Red Cabbage Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese

You have to try this amazing Red Cabbage Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese if you’re a fan of those ingredients! And I love this salad with red cabbage, but you can use green cabbage if that’s what you have.

PIN the Red Cabbage Salad recipe to try it later!

This Red Cabbage Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese is one of my favorite salads with cabbage, even though through the years I’ve struggled to get a really good photo of the salad! But recently I decided to try again on the photos and also to update the recipe using a bit more bacon and goat cheese than the original recipe called for, because that’s the way I’ve been making it for years now.

We also made a few other minor changes to this Red Cabbage Salad that we thought made it even more flavorful. (Look in the recipe notes if you’ve been a fan of this salad and want to see the original ingredients.)

And I was happier with the updated photos, even though red cabbage is definitely a challenge to photograph. If you like these ingredients, I promise you this interesting salad with slightly-wilted red cabbage, bacon, and goat cheese is something you’re going to be making over and over!

What ingredients do you need for this salad?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• thick-sliced bacon
• green onions
• red cabbage
• Olive Oil (affiliate link), preferably extra virgin olive oil
• Red Wine Vinegar (affiliate link)
• Garlic Powder (affiliate link)
• salt and fresh ground black pepper 
• goat cheese

Can you use more bacon and goat cheese in the red cabbage salad?

I used six slices of bacon when I first started making this salad, but through the years I would always use a bit more bacon and goat cheese, so I’ve made that change in the recipe. And of course you can use more or less bacon or goat cheese to make it the way you prefer.

What kind of goat cheese did we use for the red cabbage salad?

This salad uses the type of soft goat cheese that comes in a log. There are many fancy brands, but we just used the Kirkland brand goat cheese from Costco!

Can you make the red cabbage salad without goat cheese?

I know some people don’t like goat cheese, and it’s definitely a strongly-flavored ingredient. But if you don’t enjoy goat cheese but like Feta Cheese, I think that would be another great option that would go well with the red cabbage in this salad.

Can you make this red cabbage salad without bacon?

If you don’t eat pork but like the idea of the goat cheese and red cabbage with a vinegary dressing, I think this would be a flavorful vegetarian salad without the bacon.

How to make this Red Cabbage Salad Recipe:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Cut up bacon and then cook in a large frying pan until it’s crisp.
2. Slice green onion while the bacon cooks. 
3. When bacon is crisp, remove from pan and discard the fat. (You can use some bacon fat to replace olive oil in the dressing if you like.)
4. Chop cabbage into bite-sized squares. (The photo is a large 8 cup glass measuring cup, so this is about 10 cups of chopped cabbage.)
5. Whisk together olive oil (or bacon grease), red wine vinegar, and garlic powder in the frying pan, turn heat to medium high, turn heat to medium-high, and cook dressing about 15 seconds.
6. Add cabbage and cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes or until the cabbage starts to wilt but is still slightly crisp. 
7. Put wilted cabbage into bowl and season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
8. When cabbage is cooled a bit, stir in green onions.
9. Remove goat cheese from the fridge and crumble immediately.
10. Stir the bacon into the cabbage and then add crumbled goat cheese.
11. Serve salad and enjoy!
12. The red cabbage salad is very good after it’s been in the fridge, although you might warm it slightly in the microwave.

More salads with Cabbage:

I’m a huge cabbage salad fan and make them all year for a side dish. If you’re also a cabbage fan, check out my Low-Carb and Keto Cabbage Salads.

More Favorite Salads with Cabbage:

• Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Cabbage
• Spicy Lime Coleslaw
• Napa Cabbage Asian Slaw

Continue to Content

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Yield: 8 servings

Red Cabbage Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 6 minutes

Total Time 26 minutes

This Red Cabbage Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese is so delicious, and I've updated the recipe to use even more bacon and goat cheese. And this keeps well in the fridge, so the updated version makes 8 servings so you can eat some later for lunch!

Ingredients

• 8 pieces thick-sliced bacon
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 10 cups chopped red cabbage (see notes)
• 4 T extra-virgin olive oil (or slightly less if you prefer to use some of the bacon fat in the dressing)
• 4 T red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• 4 oz. crumbled goat cheese (see notes)

Instructions

1. Cut the thick-sliced bacon into squares and then cook the bacon in a large frying pan until it's very crisp and most of the fat is cooked out.
2. While bacon cooks, slice the green onion. 
3. When bacon is crisp remove from the pan and discard the bacon fat. (You can use some of the bacon fat to replace olive oil in the dressing if you like that idea.)
4. Cut cabbage into quarters and cut away the core. Chop cabbage into bite-sized pieces.
5. Whisk together olive oil (or bacon grease), red wine vinegar, and garlic powder in the frying pan, turn heat to medium high, and cook the dressing about 15 seconds.
6. Add the cabbage all at once and cook about 3 minutes, or until the cabbage is starting to wilt but is still slightly crisp. Stir often so the cabbage gets coated with the dressing.
7. Put the wilted cabbage into a large bowl and season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
8. Let cabbage cool at least 5 minutes. When cabbage is cooled a bit, stir in green onions.
9. Then remove goat cheese from the fridge and crumble immediately.
10. Stir the bacon into the cabbage and then gently stir in the crumbled boat cheese.
11. Serve salad and enjoy!
12. This salad is surprisingly good when it's been in the fridge, although you might want to warm it just slightly in the microwave.

Notes

10 cups of cabbage is one medium-large head of cabbage.

Don't remove goat cheese from the fridge and crumble it until you have wilted the cabbage and let it cool in the bowl.

WANT THE OLD VERSION OF THIS FAVORITE SALAD?

In 2023 this recipe was updated to make more servings and slightly changed to make it even more flavorful. If anyone was a fan of the original salad, here is the list of ingredients for that:

• 1 small head red cabbage
• 6 slices bacon
• 3 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 3 T red wine vinegar
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 3 oz. crumbled goat cheese

This recipe slightly adapted from Vegetables Every Day (affiliate link).

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 212Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 18mgSodium 387mgCarbohydrates 14gFiber 5gSugar 7gProtein 10g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
The Red Cabbage Salad would be a great side dish for any Low-Carb or Keto eating plan. Bacon isn’t approved for the original South Beach Diet, but if you want to make this salad for South Beach you could use turkey bacon, and possibly a bit less goat cheese.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This red cabbage salad recipe was first posted April 2007 and I have made it over and over through the years. In 2023 the salad was updated with new photos and adapted to the more flavorful version you see here. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2025.

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