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I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write up this recipe! If you’ve been in the keto/low carb community for a while now, you’re probably familiar with the term “crack slaw.” Basically, crack slaw is a cooked cabbage slaw, flavored with sriracha and soy sauce/tamari. The original is apparently called “crack slaw” because it’s so addictive. I haven’t tried the original, but I definitely feel that way about this version! I’ve been known to eat the entire batch of this vegan keto crack slaw in one sitting, and still wish there was more. There’s just something about the savory and spicy flavors that’s really appealing.
I usually garnish this with hemp seeds, for a little extra protein, and eat it straight from the pan. It’s not often you find such a delicious low carb, sugar free, gluten free vegan recipe that can work as a main dish or a side! I’d love to know if you try this, so let me know in the comments, or tag me on social media!
Notes on Making Vegan Keto Crackslaw
- If you’re more concerned about budget, and less concerned about carbs, cashews are a good substitute for the macadamias. I
- If you make this ahead and chill it overnight, the macadamia nuts soak up the flavors and become softer.
- No, this doesn’t taste exactly like the beef version, but it sure is satisfying!
- If you’re concerned about heating sesame oil, you can omit it during the cooking process, and then add it in once everything is finished.
- Sometimes I get super lazy, and just use 1/4 tsp garlic powder instead of 2 cloves.
- Tamari is a gluten free version of soy sauce, but you could easily use regular soy sauce, or even liquid aminos.
- Garnish with sesame seeds, hemp seeds, green onion and whatever else strikes your fancy!
- For shredding cabbage, a mandolin slicer is a girl’s best friend.
Vegan Keto Crack Slaw
Ingredients
- 4 cups shredded green cabbage
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts chopped
- 1 tsp chili paste kimchi paste (make sure it's vegan!), or sriracha
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 2 tbsp tamari or liquid aminos
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- sesame seeds and green onion to garnish if desired
Instructions
- Toss cabbage in a pan with the tamari, vinegar, sesame oil and chili paste/kimchi paste/sriracha on medium low heat.
- Add in minced garlic.
- Cover and let sit for about 5 minutes, until the cabbage starts to soften.
- Stir everything in the pan so that it is thoroughly combined. Add in nuts.
- Cook for another 5 or so minutes, until the nuts soften from absorbing some of the extra liquid in the pan.
- Serve, garnish and enjoy!
Nutrition
this is delish.. thanks..
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks so much for all of your commenting, likes and positive feedback! 🙂
Is the tamari or liquid aminos essential or can I remove it/substitute it?
Many thanks 🙂
Hi Jacob! If you have soy sauce or any other salty/savory sauce, you could likely use that as a substitute! It’s not totally necessary, but adds a nice flavor. 🙂
This was great. Do you think it would freeze well? I’ve got a ton of cabbage I need to use up before it goes bad!
Hi Joel – I’m so glad you like it!! I think it would freeze quite nicely! Good luck using up that cabbage. 🙂
This looks super tasty! I’m new to vegan keto foods so this blog is a great help 🙂
Does it matter what kind of vinegar I use?
Hi, and thank you for the nice comment! You can use whatever vinegar you like – though apple cider and rice vinegar seem to work best! I would avoid something like balsamic though.
I’m glad this blog is helpful for you, and please feel free to ask any questions you may have 🙂
This is great. Just found your website and being meat free and most flours except millet, cassava or arrowroot I have been struggling to find good recipes. My husband doesn’t like cabbage so will keep trying more for him. He is a meat and potatoes guy poor guy really struggling on this way of eating
Hi Kathy, thanks so much for the kind words! My husband is also a meat and potatoes guy, so I completely understand the look of, “but where’s the rest of the food?” that you can get sometimes!
I hope you find something you both can enjoy! 🙂
Yeah, this is amazing! Definitely a keeper! I realized I didn’t have any vinegar after I started cooking, substituted vermouth instead (it’s what I had!). It was still fantastic! Thank you!
I’m glad you like it!! Vermouth makes this so much classier!
I tried it today with almonds and sunflower seeds (because it’s what I had!) just as good 🙂
Oh, that sounds delicious! Almonds and sunflower seeds are definitely a bit nicer on the wallet, too! I’ll have to give it a whirl next time. I’ve tried cashews, and they were also delicious (I know they’re carby, but we all deserve a treat from time to time!).
THIS STUFF IS THE BOMB! My taste buds thank you! Btw, I used raw slivered almonds from Trader Joe’s.
