Easy Cole Slaw (Coleslaw)

by Sabrina SnyderApril 27, 2018 68 Comments
5 from 25 votes

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Easy Cole Slaw, also known as Coleslaw, in just 5 minutes with the perfect homemade dressing, this is the ultimate side dish for summer because it gets even better the next day. Perfect for cookouts and planning ahead.

Cole Slaw Easy Cole Slaw (Coleslaw) Recipe

Cole Slaw is the quintessential side dish for the summer. We love it so much we already have two versions on the site! Both are copycats, one is KFC Coleslaw (Copycat) and the second is my personal favorite unique cole slaw, Tony Roma’s Coleslaw with celery seeds.

What to serve with ColeSlaw:

Cole Slaw is a classic summer side dish best served with BBQ Pulled Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Barbecue Ribs or any other summer favorites you love including corn on the cob and Potato Salad.

Why buy pre-shredded cole slaw mix? For us the time involved in chopping plus the leftovers of the cabbage make it an easy swap. In addition to that, for some reason we find buying the vegetables whole costs almost twice as much as buying the pre-shredded bag. For us in the summer we love to keep things easy. This recipe shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to put together the morning of your bbq.

Important Note about Cole Slaw: YES, this recipe takes about five minutes, but one of the most important things about Cole Slaw is letting it sit, so that the dressing can soften the crunch of the cabbage. We give it at least 2 hours. Even better if you can do it the night before.

Bowl of Cole Slaw

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This Cole Slaw recipe is your classic cole slaw. Think going to the grocery store, about to spend four dollars a pound on cole slaw, cole slaw. Instead of spending so much, you can make it at home and with ingredients you can control.

I’ve actually spoken to heads of deli departments who have told me that cole slaw comes in either pre-made or in two parts, mix and dressing. This is a way to have fresh cole slaw without the added preservatives you’ll find in packaged cole slaw dressings.

So why post a third cole slaw recipe on the same site? Well, it’s the CLASSIC summer side dish and I love options. So choose your favorite version.

Easy ColeSlaw Recipes:

  • KFC Cole Slaw: Made with milk, buttermilk, lemon juice chopped cabbage, onion and carrots, this is the perfect KFC copycat. It has a bit of a bite from the onions.
  • Tony Roma’s Cole Slaw: This recipe is the perfect higher end recipe with celery seeds and a bit less creamy texture. If you’re serving up a summer dinner menu, you can go a bit fancier with this version.
  • Easy Cole Slaw: This recipe, this is the standard classic version made to take the place of buying pre-made.

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Cole Slaw
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Easy Cole Slaw Recipe (Coleslaw)

5 from 25 votes
  • Yield: 8 Servings
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Course: Side Dish
  • Cuisine: American
  • Author: Sabrina Snyder
Easy Cole Slaw made in just 5 minutes with the perfect homemade dressing, this is the ultimate side dish for summer because it gets even better the next day. Perfect for cookouts and planning ahead.

Ingredients

  • 14 ounce coleslaw mix with red cabbage and carrots*
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

  1. Add the mayonnaise, sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl and whisk together until fully combined.
  2. Add in the coleslaw mix and stir well to combine.
  3. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Recipe Notes

* If you want to uses your own mix for the coleslaw, I use 8 cups shredded cabbage, 1 cup shredded red cabbage, and 4 julienned carrots.

Nutrition Information

Yield: 8 Servings, Amount per serving: 120 calories, Serving Size: 1 , Calories: 120g, Carbohydrates: 6g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 5mg, Sodium: 170mg, Potassium: 84mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 1.2g, Vitamin C: 23.3g, Calcium: 2g, Iron: 1.5g

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Keyword: Easy Cole Slaw
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About the Author

Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

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Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Recipe Sides Summer Vegetarian

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Comments

  1. Made this and WOW. So darn good. Now I keep bag slaw on hand and make this couple times a week. So very easy and tastes better the next day.

    Reply

  4. Yum. Used a “southern style” slaw mix (onions, cabbage, finely chopped bell pepper) and used 2Tb of White Wine Vinegar (didn’t have a lemon or white vinegar) and it came out DELICIOUS!

    Very nice recipe – thank you!

    Reply

  5. Whenever I’ve made coleslaw in the past, it’s sucked. I couldn’t figure out what was so hard and had pretty much given up making it. (Even though it seems rather simple?) I was always looking at some famous chef’s recipe, but it always tasted bleh… This slaw was delicious and EASY as promised. I made the dressing as written and sliced one head of cabbage thin. Maybe a hair too much dressing but not by much. May I never lose this recipe, and bless you!

    Reply

  7. This is an easy and very tasty recipe. The dressing is creamy and it holds up well over time. I reduced the white sugar to 1 tablespoon and found the taste to be very pleasant.

    Reply

  13. Delicious the best coleslaw recipe for my taste to date. I like miracle whip so I used 1/2 mayo 1/2 miracle whip we also like a little celery seed so added it as well. Lovely balance of sweet and tart!

    Reply

  15. AMAZING. Only change I made was to use cider vinegar, but I am sure white would have been just as good. Really a very simple and tasty recipe!

    Reply

  18. Made this yesterday for ribs today. Tasted it while making it and was tastey. Ate it today and fabulous. Definitely gets better for the next day.

    Reply

  22. Love this! Did half the sugar and 1.5tbls cider vinager and added garlic and onion powder. BINGO! The perfect savory side to our fried fish dinner!
    Thanks!

    Reply

  39. This recipe is almost like the one my mother always made and I still make (I’m 78): 2 T sugar, 3 T ACvinegar, 1 t celery seeds, 1/2 to 3/4 c mayo, S&P. We never heard of Tony Roma’s! Although I’ve been cooking a long time, I still enjoy your blog.

    Reply