This creamy cheesy cabbage au gratin is a unique and delicious way to serve cabbage. With 4 simple ingredients, you can have an elegant, vegetable-forward dish that everyone will love.
Whether you’re looking for a way to use up leftover cabbage or are taking advantage of cabbage sales this week, this dish is a great way to serve cabbage. It’s similar to Potatoes au Gratin but with fewer carbs. You won’t miss the potatoes at all because this dish is packed with flavor and very hearty.
Ingredients
- Cabbage
- Bacon
- Heavy Cream
- Gruyere Cheese
Cabbage: This gratin uses classic green cabbage. You will need 1 medium head of green cabbage for this recipe.
Bacon: This gratin works best with thick cut bacon. The bacon adds flavor to the dish and the oils from the bacon are used to sear the cabbage.
Heavy cream: Heavy cream is used to create the thick, creamy sauce.
Gruyere cheese: We chose gruyere cheese because it melts well and has a wonderful nutty flavor that adds more depth to the sauce. You can use cheddar or other cheeses, but the flavor of your dish will change slightly if you use a different cheese.
Why You Will Enjoy This Recipe
- It’s just 4 easy ingredients
- It’s a unique way to serve cabbage and can be made to look like an elegant dish
- It’s packed with flavor and very hearty. You won’t miss the potatoes at all.
- It’s low-carb and also keto-friendly.
- Most of the cooking is done in the oven leaving you free to do something else.
How to Make Cabbage Au Gratin
- Cook the bacon until the fat has been rendered off and bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon and leave the bacon fat.
- Slice your cabbage into eight wedges. Sear both sides of the wedges in a pan with the bacon fat until the cabbage is lightly charred.
- Arrange the cabbage in a large skillet. Pour in the heavy cream. Sprinkle with bacon and cheese. Place into the oven to cook until cabbage is tender and sauce has thickened. Full recipe instructions are at the end of the post.
More Easy Side Dishes
- 3 Ingredient Parmesan Zucchini Stacks
- Melting Potatoes
- 2 Ingredient Super Crispy Chicken Wings
- 4 Ingredient Zucchini Hash Browns
4 Ingredient Cabbage Gratin
Ingredients
- 1 medium head green cabbage medium sized
- 5 slices thick cut bacon chopped (about 1 inch long pieces)
- 1 1/2 cups (355 ml) heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups (95 g) freshly grated Gruyere cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).
- Wash cabbage and remove outer leaves from cabbage. Cut the cabbage in half and then cut each half into four equal wedges, cutting all the way through the core so that the wedges don’t fall apart. You should have 8 total wedges. Set aside.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet (between 10-12 inch skillet) over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Use a slotted spatula to remove the bacon from the skillet, leaving the bacon grease still in the pan.
- If desired, season cabbage with salt on both sides. Working in batches, add the cabbage to the skillet over medium high heat. Cook until charred on each side, about 2 minutes per side. Carefully remove from skillet then repeat with remaining wedges. I recommend using a turner or spatula to remove cabbage. Using tongs or something similar may cause the cabbage to fall apart. If needed, add oil when searing the second batch. I didn't need to add more oil but you could need it if your bacon didn't render enough fat.
- After all the cabbage wedges have been seared, add back into the skillet in a spiral/pinwheel shape. See photo in post for reference.
- Pour the heavy cream over the cabbage. The heavy cream should come up about 2/3 of the way up the cabbage wedges.
- Sprinkle the cooked bacon over the top followed by the gruyere cheese.
- Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cabbage is tender and the cream has thickened and is bubbling.
Notes
- You will need between a 10-12 inch skillet to fit all the cabbage wedges. If you don't have a cast iron that big, you could just do the cooking of the bacon and searing of the cabbage in a smaller cast iron and then transfer to a different large skillet or dutch oven (one that is oven safe and between 10-12 inches) to finish cooking in the oven.
- We garnished with some thyme, but it is completely optional.
- It is also optional whether you want to salt your cabbage. The level of salt preference varies a lot per person. If you generally salt/season, then you can do so. The gratin sauce does have a lot of flavor and is salted from the cheese.
- Nutrition estimate assumes you consume an entire wedge and 1/8 of the sauce. Most likely you will leave some sauce behind on your plate so the nutrition information is likely not as high.
- Adapted from Uncomplicated Chef.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I love cabbage fixed any way and this sounds and looks delicious!!!!!!!
hope you enjoy!
Everything looks delicious and easy for dusabled. I cannot stand for long so like recipes where I don’t have to stand too long because of a serious car accident my legs and back are bad. Legs took a different fall onto both legs on concrete onto shins and knees so thx so much.
We hope you try it soon!