YOU’RE the bomb, Kay!! Thanks for the awesome review – I’m so glad you and your taste buds like this dish! 😀
I saw kimchi paste in the directions, but not the ingredient list? How much would you use?
Hi Rebecca, good catch!! I’ve made this with kimchi paste, and sriracha on several occasions and I just forgot to choose one for this post! They amounts are interchangeable. 🙂
Thank you!
I’m not vegan, but I do try to make most of my meals plant based and keep my meat intake low. So when I had some leftover bacon grease last night and Crack slaw was on the menu I decided to use it! I tossed in the minced garlic and minced onion I was already using for another dish, then my cabbage and accouterments. I added a dash of fish sauce. I forgot the nuts, but added some green onion. It was amazing. I have leftovers and have eaten two bowls today. Thank you for this wonder resource!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Sarah!! It’s definitely a staple in my house now!
I substituted sauerkraut for the cabbage and it turned out great! I forgot about the nuts, so I added hemp seeds at the end. I am not new to keto, but recently found out I can’t eat eggs and dairy anymore, so I am very thankful to find your blog! Thank you for being a pioneer for the keto-vegan world 🙂
Thank you so much for the thoughtful words! I’m so glad this blog is helpful for you. It can be so difficult when you first find out about a new food intolerance!
I’m totally going to try subbing the sauerkraut in soon – this sounds amazing! 😀
What kind of sesame oil -light, or brown?
Hi there! You can use whatever kind of sesame oil you’d like, but keep in mind that the darker oils tend to have a deeper, nuttier and sometimes more bitter flavor, as they are made from toasted seeds! Lighter oils have a lighter flavor.
Hi! I’m a bit confused in the keto world (new to me) when you say there is 7g carbs and 7g fiber in this meal does that mean there is 0 carbs? So confused lol from what I understand you subtract totoal fiber from the total carbs. This looks a Amazing can’t wait to make it
🙂
Hi Nicole! This is a great question! So, in all of the recipes I post, I use a “net carbs” measurement, which means I’ve already taken out the fiber. So, this recipe actually has 7g per serving. It’s almost entirely from the veggies, though, and is super tasty if you can fit it into your macros!
Let me know if you have any other question! 🙂
Very good! I used pumpkin seeds. I also added some all-natural peanut butter to give it a pad Thai feel. Thank you for this recipe!
So glad you like it! I’m totally going to mix in peanut butter next time. That sounds so good!
I made the dish for lunch with walnuts, walnut oil, coconut aminos because that’s what I had on hand. VERY DELISH! Thanks for a great recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this! I’ll have to try it with walnuts, because that sounds so good!
I am a veggie, not a vegan. I use a lot yoghurt, riccota cheese and purified butter in my diet. Can I use yoghurt in my keto diet. I just started on a modified one. My husband has gone all the way. He has only hight protein is dinner Eggs, or chicken). In the morning he has coffee with virgin coconut oil and clarified butter. Blends all three and drinks. Then in between he has 5 soaked almonds. We are both in our 70s. He is 72 and I am 74. He is lean and tall and I am stocky.
Hi Rajeshwari! Thank you for your comment. You can absolutely use yoghurt in a keto diet, so long as it doesn’t contain too much sugar. Be sure to look at the back, and limit the amount to fit within your daily carb count!
Dear Liz,
I make my own yoghurt from 2% fat milk. In India people add sugar in the yoghurt only when they crave for a dessert and there is none. I use a lot of lentil and sprouts for protein. However the riccota cheese iwill be used only if it is home made.At present it zero cereal diet. I am a nervous beginner in this diet. I feel that lately I have added a lot of unwanted weight. Thank you for your encouraging response
Hi Liz,
thank you so much for posting this recipe! I made it tonight for dinner and couldn’t believe how good it was (and yet so simple to make).
With recipes like this one i have no problem staying on a vegan keto diet : )
I plan on making this within a couple of days. I was considering adding cooked salmon to it (cut up) Would this give it too fishy of a flavor? I cannot wait to try this. Thank you
Hi Suzanne! I think this would all depend on the type of salmon used, and when it’s added. Added it after cooking will probably limit that fishy flavor though!
