Name: Vinegar Slaw with Craisins
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: ½ small green cabbage (about 3-4 cups) (shredded); ½ small purple cabbage (about 3-4 cups) (shredded); 2 cups matchstick carrots ((or 1-2 carrots grated)); 1 ½ cups dried cranberries/craisins; salt and pepper to taste; 1 cup apple cider vinegar; 4 tbsp honey; 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; salt and pepper to taste; a couple dashes of seasoned salt (optional)

Vinegar Slaw with Craisins is an easy old-fashioned coleslaw recipe that uses no mayo.

The best part? It uses less than eight ingredients and can be assembled in about 15 minutes, basically just as long as it takes you to chop.

Crunchy green and purple cabbage with carrots. Sweet and chewy dried cranberries. Vinegary homemade dressing.

Jump to Recipe

Jump to:

Looking for More Sides?

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes – Easy Little Potato Company Inspired Side

Gluten Free Dinner Rolls (that rise!) – Great Value Recipe

Gluten Free Cheddar Bay Biscuits – Red Lobster Copycat

Gluten Free Honey Oat Bread – Gluten Free Baking

Breaded Parmesan Stuffed Zucchini Halves – The BEST Side Dish

Easy Pico De Gallo, Five Ingredient – Better Than Store-Bought

When to Serve:

Vinegar Slaw is the perfect pairing for a sweet summer BBQ pulled pork, ribs, or chicken dinner. You can eat it as a side, or place it right inside your sandwich.

How to Store Vinegar Slaw:

I highly recommend that you store the homemade dressing separately from the slaw. This is because after about 24 hours the purple cabbage will start to "bleed" its colors onto the remaining ingredients. While it will still taste delicious, it won't look quite as pretty. I store my dressing in a glass mason jar.

Simply dress the portion of slaw you will be serving around 15 minutes to several hours before you will be serving it.

If you're serving this for a party and don't think there will be leftovers, you can go ahead and toss the slaw with the dressing and allow it to marinate together in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.

How to Make Vinegar Slaw:

Rinse and thoroughly dry all produce.

Slice green and purple cabbage into thin strips and place in an extra-large mixing bowl. Tip: I love a rustic chopped slaw, so I prefer to slice and shred my cabbage. If you like more of a minced coleslaw, you can grate your cabbages as well as the carrot.

Add in matchstick carrots.
Add in dried cranberries.

Use a pair of tongs to toss the dry slaw mix until everything is evenly distributed.

To make the homemade dressing: Combine apple cider vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and honey in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste. I also do a dash of seasoned salt. Store the dressing in a glass mason jar in the refrigerator separate from the slaw until ready to use. You can dress for 15 minutes and up to several hours before. Avoid keeping dressed slaw in the refrigerator overnight because the purple cabbage color will "bleed" onto the remaining ingredients.

Tip: I also like to add salt, pepper, and seasoned salt straight to the dry slaw mixture.

Serve.

Recipe Notes:

Buy small softball-sized cabbages. You don't want any bigger than this, or else you will make enough coleslaw for the next three weeks. Large cabbages are also expensive because of their weight (at-least where I'm from, you could spend $10 on a single cabbage if you picked badly.)