Bacon Caesar Slaw
Change up your slaw routine with Caesar dressing and bacon. It’s a delicious change and makes a perfect side dish everyone will love!
I’m always looking for new slaw recipes because I don’t care for traditional sweet-and-heavy-on-the-mayo type of cabbage salads. We love spicy Asian slaw, cumin-lime slaw, shaved cabbage with feta vinaigrette, and even a feta-cranberry slaw made with broccoli. Besides these, my usual go-to slaw dressing is our basic vinaigrette, which goes with pretty much everything.
But we also love Caesar Salad made with a homemade Caesar dressing, so when I saw a Caesar slaw recipe, you can guess I’d be all about that adapting that. And it was SO good – our kids kept saying how good it was and I was thinking, “they’re saying this about cabbage!”
The bonus is that it’s so simple to make, so of course it has become a regular part of our menus. Personally, I think the bacon may have sealed the deal. It’s not a traditional Caesar ingredient, I know, but wow, does it go with it well!
Tip for Making Caesar Slaw
I’m sure there is no “right” way to chop cabbage, but for some reason it took me years of trying different methods before I learned to cut it in a way that produced small enough shreds, but not too small, for easy eating. Cutting it this way makes a nice looking salad (versus the pile of mush that can happen with a food processor- though I know some are very good at shredding cabbage with a processor…) and allows the dressing to coat the pieces evenly. Update: I now also like using a mandoline for a fun ‘shaved’ cabbage salad.
Here’s how I hand-slice cabbage for slaws:
- Slice the head into quarters first and core each quarter.
- Then slice each quarter lengthwise. (This was the key for me, I don’t know why. I spent years cutting the quarters width-wise, starting from the pointy end, and didn’t like the large pieces of ribs I’d get. This way slices the ribs thinly enough that aren’t too big.)
- Then turn the sliced pile and slice it again in half or thirds, depending on your cabbage size, to make the shreds more manageable to eat.
This delicious, easy, and inexpensive salad goes great with so many things: grilled or roasted sausages, any kind of chicken, baked fish…the list goes on. Yep, apparently quite a few things are better with bacon.
Want to save this?
Enter your email below and you'll get it straight to your inbox. Plus you'll get easy new recipes, gardening tips & more every week!
Bacon Caesar Slaw
Ingredients
- 1/2 head green cabbage shredded*
- 1/2 head red cabbage shredded*
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 carrots shredded (and/or 1 red bell pepper, chopped)
- 6 slices bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
- 1/3 cup homemade Caesar salad dressing or your favorite
Instructions
- Combine the cabbage, onion, carrot (or pepper), and bacon in a large salad bowl.
- Pour dressing over all and mix well.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
NOTE: this recipe (adapted from here) was originally published in the first year of AOC, 2009, and has been updated with all new photos, formatting and printable recipe.
More family favorite slaw recipes:
Cabbage Salad with Creamy Feta Vinaigrette and Spiced Pecans
This salad should I try it seems yummy! I wish you a nice weekend! . Zinnia
About the Asian coleslaw……..yummy! Instead of parsley as a garnish, I add chopped cilantro as part of the veggie mix. A suggestion for those who like red cabbage but don’t want/know what to do with a full head: Ask the produce person to cut one in half. Always cheerfully done for me! Here’s a hint: if you cant seem to use up all that (often spendy) fresh cilantro you can freeze it for use in soups, etc.
I love these tips, Kathy – I never think to even talk to the produce person!
What is your homemade caeser dressing recipe? I have made one before, and it was okay, but I’d love to try another one.
Rachel-
Thanks for asking! I’ve posted about the crumbs and processor I like today, Thursday the 30th.
Can you please post how you make your bread crumbs again? I know I’ve seen it in the past but I can’t find it. Also can you recommend a food processor? I would like to get one to help speed up freezing some things from the garden and hopefully getting around to using some of your recipes to make pantry staples. Thanks a bunch,
Rachel