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Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe

Easy overnight sauerkraut recipe from @natashaskitchen

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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%)

Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe

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.

Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe-2

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.

Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe-7

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.

Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe-3

Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe-4

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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 from @natashaskitchen

Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe-6

Easy overnight sauerkraut recipe from @natashaskitchen

Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe

5 from 11 votes
Author: Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com
Easy overnight sauerkraut recipe from @natashaskitchen
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 takes several days to make but this sour cabbage is done overnight. This sauerkraut is eaten as a side/salad and is amazingly good paired with mashed potatoes, buckwheat, or anything else you might eat with a pickle.
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 10 -12
  • 2 medium heads of cabbage, 4lb
  • 3 carrots
  • 4-5 large garlic cloves

Marinade Ingredients:

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.
Course: Condiments, Salad
Cuisine: American, German
Keyword: Overnight Sauerkraut
Skill Level: Easy
Cost to Make: $
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Easy Overnight Sauerkraut Recipe-11

Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the creator behind Natasha's Kitchen (established in 2009), and I share family-friendly, authentic recipes. I am a New York Times Best-Selling cookbook author and a trusted video personality in the culinary world. My husband, Vadim, and I run this blog together, ensuring every recipe we share is thoroughly tested and approved. Our mission is to provide you with delicious, reliable recipes you can count on. Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy you are here.

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5 from 11 votes

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Comments

  • Megan
    February 3, 2024

    Hi Natasha,

    Do you think this would work on a rueben sandwich?

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      February 3, 2024

      Hi Megan! It think so.

      Reply

  • Alla
    February 14, 2020

    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?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      February 14, 2020

      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.

      Reply

  • Yelena Goleta
    August 11, 2018

    Hi Natasha, I don’t want to use Vinegar. What can I use & How would the recipe change?

    Reply

  • Julia
    November 10, 2017

    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?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      November 11, 2017

      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.

      Reply

    • Kitti
      December 28, 2023

      I made this recently with purple cabbage and it turned out exactly like it normally does… except for the color of course!

      Reply

  • Yelena
    September 14, 2017

    Hello Natasha, what do you mean by 5 cloves?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 15, 2017

      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)

      Reply

  • Kathy
    August 21, 2017

    I’m sugar intolerant and this salad sounds amazing. Can you make it with a different sweetener, like honey or agave?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 21, 2017

      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.

      Reply

  • Anastasija
    May 25, 2017

    Natasha, do you think it would work with that red/purple cabbage?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      May 25, 2017

      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! 🙂

      Reply

  • Natalie
    March 9, 2017

    Natasha –
    How does it compare to the traditional 4 day recipe? Different flavor or more crunchy?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 9, 2017

      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.

      Reply

  • oksana mnyagonchak
    February 24, 2017

    will ground clove work ?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      February 24, 2017

      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.

      Reply

  • Christina
    February 11, 2017

    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!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      February 13, 2017

      You’re welcome Christina! Thank you for the wonderful compliment!! 🙂

      Reply

  • Lena
    January 16, 2017

    Hi Natasha! For how long can I keep this salad in the fridge before it goes bad?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 17, 2017

      It does store well and can be enjoyed for at least a week and probably up to 2 weeks.

      Reply

  • Denise
    December 10, 2016

    Loved this recipe, easy & delicious! My party loved it.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      December 10, 2016

      Denise, thank you for the wonderful review ! 😁

      Reply

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