Homemade Diner-Style Coleslaw is the perfect side dish for picnics or BBQs, offering a refreshing and crunchy complement to outdoor meals. It pairs wonderfully with juicy burgers and flavorful grilled chicken, enhancing every bite.
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🍶 The Ingredients
Simple, fresh ingredients come together in coleslaw to create a crisp, flavorful dish that far surpasses store-bought versions. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and variations) below.
🥕 Substitutions and Variations
- Vegetables – This is the main ingredient for slaw and shouldn’t be omitted. We recommend shredding the cabbage to make the slaw easy to eat. You can use your food processor, box grater, or a sharp knife. For slaw that is not as finely chopped, we recommend softening the cabbage with salt sprinkled over it for about 30 minutes (then a good rinse). Go with green cabbage, or a combination of red and green cabbage. Carrots add flavor and color, but can be omitted if desired. Shredded radishes are a wonderful addition.
- Dressing – We think homemade mayonnaise, or Duke’s Mayonnaise, combined with sour cream, makes the perfect dressing. However, buttermilk can be substituted for the sour cream for a slightly thinner dressing.
- Vinegar – A classic coleslaw dressing needs a little acid to brighten the flavor. Lemon juice is ideal. Any vinegar will work, including white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or Champagne vinegar.
- Sugar – This is a matter of taste. Our recipe gives a touch of sweetness, but not overly sweet. If you prefer a sweeter slaw, increase the sugar to a quarter cup.
See the recipe card (with video) below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Expert Tip
We love adding red cabbage to our coleslaw, but use it sparingly. The red will bleed into the rest of the slaw and turn it purple. It’s not unattractive, but it doesn’t have the typical appearance of classic coleslaw. Going with 100% green cabbage is perfectly fine!
👩🏼🍳 How To Make Diner-Style Coleslaw
- Step 1: Shred the cabbage and carrots in your food processor or with a box grater.
- Step 2: Toss together cabbage, carrots, and onions in a bowl
- Step 3: In a small bowl, stir dressing ingredients until smooth.
- Step 4: Pour over vegetables and toss to coat
- Step 5: Chill for 1 hour
- Step 6: Toss again and serve.
Expert Tip
We don’t recommend assembling the slaw more than 1 to 2 hours before serving. The slaw will become soggy if it sits in the fridge for too long. It will be tasty, but the texture won’t be ideal. Prep the vegetables and prepare the dressing up to 24 hours in advance. Then assemble an hour before serving for best results.
🙋🏽♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
Green cabbage is most commonly used for diner-style coleslaw, but you can also mix in some red cabbage for added color and crunch.
To keep coleslaw crisp, drain any excess moisture from the cabbage. Add the dressing no more than an hour before serving. Toss well just before serving.
Yes, you can prepare coleslaw a few hours in advance, but it’s best to mix the dressing and cabbage right before serving to maintain freshness and texture.
😋 Other Classic BBQ Side Dishes
Ready to make the best side dish on the block? Go for it!
And when you do, be sure to take a photo of it, post it on Instagram, and tag @HowToFeedaLoon and hashtag #HowToFeedaLoon!
Homemade Coleslaw
Video
Equipment
- Food processor with shred attachment or a box grater, or large sharp knie
Ingredients
- 4 cups green cabbage shredded
- ½ cup red cabbage shredded
- 1 medium carrot shredded, about 1 cup
- ½ cup red onion finely chopped
- 3 tablespoon sweet relish
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Use your food processor (with shredding attachment), box grater, or sharp knife to shred the cabbage and carrot.4 cups green cabbage, ½ cup red cabbage, 1 medium carrot
- Place the cabbage, carrots, onion, and relish in a large bowl. Toss to mix.½ cup red onion, 3 tablespoon sweet relish
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all the other ingredients.½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup sour cream, 3 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon celery seed, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Add the dressing to the cabbage mixture, and stir until fully mixed.
- Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Remove from the fridge just before serving, and give a good stir with a large fork.
Barb says
Go ahead and call me lazy!
I’m going to buy a quality bag of coleslaw and use your excellent sounding dressing.
Also, I’m all set to make your red/white and blue trifle.
I love making trifles so everyone can serve themselves.
Your cream cheese and whipped cream layer sound like the ultimate!
I spend hours looking at your recipes and videos. So entertaining!
It’s like sitting through a good and funny movie!
Kris Longwell says
Hi Barb! We can’t even begin to tell you how much your comment filled us with such happiness! We hope you enjoyed the coleslaw and the trifle! Keep us posted! xoxo Kris & Wesley
Stephanie L says
I am a huge coleslaw lover, and this recipe is absolutely fabulous! I made it exactly as written, and would not change a thing! (I love every recipe of yours that I have made, and so many are in my queue! Thank you!!!)
Kris Longwell says
Hi Stephanie! Yay!! We are thrilled you made the coleslaw and had such great success! We are extra happy that you are enjoying our recipes. Thank you so much for letting us know and for the wonderful review. That means the world to us! Please stay in touch! Best, Kris & Wesley
Emily says
Hello! Love your recipes! Quick question: is the 1/2 cup sugar in the dressing correct? My husband and I added 1/4 cup sugar and it was almost too sweet! Thank btw for adding the directions for salting the cabbage, such a necessary trick to use for coleslaw and very rare to come by in a recipe. Awesome advice!
Kris Longwell says
Hi Emily! Thanks so much! We’ll check out the recipe for sure! We’re not big fans of overly sweet coleslaw either. Anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup seems to work for us, but we’ll double check! Thanks so much!
Ginny says
Wow, this cole slaw is absolutely delicious! I made fish tacos and used this slaw to scoop inside them. Yum!
Kris Longwell says
Hi Ginny! That is so awesome to hear and we LOVE that you used the slaw in fish tacos! The best!! Thanks so much for letting us know!! Best, Kris & Wesley
judy murdock says
This recipe is one of my favorites- I also have another favorite for summertime(home grown tomatos) Shredded cabbage, finely chopped onions, chopped tomatos, s&p, a little sugar and mayonnaise(Duke’s, of course) Love ya’lls recipes!
krislongwell says
Yes!! Your version sounds heavenly…and YES! Gotta go with Dukes. A Southern staple!!