Grilled Cabbage With Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe

Grilling

Fire up your grill and get ready for some serious smoke.

J. Kenji López-Alt
Grilled Cabbage With Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe
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  • Yield:Serves 4 to 6
  • Active time:20 minutes
  • Total time:45 minutes
  • Rated: 3.0
This recipe appears in:
The Food Lab Turbo: Why You Should Really Be Grilling Your Cabbage

Grilled cabbage with blue cheese dressing. [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Deeply fragrant with smoky charred edges, cabbage takes on a nutty, sweet flavor when grilled over blazing hot coals, and a great texture that's simultaneously tender and crisp. Its layered structure also makes it the ideal vessel for picking up both smoke flavor from the grill and whatever sauce you choose to serve it with. In this case, we're going with a rich blue cheese dressing, tomatoes, and—if you want them—bacon bits.

Why this recipe works:

  • Cutting the cabbage into wedges with the root intact helps it hold together on the grill.
  • Charring adds sweetness and nutty depth to the cabbage.
  • Very high heat allows you to char the cabbage while still retaining plenty of fresh crunch in the interior.

To cook cabbage indoors, toss raw wedges with 2 tablespoons olive oil to coat. Place on a foil-lined broiler pan and broil under high heat, turning occasionally, until well-charred on all sides, about 15 minutes.

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 medium head of green cabbage, cut into 6 wedges with the core left intact
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup sliced scallions
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, split in half (optional)
  • 1/2 cup crumbled cooked bacon (optional)

Directions

  1. 1.

    Place blue cheese in a medium bowl and mash with a fork or whisk. Add mayonnaise, sour cream, and lemon juice and whisk to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

  2. 2.

    Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and arrange the coals on one side of the charcoal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Alternatively, set half the burners on a gas grill to the highest heat setting, cover, and preheat for 10 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate.

  3. 3.

    Place cabbage wedges directly over hot side of grill. Cook, covered, until well charred on first side, about 2 minutes. Flip cabbage, cover, and cook until charred on second side, another 2 minutes. Flip wedges to third side, cover, and cook until well charred, another 2 minutes. Transfer cabbage to cooler side of grill, cover, and continue cooking until mostly tender but still crunchy in center, about 4 minutes longer.

  4. 4.

    Transfer cabbage to a large bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle with sauce, sprinkle with scallions, tomatoes, and bacon (if using), and serve immediately.

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