard time buying mint at the grocery store, and I saved this recipe for Thai-Style Cabbage Slaw with Mint and Cilantro months ago, thinking I would try it in the summer when I had mint begging to be used. Then every time I looked through recipes I had saved, this one was calling to me, until finally I paid a ridiculous price for mint at the store and tried it.
This was another of those recipes where Jake and I were absolutely raving the entire time we devoured four servings of this (and we had eaten lunch about 30 minutes earlier!) If you like Thai flavors, I’m guessing this salad might become one of your year-round favorites, even if you have to remember to buy mint!
When I’m trying to eat lower carbs than usual, cabbage salads are one of my favorite things to eat. Maybe it’s my personal variation of the cabbage soup diet, but I can eat raw cabbage over and over without getting tired of it. If you’re looking for low-carb or Phase One recipes that won’t make you feel deprived, I highly recommend this salad, and look after the recipe for some of my other salad favorites.
The dressing for this salad had just lime juice, fish sauce, sweetener (I used granulated Stevia), and red chile flakes.
You can use either color of finely-shredded cabbage, but we made a mix with more red than green, which made the salad pretty.
Toss the red and green cabbage together with the dressing. Then let it sit for 10-15 minutes, or at least as long as it takes you to chop the other ingredients.
While the salad marinates prepare the chopped mint, chopped cilantro, and thinly-sliced green onions.
We increased the amount of peanuts, which didn’t seem too extravagant, since the rest of the salad was so low in calories.
After the cabbage has marinated for 10-15 minutes, stir in the green onion, chopped mint, chopped cilantro, and most of the peanuts, saving a few peanuts to sprinkle on each serving. Serve right away.
Thai-Style Spicy Cabbage Slaw with Mint and Cilantro
(Makes about 4 servings, but recipe can easily be doubled; adapted slightly from Thai-Style Cabbage Slaw in Sunset Magazine Easy Party Food. (I could not find the recipe online.)
Dressing Ingredients:
1 1/2 T lime juice
1 T fish sauce (I like Red Boat Fish Sauce or Three Crabs Fish Sauce)
2 tsp. Splenda, granulated Stevia, or sugar (use Splenda or Stevia for South Beach Diet)
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. dried red chile flakes
Ingredients:
3-4 cups thinly sliced and chopped red and/or green cabbage (we used more red than green, which made a pretty salad)
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup chopped salted peanuts (or more)
Instructions:
Stir together the lime juice, fish sauce, sweetener of your choice, and red chili flakes to make the dressing. (You might start with the smaller amount of chile flakes and taste on your finger to see if you want more heat.)
Thinly slice and chop enough red and green cabbage to make 3-4 cups of sliced cabbage. Put the cabbage in medium-sized bowl and toss with the dressing. Let the cabbage marinate while you prepare the other ingredients.
Slice the green onions. Wash and spin dry the mint leaves and cilantro, using a salad spinner or drying with paper towels, then chop enough to make 1/2 cup each chopped mint and cilantro. Coarsely chop peanuts with a chef’s knife.
Add the green onion, chopped mint, chopped cilantro, and most of the peanuts to the cabbage and toss to combine. Serve right away, sprinkling a few peanuts on each serving of salad.
We ate this all so I didn’t get to see how it would keep in the fridge, but I am guessing it would be best freshly made.
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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Cabbage is a wonderful low-glycemic ingredient, and as long as you use Splenda or Stevia in the dressing, everything in this salad is approved for any phase of the South Beach Diet and other low-carb diet plans.
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 might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Nutritional Information?
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More Low-Carb Cabbage Salads Kalyn is Crazy About:
Spicy Lime Coleslaw
Spicy Cilantro-Peanut Slaw
Spicy Mexican Slaw with Lime and Cilantro
Napa Cabbage and Red Cabbage Salad with Fresh Herbs and Peanuts
Spicy Cabbage Salad with Tomatoes, Radishes, and Celery (Puerto Rican Cabbage Salad)
Cabbage Salads from Other Blogs:
Ottolenghi’s Cabbage and Kohlrabi Salad from The Taste Space
Red Cabbage Salad with Walnuts, Raisins, Feta, and Warm Mustard Dressing from The Perfect Pantry
Coleslaw with Wasabi Dressing from David Lebovitz
Asian Cabbage Salad from Andrea Meyers
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This is my type of dish!! I can't wait to make this. Beautiful picture and I love how it matches your banner 😉
That is kind of fun how they match, isn't it. Trust me, this salad is amazing!
