Marinated slaw is not your typical coleslaw recipe—it’ a sweet, vinegar-based slaw with thinly sliced cabbage, peppers, and onions. It’s super easy to make, lasts a long time in the fridge, and makes enough for a crowd. It tastes amazing with barbecue or The Best Fried Fish. The key when making this side dish it to plan ahead, because it has to marinate for three days.

Summer Side Dishes

We love hosting backyard barbecues and fish fries during the summer. Although the main dish changes, the sides and dessert typically do not. We have marinated slaw because it’s easy to keep on hand, and I almost always make Marinated Potato Salad and Strawberry Shortcake! These are all make-ahead dishes and there is plenty for a crowd. I love to serve make-ahead dishes, because I can enjoy time with our family and friends instead of fussing in the kitchen all day.

Slaw Recipes

There are so many slaw recipes floating around on the Internet, but this is definitely my favorite marinated slaw recipe. I also have a great mayonnaise-based recipe of my grandma’s that I plan to share very soon, but it’s a typical coleslaw recipe. The marinated slaw recipe uses fresh ingredients from the garden (or the farmer’s market if you don’t have a garden) and a few pantry staples. It’s the perfect side dish to keep on hand all summer long.

The fresh ingredients are cabbage, green bell pepper, and onion. Most importantly, the veggies are sliced very, very thin. Last, a vinegar base is boiled and poured over the top. This gives the veggies a pickled flavor, but so much better!

The ingredients for the vinegar base include: apple cider vinegar, salt, dry mustard, sugar, turmeric, mustard seed, and celery seed. The mixture is boiled until the sugar is dissolved and then poured over the veggies. I have to admit, this marinated slaw gets better and better as it sits in the fridge and continues to “marinate.”

How to Serve Marinated Slaw

This recipe is delicious as a side, but one of my favorite ways to enjoy marinated slaw is to pile it high on my grilled BBQ. My second favorite way is to eat it alongside The Best Fried Fish recipe on the blog.

The next time you’re hosting a get-together or headed to a party and need a side dish, I hope you will try my marinated slaw recipe. I promise it does not disappoint.

xoxo,
Molly

Marinated Slaw

Marinated slaw is a sweet, vinegar-based slaw recipe with thinly sliced cabbage, peppers, and onions. It's the perfect side dish for a barbecue or fish fry.

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Course Side Dish

Ingredients

2 small heads of cabbage, thinly sliced
2 green bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp celery seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Put thinly sliced veggies in a large container with a lid.
Combine rest of ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.
Pour boiled vinegar mixture on top of sliced veggies and let cool, stirring often.
Place lid on container and store in the refrigerator for several weeks, stirring every day.

Marinated Slaw Recipe