My grandmother is the best cook in our family. Everyone always calls her when they need a tried and true recipe. Unfortunately, 95% of the time she’s a “add a pinch of this and a shake of that” type cook. If you’re not familiar with playing around with recipes, it’s enough to drive you crazy trying to replicate her cooking.
This is when family calls me. I’ve somehow learned to decode her recipes by playing around with them long enough and watching her cook. This coleslaw is one of those decoded recipes. I was fortunate enough to find several copies of this recipe floating around the web and in southern church potluck cookbooks so figuring out the exact measurements was pretty easy.
This easy, creamy coleslaw recipe seems to please even those picky “I hate coleslaw” people which makes it great for potlucks and cookouts. It’s a great balance of sweetness, creaminess, and vinegary-ness (best word ever).
I love that this recipe doesn’t stray far from the traditional coleslaw ingredients. It’s great the first day you make it but lawd have mercy on the next day. I throw it on hot dogs, hamburgers, fish, you name it.
Watch me make this easy, creamy coleslaw from start to finish!!
Creamy, Crunchy & Perfectly Sweetened Coleslaw!
Ingredients
- 1/2 head cabbage
- 1 carrot peeled
- 1/4 small onion about 2-3 Tablespoons
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon mayonnaise I used Dukes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper may need a lil more or less
Instructions
- Grate cabbage, carrot and onion.
- Place into a large bowl. Toss and set aside
- In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, buttermilk, white vinegar, and sugar.
- Whisk until creamy.
- Pour dressing over cabbage mixture and toss to combine.
- Stir in salt and pepper.
- Refrigerate for several hours or overnight for flavors to combine.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Please note that you may need to adjust the amount of dressing ingredients depending on how big your cabbage is. Use the salt, black pepper and sugar to season to your liking.
Feel free to through in some red cabbage, radish or green onions.
Be careful not to over season. Flavors will intensify as the coleslaw sits.
wow- added a small diced jalepeno and this slaw rocks. My picky husband had 3 helpings! Never used buttermilk in slaw before, but it is amazing. Thanks!
I have been making this slaw for years. My neighbors parents own a sandwich shop in Highlands North Carolina and their slaw was the best I ever tasted. I could not duplicate it. Then I saw and tried this one. It is every bit as good as their’s. I think shredding the cabbage makes all the difference in texture and the yummy dressing is the topping. Perfection!
I must have had bad slaw my entire life to not like it. This recipe made me do a 360!!!! Legit ingredients. Fresh homemade taste. Im not gonna share with my kids…. they dont like coleslaw.
This is the perfect coleslaw recipe. My whole family loved it. Making it again tonight. Thanks for the great recipe.
My children all voted for a hot dog bar with all the fixings for Christmas Eve. It’s weird, but ok, I’ll do it. Ive just made your creamy slaw and hot dog chili. In Tennessee, the slaw dog reigns! My oh my! The recipes are so good! Thank you so much – I’ll never use canned chili again.
Hey. I love your chili and slaw they are wonderful. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Oh my goodness!!! That is delicious!!! I just made it and tasted it, Yummmmmm!!! Had to sub in greek yogurt for the buttermilk. Yaaayyyy!!!! Been looking for a good coleslaw recipe forever!
Super good coleslaw. Subbed sour cream for buttermilk. Love your recipes ! Just made the hot dog chili sauce & grandkids loved, even asked to put on macaroni. Will be using more of your southern down home recipes. Thank you.
Your grandma and mine have a lot in common! We were introducing some west coast friends to southern cooking tonight. My grandma, aunt, and (if I do say so) myself make some pretty epic broccoli slaw, but when it came to coleslaw my mom often just picked it up from KFC. Since I don’t have that luxury, I consulted the Internet for my best coleslaw options, and this recipe was ultimately my chosen one. I can’t say I followed it exactly (the only thing I measured was the sugar— sorry, I get it from your grandma and mine!!), but it was everything I was looking for and then some. One friend said “I hate cabbage, but this is delicious.”
This is a great recipe. My husband won’t eat cole slaw drowning in mayonnaise and loves things on the tangy side, so this is perfect. If you want it sweeter, you could add more sugar and lessen the vinegar, but why mess with perfection!
Girl! Is there anything you can’t do?!?! I just made this to go with shrimp po’boy’s. It was so delicious and fresh. Now I did alternate the recipe a little I used almond milk instead of buttermilk I also purchased the chopped up coleslaw from Publix and poured the dressing over it. However, It was creamy and not to heavy like some others. Thank you!
made this Cole Slaw tonight to rave reviews.! will be my #1 from now on.
used 1/2 & 1/2 instead of buttermilk (didn’t have it). delicious, thanks for the recipe.
Albe
Going to try this recipe for the coleslaw this weekend. We usually make the red vinegar slaw. Will let you know how we liked it!
use the buttermilk for cornbread and whatever is left over, have a great tasting glass full with the cornbread crumbled up in it . It don’tget no better than that.
This will be our 2nd Thanksgiving featuring your grandmother’s recipe. It is wonderful! The best cole slaw I’ve ever made! Not full of mayo, just right!
Best slaw recipe I’ve tried! My family and myself love it…especially when it’s cold!
This will be my second time making this cole slaw, omg!!! Oh so good!!!! I have a new site and I can get excited about and I love it… The bestest, a real keeper, thank you for sharing Monique!
Diva, coleslaw looks awesome and great reviews….I love coleslaw but hate it swimming in mayo, but I LOVE tasty and all of your recipes…at least ones I’ve tried. Simple and so good! My question, what can I substitute for the buttermilk? I mean a whole quart for 2 Tbl?! But, I’m reasonable, if it’s completely necessary, I will buy it and soak chix!
You could make buttermilk biscuits or buttermilk pancakes. Also, you can use buttermilk instead of regular milk when making batter fried vegetables, or fried chicken fingers. I’ve even saw someone post a buttermilk pie, hehe, that one was a first for me.
The qty. of buttermilk is very small. A dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt would probably do fine for adding the tanginess. Often buttermilk is used in baked goods, to provide leavening in conjunction with baking SODA. This can be substituted for by adding vinegar or lemon juice to fresh milk, but I don’t know that the flavor would be as good in this recipe.
So good OMG my family and I had it with the tangy baked chicken wings.
Was looking for a cole slaw to go with my pulled pork. This one is perfect! May add some celery seed next time. Thank you!
I made this so many times now and it turned out delish every time!! I am actually about to use the dressing recipe to make broccoli slaw. Love it! Love her! Love her cooking! Post more videos girl!!! The only thing I do different is I throw my cabbage carrot and onion into my food processor, which makes my life so much easier and the coleslaw super soft and juicy.
Hi i made this recepie a week ago, how long can you refrigerate it and still be good?
I agree with the previous post, I’ll cut back on the onion next time. My mother loved it as is, but she loves onions 🙂 Great recipe!
today I just went cooking crazy with some of these recipes, love coleslaw so I made this.
I’m goona make this for thanksgiving appetizer hope it goes well!!
I added to much onion to this. It was still good, but I think the onion was just too strong. Thanx again for the recipe.
Yet another homerun!
Yes, dearest, you can cook, and now I can, too!
I made the coleslaw on Sunday and it was great just alot of color.