Skip Butter - Add A Splash Of This Pasta Sauce To Sautéed Cabbage For 10x The Flavor

We love us some creative cabbage, including adding a lemon-pepper packet to sautéed leaves for a flavor boost. But when hearty cabbage is the order of the day, you want to grab your favorite Alfredo sauce. Jarred Alfredo sauce isn't just a potatoes au gratin shortcut, it's also the key to transforming everyday sautéed cabbage into a craveable, rich dish that's perfect for subbing out pasta. For that matter, the homemade version is also perfect! 

You probably already know how to sauté cabbage from a whole head: you core it and sliver the leaves into ribbons, then heat them up in a spacious pan. Where the trick comes in, however, is once the cabbage is cooked. You aren't going to finish it with a measly drizzle of melted butter; you're gonna spoon some warm, cheesy Alfredo sauce over the top. Don't treat it exactly like pasta ... the veggies are going to get soggy and unpleasant if you drown them in sauce. Imagine the Alfredo sauce as more of a sparing finishing touch — a grace note, if you will.

Like we said, your Alfredo of choice will get the job done without too much fussiness. Your favorite jarred sauce will do just fine — just make sure you adjust your salt accordingly, since store-bought pasta sauces tend to be high in sodium. A deft home cook with the time and resources can easily whip up a quick stovetop Alfredo with some cream, fresh parmesan cheese, and plenty of black pepper, on the other hand, and upgrade the taste of the final dish. The choice is yours. 

There are several types of cabbage, and, in our opinion, some will work better than others when it comes to the Alfredo treatment. Red cabbage, while delicious, has a high likelihood of staining your sauce pink. Napa cabbage, another favorite of ours, might be too stalk-y. No, we think this is a job for green cabbage or Savoy cabbage. You already know the best place to store cabbage, so you shouldn't have a problem producing a fresh head of greenery for your dish. 

Make sure that you sauté your cabbage until it's fork-tender, but don't overdo the cook. Mushy cabbage will be unpleasant to eat when garnished with sauce, and you won't get the intended effect. Note that this preparation also works well with baked or roasted cabbage. You can also pre-boil the cabbage before the sauté, which will speed up time in the pan.

As a bonus to an already delish dish, we like to get creative. Some allium sharpness, whether from crisp white onions or sweet shallots, would contribute meaningfully to a great nuance of flavor, we think. Garlic is a gotta-have, whether you incorporate it in the Alfredo or use some in your pan when sautéeing the cabbage (or both!). If you aren't concerned about keeping the dish vegetarian-friendly, you can also add some crispy cooked bacon or tender grilled chicken over the top of your cabbage for a protein punch that can transform your side item into a genuine entree.