Vegan Homemade Sauerkraut
Two humble ingredients — green cabbage and sea salt — are genuinely all it takes to make a deeply tangy, probiotic-rich condiment that rivals anything you'd find on a specialty shelf. The magic here is lacto-fermentation: massaging the salt into the shredded cabbage draws out its natural juices, creating a brine that does all the preservation work without any vinegar, additives, or animal products whatsoever. That means every jar is completely plant-based by nature, not by substitution. The hands-on process is surprisingly satisfying — once you've packed the jar and set it on the counter, the cabbage quietly transforms over seven to fourteen days into something complex, funky, and crave-worthy. Tasting it daily as it develops is half the fun, and you get to pull it from the fridge exactly when the sourness hits your personal sweet spot. It's endlessly useful as a topping, a side, or stirred into grain bowls, and knowing you made it from scratch with two ingredients makes it taste even better.
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Learn more →Ingredients
16 servings
- 1 small head green cabbage (about 2 lb), outer leaves reserved
- 1 tbsp fine sea salt (non-iodized)
Instructions
- 1
Peel off and set aside 1–2 large outer cabbage leaves. Quarter the cabbage, cut out the core, and slice the remaining cabbage into thin shreds about 1/8-inch thick.
- 2
Place the shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the sea salt evenly over it. Massage and squeeze the cabbage firmly with clean hands for 8–10 minutes, until it has released a significant amount of liquid and feels limp and wet — the brine should pool visibly at the bottom of the bowl.
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