If you love sauerkraut but don’t want to make it a ton of work, then you will love this easy homemade sauerkraut recipe.
I love sauerkraut.
Well, to be fair I love fermented foods, like all kinds.
It may be my german heritage, but when it comes to sauerkraut I love it like down in my soul. In fact, I think I could survive months on nothing but sauerkraut topped with blue cheese.
Yeah, my kids think the blue cheese part is weird, but what do kids know about the lovely complexities of food flavors anyways?
Related Reading:
Kvass | The healthiest Drink in the World
They say in my family that I was born on sauerkraut, literally.
The story goes my mother was more than 3 weeks past due, and some appliance repair man told her an old-wives tale that if you eat sauerkraut it will put you into labor.
Well, long story short she ate it, went into labor later that evening and the rest is history.
So needless to say sauerkraut was commonplace in my childhood, but never in all those years did my mother ever make it, she bought it.
Which is sad because homemade sauerkraut is so top-notch. If you could see me I just kissed my fingers and put them up in front of me like one does when food is at its perfect perfection.
The bonus is you can make huge batches in a fermenting crock and jar that up (that’s what I do) and be in sauerkraut hog heaven all winter long.
Health benefits sauerkraut
We have all heard in recent years how important probiotics are for you. The amazing thing is that our ancestors all knew this (without scientists or salespeople with pill bottles telling them so).
Just about every culture throughout history has some pretty common fermented foods that were a staple in their cuisine.
Europeans have sauerkraut, kvass, beer, wine, yogurt, cheese, and meade. While Asian countries are known for sauerkraut’s delicious cousin kimchi, along with tempeh, and miso. Curtadio in South America, Those are just for starters, basically every culture around the world has had fermented foods as a staple.
Many things can be fermented, and in the process, the foods were preserved, made easier to digest, and added tons of healthy microbes to the digestive system.
fermentation brings out some amazing health benefits in the foods we eat. What is fermentation good for? Well, fermentation helps increase digestion and bioavailability of nutrients, as well as manage and prevent disease, including H. pylori infection, cancer, liver disease, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and lactose intolerance. Furthermore, it’s been shown thatfermented foods can reduce social anxiety.
Making Homemade Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut is wonderful because you only need a few basic items and you can be off and running with super-healthy homemade food.
Sauerkraut tools
- sharp knife, mandoline slicer, or food processor with a veggie shredder option
- large mixing bowl
- large mason or canning jars
- fermentation weight
- fermentation lids
Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe
As the name suggests this recipe is both easy and simple. And by simple I mean just a few ingredients are all that are required.
Ingredients
- Green Cabbage
- Yellow or red onion
- Salt (preferably sea salt or pink Himalayan salt)
- Fresh sweet whey (not acid when or the whey from cheese making) or fermentation cultures (optional but not required)
This recipe has optional whey, which you might have if you are already fermenting dairy like kefir or yogurt. Other than that it is pretty unlikely you would have fresh whey on hand. In that case of course you can keep fermenting culture on hand, or even brine from a last batch. However, if you do not have any of that, that’s ok too. Your cabbage will still ferment just fine.
Easy Homemade Sauerkraut
Beth
This Easy Homemade Sauerkraut recipe is for a simple yet delicious raw sauerkraut recipe made in your everyday mason jars. It costs a fraction of the raw store-bought version and is so much healthier than anything in a can (those have been heated and the probiotics killed).
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Additional Time 7 days d
Total Time 7 days d 30 minutes mins
Ingredients
- 1 large head of green cabbage
- 1 yellow onion
- 1-1 1/2 Tbsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp Whey or fermenting cultures optional
Instructions
Rinse the cabbage, remove the outer leaves, and set them aside to use later.
Additional step. If you worry about contaminants or chemicals on the cabbage soak it in a sink of water with a small amount of apple cider vinegar.
Quarter the cabbage and remove the core.
Thinly slice the cabbage with a knife, mandoline, or a food processor with a shedder setting.
Repeat this step with the onion. Remove the ends of the onion. Thinly slice or send through a food processor shedder.
Transfer everything to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with salt. Additionally, if you are using cultures like Cutting edge cultures or whey this is where you would sprinkle that over the top.
Mix thoroughly with your hands.
You will notice the cabbage start to sweat, the salt is drawing out the liquids from the veggies. You want this. And if not much water is collecting in the bottom of your bowl suggest you cover it with plastic wrap and let the salt have time to pull of more juices from the cabbage and onion.
When the bottom of your bowl has collected a decent amount of liquid, you can transfer the veggies to your fermenting jar.
Using either a 1/2 gallon jar or 2 quart-sized jars, pack all your veggies into the jar, using either your hands or a kitchen tool (I use a wide handle from a wooden spoon) smash all the veggies into the bottom of the jar. You want to leave as little air pockets as possible. This also makes sure the liquid from the cabbage keeps the cabbage submerged under the liquid line.
Once all the veggies are in and packed down, lay your washed outer leaves on top of the mixture and press that down. This acts as a lid to keep your veggies all under the water, and it will be discarded after the fermentation is complete. You want to see the liquid start to cover the outer leaves.
Place your fermentation weight on top of the leaves, and press it down.
If everything is not submerged underwater add 1/8 cup of water at a time until all the veggies are submerged under the liquid line. * Note* you do not want to have to add much water it will make it a little less tasty and soggy like later.
Add your fermentation lid to your jar, set that on a plate or a tray, and leave it out on a counter (somewhere out of direct sunlight) to ferment for 1-2 weeks.
You will notice it starts to change over the next few days, and as long as everything stays under the liquid everything will be fine.
When it is done, open the jar, remove the weight and clean the inside of the jar if anything was above the liquid line molded (maybe small pieces of cabbage on the side of the jar) wipe those away, and make sure the top of the jar is clean.
Remove the layer of leaves and discard those.
Transfer sauerkraut into smaller jars, tamp them down and pour the brine over the top. Put lids on the jars, label and store them in the fridge. They will be good for a year and maybe even more.
Enjoy the delicious fermented goodness of your labor.
Keyword homemade sauerkraut
There is nothing better than a bowl full of sauerkraut except maybe a bowl full of homemade sauerkraut that’s raw and packed full of living probiotics. Living healthier and eating better foods doesn’t always mean more money sometimes it just means going simpler and back to the old-timey ways.
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Beth
Beth is a mother of 6 living on a handful of acres in an old farmhouse in central Kansas. Beth has a background in the military and health and fitness however her passions come from her homestead life. Beth is an enthusiastic homeschooling mom, avid organic gardener, chicken & goat wrangler, who is obsessed with herbs and natural remedies and maintaining an all-around Do-It-Yourself lifestyle. Beth loves to share all she has learned about and sustainable living. While striving for a healthy, natural life, family-centered life.
