Last Updated on 17th December 2021 by
Napa cabbage is a sweet vegetable that can be cooked up in a number of ways. You can cook this cabbage (also called Chinese cabbage) just about any way you like.
A lot of people will use it in stir fry, mixing it with some meat and veggies with a dash of soy sauce. Others will cook it up in a pot of water on the stove, adding in some other veggies and seasoning and making a soup from it.
You can cook the cabbage on the
Napa Cabbage Stir Fry
Let’s start off with one of the simplest and most popular ways to have napa cabbage, and that is in a stir fry in a Chinese style dish. How to cook napa cabbage Chinese style? Let me share with you this quick and easy method.
To make a stir fry from napa cabbage, you want to wash it first. Make sure it is clean by rising it in running water and rubbing off any dirt and debris that could be stuck to it. Then, heat up some oil in a skillet- about two tablespoons. Cook on medium heat.
Once the oil is warm, you can toss your cabbage in there. Let it cook for about a minute with the skillet covered before adding in other veggies, like mushrooms, carrots, onions and whatever else you are adding in. You can add soy sauce as well to cook the cabbage in. When you add in the soy sauce and additional veggies, turn down the heat to low.
Cook for an additional two or three minutes until the cabbage is soft. Once it has become soft, you can take the skillet off the heat and serve. You now know how to cook napa cabbage in stir fry, and you can add meat to this dish as well.
It goes very well with chicken, pork, shrimp, or beef. Some of those meats may need to cook longer than the rest of the food, and you might want to cook up the beef and chicken separately before adding them to the stir fry. Shrimp and pork don’t take long to cook and can be cooked with the rest of the food in the skillet at the same time.
Boiled Cabbage
Another way to cook up napa cabbage is to boil it in water. You can make this as a soup or just as a boiled vegetable medley. Boiled cabbage makes for a good dish on its own too if you season it well.
How to cook with napa cabbage when you are boiling it? Be sure to cut the cabbage, first, usually in half and then in smaller strips. It cooks much faster when it is cut into small pieces, and it will be ready to eat and bite size when it is done cooking, if you cut it before trying to cook it.
Prepare a pot of water and add salt. You want enough water to cover the cabbage and whatever else you are cooking in the water. Once the water starts to boil, you can add your cabbage to it. If you are cooking shredded cabbage leaves in the water, it will take about 3-5 minutes of boiling on high heat for them to cook.
They will become soft and tender when they are done cooking. If you are cooking halves or quarters of cabbage, then you should give them about 10 minutes to cook. Now you know how long to cook napa cabbage when boiling it on the stove.
Grilled Cabbage
Another of the how to cook napa cabbage recipes I want to share with you is one for cooking cabbage on the
Start by heating the
While the
Drizzle some oil over the cabbage and cook on one side for about three minutes, closing the
Cabbage should be tender if it is done cooking. You can test the doneness and tenderness with a fork, prodding the cabbage gently. If the fork slides in easily, then the cabbage is tender. You can cook it to as tender as you prefer it to be.
Unlike meat, you don’t test cabbage with a thermometer to see if they reach a proper internal temperature. You can eat veggies at any stage of the cooking process. It’s up to you to determine if they are soft enough for your liking, though, and you decide when they have cooked enough.
Roasted Cabbage
I want to share with you one more method for cooking napa cabbage that you can use. Roasting them means you are using the
To roast napa cabbage, preheat the
While the
Face the cut sides of the cabbage down into the
You can take the cabbage out of the
These few methods for cooking a napa cabbage should give you some ideas to work with and help you to cook it well no matter what cooking method you prefer. As you can see, this is a fairly simple vegetable to cook and there is little risk that you will mess it up and ruin your dish.
I hope you try a few of these out so that you can experiment and determine which method is your favourite. Be sure to try the cabbage with a few different kinds of seasonings and meats or veggies for added variety so that you can get the most out of any napa cabbage you buy.
I'm Pauline, a retired patisserie chef, mother of four and now a full time food blogger! When i'm not cooking i love long walks, reading thriller novels and spending time with my grandkids. Head to my about me page to learn more about the woman behind the food! You can find my Facebook here