The simplest of ingredients come together beautifully in this buttered cabbage recipe. An incredibly cheap side dish that costs less than $2.00 – for the entire recipe!

There are million of recipes out there on the internet – and the fancy, time-consuming, beautiful ones seem to get all the attention.

How is a simple cabbage recipe to compete with all the glitz and glamour? A recipe featuring simple ingredients prepared in a simple way that lets the natural flavors of the food shine?

This particular recipe for buttered cabbage is as simple as it sounds: Cabbage, butter, and a few other ingredients cooked on the stovetop. A vegetable side dish that’s affordable and quick to make. It’s not that photogenic – but there’s still a lot to love about it!

How Much Butter Goes In Buttered Cabbage?

I experimented with this recipe a few times and came to the conclusion that it the perfect cabbage to butter ratio is this: 2 cups of raw chopped cabbage to 1 tablespoon of butter.

So this recipe calls for about 8 cups of chopped raw cabbage, which is cooked in 4 tablespoons of butter.

Is this considered lots of butter? It depends on who you ask! I know some keto diet followers that would consider this not enough butter. For me, it’s perfect!

Ingredients List

The ingredient list for this sautéed cabbage recipe is pretty short and simple:

• Cabbage: Purchase a whole head of regular green cabbage and chop it up yourself. If you’re short on time you could purchase a bag of shredded cabbage but it’s preferable to chop it up yourself, as the fine shreds in bagged cabbage are a little too fine. Save your savoy cabbage or Napa cabbage for another recipe – regular cabbage is ideal for this dish!
• Butter: You’ll need 4 tablespoons of butter for this recipe. Unsalted is preferable as you can add your own salt – but salted will also work if that’s all you have.
• Onion: You’ll barely know it’s there, but one yellow onion adds delicious flavor to this simple side dish recipe.
• Caraway seeds: Caraway seeds add a bit of peppery crunch to this recipe. If you don’t plan on using caraway seeds often, you can purchase just the amount you need from the bulk spice section of some grocery stores.
• A pinch of salt: Less if you’re using salted butter. Do not over-salt the cabbage! A little goes a long way.

These are all affordable, easy-to-find ingredients. All in all, this recipe costs right around $2.00 to make – for the entire recipe! Start adding this delicious side dish to your dinner rotation – and start saving money over time!

About The Recipe

Scroll down for full recipe and detailed instructions. But here’s the preparation process, in a nutshell:

• Remove tough outer leaves from a head of cabbage. Rinse.
• Cut cabbage in half and proceed to cut half of the cabbage into bite-sized pieces. You’ll need between 8 and 9 cups total for this recipe.
• Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and caraway seeds. When onion begins to soften, add cabbage.
• Cook, stirring, until cabbage softens and begins to caramelize/brown in a few spots. Cooking cabbage should take about 15 minutes.

And that’s it! Perfectly cooked buttered cabbage: One of the best ways to prepare cabbage, in my opinion!

There Are Many Reasons To Love Cabbage

Flavor: Cabbage is deliciously crunchy when eaten raw, with a slight bite and bitterness. It’s great made into salads or coleslaw. I like raw cabbage with a sweet element (like dried cranberries in a cabbage-based salad or a sweet/tangy dressing in a coleslaw). When cabbage is cooked, it becomes soft and tender, and the natural sweetness of the vegetable comes out.

Versatility: There are so many great ways to prepare cabbage! Whether you’re eating it raw or cooking cabbage in the oven or on the stovetop, the sky is the limit in terms of recipes to try and flavors to experiment with. Scroll down for some more cabbage recipes.

Cost: My #1 favorite thing about cabbage? It’s so cheap! Ounce for ounce, It’s one of the cheapest vegetables in the grocery store. I bought a 3.5-lb cabbage for 99 cents a pound. This was a medium-sized cabbage. When chopped up, I ended up with about 20 cups of cabbage. That’s about 17 cents per cup of cabbage. Insane, right? If you want to start saving money on food, start incorporating more cabbage into your diet!

What To Serve With Buttered Cabbage

This is a great side dish recipe to any of the following:

• Roast chicken or rotisserie chicken
• Baked chicken thighs
• Swedish meatballs
• Smoked sausage
• Kielbasa/ring bologna
• Roasted turkey
• Pork chops

More Affordable Cabbage Recipes

Looking to save money on groceries? Start buying cabbage and experimenting with new cabbage recipes. Here are a few to try:

• Cabbage roll soup
• Cabbage and ground beef casserole
• Egg roll casserole
• Savory roasted cabbage
• Reuben bowls
• Cabbage crunch salad
• Thai peanut cabbage slaw
• Southern fried cabbage recipe with crispy bacon
• Garlic butter roasted cabbage
• 50+ affordable cabbage recipes