How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut

Today we’re making Sauerkraut! That tangy fermented cabbage creation that everyone loves to put on hot dogs, sausages, or simply enjoy as a side dish.

But what is sauerkraut?

The word sauerkraut comes from German meaning literally “sour cabbage” although sauerkraut didn’t originally come from Germany. It more likely originated east in China where it was fermented in rice wine. The Germans instead used salt to pull the moisture out of the cabbage and fermented it in its own salt brine using huge clay fermentation crocks. Today we’re fermenting cabbage using salt, but instead of making sauerkraut in a crock the way the Germans did, we’re making sauerkraut using mason jars.

Whether you love it or hate it, sauerkraut is here to stay. It’s so ingrained in our American culture that you’ll find it resting on top of hot dogs at street vendor carts, in packages at your local grocery store, and even prominently featured in movies. There’s a scene in the movie Fools Rush In where Salma Hayak surprises Matthew Perry at the Grand Canyon with a box of New York City Gray’s Papaya hot dogs covered in sauerkraut. Yum! 😋

It’s surprising how many times I hear that people love sauerkraut, but then quickly follow it up with it’s hard to find good sauerkraut where they live. If only they knew how to make it.

Okay let’s get to it. How do you make sauerkraut?

Making Sauerkraut Using Lacto-Fermentation

Normally with lacto-fermentation we take vegetables, pack them in a jar, and then cover them in a salt brine. But sauerkraut is a little different. Since cabbage has a lot of moisture, we’re going to tap in to the cabbage’s natural built-in reservoir of water by pulling it out using salt. This way we get to concentrate the flavor of the cabbage while at the same time shrinking the vegetable matter to fit into the jar.

Simple Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

Makes 1 Quart Mason Jar

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cabbage, shredded (size may vary)
• ~1/2 T salt, or to taste

Optional Vegetables:

• 1/2 cup carrot, shredded (~ 1/2 medium carrot)
• 1/4 cup radish, shredded (~ 4 small radishes)

Optional Spices:

• Caraway seeds (Bavarian sauerkraut)
• Mustard seeds
• Whatever you like

Shred or thinly slice your cabbage into small strips and add to a large bowl. Grate any extra additions like carrots or radishes and add to the bowl.

Sprinkle salt over top of the mixture and work the salt in with your hands while squeezing to release the cabbage’s moisture. Once it’s all mixed up, it should taste pleasant and mildly salty. For 1/2 head of cabbage, we like about 1/2 tablespoon of salt. Let sit for an hour to sweat. After an hour, you’ll notice the cabbage has wilted and a small amount of liquid has pooled at the bottom of the bowl. 💦

Transfer the mixture to a mason jar and start packing it in with wooden tamper or a spoon. It’s surprising how much cabbage can fit in a mason jar when it’s compressed. Keep pressing and packing until you reach the neck of the jar.

Press down on the cabbage and you’ll see that the liquid rises above the matter in the mason jar. The salt and your hard work has ruptured the cells to release the liquid. Now we need the cabbage to stay below the liquid to prevent mold.

Add a fermentation weight or a smaller jar to weigh the cabbage down below the brine. If you don’t see enough liquid above the cabbage, pack it in a little harder. If you have to you can always add a little salt brine to the top to make up the difference, but the cabbage should give you enough liquid to keep it submerged.

Screw the lid on top along with an airlock to allow the gases to push the oxygen out of the jar. This creates an environment that’s nearly impossible to get mold as no oxygen remains in the jar. You could leave it to ferment as we did, but you might lose some of the liquid to evaporation so it’s a good idea to have an airlock to keep moisture from escaping.

Now you wait. Depending on the flavor you like, you could let it ferment for a few days or continue fermenting for a full couple weeks. Feel free to taste it as it ferments to get the flavor you like. During the next few days to a week, you’ll start seeing bubbles. As the cabbage ferments, the bubbles push the cabbage up so you need to make sure it stays weighed down.

Transfer it to the refrigerator once you have the flavor you’re looking for where it should last for a very long time if you keep the matter below the brine level. Be sure to enjoy it as the flavor of older ferments tend to degrade.

What if I see mold?

It’s possible you might see a bit of kahm yeast forming on the top which looks a little white, but it’s harmless. If you see dark or fuzzy mold, you can either scrape it off the top and get everything back below the brine or throw it out and start again. The key is to keep everything below the brine so you don’t have problems in the first place.

What do I do with sauerkraut?

There are endless ways to enjoy sauerkraut! Mainly we love to eat it as a side dish to our main meal, but we also put it on hot dogs, burgers, or sandwiches.

We raved over an incredible tempeh rueban at a place called Sugar Apple Cafe when we were in Key West, Florida where they added sauerkraut along with vegan thousand island dressing to mimic a traditional corned beef rueban. The flavor blew us away!

Some use fermented sauerkraut as a good way to get more probiotics into their diet by adding it to smoothies, by drinking the liquid, or enjoying it in a salad. Others enjoy cooking sauerkraut with sausage for a tasty dish or getting creative by making fried sauerkraut balls for parties. Don’t forget that heat destroys the probiotics. There are a ton of other ways to enjoy sauerkraut. Get creative with the tangy flavor.

Sauerkraut is so easy to make and insanely cheap! You could definitely buy it pre-made but now that you know how to make it, grab a cabbage, shred it up, and pack it in a jar with some salt. Bring it to barbecues and be the talk of the party. Enjoy!

How do you make or enjoy sauerkraut?