Killer Instant Pot Cabbage Recipes You'll Be Obsessed With! (2024)

We love Instant Pot cabbage recipes! If you love dishes like buttered cabbage and obsessed with your high pressure cooker machine, we have a week worth of easy delicious side dishes here!Try a few of our simple cabbage recipes and let us know which is your favorite.

Looking for a few Instant Pot cabbage recipes? It’s one of our favorite vegetables now, and so versatile! Find more recipes ideas on our Instant Pot recipes post and let us know which one is your fave. (originally published 9/19, affiliate links present)

Pressure Cooker Cabbage Recipes

Serve it for dinner or a side dish, hearty with sausage or vegetarian without meat. Any way you serve it it’s just so good. You can make all of these as easy Ninja Foodi recipes as well. Both brands work the same.

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Let’s start with info. on how to cut a cabbage, then you can choose which recipe you want to make and go from there. Keep in mind that it cooks very fast to soften and will shrink quite a bit. I wouldn’t recommend anything much smaller than 2×2″ squares or they will get too mushy.

If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:

• Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
• Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
  • This is a great InstaPot cookbook and a set of wooden utensils are great to grab too.
  • I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
    • You should still deglaze pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.

For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.

Cabbage in Instant Pot

Let’s start with an original of ours. We call it Instant Pot Mountain Dew stew and it’s always a hit. That one uses sliced kielbasa sausage. If you’d rather use ground beef and/or chicken, try our old fashioned cabbage soup here.

Rather have it cold as a side dish? Make dinner in your IP and serve it with red cabbage cole slaw. PLUS we will share how to make Instant Pot buttered cabbage below. You will be amazed just how creative you can get with this (sort of) neglected vegetable.

One of our favorite chopped cabbage dinners is our pressure cooker stuffed cabbage soup! We also have one that is a bit thicker and heartier. You can make vegetarian or we love to use half a lb. of spicy sausage and half ground beef too.

Ninja Foodi Cabbage

You can use any brand you have. We do have a few Ninja Foodi cabbage recipes specifically too though. We call this one above our Instant Pot stuffed cabbage casserole! It’s super easy with a quick cooking time. Everyone including my youngest daughter loved this recipe. You can make unstuffed cabbage casserole in the oven too.

You will need:

1. Ground sausage – 1/2 spicy + 1/2 regular is my preference
   1. or ground beef
2. Cabbage
3. Beef or chicken broth
4. Spaghetti sauce
5. Rice – uncooked jasmine
6. Garlic
7. Can of tomato soup
8. Worcestershire sauce
9. Salt and pepper to taste

Of course you can add heat to any of these dishes with dry Sriracha or red pepper flakes too. Go light at first, taste and if you think it’s not enough you can add a bit more next time.

Instant Pot Cabbage and Sausage

Try our Instant Pot sausage and cabbage recipe! This one is a pretty hearty meal using ready made kielbasa or links of your choice. Sliced into bite size pieces it’s an easy one pot meal you can throw in all together.

You will need:

1. Instant Pot pressure cooker
2. Cabbage
3. Ground sausage
4. Noodles
5. Broth
6. Onion
7. Diced tomatoes
8. Olive oil
9. Garlic

How Long to Pressure Cook Cabbage

That depends on what other ingredients you have in the pot. If it is just diced pieces you wouldn’t want much longer than 2 minutes or so to wilt and soften. In a soup or casserole though you may have to increase to 3 or 4.

If you want a vegetarian version try our pressure cooker cabbage and noodles recipe and omit the bacon. A bit lazy? Make an Instant Pot whole cabbage head in less than 10 minutes, slice and drizzle with butter for a killer side.

See Also

Recipe: Roasted Cabbage with BaconEasy Cabbage with Bacon RecipeSimple Green Punch RecipeLow-Budget Cooking: Pasta Carbonara Recipe

Instant Pot Cabbage with Bacon

Then we’ll move on to a classic dish. The best fried cabbage you’ll ever make.

YES, this Instant Pot fried cabbage base is from my grandma and I just adjusted it to make it in my “quick pot”. It is so good I have even transitioned into my other favorite pot, with air fryer fried cabbage.

We have made this what we call stewed cabbage in a dutch oven on the stovetop too which takes longer but is just as killer. One is more buttered where this one just has light olive oil with seasonings.

Healthy Instant Pot Cabbage Recipes

Now if you just want to make Instant Pot cabbage with simple seasonings I have a recipe for that too! Sometimes you don’t want to go through the mess of making Instant Pot stuffed cabbage and just want a simple side dish.

This comes in handy for that! Ingredients you’ll need:

1. 1 head of cabbage – cut the cabbage into quarters for best results
2. 1 cup water or vegetable broth
3. 3/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning
4. 1 tsp garlic salt
5. CrispLid if you want to turn your Instant Pot into an air fryer and crisp it right inside the pot
   1. or can put under your broiler if you want crispy ends

With a quick release it’s a perfectly easy recipe that’s super healthy. You can make Ninja Foodi cabbage all in one (pressure cook to soften + crisp in the same pot) if you have one of these machines

Instant Pot Cabbage Wedges

NOW we’re going to share how to make a batch of our DELICIOUS Instant Pot buttered cabbage! The full printable recipe is below but I like to explain how to make recipes in a pressure cooker step by step in case you’re new to this.

