Smoked Cabbage With Bacon Butter Sauce

By James Kimble November 6, 2023 3 mins read 171 Views

When I think about firing up the smoker, I’ll be honest – cabbage isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. I was even a little skeptical about trying this recipe at all, but once I tasted it, I was beyond glad that I did.

This recipe can be a great appetizer or side dish for your next barbecue, and I think you’ll be surprised too at how amazing you can make simple cabbage taste.

Vegetables take up a lot of smoke quickly, which is great because they also cook relatively quickly.

cabbage with bacon butter sauce and a sausage

Smoked Cabbage in Bacon Butter Sauce

Ingredients you’ll need

Cabbage – I used a head of green cabbage for this recipe. I’ve never tried smoking red/purple cabbage, so I can’t give you a lot of advice as to whether there are any differences.
Olive Oil
Seasoning – You can use salt and pepper or a BBQ rub.
Bacon – Cooked and crumbled. Leave it out for a vegetarian option.

Equipment you’ll need

Pellet grill or smoker – I love smoking cabbage on my Grilla Grills Alpha Connect. It adds just enough smoke flavor to make the cabbage delicious and maintains a steady temperature throughout the entire cook.
Aluminum Foil – good old-fashioned Reynold’s Wrap Heavy Duty is the perfect tool for this job. Be sure to grab something heavy-duty so the cabbage doesn’t break through during the cook.

How to make Smoked Cabbage

1. Prep

A head of cabbage is just enough for four people, so I chop it into quarters.

It’s helpful to remove the core from the head of the cabbage. Again, I’m not sure if it’s necessary or not, but I’ve always done it.

raw cabbage on a wooden chopping board — Leaving the core attached may mean the cabbage takes longer to cook.

Drizzle the quarters with olive oil to coat the surface, then sprinkle on some salt and pepper or bbq rub.

2. Fire up the smoker

Preheat your smoker to 250℉.

3. Smoke

Place your cabbage on the grates and let it smoke for about an hour. The cabbage will get a good smoke flavor during this time and start to build up a char.

You may notice that the cabbage leaves on the outside dry out too much to be edible. You can discard those towards the end of the cook.

4. Wrap

After about an hour of cooking, it’s time to wrap the cabbage.

At this point, it’s got enough smoky flavor, but you want to wrap it to ensure it doesn’t dry out during the final hour of cooking.

cooked cabbage quarters on a wooden chopping board before foil wrap — Leave out the bacon for a vegetarian option. It still tastes great.

I like to place each quarter onto a piece of heavy-duty foil and add a few pats of butter, along with a good handful of crumbled bacon.

While the bacon is optional, it really adds a nice element to the dish.

cabbage quarters wrapped in foil on the smoker

Place the cabbage down on the foil and place the butter and bacon on top, then wrap it up tightly and place it back on the smoker.

After another hour, the cabbage should be soft, smoky, buttery, and delicious.

Serve as an appetizer or as a side with these proteins

smoked cabbage with bacon butter sauce