Easy Fermented Sauerkraut Recipe

All you need is cabbage, salt, and time.

It’s amazing to watch simple, pure ingredients transform through fermentation. Crisp, sweet cabbage wilts down into something delightfully tangy, its cell walls softening under the power of salt. At its very essence, sauerkraut is pickled cabbage. The word “pickle” tends to get attached to vinegar-brined vegetables, but it really refers to any vegetable preserved in brine — whether that brine is vinegar or salt. The difference with a salt ferment is that the vegetables create their own brine as they break down, developing rich, complex flavors and a natural dose of probiotics, vitamins, and enzymes along the way.

For the most basic sauerkraut, all you need is cabbage, salt, and time. That’s it — no added water, no starter culture. Salting and massaging the cabbage pulls out its own juices, which become the brine it ferments in. Once you have the basic method down, you can get creative with different spices, fruits, and vegetables to make it your own. Start simple and get familiar with the flavor that develops naturally — more often than not, keeping it simple is best. Caraway seeds are the classic add-in and a great place to start, but there’s plenty of room to experiment with layers of spice, sweetness, and other vegetables that bring their own texture.

Cabbage is especially well-suited to fermentation. It naturally carries the lactic acid bacteria that drive the process, and its high water and sugar content give those bacteria plenty to feed on. You don’t have to add those microbes — you just create the right environment (salt, no oxygen, and a little time) and let them do the rest.

Lacto-Fermentation

Fermentation is the process by which bacteria and yeast consume sugars, digest them, and transform them into byproducts such as alcohol, organic acids, and gases. Although there are many different forms of fermentation, the one taking place in this recipe is lacto-fermentation. Lacto-fermentation is performed by a group of bacteria called lactic acid bacteria (LAB). These little guys produce lactic acid and are most famous for making cheese and yogurt due to their ability to break down lactose, a.k.a. milk sugar.

With sauerkraut there’s no added water — salting and massaging the cabbage draws out its own juices, which become the brine it ferments in. The one exception: if your cabbage is on the dry side, or you just want more liquid to work with, you can move to a larger jar and top it off with a 2% salt brine — it won’t compromise the fermentation. LAB is already present on all plant matter, which is what lets vegetables ferment without any added starter culture. This process also creates enzymes and vitamins that make nutrients more bio-available in your body. Lacto-fermentation has been around as long as humans have been preserving food, and it’s the reason we have classics in global cuisines like sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough, and so much more. Be sure to check out our other fermented food recipes, like our traditional kimchi recipe.

Traditional Sauerkraut Recipe

Ingredients

Salt: Non-Iodized salt Kosher, Sea Salt, or Cheese Salt.
Cabbage: You can substitute green or red cabbage for this recipe.
Caraway Seeds: Also known as Persian Cumin.

Supplies

Sharp knife or mandolin
Quart-size mason jar
The Complete Mason Jar Fermentation Kit
OR
Sauerkraut pounder
Glass fermentation weights
Mason jar lid with an airlock or Silicon Stretch Fermentation Lids

Easy Fermented Sauerkraut Recipe

Recipe by Fermentaholics

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Fermented Food, Sauerkraut, Fermented SauerkrautCuisine: SauerkrautDifficulty: Easy

Servings

quart

Prep Time

minutes

Total Fermentation

7 - 21

days

This easy fermented sauerkraut recipe is for a one-quart jar. To scale this recipe up, multiply the ingredients or toggle the serving size up above.

Ingredients & Supplies

Ingredients
Salt — 2% of cabbage weight (about 1 TBSP / 18 g per 2 lb): Pink Himalayan Salt, Non-Iodized Salt Kosher, Sea Salt, Cheese Salt
Cabbage ~2 lb (900 g, 1 medium head)
Caraway 1–2 tablespoons (optional)
Supplies
Quart Size Mason Jar
Large Bowl
Cabbage Tamper (optional - *see notes)
Fermentation Weight
Sharp knife or mandolin
Lid with Airlock

Directions

Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage. Set aside for use later.
Cut the cabbage in quarters and then into thin, 1/8″ slices.
Weigh the shredded cabbage and measure out 2% of that weight in salt (1 tablespoon (18 g per 2 lb cabbage). Add the cabbage to the bowl, sprinkling the salt over it as you go for full coverage.
Allow salted cabbage to sit in the bowl for 10 minutes.
Use cabbage tamper to bruise the cabbage and help release its juices. Use pretty decent force, for about a minute. Let the cabbage rest for around five minutes, then repeat. *See notes
Once you feel that the cabbage has released a sufficient amount of brine, you can begin packing it into the jar. Pack the jar tightly, using the tamper to help release any air bubbles.
Take one or two of the cabbage leaves you set aside earlier and place it in the jar, pressing down over the shredded cabbage, and below the brine.
Add a fermentation weight on top and push down until fully submerged. If you don’t have enough brine, add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon or two of filtered water.
Seal the jar with a fermentation lid and airlock (or cover loosely and burp it daily to release the CO2), and set it aside to ferment at 65–75°F, out of direct sunlight. Let it go at least one week before tasting — two weeks is better, and it keeps developing from there. Taste along the way and refrigerate it once it's as tangy as you like.
When you decide it’s done, store in the fridge. It stays fresh for months.

Tips

If you don’t have a kraut pounder, you can use your hands to massage the cabbage. Let it sit for longer in between massages, about an hour, to allow all the water to release.