Instant Pot Steamed Cabbage (Simple Recipe)
This recipe for simple steamed Instant Pot Cabbage is so easy and delicious. Cooked cabbage makes a great healthy side dish. Serve your tasty cooked cabbage with almost any main dish recipe.
If you haven’t eaten cooked cabbage in awhile, it’s time to bring this vegetable back into rotation.
This healthy vegetable should not just be reserved for St. Patrick’s Day!
In fact, since cabbage is available all year-round, it’s an affordable and easy-to-find veggie that you should add to your regular weekly menu.
Why You Need This Recipe
- Despite how pungent cabbage can smell, it’s actually fairly mild in flavor once it’s cooked down. And, the electric pressure cooker is the absolute perfect appliance for cooking cabbage because it traps in the odor and the health benefits!
- Cooked cabbage is an incredibly versatile side dish. You can serve it with anything from a roast, sausages, or roast chicken, to plant-based options like black beans or tempeh. Or, serve it in cabbage soup or cabbage rolls.
- Cabbage is also incredibly budget-friendly. See my article on how to eat clean on a budget.
- If you’re looking for more cabbage recipes, check out my recipe for Instant Pot Cabbage & Sausage, Slow Cooker Cabbage, or Air Fryer Cabbage.
Key Ingredients
Green cabbage has a sweet and mild taste once cooked and will soak up the flavors of the broth.
Cabbage is also incredibly budget-friendly and available year round. You can use green cabbage or red cabbage in this recipe.
Vegetable broth is the flavorful liquid base that cooks the cabbage but you can also use chicken or beef broth if you prefer.
If you don’t have broth, a cup of water will work too, but won’t add any flavor to the cabbage.
Seasonings like salt, black pepper and dried oregano add flavor to the cabbage.
Feel free to get creative with your favorite seasonings!
Please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Steps
Step One
The first step to this recipe is to gather up your cabbage and about 3/4 of a cup of broth.
For vegan or vegetarian diets, use vegetable broth (see my recipe for Homemade Vegetable Broth). If you want to add protein to the dish and you aren’t vegetarian, try chicken broth.
You’ll also need some dried herbs like thyme or oregano.
Step Two
Pour the broth in the pot with the chopped cabbage on top.
Then, just lock on the lid and set the time at high pressure (see the recipe card at the end of this post for exact measurements and details).
Make sure the valve is set to the sealing position.
Step Three
When the cooking time is up, use the quick release to remove the lid. This will ensure that the cabbage doesn’t get overcooked.
Step Four
Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the cooked cabbage to a serving bowl.
I hope you agree that this Instant Pot Cabbage recipe is one of your new favorite easy recipes. It makes a delicious side dish or can be adapted to make a main dish.
Pressure cooking makes steaming a head of cabbage so simple and less stinky than using the stove top. It’s a great way to cook this vegetable to serve as an easy side dish.
Recipe Tips & Substitutions
- If you like the cooked cabbage to be slightly crunchy, decrease the time a minute or two and if you like the cabbage very soft add a minute or two. My family prefers soft cabbage whereas other people like it crunchier.
- You can store the cooked cabbage in the refrigerator for 3 days in an airtight container. To freeze cooked cabbage, see my post on how to freeze cabbage.
- You can mix in cooked sausage, shredded chicken, or ground beef to the cooked cabbage to add protein and make this into a filling, low carb meal. For plant-based options, add in seasoned tempeh or black beans.
- If you want to make this cooked cabbage more filling, feel free to stir in 1-2 tablespoons of softened butter.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, but remember to never fill the bowl over the max line.
Yes, but your cooked cabbage made in the pressure cooker will have a lot more flavor if you use vegetable broth or chicken broth.
You likely won’t smell the cabbage while it’s cooking, but you will get the odor of cooked cabbage when you release the pressure and/or open the lid. Ideally, you would open a window to get the smell of cooked cabbage out of your kitchen.
Yes, I’m sure you can! But, I haven’t tried it and chopping the cabbage at least into wedges will ensure that it gets cooked through.
More Easy Instant Pot Recipes You Might Like
- Instant Pot Boiled Potatoes
- Instant Pot Beets
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash
- Instant Pot Carrots
- Instant Pot Whole Sweet Potatoes
- Instant Pot Whole Red Potatoes
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Instant Pot Steamed Cabbage
This recipe for simple steamed Instant Pot Cabbage is so easy and delicious. Cooked cabbage makes a great healthy side dish. Serve your tasty cooked cabbage with almost any main dish recipe.
- Total Time: 19 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
- 1 head green or red cabbage, chopped roughly
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano or dried thyme
- 3/4 cup reduced sodium vegetable broth
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Combine the cabbage, dried herbs, and broth to the bowl of an 6-quart electric pressure cooker.
- Lock the lid and set the time to 4 minutes at high pressure.
- When the cooking time is complete, carefully use the quick-release to get rid of the pressure. Remove the lid and use tongs to remove the cabbage to a serving bowl. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Serve hot and refrigerate or freeze any leftovers.
Equipment
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Notes
- You can use water instead of broth to cook the cabbage, if you prefer.
- If you like the cooked cabbage to be slightly crunchy, decrease the time a minute or two and if you like the cabbage very soft add a minute or two.
- You can store the cooked cabbage in the refrigerator for 3 days in an airtight container.
- You can mix in cooked sausage, shredded chicken, or ground beef to the cooked cabbage to add protein and make this into a filling meal. For plant-based options, add in seasoned tempeh or black beans.
- The total cooking time includes approximately 10 minutes for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: pressure cooker
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Diet: Gluten Free
Keywords: how to cook cabbage in the instant pot, pressure cooker cabbage, instant pot cooked cabbage
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About the Author: Carrie Forrest is the author of the best-selling Instant Pot-authorized cookbook, The Healthy Meal Prep Instant Pot Cookbook. She has a master’s degree in public health with a specialty in nutrition and receives nearly 10 million annual visitors to her site. Send Carrie a message through her contact form.
can you make this stove top or crockpot?
Yes just use enough water so the cabbage will steam and cook down.
The recipe says cook for 4 minutes, but the video says cook for 7 minutes.
yes 4 minutes is better.
I have only ever cooked my cabbage for 1-2 minutes in the IP. I would think it would be very mushy done for that long…
It’s not mushy, but it is soft.
The carb count for this seems too high. Almost 10 net carbs in only a half cup? According to carb manager it’s only 5.2 for a whole cup.
I cut the cabbage into thick wedges and set for 5 min. It came out very mushy so next time I’ll have to reduce the time even more. It tasted good, just not the consistency I like in cabbage.
★★★
yes. 7 minutes is way too long. makes it mushy.
I agree, I cooked it for 4 minutes and it was still a bit overcooked for my liking. Great taste though so I’ll try three minutes next time.
I was a bit dubious about 7 minutes so I cooked it for 4 minutes. It was still slightly overcooked for my personal liking, but had a great flavour.
This is one of my favorite easy Instant Pot recipes!
★★★★★
I disagree! You can see from the video that it’s not mush. But, feel free to cook it 3-4 minutes if you prefer firmer cabbage.