Red Cabbage Wreath Salad
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My friend Nataliya shared this red cabbage wreath salad recipe with me and I’ve made it for 2 family dinners already. You probably recognize it from my Thanksgiving post. You can either arrange the ingredients in little heaps on a platter or make a lovely wreath; perfect for Christmas.
Did I mention I love Christmas? I’m pretty sure I did. This salad can be made even a day ahead and mixed together just before serving. Hope you enjoy it and I hope it creates the wow factor for you.
Ingredients for Red Cabbage Wreath Salad:
15 oz can corn
1/3 red cabbage, super-finely sliced (use the mandolin for this)
1 medium beat, grated (yes, a raw beat)
1 red or yellow bell pepper
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1 cup chow mein noodles or lime tortilla strips (see below)
Dressing Ingredients:
3 large or 4 small garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped (add more to taste)
1 cup real mayo
How To Make Red Cabbage Wreath Salad:
1. Shred red cabbage and grate raw beat.
2. Arrange all of your ingredients. Here’s the order of what we did to make the wreath. Start with putting a cup or ramekin over the peas to keep them in place, then build around it.
3. Combine mayo and garlic (this is your dressing).
4. Just before serving, take a moment to part with the majestic beauty of your wreath. Deep breath and….. don’t think, just mix it!!
Notes:
The tortilla strips cooperate better around the edge of the salad, but they did get soggy faster. It’s sort of a toss-up; the tortilla strips taste better but the chow mein noodles stay crunchy longer. Both work.
This salad works best when you use a mandolin with the fine shred setting (or maybe I’m just not very good at super-fine slicing by hand).
Red Cabbage Wreath Salad

Ingredients
- 15 oz can corn
- 1/3 red cabbage, super-finely sliced
- 1 medium raw beat, grated
- 1 red or yellow bell pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion
- 1 cup chow mein noodles or lime tortilla strips
Dressing Ingredients:
- 3 large or 4 small garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped + more to taste
- 1 cup real mayo
Instructions
- Shred red cabbage and grate raw beat.
- Arrange all of your ingredients. Here's the order of what we did to make the wreath. Start with putting a cup or ramekin over the peas to keep them in place, then build around it.
- Combine mayo and garlic (this is your dressing).
- Mix the salad just before serving.
Notes
This salad works best when you use a mandolin with the fine shred setting.
Natasha, how do you serve this salad? You mix it around guests or before?? I am assuming around guests?
Hi Victoria! Yes, We have it displayed as a wreath until we are ready to serve it. At which point we mix the salad to serve.
Natasha, how do you actually serve it?? you put plate infont of guests without mixing and mix later??
We usually mix it just before serving.
Natasha, how similar is this salad to Russian Beet Salad? Between these two, which one would you pick for Thanksgiving? Thanks!
They are actually both really similar in flavor so it depends on what produce you already have. I love the Russian beet salad because the fried potatoes are quite a treat so I’d choose that one for Thanksgiving, but the wreath salad is easier since you don’t have to cook anything at all.
hey can i prepare like on sat. and eat it on sunday. mix on sunday i mean?
Yes it can be prepped in advanced and that is what I do. Just keep the chow mein noodles out of the bowl completely until you are ready to mix and serve. The moisture from the other veggies can make them soft.
For this salad can I use caned peas instead of fozen?will it make the salad taste different?
I think it tastes fresher with the frozen ones and the color is prettier but I imagine the canned peas would work. You would want to fold them in last since canned peas tend to get crushed easily. Fresh peas would be really good too I imagine if you can get your hands on them 🙂
Thanks a lot. Merry Christmas to u too
Hi Natasha
have a ? Can I make salad one day early before serving? Thanks
Yes you definitely can make it a day ahead. Just keep the ingredients separate and mix it all together just before serving. Also, add the chips/noodles at the very end to keep them crisp and not soggy 😉 Merry Christmas!
Hi Natasha –
have a ?, can i make this salad day before serving? thanks a lot
Yes you can make it a day ahead. Don’t mix and don’t add in the dressing until ready to serve. Also, keep the noodles/tortilla strips out of the salad completely to keep them completely dry and crisp. Add them in before serving.
Natasha, thank you for this recipe! I’m going to make this salad for my BD dinner next week.
<3 your blog 🙂
You are welcome Elena, I hope you love it :).
I love this salad I can eat whole bowl of that 🙂 thank you for a healthy recipe !!!
You are welcome Natasha, I’m glad you like it :).
Made this last weekend and it was a big hit! The plate was first to be empty :). It was really good 🙂
I only found south western tortilla strips, will they taste ok?
Thanks
They should work 🙂
This look so pretty, I am putting it on my list to make from my Son’s 4th Birthday this Saturday 🙂
Thanks Natasha’s for all the Recipes…if I need to make something and have no idea what to make, I just go to my iPad and bring up your site and there I got an idea for Dinner 🙂
You are welcome Nadia, I use Ipad all the time in kitchen as well :).
One more thing, can I do this salad Friday and just mix in the dressing befor eating it on Saturday afternoon? Thanks for your quick response 🙂
Where can I find tortillas strip at the grocery store?
They should be in the salad section by the croutons 🙂
Eating a bowl of this right now . Yummy! I added some sour cream to mayo and garlic. And I realized I didn’t have a plate big enough for this, so I didn’t get all pretty wreath picture lol. It’s probably awesome with mashed potatoes too
I like to make this salad for parties, so the plate adds extra appeal, but don’t worry, nice plate won’t make the salad taste better 🙂
WOW!! my sis in law always makes a salad similar to this one and its awesome!! i will try making this one, looks so yummy:) thanks for your post natasha!
Thanks Nastia 🙂
mmm, I dont add corn or bell pepper. Instead I add carrorts and regular onions. and fried hashbrowns not chinese noodles, but sometimes when I dont want to fry the hashbrowns, noodles work great. I think the taste is still pretty much the same…I guess every recipe is different…I think I got mine from Dina
Sounds like this recipe 🙂 I got the recipe from Maria Kh. Both are similar, but great!
You are right it sure is a gorgeous salad! At first I wasnt sure about the salad cause of the raw beets… So I made it cause of the look of it:) But its really good, garlic made the whole salad just right;) thanks Natasha!!
The raw beets surprised me too, but they taste great and are super healthy too!
We came to visit in August of this year and at a family gathering you made this salad i fell in love with it , later i called for the recipe and made it on a couple occasions and every one loved it and i credited you for it… Thank you Natasha for all your posts
Thanks Alla, I was just reading your facebook post (the one about the family date) – it made me laugh 🙂
Thank you for finally posting this…..so excited to make it. It is always exciting to make something new.
You’re very welcome 🙂
Natasha, Thank you so much for taking your time from your busy life and share your yummy recipes with us. Your enthusiasm, love for cooking and beautiful pictures inspires us to cook, and the clear directions/instructions make the dish come together beautifully. Thank you again for your time, dedication and willingness to share your secret recipes with us. Because of you, we are better cooks and our family are happy because they have a full tummy filled with delicious food.
Sounds like this site is achieving its purpose! Yay! 🙂 thank you soo soo much!
It sure does. Thanks for all your easy and delicious recipes! Merry Christmas from Costa Rica! 🎄
Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and your family too!
Pretty. inspiring. love it!