TikTok Viral Dirty Cabbage
Listen, this is not the sad, boiled cabbage somebody forced you to eat when you were a kid. This is TikTok viral Dirty Cabbage, and just like my TikTok Dirty Spaghetti, she has flavor, attitude, and absolutely no intention of being treated like a boring side dish! We are cooking the vegetables in bacon grease, adding Italian sausage, fire-roasted tomatoes, Sazón, Creole seasoning, banana peppers, garlic, and just enough smoky sweetness to make you keep going back to the skillet with your spoon.
Then the cabbage gets simmered right in that rich, saucy goodness until it is tender, flavorful, and ready to be piled over buttery white rice. It is smoky, slightly spicy, savory, a little tangy, and basically everything cabbage wishes it could be. Even the people who claim they “don’t like cabbage” are going to need to sit down and reevaluate their lives after this one.
Melissa’s Tips!
• Do not throw away the bacon grease! That bacon grease is liquid gold and creates the flavor foundation for the entire recipe. Leave it in the skillet and use it to sauté the vegetables and sausage.
• Cook the tomato paste before adding the liquid. Sautéing the tomato paste with the beef base, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, and brown sugar deepens the flavor and removes that raw tomato taste.
• Cook the flour for a few minutes. After sprinkling the flour over the sausage and vegetables, stir it for a full 2–3 minutes before adding the tomatoes and water. This helps thicken the sauce without leaving behind a floury taste.
• Cut the cabbage into larger pieces. Do not chop it too finely. Chunkier pieces hold their shape better and cook down beautifully without becoming mushy.
• Control the final consistency. For saucier Dirty Cabbage that is perfect over rice, leave a little more liquid in the skillet. For a thicker finish, simmer it uncovered for a few extra minutes.
• Adjust the heat to your liking. For less heat, reduce the Tony Chachere’s or use fewer banana pepper rings. For more heat, use hot Italian sausage or add a little extra Creole seasoning.
• Do not panic when you add the cabbage. It may look like way too much at first, but it wilts down quickly as it cooks.
• Taste before adding more salt. The bacon, sausage, Tony Chachere’s, Sazón, beef base, and Worcestershire sauce all add salt, so taste the finished dish before seasoning it again.
🤔 Common Questions
Yes. Use mild Italian sausage, reduce the amount of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, and use fewer banana pepper rings. The dish will still have plenty of flavor without as much heat.
No. The cabbage can be served on its own as a complete skillet meal. However, the buttery rice is delicious underneath it because it absorbs all of the smoky tomato sauce.
The cabbage should be tender but not completely mushy. Taste a piece after it has simmered covered and continue cooking until it reaches the texture you prefer.
TikTok Viral Dirty Cabbage
Ingredients
- ½ pound bacon
- 1 medium sweet onion chopped
- 1 Yellow bell pepper chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 6–7 banana pepper rings or sliced pepperoncini rings
- ½ tablespoon Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
- 1 packet Sazón seasoning
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound mild Italian bulk sausage
- 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon Beef Base
- 1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
- A couple shakes of Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with the juices
- 1¾ cups water or enough to completely fill the empty tomato can
- 1 large green cabbage cored and chopped
- ½ tablespoon white wine vinegar
- Reserved cooked bacon chopped, for finishing
- Fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
Step 1: Cook the Bacon
- In a large cast-iron skillet or another deep, heavy-bottomed skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until it is crispy.
- Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving all of the rendered bacon grease in the skillet. Once the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it and reserve it for the end.
- Melissa’s Tip: The bacon grease should be enough to cook the entire recipe. If your bacon did not render much fat, add a small drizzle of olive oil or a little butter.
Step 2: Sauté the Vegetables
- Add the chopped sweet onion, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and six or seven whole banana pepper rings to the bacon grease.
- Sprinkle in the Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning and the entire packet of Sazón.
- Cook over medium heat for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened and the onions are translucent with a little golden color.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for another 1–2 minutes, just until the garlic is fragrant.
Step 3: Brown the Italian Sausage
- Use your wooden spoon to push the cooked vegetables to one side of the skillet.
- Add the Italian sausage to the empty side of the pan. Break the sausage apart with your spoon and cook until it is browned and fully cooked.
- Once the sausage is cooked, stir it together with the sautéed vegetables.
