Baked Cabbage Casserole
Cabbage Casserole is a vintage recipe made with fresh cabbage, eggs, butter, and cream. The recipe originated from my great grandmother’s cookbook published in the 1800s. This delicious low-carb casserole is keto diet-friendly and easy to make.
I’ve been playing around with my great grandmother’s old cookbook and trying out a bunch of old vintage recipes. I came across this dish and had to give it a try and a fitting 21st-century makeover.
I love cabbage, especially braised and chopped cold for slaw. This baked cabbage is the perfect side dish for a low carb or ketogenic diet while being packed with beneficial micronutrients to fuel the body. A cup of cabbage is only 5 grams of carbohydrates and 2 of those 5 grams is fiber.
What To Serve With Cabbage Casserole
I served this tasty casserole with roasted pork chops, but it would be great with beef, chicken, and pretty much any protein source. The pork and the cabbage were a nice complementary combo.
This easy baked cabbage casserole is also a great way to get more veggies into a keto diet. As most of you know, I love my carbs and don’t follow a ketogenic diet. I do like to loosely carb cycle and eat more carbs on my workout days and stick to a lower carb meal composition on my rest days. My body feels good eating this way, while still having plenty of energy to fuel my lifting sessions. For my keto friends, I knew this one would be a winner.
When making this vintage dish, I stayed pretty true to the original recipe. I did adjust the cooking method for ease and convenience and added Parmesan cheese to boost the flavor. Sauteed onions would also be a delicious add-in to this dish.
Another tasty addition would be sauteed pancetta or bacon, pan-fried, and crumbled. Everything is better with bacon, right?! Here is the original recipe printed in my Great grandmother’s circa late 1800’s cookbook “Table, Home, and Health”:
Don’t you just love how vague recipe directions were back then? How did they even cook, lol?!
How To Make Cabbage Casserole
Original Vintage Recipe Directions:
Boil a firm white cabbage fifteen minutes; change the water, and continue boiling until tender, then strain and set aside until perfectly cold; then chop fine and add two beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of butter, three tablespoons full of rich milk or cream, a little pepper, and salt; stir all well together, and bake in a buttered pudding-dish until brown. This dish is digestible and palatable, much-resembling cauliflower.
Remove the outer layer of cabbage and rinse thoroughly under running water. Set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil. Add cabbage and cook for 15 minutes. This is strange, I know…I have never boiled a WHOLE cabbage before, but I am trying to stay authentic here, so here goes…
Cover with a lid and vent slightly.
This is what the original directions wanted you to do…
While cabbage is cooking, bring a large tea kettle of water to a boil. Remove cabbage from boiling water and empty water from the pot. Place the pot back on the stove and add boiling water to the pan. Place cabbage into fresh boiling water and cook another 15 minutes or until tender.
My Cooking Modifications
What I decided to do was just boil it for 30 minutes. I don’t get the water changing?! Maybe someone can enlighten me on why this was necessary. It was much easier to just boil it for a total of 30 minutes.
If you love low-carb side dishes, don’t miss these easy Southern-style collard greens and my favorite roasted green beans!
*This post was updated on October 13, 2019, from the original recipe published February 28, 2011.
Baked Cabbage Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 medium head cabbage
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1 tbsp melted butter
- 3 tbsp heavy cream or milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated
Instructions
- Remove outer layer of cabbage and rinse thoroughly under running water.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil.
- Add cabbage and cook for 30 minutes.
- Drain in a colander and place in the refrigerator to cool completely
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Chop cabbage into 1-inch pieces, removing the hard stem, and place into a large bowl.
- Add beaten eggs, melted butter, cream, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Pour into a buttered casserole dish.
- Bake, covered with foil, in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.
- Stir, remove cover and bake for 30 minutes more.
- Sprinkle fresh parmesan on top and bake for a final 10 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges.
Nutrition
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Thanks for sharing this vintage recipe, Amee. I hope you don’t mind that I’m including this link in a post I’m doing tomorrow (2.17.16) for World Cabbage Day!
Thanks again for sharing…
We love cabbage..and oh how I LOVE trying something different. Cracks me up to think of cooking a whole cabbage! But I’m going to try it. Thanks for sharing. Those old recipes are sometimes hilariously vague for sure! 😁
I know, I thought it was so weird to boil it whole! It really did turn out delicious, and it worked great. 🙂
Any reason you can’t cut the cabbage pieces and then boil it for five minutes and continue with the rest of the recipe?
That should work, too. I just haven’t tested the recipe that way. Keep me posted if you try it and let me know how it turns out.
This dish was amazing!! Super easy, diet friendly, and everyone loved it!! Triple Crown Winner!!
I’m so glad that you all enjoyed it, Theresa! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! 🙂