Easy Cole Slaw, also known as Coleslaw, in just 5 minutes with the perfect homemade dressing, this is the ultimate side dish for summer because it gets even better the next day. Perfect for cookouts and planning ahead.
Easy Cole Slaw (Coleslaw) Recipe
Cole Slaw is the quintessential side dish for the summer. We love it so much we already have two versions on the site! Both are copycats, one is KFC Coleslaw (Copycat) and the second is my personal favorite unique cole slaw, Tony Roma’s Coleslaw with celery seeds.
What to serve with ColeSlaw:
Cole Slaw is a classic summer side dish best served with BBQ Pulled Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Barbecue Ribs or any other summer favorites you love including corn on the cob and Potato Salad.
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Why buy pre-shredded cole slaw mix? For us the time involved in chopping plus the leftovers of the cabbage make it an easy swap. In addition to that, for some reason we find buying the vegetables whole costs almost twice as much as buying the pre-shredded bag. For us in the summer we love to keep things easy. This recipe shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to put together the morning of your bbq.
Important Note about Cole Slaw: YES, this recipe takes about five minutes, but one of the most important things about Cole Slaw is letting it sit, so that the dressing can soften the crunch of the cabbage. We give it at least 2 hours. Even better if you can do it the night before.
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This Cole Slaw recipe is your classic cole slaw. Think going to the grocery store, about to spend four dollars a pound on cole slaw, cole slaw. Instead of spending so much, you can make it at home and with ingredients you can control.
I’ve actually spoken to heads of deli departments who have told me that cole slaw comes in either pre-made or in two parts, mix and dressing. This is a way to have fresh cole slaw without the added preservatives you’ll find in packaged cole slaw dressings.
So why post a third cole slaw recipe on the same site? