Easiest Mild Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Easiest Mild Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

Easy and quick sauerkraut recipe that's as set-it-and-forget-it as they come, resulting in a mild tasting condiment good for your gut health.

Prep Time35

Total Time35

Course: Condiments

Cuisine: American

Servings: -2 quarts, about 16 servings

Calories: 22kcal

Author: Jami Boys

Equipment

Large bowl
quart jar
Easy Fermenter Lid

Ingredients

2-3 pounds cabbage, a small to medium head, shredded (or 2 1-pound packages of shredded cabbage)*
1 apple peeled and shredded (optional, adds more mild flavor)
1 ½ tablespoons pure sea salt regular grind (not coarse)**
1 teaspoon black pepper we like it, but this is optional, too

Instructions

Add all the ingredients to a large bowl. Using a potato masher or cabbage pounder, stir and press the mixture for 2-4 minutes until it starts to break down and you see a bit of juice being released.
Let the bowl sit, covered, for 30 minutes. You can stir and press again if you'd like or not - it's up to you.
Press the cabbage mixture down firmly into a wide-mouth mason jar with a wooden spoon, removing as much air as possible and pressing out the juice. You should have enough juice to cover the cabbage, but if not you can add a teaspoon of room temperature water (filtered if on city water). Use a glass fermenting weight to keep the cabbage submerged.
Attach an Easy Fermenter Lid and set the dial to the day of the month. Let jar sit on counter for 2 weeks. Remove special lid and replace with a regular storage lid before placing in the refrigerator.
You can eat it right away or let sit in the fridge for a bit longer if it seems strong to you. It will keep in the fridge for a long time (6 months or more) - but our smaller jars are never in the fridge more than 2-3 weeks.

Notes

*A quart-size mason jar will hold 2 packages, a half gallon jar 3 packages.

**I use 1-1/2 tablespoons. If you find this more salty than you'd like, you can reduce it to 1-1/4 tablespoons, but don't go less than a tablespoon for this amount of cabbage (the general recommended amount needed for fermenting is 1 tablespoon of salt for every 1 3/4 pounds of vegetables and this recipe is slightly more at 2 pounds). Too little salt and you will get a mushy, maybe molding kraut.

Nutrition