Napa Cabbage Slaw
This crunchy napa cabbage slaw is the coleslaw you’ll make ALL summer long! But, if I’m being honest, while it is a star of summer, I make it year-round. It is the perfect side for picnics, grilled dinners, and potlucks. The shredded cabbage is tossed with an apple cider vinaigrette dressing and blue cheese crumbles – each bite has major fresh flavor! Everything comes together in minutes, making it super simple to whip up whenever you need a quick side dish. I won’t be surprised if it becomes a signature summer dish for you, too!
👩🍳 My Mom Has Been Making This Recipe for Decades!
It’s inspired by a recipe found in a newspaper 30+ years ago. While it’s an old one, it still manages to taste incredibly light, fresh, and modern.
While traditional coleslaw uses green cabbage, napa cabbage is the star in this slaw. If it’s a new veggie to you, it’s a cross between regular, green cabbage and lettuce, with a great crunchy texture! It’s less dense than cabbage, but still holds up to dressing well and adds great crunch to so many meals. It’s…
😋 Seriously delicious: Crunchy slaw, tangy dressing, and punchy blue cheese!
🛒 Made with simple ingredients: This salad comes together with just a few pantry staples and some fresh ingredients.
🥬 Tender but crunchy: Napa cabbage is more delicate than green cabbage, and has the best crunchy texture.
🥄 Easy to prep ahead: Great for cookouts or weeknight dinners, you can have this prepped and ready up to a day in advance.
🍋 Bright & flavorful: With a punchy, zippy dressing and blue cheese crumbles, this simple salad has major flavor.
🍔 Perfect as a side or topping: The slaw and blue cheese combo goes so well with grilled or smoked meats, and it’s fantastic piled on sandwiches like BBQ pork or beef.
If you love a good summer salad, the Greek orzo pasta salad is another great one to have in rotation — it’s hearty enough to work as a side or a light lunch. The Mediterranean tortellini salad is always a crowd-pleaser at potlucks and comes together just as fast. For something with a little more protein, the black bean quinoa salad is a solid make-ahead option.
Loved this simple and tasty salad and dressing! I’ve made it several times and have not ever been tired of it – it’s a family fav. <3 –Cath
Ingredient Notes
You’ll need some fresh ingredients and pantry staples to bring this coleslaw to the table: napa cabbage, white onion, blue cheese, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, celery seed, salt, and pepper.
- Napa Cabbage – Napa cabbage has a longer shape than traditional cabbage and its leaves are a little bumpy. It’s not as dense as green cabbage, but it still holds up to dressing nicely. It’s widely accessible, but if you can’t find it, try using savoy cabbage; it’s a little denser, but very similar.
- Blue Cheese Crumbles – Use high-quality blue cheese for the best flavor. You can buy a wedge or pre-crumbled. You can also use a similar cheese like gorgonzola, but a crumbly blue will work better than a super-creamy blue cheese.
Emily’s Tips & Tricks
- Pro tip: Don’t skip the chill time. Even just 5–10 minutes in the fridge after tossing with the dressing lets the cabbage soften slightly and the flavors meld — it makes a real difference in the final slaw.
- Prep ahead: You can slice the cabbage and onion and make the dressing up to a day in advance, storing them separately in the fridge. Toss together and chill for 5–10 minutes before serving — this is ideal for cookouts or potlucks where you want everything ready to go.
Easy Napa Cabbage Slaw Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This crunchy napa cabbage slaw with blue cheese and apple cider vinaigrette is ready in 15 minutes — the perfect summer side for grilling season.
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of napa cabbage, thinly sliced
- 4 oz. blue cheese crumbles
- 1/4 white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. dijon mustard
- 1 tsp. honey
- 1/2 tsp. celery seed
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Prep ingredients:
Thinly slice cabbage and onion.
Mince garlic. - Layer napa cabbage, onions, and blue cheese in a serving bowl and chill until serving.
- Whisk together garlic, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, honey, celery seed, sea salt, and pepper until emulsified. (You can also add everything to a jar and shake until emulsified.)
- Toss dressing with cabbage and chill for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Storage: Even though this is a coleslaw, in terms of storage, think of it more like a salad! It’s best fresh, as the napa cabbage will wilt as it isn’t quite as thick as green cabbage.
- Ingredient notes: Feel free to swap apple cider vinegar for a white wine or white balsamic vinegar.
- Prep ahead: If you want to prep the napa cabbage salad in advance, you can slice the cabbage and onions and layer with blue cheese in a serving bowl. Store in the fridge for up to a day. Mix up the dressing and store at room temperature for up to a day. Before serving, toss together dressing with slaw and let sit for 5-10 minutes for flavors to come together.
- Serve with: Grilled drumsticks, pulled pork, smoked meats, blackened cod.
Serving Suggestions
The combination of apple cider vinaigrette and sharp blue cheese makes this slaw a natural match for anything off the grill or smoker. Grilled chicken drumsticks are a classic pairing — the tangy slaw cuts right through the richness. Grilled chicken thighs are just as great and easy to batch cook for a crowd. It’s also fantastic alongside pulled pork or smoked meats, where the vinegary dressing does the heavy lifting. Grilled shrimp kabobs are a lighter option that pairs surprisingly well. For something with bold spice, blackened cod is a perfect match — the punchy slaw is made for it.
