If all vegetable dishes were as easy and tasted as good as this Chinese cabbage stir-fry, we’d all be a lot healthier. (Just a quick note before we go on: there is some meat involved in this dish, but feel free to leave it out if you’re vegetarian!)
Among Chinese cabbage recipes, this cabbage stir-fry is savory, tangy, and very quick to prepare. Plus, it’s CHEAP. Cabbage is so inexpensive, filling, and healthy, but people don’t always know how to prepare it in a way that actually tastes, well…good.
Well, the Chinese have found a way! This is one dish that Sarah and I would definitely agree on when we met up for lunches in Beijing. When she moved to China and was working in the Sanlitun area just down the road from our Beijing apartment, we’d have lunch and order this dish almost every time we saw it on the menu.
All you need is very high heat, a couple of dried chilies, and a few splashes of Chinese pantry staples to make all the difference. Just eating this cabbage dish over rice is a satisfying meal in and of itself!
So, in Chinese, the name of this dish can be translated as “hand-shredded cabbage.” Why hand-shred the cabbage? you might ask. I don’t know the real reason, but my guess is that the rough, haphazardly torn pieces of cabbage offer textural variety, and do a great job of soaking up more sauce and flavor. It’s truly one of our favorites, and it’s the perfect way to take that humble, everyday head of cabbage and turn it into something great.
Chinese Cabbage Stir-fry: Recipe Instructions
In a wok over high heat, add the oil. Sear the meat until caramelized. Add the garlic and dried red chilies, turn down the heat to medium, and stir-fry for a minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
Add the Taiwanese cabbage, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar, and water.
Turn up the heat to high, cover the lid and let the cabbage cook for 1-2 minutes.
Uncover the lid, and stir in the Chinese black vinegar, scallions, and salt to taste. The cabbage should be wilted, but still slightly crunchy and caramelized.
Serve your Cabbage Stir-Fry hot!
Chinese Shredded Cabbage Stir-Fry
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 6 oz. pork belly (170g, pork loin, or chicken, thinly sliced)
- 5 cloves garlic (smashed and cut in half)
- 5 dried red chilies (deseeded and roughly chopped)
- 1 1/2 lb. cabbage (680g, hand-shredded into bite sized pieces, washed, and thoroughly dried)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
- 2 scallions (cut into 2-inch lengths)
Instructions
- In a wok over high heat, add the oil. Sear the meat until caramelized. Add the garlic and chili, turn down the heat to medium, and stir-fry for a minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
- Add the cabbage, wine, soy sauce, sugar, and water. Turn up the heat to high, cover the lid and let the cabbage cook for 1-2 minutes. Uncover the lid, and stir in the black vinegar, scallions, and salt to taste. The cabbage should be wilted, but still slightly crunchy and caramelized. Serve hot!
OMG
cabbage turns to a great meal. Don’t leave out the vinegar! Used bacon and italian sausage. Mmm
I love cabbage, I always buy one with every grocery shopping trip. So glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it.
What kind of cabbage do you use
Hi Donna, I’d pick Taiwanese cabbage with loose layers and a flatter shape.
Just right for an evening with too many other demands. Easy and delicious!
How wonderful. So glad this recipe helped to ease some of those demands :-)
Delicious, fast and easy. Thanks!
Wow, this is so good! I replaced the pork with fried tofu to make it vegan friendly. My family loved it! Thank you for sharing!
Good idea, Vivian, I will try it with five spice tofu instead of pork next time :-)
Delicious!!! I always wondered how restaurants make it so tasty and thanks to your recipe I’m able to do that at home!! It was crunchy yet tender and smelled divine. The tip about hand shredding cabbage made a big difference. And the black vinegar made a huge difference too. Thank you for these authentic recipes!!
This is my go to when I am lazy—a cabbage recipe. Simple and tasty :-)
“really tasty vegetarian/vegan dish”
6 oz. pork belly
LOL! Still looks great though. Thanks!
Hahaha that was definitely a mistake in the description, Joe! Thanks for pointing that out.
One of my favorite dishes and one I make regularly. Even very popular with my 11-year old daughter, but then I use half the amount of the dried red chilies. My “Viking” daughter enjoys spicy food andI usually prepare this with oxheart or pointed cabbage as strangely enough it’s hard to find Chinese cabbage in the Stockholm suburb I live in.
Why not, I believe in using what you can find.
Love this recipe! I make it often. I usually leave out the red chili pepper when I make it for my kids, and just serve chili flakes on the side as a garnish for me and my husband. I’ve used skinless boneless chicken thighs instead of the pork and it is very good. I’ve also used green cabbage and carrots (think using up a part bag of coleslaw shreds from another recipe) and added red bell pepper and mushrooms. This is a very versatile recipe that comes together quickly on a weeknight as a main with rice or noodles, or a side veggie if I make it meatless
Sounds love, Marjorie. So glad it’s a dish your whole family can enjoy.
Thank you for the recipe! It was very good!
You are very welcome, Tiffany.