This one is SO easy and only requires 3 main ingredients. I add a bit of garlic salt at the end but seasoning with salt and pepper etc… is really up to you. Everyone likes theirs with more of less of this or that so I like it add that at the end.

Here is what you’ll need:

1. Pressure cooker
   1. Ninja Foodi
   2. I always recommend this non stick pot if you have an Instant Pot
2. Head of cabbage
3. Stick of butter
4. Broth – I use what I have on hand so this time it was vegetable broth
   1. chicken broth and even beef broth lends a lot of flavor to this, use what you like best
5. Seasonings such as:
   1. garlic salt
   2. salt and pepper
   3. I actually love a sprinkle of Old Bay myself

You could even add a few tbsp. of real bacon bits in to the mix when it’s being cooked to add salt and BACON flavors!

Instant Pot Buttered Cabbage

Cabbage in Pressure Cooker

Now this is so easy you can literally prep everything and start your pot in under 5 minutes. If you are used to making buttered pressure cooker cabbage on your stovetop this isn’t much different except that you use a lot less liquid which means it comes out with a lot more flavor.

How do you cut cabbage for boiling?

• We’re not really boiling it using this method but you kinda’ follow the same rules as the “traditional method”. You’d cut cabbage into 1.5″x1.5″ squares. Of course this is an approximate measurement but you can see it below for your reference.
• On the stovetop you would bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add cabbage. Once it reached a boiling point you’d cook for about 5 minutes for shredded cabbage and 8-10 minutes for squares or wedges.
• We cooked for 4 minutes in the pressure cooker and it was perfect for us.

If you like it a bit firmer I would set to 2 minutes with the same 2 minute natural release time.

Instant Pot Cabbage

Instant Pot Steamed Cabbage

Pour your broth into the inner pot of your pressure cooker with your stick of butter. Throw your cubed cabbage leaves in on top of that.I like to kinda’ separate the leaves a bit when I add them.

• Discarding pieces that are very hard, near the end you cut off is a good idea too. They don’t have much flavor and aren’t my favorite personally. Add bacon bits add those to the very top if you want.
• Close your lid and steam valve. Set to high pressure for 4 minutes with a 2 minute natural release. Then do a quick release when done to release rest of pressure.
• For a bit firmer leaves set to 2 minutes initially with a 2 minute natural release

Gently stir once top is off, season to your liking and serve immediately for best results! Add 1/4 tsp garlic salt or more to taste.

If you wanted larger chunks you could cut the hard end off and then just quarter your head of cabbage as well. I don’t think this turns out quite as well because it won’t soak up the butter the way this does cut into smaller pieces.

Do you need to wash cabbage before cooking?

Even though the inside of cabbage is usually clean since the outer leaves protect it. You still may want to clean it with a quick gentle trip under the faucet.

To preserve its vitamin C content you should only cut and rinse cabbage right before cooking or eating it, not beforehand.

• Generally when I buy it from the produce section of our local grocery store there is a plastic wrapping over it, unlike lettuce. This will keep it a bit cleaner but as with any vegetable it may have a bit of dirt and/or debris on the outside.
• I like to discard the 2 top leaves covering the outside because those are generally what has the dirt on it.

Do cabbage have worms?

No, they actually don’t. If you do find a surprising pest inside or on the surface it would be a tapeworm, you wouldn’t want to ingest those either though.

These have a tendency to eat a number of plants from the cabbage family and whose larvae feed on cabbages and other cole crops.

This is what it looks like when it’s done!! Tender leaves that have soaked up all the flavors of the broth and butter below. Taste it first and see if you really want to add salt and pepper.

A pinch of garlic salt or Old Bay is our favorite but you don’t need a lot so use a light hand if you do.

How long do you cook cabbage for?

In a pressure cooker, not long. Less than 5 minutes usually does it.
As you can see a whole cabbage cut into 4ths only takes 3 minutes to become tender. In the oven is closer to 12 minutes.What goes well with cabbage?

Basically, if you want to add a bit of crunch to any meal, and have a vegetable included, cabbage is a great choice. It is VERY inexpensive and after a few times serving it to my kids they now love anything I make with it.

Many are amongst our favorite Instant Pot side dishes but here are a few other ideas including a few Crockpot cabbage recipes.

• Sesame cole slaw
• Stuff cabbage rolls with burrito ingredients instead of using tortillas
• Apple slaw with honey lime dressing
• Pork and cabbage baked together
• Unstuffed cabbage casserole is one we shared above but you could make that on your stovetop too
• Pasta and potatoes with cabbage leaves cubed like we did here.

I encourage you to do the same, you may be surprised if you add some great seasonings your children might aquire a taste for it too.

Instant Pot cabbage recipes

If you love cabbage and want to try something else beyond these, try our air fryer cabbage too. It’s been really popular. If you have this new appliance it is worth a try. Not as tender but a nice crisp on the outer leaves.

Well our printable recipe for Instant Pot cabbage is below, let us know what you think below in the comments when you try it! Find more quick and easy pressure cooker recipes here!

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