This makes me want to run out to my garden to see if the mint is starting to come up yet! I know just what you mean about buying mint at the store in the winter, but for a special salad, it's worth it every now and then. Thanks for linking to my red cabbage salad recipe, too.
With the thai flavors in this, I'm pretty sure I'd be super satisfied to have it daily! I can never get enough of 'em.
I am a huge fan of Thai flavors so this salad is right up my alley. Love how pretty this salad is with the mixture of cabbages and the peanuts sound perfect.
Joanne, Jeanette, and Lydia, so glad you like it. I can't rave enough about how good this was!
It's still winter here…… But this salad looks awesome!
CJ, it's pretty wintery here too, but I do have some tiny little green shoots on my mint!
Bookmarked and will be tried very soon. I am always up for any cabbage dish, especially Thai inspired. Thanks, Kalyn,
Kirsten
I love Thai food but am always at a loss on how to make it at home. This looks really accessible, thanks for posting!
Oh, I agree completely! I bought mint two weeks ago and it nearly killed me. But I couldn't wait.
Pam it was totally worth it!
This sounds delicious and I have most of the ingredients on hand! I just transplanted some mint I got at the farmer's market, so I actually have some fresh stuff at home 🙂
Rachel, I'm jealous of your mint growing; mine is barely starting to get a few green leaves. Hope you enjoy it!
I planted mint once, but not in a container. It was everywhere!! This slaw sounds refreshing and delicious.
Deborah, I had to learn about mint the hard way too, so I'm glad mine is well-contained now. And even in a raised bed, some of the mint tries to travel out into the garden!
Sounds like the perfect light low calorie meal!
Kalyn, this slaw looks great! I just bookmarked it, so I imagine it will grace my table soon. I made an asian-inspired slaw that is sort of similar from the Plenty cookbook a couple weeks ago (I should be posting about it on my blog in the near future) that I loved, and so when I saw your recipe I got really excited! Also, I was wondering if you could share where you purchased the square bowl in these photos, I really like its sleek design.
Nicole
Nicole, I have that cookbook too, love it. Sorry but no idea where I got that bowl, although I do buy a lot of props at stores like Ross, Marshalls, TJMaxx/Homegoods.
FYI: The slaw I'm speaking of is the sweet winter slaw on page 102.
I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for something similar bowl-wise! I've been eyeing a lot of the CB2 dinnerware, it's similarly sleek/spare, and reasonably priced to boot.
Will have to check out that salad; I made another salad from that book that I loved.
I don't know why something so simple can taste soooo goood! That recipe rocks. I've made it twice already (with sugar and with Truvia, good either way,)& it's so satisfying. I will be making this a lot in the warmer months, especially.
Glad you have enjoyed it so much. We pretty much went crazy over this too!
I made this today as part of my make ahead Sunday. I didn't put the dressing on it and put the ingredients in four plastic bags with a half of a paper towel inside. I'm going to take three with me to work this week, and my daughter is going to take one with her to school. I'll put the dressing on when I dump it all into a bowl at work…let it sit about 10 minutes and then nom nom nom. I hope it works because it looked so good it was hard not to snack on it-ok, I'll admit I did eat four peanuts-but I did put them on the food diary and with all the extra calories I burned today with the cook ahead Sunday, I think I'll be ok! YUMMMY. Thanks Kayln!
Great idea to make it ahead and add the dressing later.
I'm making this tonight!!!! I needed to do something with my mint leaves!!!!
Thanks for sharing. I don't care for fish, any suggestion on what I could replace it with? Or would it be ok to leave it out?
I don't think fish sauce really makes things taste like fish, just adds a complex flavor (I know one fish-hater who doesn't even taste it in things.) But you could replace with a little soy sauce or Worcestershire.
If you're looking to increase shelf life at finding you eat this dish often, you can extend its shelf life by only combining the dressing and cabbage serving by serving. Until you're ready to eat, just use three individual storage units for the dressing, pre-chopped cabbage, and other ingredients.
Good idea!