Easy Grilled Napa Cabbage Recipe

Name: Grilled Napa Cabbage Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 head napa cabbage; 2 tablespoons olive oil (or other cooking oil); Dash sea salt (or to taste)

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Total: 25 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Yield: 1 head cabbage

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Grilled cabbage may sound a bit odd to people. Really odd to some. Yet we can assure you that this grilled napa cabbage is as delicious as any other grilled vegetable. After just a bit of time over a hot flame, cabbage takes on a lovely sweetness, picks up crispy blackened edges, and gets slightly soft while stubbornly holding onto its crunchy texture.

"This is a simple side dish that goes with nearly any entree any time of year. It's fantastic with barbecued chicken and takes well to a drizzle of vinaigrette or a creamy slaw dressing. Skewering the wedges definitely makes it easier to keep them together on the grill." —Danielle Centoni

1 head napa cabbage
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, or other cooking oil
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

Gather the ingredients.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck
Prepare a high (500°F to 600°F) gas or charcoal grill fire. Trim the cabbage of damaged outer leaves. Cut the cabbage into 8 wedges, being careful to keep a bit of the core in each piece to hold the wedge of leaves together.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck
For ease of handling, and to make sure the leaves don't fall between the grill grates, skewer each cabbage wedge onto a grill-proof metal skewer or wooden skewers which have been soaked for 30 minutes in water. Brush the cabbage wedges lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck
With the cover opened, grill the cabbage until the edges are blackened and crispy, and the center wedges are warm, turning frequently to char on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes. For more tender cabbage, cover the grill while cooking. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

Recipe Variations

The recipe also works with green and savoy cabbage.
Remove the wedges from the skewers and chop it all up before serving it more like a salad, drizzling it with a vinaigrette.
Sprinkle with grated cheese while the grilled cabbage is still hot so the cheese melts into it a bit—aged Gouda or cheddar are both really nice choices for this.
Drizzle with flavored oil before serving; lemon olive oil is nice, but a hot chile oil or toasted sesame oil add even more kick.
Add a sprinkle of ground cumin or other earthy spice (the warm spice mix called garam masala is a good choice, too) to the oil used to brush the cabbage in step 3.

The Ultimate Guide to Grilling

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
117	Calories
11g	Fat
5g	Carbs
3g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	117
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11g	14%
Saturated Fat 1g	7%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 718mg	31%
Total Carbohydrate 5g	2%
Dietary Fiber 2g	8%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 95mg	473%
Calcium 221mg	17%
Iron 2mg	10%
Potassium 529mg	11%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.