Cabbage has had a quiet glow-up this year. The trend everyone keeps calling “melting cabbage” takes wedges of an unglamorous, dirt-cheap vegetable, sears them until the edges catch colour, then lets them go soft and silky in a garlicky, cheesy sauce. It is the kind of dish that tastes like it took effort and actually took about ten minutes of real work.
The version doing the rounds right now borrows its flavours from the “marry me” sauces that have been everywhere: garlic, parmesan, a little cream, sometimes a few sun-dried tomatoes for sweetness. Most recipes bake the whole thing low and slow for close to an hour. This one stays on the hob, so it is ready in under 45 minutes and only needs one pan, which matters when your kitchen is the size of a hallway and you share a hob with three flatmates.
Green cabbage is in season through autumn and winter, keeps for ages in the fridge, and rarely costs more than a pound a head. That makes this one of those dinners you can make on a genuinely tight week, with enough left over for lunch the next day.
Melting cabbage at a glance
| Prep time | Cook time | Serves | Approx cost per portion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 minutes | 30 minutes | 2 | Around £1.50 to £2 |
Ingredients
- 1 small to medium green cabbage (about 600g), outer leaves removed, cut into 4 wedges through the core so they hold together
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter (or plant-based butter)
- 1 small onion or 2 shallots, finely sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 250ml vegetable or chicken stock
- 100ml single cream, or 2 tablespoons cream cheese loosened with a splash of milk
- 2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes (optional, from a jar)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- A pinch of chilli flakes
- 30g parmesan (or another hard cheese, see swaps below), grated, plus extra to serve
- Salt and black pepper
- Crusty bread, orzo or rice, to serve
Method
- Pat the cabbage wedges dry with a tea towel. This helps them brown instead of steam.
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan with a lid, over medium-high heat. Lay the wedges in cut-side down and sear for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until golden in patches. Work in batches if they don’t all fit in one layer. Lift them out onto a plate.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the butter to the same pan. Add the onion and cook for about 3 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, until fragrant.
- Pour in the stock and scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. This is where most of the flavour lives.
- Stir in the cream, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano and chilli flakes. Season with salt and pepper, then whisk in half the parmesan until it melts into the sauce.
- Nestle the cabbage wedges back into the pan, spooning some sauce over the top of each one. Cover with the lid, turn the heat down to low, and simmer gently for 20 minutes, until a knife slides easily into the thickest part of a wedge.
- Uncover, turn the heat up slightly, and let everything bubble for another 3 to 5 minutes so the sauce thickens a little. Scatter over the remaining parmesan and let it melt for a minute off the heat.
- Serve straight from the pan with crusty bread for mopping up the sauce, or spoon over orzo or rice to make it more of a full meal.
Swaps and tips
To make this vegetarian, just use vegetable stock and check your parmesan label, since some parmesan is made with animal rennet and isn’t technically vegetarian. Plenty of supermarkets sell a vegetarian hard cheese alternative that melts the same way.
For a vegan version, swap the butter for a plant-based one, use canned coconut milk or oat cream instead of dairy cream, and finish with nutritional yeast or a vegan parmesan-style block instead of real parmesan.
Parmesan is the priciest thing on this list, so it’s worth knowing you have options. Grana Padano is a close cousin with a milder flavour and usually comes in cheaper, and pecorino works too if you want something saltier.
Leftovers keep well in the fridge for up to three days in a sealed container. Reheat gently in a pan over low heat with a splash of stock or milk to loosen the sauce back up, since it thickens as it cools. Chopped leftover cabbage also stirs nicely through leftover pasta or gets piled onto a jacket potato for a second dinner that barely needs any cooking.
Allergen note: this recipe contains dairy (butter, cream, parmesan) and is served with bread, which contains gluten. Swap in dairy-free alternatives as above, and serve with rice or orzo cooked separately if you need it gluten free, checking your stock cube or stock pot for gluten too.