Hi Liz! Thank you for the reply! I will cook the salmon separate and add it per serving after. I’m making this today 🙂
I made this today using a bit more than half of a cabbage head. WOW! It is soooo addictive. I live alone and made full recipe but there is only 1 serving left. I used a chopped whole white onion and fried it when I first started cooking the cabbage. I’ll be using the rest of the cabbage for this and in future will always double recipe. Nice and crunchy. I add a bit of Thai chili sauce on the side. I had none so omitted macadamia nuts
I’m so glad you like it, Suzanne!! I also usually end up eating way more than one serving – it’s just so hard not to! Thai chili sauce sounds like a great addition, and I will definitely be trying that!
Thank you for the recipe Liz and your reply to my comment!
I am just starting out – doing veganuary and keto….and IF! and this is an absolute life saver. thank you so much.
Hi Rachel, thanks so much for commenting! I’m so happy everything is proving useful for you, especially since you’re doing a lot of new things at once! I hope you’re enjoying everything! Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have
Looking at the nutritional information, this would be 0 net carbs. Macadamia nuts have 4 net carbs in half a cup… how did you get to 0 net carbs? I have to be sure of everything these daysbwith the keto diet. Thanks
Hi Kaela! I’m not sure if maybe the recipe isn’t displaying correctly for you, but the total net carbs listed is actually 7g per serving. 🙂
Just made this. It was delicious thank you!
Amazing! So simple and so delicious.
Thank you!
Hi Erin, I’m so glad you like this recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Going to make this tonight! Do you think leaving the cabbage raw would have an adverse effect on the overall taste? I know they flavors might not bind as well but I do love that nice crunch from raw cabbage. I love your site!
Hi Drew, great question! I bet this would still be super delicious raw. I’d recommend letting it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour in the fridge so that all the flavors combine fully. Let me know how it turns out!
Delicious! My husband is trying keto, and I don’t eat meat. We both really like this dish. Thank you!
I’m so glad both you and your husband like this dish, Kristie! It’s so nice to find something that everyone agrees on 😀
I just made this and I absolutely love it!!! I used coconut aminos instead of the tamari or liquid aminos and I had it with some avocado. SOOOOOO GOOD!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing! 😀
I’m confused…the Nutrition Facts listed below the recipe for “1 serving” show 6.6 grams of sugar that weren’t calculated in the nutrition breakdown listed ed before the recipe showing “2 servings”. Using the nutrition facts at the end, the net carb would be 7 when divided in 2 (13.4 carb-6.1 fiber, plus 6.6 sugar = 13.9 total for entire dish. Divide by 2 would make it 7 for half the dish. However in both nutrition listings, the calories, fat and protein are the same. Am I missing something?? I’m new to this and ma excited to try this recipe, so I’m trying to figure it all out .
Excited to find your website…thank you for the great recipes!!
Amy
Hi Amy! It can get confusing at times! The nutrition info in the recipe body is actually giving the same information as the label below, but net carbs are already calculated and are not separated out into “sugars” and “other carbs.” It’s the total of sugars and other carbs.
So, the total amount of net carbs for this recipe is 13.4g carbs – 6.1g of fiber for a total of 7.3g. In this 7.3g is 6.6g of naturally occurring sugars. You don’t add sugars back into the total for net carbs. You just have to subtract out the fiber and any sugar alcohols (though there aren’t any in this recipe). 🙂
At least that’s how American nutrition labels work! I hope this was helpful! Please feel free to reach out for clarification or any other questions!
I just made this tonight. It was absolutely delicious! I could eat it every day. Thank you
I’m so glad you like it, Angela!! 😀
YUM YUM YUM!!! So delicious and easy to make… will be making a lot of this 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad you like it, Anne!! 🙂
I’m not a cabbage or coleslaw girl but I just made this and it’s delicious. I’m hooked! 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad you liked this! 😀
Made this today for the non-vegan, non-keto family and they LOVED it! It’s a real keeper!!! Thank you!
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I loved this recipe when I got it in one of your meal plans a while ago. Didn’t it have hemp seeds in it then as a required ingredient? What kind of vinegar do you recommend?
Hi Lynette, so sorry, just seeing this now! It did have hemp seeds in the meal plan version as a way to sneak in more protein! You don’t need to add them to this version, but you definitely could! 😀
Hi Liz.
Is this slaw supposed to be served hot or cold? It looks lime a good option for a potluck later this week. Thanks.
Hi Kathryn, sorry for the delayed response! You could serve this either way! 🙂
WOW That hit the spot! I can’t believe I ate the entire recipe over about an hour for lunch. I used to eat a keto dish called “Egg Roll Bowl” This is the closest thing I’ve tasted to it TY TY TY