Dairy Free Garlic-Herb Sauerkraut

Total time168 hr 30 min

Prep time30 min

Cook time0 min

4.6

(6)

Tangy, garlicky, and fragrant with fresh thyme and rosemary, this fermented kraut is a serious upgrade from anything you'd pull off a grocery store shelf. The entire process relies on just cabbage, sea salt, garlic, and a handful of fresh herbs — nothing more, nothing less — which makes it naturally free of dairy without any substitutions or workarounds required. Fermentation does all the heavy lifting here, transforming humble shredded cabbage into something deeply complex and probiotic-rich over the course of one to two weeks. The technique is straightforward: massage, pack, submerge, and wait. Daily check-ins keep things on track, and tasting as you go means you get to decide exactly how sour and punchy the final result should be. Once it hits your fridge, it keeps for up to three months and works beautifully as a condiment, a topping for grain bowls, or a bold side alongside roasted meats. If you've been buying the jarred stuff out of habit, this homemade version is going to make that feel like a distant memory.

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Ingredients

8 servings

1 medium head green cabbage (about 2 lb), outer leaves reserved
1 tbsp fine sea salt (non-iodized)
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf

Instructions

1
Remove 2–3 outer leaves from the cabbage and set them aside. Quarter the cabbage, remove the core, and shred it as thinly as possible — about 1/8-inch ribbons — using a chef's knife or mandoline.
2
Weigh the shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl. Add the sea salt at a ratio of 1.5–2% of the cabbage's weight (the 1 tbsp listed is calibrated for 2 lb / 900 g of cabbage). Toss well, then massage and squeeze the cabbage firmly with clean hands for 8–10 minutes, until it releases a significant amount of liquid and the shreds become limp and translucent.

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