How to Dehydrate Cabbage

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Dehydrate cabbage to reduce waste and make it shelf-stable for a year! It’s an easy project that is perfect for making Eggrolls in a Bowl at any time!

Cabbage is often looked at as a throwaway vegetable because people don’t know how to preserve it other than fermenting. But you can easily dehydrate it and use it for so many things.

Yes, even coleslaw! It won’t be your typical coleslaw, a little softer, but it still works!

Types of Cabbage to Use

Cabbages are great balls of leafy goodness for those who love them. It’s great for making fermented sauerkraut, kimchi, coleslaw, salad, colcannon and so much more!

But did you know there are a variety of cabbages to choose from – not just the typical red and green you find in the store?

• Green — what most people are familiar with for making sauerkraut and coleslaw.
• Red  — tends to be smaller than green, and makes a great color addition to coleslaw and other salads. It’s perfect for pickling, too!
• Savoy
• White 
• Napa — looks a little more like Romaine lettuce than typical cabbages. It’s perfect for salads and stir frys. This is also known as Chinese Cabbage.
• Bok Choy — another variety that looks more like lettuce than cabbage. Great for stir frys. It’s also good for roasting.

How to Dehydrate Cabbage

Dehydrating cabbage is a good beginner’s dehydrating project since so little preparation is needed. It’s a quick-dry project, easy to store, and so versatile in usage.

Quick Instructions: Slice, dry at 125°F/52°C until crisp, and store for up to a year. Blanching is recommended.

Equipment Needed

• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Dehydrator
• Storage Container – I prefer glass jars, but mylar bags and vacuum seal bags work well for cabbage.

A Note about Blanching

Cabbage falls under the “if you eat it raw, you don’t have to blanch it” column. This means that while it is recommended to blanch cabbage to stop the enzymatic process that makes foods degrade faster on the shelf, it isn’t necessary. So you can choose to blanch for 2 minutes or leave as is.

Directions

1. Remove the outer leaves from each head of cabbage and any additional damaged pieces.
2. Cut into quarters, then cut the core at an angle to remove the core.
3. Wash at this point, or cut in the next step and clean the strips. You can use a Salad Spinner to remove the excess moisture.
4. Cut into thin strips approximately no more than 1/4″ wide. I prefer to cut longer pieces in half to make storage and eating later easier. You can also use a shredder attachment on your food processor.
5. Place on dehydrator trays. You can mound them a little as they will shink like other greens do as they dry.
6. Dry at 125°F/52°C for 8-12 hours. Get this handy dehydrating magnet to help remember!
7. Allow to cool before testing. It should be dry, breakable, and crunchy.
8. Store after cooling in an airtight container for up to a year.

This image was taken from doing bagged cole slaw mix from the store!

Oven Directions

Drying cabbage in the oven needs to be done with caution. If your oven is too hot, it may actually cook your cabbage instead of drying it.

1. Spread cabbage shreds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Set your oven to its lowest temperature (crack the door if necessary to release excess heat). The optimal temperature is 150°F or below, because too much heat will bake instead of dry.
3. If you have a gas oven, you can just leave this overnight with the pilot light on.
4. Dry until breakable and crunchy.

Conditioning and Storing

Conditioning is the process of keeping your dehydrated cabbage in a large container for five days, shaking once a day. This allows the residual moisture to even out throughout the batch and allows you to see any moisture issues long before mold sets in.

Once you’ve conditioned, place into an airtight container, such as glass jars, vacuum seal bags or mylar bags, for 12-18 months. This is the optimal time to store cabbage to keep the most of the nutrients and color. You may get longer, but over time, they may begin to change color and degrade in texture.

Expect cabbage to turn a brownish color more quick if you did not blanch, or if you’ve stored longer than a year.

Yield

1 packed cup of fresh cabbage is approximately equal to 1/4 cup dried.

Rehydrating Dried Cabbage

Reconstituting cabbage is so easy to do!

• Simmer in a soup or stew
• Place in a container and cover with water to allow it to rehydrate. I generally put just enough water to cover it.

Uses

Dried cabbage can be used in a variety of dishes.

• Eggroll in a Jar Recipe – imagine Eggroll in a Bowl – but shelf-stable!
• Coleslaw – while not the typical fresh crunchy coleslaw, this will make a softer version.
• Taco topping – makes a fun crunchy topping for fish tacos and other street taco kinds of meals when fresh isn’t available.
• Soups – add it to any ramen, soup, or stew without the need to rehydrate.
• Colcannon. Yes – you can use dehydrated for this version as long as you rehydrate first!
• Add to scrambled eggs.
• Stir fry – yes, you can! You can rehydrate first, or just toss it in as-is!

Frequently Asked Questions