About the Author
Emily Dingmann is a recipe developer and founder of My Everyday Table, where she helps busy families take the stress out of weeknight dinners. With a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and almost 20 years of experience, Emily specializes in simple, nourishing recipes and weekly meal plans that actually work for everyday life. She’s a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor who believes delicious food and good nutrition go hand in hand.
Get started: Weeknight Dinners Guide | Weekly Meal Plans | About Emily
Food styling and photography by Loren Runion.
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What a great recipe! I love coleslaw in the summer 🙂
This looks like a great mayo-free coleslaw – just the way I like it 😉 Thanks for sharing!
I didn’t even think of/realize that attribute!
This will for sure be an addition to our meals at the lake this summer!
Gertrudge Houlihan. With a name like that.. it’s got to be delicious coleslaw! 🙂
Love the blue cheese in this! Great picnic fare
So glad you put it back in the spotlight! Great pictures! We have a cookout coming up and this would be great.
Yum that looks so delicious! Definitely need to incorporate this into my summer eats…it’s such a perfect summer food!
This sounds delicious… a nice light option for those summer BBQs!
I tried this last night (without the cheese) and loved it! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Yay, I’m so glad to hear that! I’ll have to try it without the cheese sometime!
i love the concept of this site. Who would of thought that nutritionist actually eat? haha. i love how you lighten everything up without compromising flavour!
HA! I love food and love to eat. 🙂
We’ve made this since you first posted it and it’s turned into a family favorite!
We make this all the time!
Yay! This makes me so happy. 🙂
Loved this! Super easy to assemble and then serve. So tasty! The perfect healthy addition to dinner that’s also easy to make.
So glad, thanks Becky!
This is very good slaw. I eyeballed the measurements and left out the blue cheese. Didn’t have Dijon so used stone ground mustard. Made it yesterday and had leftovers today and still so good that even though I had closed the browser window I came back and found it to save it. Thanks for the recipe!
Glad to know it still worked well! Thanks so much for sharing, Kim. 🙂
delicious! i didn’t use the cheese, but i really liked the dressing…i think because i really love celery seed. i will use as a go to for napa cabbage, thanks!
Oh then it’s the perfect salad dressing! And even though I’m a cheese-lover, I think I’d still like it without it!
Great recipe! Since my family likes creamy slaw I added 2 Tbs mayo and also shredded a carrot into it. Love the blue cheese twist!
Oooh, I’ve never tried it creamy! Thanks for sharing your addition, I know others find them helpful.
Loved this simple and tasty salad and dressing! I’ve made it several times and have not ever been tired of it – it’s a family fav. <3
YES!!!! We make it so often that I was just thinking…is it too soon? NO! So glad you enjoy it. Thank you.
I got an enormous head of Napa Cabbage from my CSA. I currently have some wonderful Maytag Blue cheese and this is a tasty and satisfying salad.
Oh, what a perfect way to use it! Glad you enjoy!
This is one of my all time favorite salads. Your mom actually brought it to my mom’s house after my dad passed. It was nourishing and amazing!
It is a famous Tut salad! I’m trying to steal her thunder! 😉
Tasty, easy and healthy!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Worked well enough and easy to make. Didn’t have any blue cheese so maybe that would have added a bit of wow. I’ld make it again.
Yes, definitely try it with the blue cheese!
This is very good! I did add some
julienned apple to the slaw at the last minute so it wouldn’t brown; and I doubled the honey to make the wonderful dressing more to my taste. I am considering adding some chopped walnuts on the side as a garnish next time.
I love these additions SO much, sounds so great.
One of my very favorite salads! Your mom actually made it for us once…and I have been obcessed ever since!
It’s one of her classic recipes!
Delightful! Easy and so flavorful. Napa is so good. I used feta instead of blue cheese. It was a winner. I like to try different salads thru out the the year, but this one is my new favorite. Thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it, Sue! And love the addition of feta, I would love that!
simple and easy! i didn’t have blue cheese and I omitted the onion since I was in a time crunch and just needed a quick slaw for tacos. flavours were great! my husband finished the leftovers before they even made it into the fridge! can’t wait to try it again with blue cheese 🙂
So glad to hear this! Hope you love it just as much with the blue cheese. 🙂
I wonder if you could add things like a bit of apple, some celery, winter radish, or sunflower seeds? I want to make this for a potluck and was planning to use feta cheese and wanted to add possibly all or some of these, what do you think? Thank you!
I think all of those would be delicious additions with the feta cheese! (And honestly could work with blue cheese too)
Loved it. Went great with deviled crab and ciabatta bun.
Thank you so much for sharing your comment, I appreciate it!
Fantastic! I had a napa cabbage from our CSA that was beautiful for this. I also had some daikon radish that I needed to use up, so I matchsticked that in as well. It was soooo good!