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My mom has been making sauerkraut for as long as I can remember. It was a staple in our house growing up and it is a very common recipe made by Russian and Ukrainian folks.
The traditional version is amazing but takes several days to make but this sour cabbage is done overnight. This sauerkraut is eaten as a side/salad and is delicious paired with mashed potatoes, buckwheat, or anything else you might eat with a pickle.
Ingredients for the Overnight Sauerkraut:
2 medium heads of cabbage (4lb)
3 carrots
4-5 large garlic cloves
Sauerkraut Marinade Ingredients:
4 cups water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp of sea salt
10 pepper corns
5-6 whole cloves
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
2/3 cup white vinegar (5%)
How To Make Overnight Sauerkraut Salad:
1.Remove the outermost leaves of the cabbages, cut them into quarters and shred finely (use a mandolin to do this if you know what’s good for you ;)). Discard the core, or trim it and eat it – it’s very tasty and healthy!
Place shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl. Grate 3 carrots and very finely dice 4 garlic cloves, add everything to the bowl with shredded cabbage.
2. In a medium cooking pot add the first 6 marinade ingredients: 4 cups of water, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 1/2 Tbsp of sea salt, 10 peppercorns, 5 cloves and 4 bay leaves)bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. After the time is up, stir in 1/2 cup of olive oil and 2/3 cup of vinegar then remove the pot from the stove to let it cool for 10 minutes.
3. Remove peppercorns and bay leaves from marinate then pour in the mixing bowl with vegetables and stir everything together until well combined. Now place a weight over your mixture until if fully cools. We put a flat dinner plate over the salad then placed a large bowl of water over the top to weigh it down.
4. Transfer cooled sauerkraut to a large jar, along with the leftover juice to fully submerge it, place the lid on top and place in the fridge for 24 hours.
Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 medium heads of cabbage, 4lb
- 3 carrots
- 4-5 large garlic cloves
Marinade Ingredients:
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 Tbsp of sea salt
- 10 pepper corns
- 5-6 whole cloves
- 4 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2/3 cup white vinegar, 5%
Instructions
- Remove the outermost leaves of the cabbages, cut them into quarters and shred finely (use a mandolin to do this if you know what’s good for you ;)). Discard the core, or trim it and eat it – it’s very tasty and healthy! Place shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl. Grate 3 carrots and very finely dice 4 garlic cloves, add everything to the bowl with shredded cabbage.
- In a medium cooking pot add the first 6 marinade ingredients: 4 cups of water, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 1/2 Tbsp of sea salt, 10 peppercorns, 5 cloves and 4 bay leaves) bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. After the time is up, stir in 1/2 cup of olive oil and 2/3 cup of vinegar then remove the pot from the stove to let it cool for 10 minutes.
- Remove peppercorns and bay leaves from marinate then pour in the mixing bowl with vegetables and stir everything together until well combined. Now place a weight over your mixture until if fully cools. We put a flat dinner plate over the salad then placed a large bowl of water over the top to weigh it down.
- Transfer cooled sauerkraut to a large jar, along with the leftover juice to fully submerge it, place the lid on top and place in the fridge for 24 hours.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Hi Natasha,
Do you think this would work on a rueben sandwich?
Hi Megan! It think so.
Great recipe! Thank you for posting! I’m a big fan of your site and made several of your dishes. Always a success!
One question – how long the this cabbage keeps in the fridge?
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed our recipes Alla! It does store well and can be enjoyed for at least a week and probably up to 2 weeks.
Hi Natasha, I don’t want to use Vinegar. What can I use & How would the recipe change?
Hi Yelena, I would suggest our original sauerkraut recipe which does not use vinegar.
Hey loved this salad! Gave some to my mom and she said she licked her plate! Lol. Do you know if this would work with the purple cabbage as well? And would the juice work on pickling just beets?
Hi Julia, I haven’t tested either one, but I do think it is worth an experiment! I would probably mix the purple cabbage in – maybe do half and half with green and purple cabbage. I’m not sure about the pickling beets, if it would work with the same process – I haven’t tried that so I can’t really advise.
I made this recently with purple cabbage and it turned out exactly like it normally does… except for the color of course!
Hello Natasha, what do you mean by 5 cloves?
Hi Yelena, it is a dry, whole spice. I have it in the tiny dish with the peppercorns if you can see them there. Here is another look at what they are/what they look like. They can be find in the spice section of most grocery stores (sometimes sold in bins by weight, like at Fred Meyer)
I’m sugar intolerant and this salad sounds amazing. Can you make it with a different sweetener, like honey or agave?
Hi Kathy, to be honest, I haven’t tried any other substitutes so I’m not sure how it would affect the flavor of the sauerkraut. If you test it out, let me know how it goes.
Natasha, do you think it would work with that red/purple cabbage?
I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure… it would be a different color that’s for sure, but I’m not sure since I just haven’t tried that. A quick search on google shows that there are some recipes for it online so it might work well. If you test it out, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Natasha –
How does it compare to the traditional 4 day recipe? Different flavor or more crunchy?
Hi Natalie, this one is more of a marinated salad while the traditional one is more of a true sauerkraut. They both taste great just different. The traditional one is probably still just as crunchy.
will ground clove work ?
Hi Oksana, I haven’t tried that so I’m not 100% sure what amount to substitute or how it would change the flavor. I do remove the cloves from the syrup so I would suggest trying it with less when using ground or it may overwhelm the syrup.
This is so so so so good!!!!! And so so Easy to make!!!!!! Ahhhh thank you Again Natasha!!! What would I do with out your recipes, I would be lost for sure!!! All your recipes are just amazing!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
You’re welcome Christina! Thank you for the wonderful compliment!! 🙂
Hi Natasha! For how long can I keep this salad in the fridge before it goes bad?
It does store well and can be enjoyed for at least a week and probably up to 2 weeks.
Loved this recipe, easy & delicious! My party loved it.
Denise, thank you for the wonderful review ! 😁