With a perfect balance of crisp-tender cabbage, flavorful smoked sausage, bell peppers, and Southern-style seasonings, this fried cabbage and sausage skillet makes a fabulous dinner served over mashed potatoes. This recipe is made all in one pan with olive oil and works wonderfully with turkey sausage for a lighter option.
If I could change one thing about this one-pan fried cabbage and sausage, it would be to make a head of cabbage quicker to chop and clean. Otherwise, not one note!
Pan-fried cabbage delivers a tender-yet-still-crisp texture that holds up for days (no soggy leftovers). Like my no-soak Instant Pot black eyed peas and sorta Cajun-y smoked sausage soup, I leaned on Southern-ish flavors like bell pepper, garlic, cayenne, sweet and smoked paprika, oregano, and vinegar to heartily round out this sausage and cabbage dinner recipe. If someone in your crowd side-eyes cabbage, this may be the dish to turn them around.
Many Southern fried cabbage recipes use bacon for a seasoning meat, but I'm partial to making this dish with smoked sausage. Smoked sausage is rich in flavor, fully-cooked, and adds a little more heft to a cabbage skillet that takes it from side dish to dinner territory. Plus it's even tasty when made from turkey (sorry bacon...).
What You'll Need
- Smoked sausage: I've made this dish with both pork and turkey smoked sausage, but Andouille sausage or kielbasa are also good options. Just make sure the sausage links are fully-cooked so you can just slice and brown them.
- Green cabbage: Look for a firm medium to medium-large head of green cabbage without discolored, browning leaves or soft spots.
- Bell pepper: Using green and red bell peppers add a nice color pop, but just one variety or the other is fine.
- Spices: This Southern-leaning blend includes garlic powder, sweet and smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
- Mustard: A tablespoon of a course-ground prepared mustard (I use a Dijon) is such an impactful ingredient to add flavor. You'll get a nice burst of its aroma right as it hits the hot skillet.
- Apple cider vinegar: A teaspoon or so stirred in at the end adds brightness and a subtle pop.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1: Halve the cabbage and remove the core pieces with "V" slices, then chop the leaves into bite-sized pieces.
- Step 2: Brown both sides of the sausage rounds, then transfer to a plate.
- Step 3: Sauté the onion and bell peppers in olive oil until softened.
- Step 4: Season with dried spices, then stir in the mustard.
- Step 5: Add as much of the sliced cabbage as will fit in the pan, stirring it up to coat with oil. Add more as it wilts and frees up space, until all of the cabbage is in the pan.
- Step 6: Cover and cook for 12-16 minutes, or until crisp-tender to your liking. Stir in the browned sausage and vinegar and heat for a few minutes before serving.
What Goes with Fried Cabbage and Sausage?
Mashed potatoes is hands-down my favorite thing to serve with fried cabbage. Usually after breaking down a cabbage I'm looking for some convenience, so more often than not I'll make my upgraded, sub-15 minute instant mashed potatoes. If you've got more time to spare, our traditional house recipe is for mashed potatoes made with sour cream.
Otherwise buttered egg noodles, your favorite kind of rice, and/or crusty bread (to soak up all that sauce!) are easy side dishes for fried cabbage and sausage.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Pump up the heat. As written this pan-fried cabbage recipe isn't spicy - the modest amount of cayenne brings flavor. That said if you'd like more heat, increase the amount of cayenne, add in crushed red pepper, and/or stir in your favorite vinegar-based hot sauce before serving.
- Use a large pan... Cabbage takes up a lot of room before it wilts down, so a large sauté pan works great here. The one pictured here is a deep sauté pan with a 6-quart capacity, roughly 12 inches across and 4 inches deep. It has plenty of room for stirring everything up at the end without spilling.
- ...and cover it. We need trapped steam to evenly cook and wilt the cabbage leaves, so do make sure to put a tight-fitting lid on your pan once the raw cabbage is added.
Did you enjoy this recipe? I’d love for you to leave a star rating and a comment review in the recipe card below!
Fried Cabbage and Sausage Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 medium to medium-large head of green cabbage cored and sliced into large bite-sized pieces
- ¼ cup olive oil divided
- 12 ounces fully-cooked smoked sausage sliced into ¼-inch thick rounds
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 medium-large green bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1 medium-large red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1 ¼ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¼ teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper for flavor, more if you want heat
- 1 Tablespoon stone-ground mustard
- 1-2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or to taste
Instructions
- Prep the cabbage: Remove and discard any wilted or discolored outer leaves. Slice the cabbage in half through its core, then slice an upside-down "V" shape on either side of the base piece on the flat side of each half to remove the tough inner core. Place the cored cabbage flat-side-down on the cutting board and slice the head into 1 ½-inch strips, then slice strips into large bite-sized pieces. I then wash the sliced cabbage with a salad spinner and spin/pat dry.
- Brown the sausage: Add 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil to a large pan (ideally one with deeper sides) set over medium heat. Once heated, add sliced sausage and brown in a single layer, flipping halfway, until both sides are golden-brown. Remove browned sausage to a plate and set aside. You may need to work in batches to fit all the sausage in a single layer.
- Scrape up fond (if needed): If there's fond (brown burnt bits) stuck on the bottom of your pan, sprinkle a tiny bit of water, around 1 Tablespoon or so, into the pan, tilting the pan around so the water covers the fond, and use a wooden utensil to scrape it up off the bottom but keep it in the pan (so much flavor!).
- Sauté the onion and peppers: Add 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil to the now-empty pan, set over medium heat, and add the onion and peppers. Cook for 6-7 minutes or until softened. Sprinkle the garlic powder, sweet paprika, oregano, salt, thyme, pepper, smoked paprika, and cayenne over top and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute, then stir in the stone-ground mustard.
- Cook the cabbage: Add the cabbage to the pan, drizzle in the remaining 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, and stir well to coat the cabbage with oil. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 12-16 minutes, stirring every few minutes, or until the cabbage has wilted some and has a crisp-tender texture to your liking. Adjust the heat as needed to prevent the cabbage from burning.
- Assemble: Stir the browned smoked sausage into the cabbage, then stir in 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Continue to cook uncovered for a few minutes as the sausage heats back up.
- Season and serve: Taste and add more salt, pepper, or apple cider vinegar as you like, then serve.
Notes
- Smoked sausage: Use your preferred variety, such as turkey, kielbasa, andouille, etc. keeping in mind the flavor differences.
- Serving suggestions: Over mashed potatoes, rice, or buttered egg noodles.
- Storage: Refrigerate leftovers in an air-tight container for 3-4 days, reheating thoroughly before eating.
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Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
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