Step 4: Build the Flavor Base
- Push the sausage and vegetables back to one side of the skillet, allowing the rendered fat to pool on the empty side.
- Add the Better Than Bouillon Beef Base, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, and brown sugar directly into the fat.
- Stir the flavor base together and sauté it for 2–3 minutes, until the tomato paste darkens slightly and everything becomes rich and fragrant.
- Mix the flavor base into the sausage and vegetables until everything in the skillet is evenly coated.
- Sprinkle the flour evenly over the entire mixture. Stir continuously for another 2–3 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.
Step 5: Add the Tomatoes and Water
- Pour the entire can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes into the skillet, including all of the juices.
- Fill the empty tomato can completely with water, which should equal about 1¾ cups, and pour the water into the skillet.
- Stir everything together and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer.
Step 6: Prepare and Add the Cabbage
- While the sauce is heating, remove any damaged outer leaves from the cabbage.
- Cut the cabbage in half through the core, then cut each half in half again. Slice the tough core away from each section and chop the cabbage into chunky, bite-sized pieces.
- Add the cabbage to the skillet. It will look like a ridiculous amount at first, but do not worry—it cooks down beautifully.
- Gently press the cabbage into the sauce with your wooden spoon. Continue pressing, stirring, and folding the cabbage into the mixture as it begins to wilt.
Step 7: Simmer the Cabbage
- Bring everything to a steady simmer. You want the liquid gently bubbling, not boiling so hard that it starts jumping out of the skillet and redecorating your stove.
- Cook the cabbage uncovered for about 15 minutes. This allows the liquid to reduce and the flavors to become concentrated.
- Once much of the liquid has cooked down, cover the skillet and continue cooking until the cabbage reaches your preferred tenderness.
- If the cabbage is tender but the skillet still has more liquid than you would like, remove the lid and continue simmering until the sauce reduces to your liking.
- Melissa’s Tip: I like mine saucy enough to spoon over buttery white rice, but not so watery that the rice needs a life jacket. Every stove cooks differently, so use the consistency of the sauce and the tenderness of the cabbage as your guide.
Step 8: Finish the Dish
- Once the cabbage is tender and the sauce has reduced, stir in the reserved chopped bacon, plenty of fresh chopped parsley, and approximately ½ tablespoon of white wine vinegar.
- The vinegar brightens all of those rich, smoky flavors and pulls the entire dish together.
- Give everything one final stir and serve it hot over buttery white rice, or enjoy it straight from the skillet on its own.
Melissa’s Easy Buttery White Rice
- While the cabbage cooks, prepare the rice.
- Melt ½ stick of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add 2 cups of white rice and stir for several minutes, until the grains are coated in butter and lightly toasted. Season the rice with a pinch of salt.
- Pour in 3½ cups of water and bring it to a boil.
- Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat to low, and allow the rice to gently steam until all of the water has been absorbed and the rice is tender.
- The rice should finish at about the same time as the cabbage, which is what I call a kitchen miracle.
Nutrition
🗒 More Delicious Recipes
-
Sicilian Pasta alla Norma
If there is one pasta dish that tastes like Sicily in a bowl, it is Pasta alla Norma. Fried eggplant, San Marzano tomatoes, tons of fresh basil, garlic, good olive oil, and freshly grated Pecorino Romano all come together with pasta for what I can only describe as lightning in a bottle. This is one…
-
Fried Green Tomatoes (Whistle Stop Cafe)
My favorite movie from the 90s — and I have probably watched it 50 times with my mom and my sister — is Fried Green Tomatoes. I mean, amazing. We were so obsessed with that movie that my mom ran out and got the Whistle Stop Cafe recipe book, which is the restaurant from the…
-
Southern Italian Escarole and Beans
I grew up eating Italian Escarole and Beans, and let me tell you, this recipe may be healthy, BUT… here comes the big but, you wouldn’t know it because it is RIDICULOUS delicious! My mother made it, my grandmother made it, and now when I make it, I swear I can smell me, my sister,…
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Allow the smothered cabbage to cool before transferring it to an airtight container. Store it in the refrigerator for up to four days.
Keep the buttery white rice in a separate airtight container so it does not absorb all of the sauce while sitting in the refrigerator.
Reheat the cabbage gently in a skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat. Add a small splash of water if the sauce has thickened too much. Individual portions can also be reheated in the microwave until hot.
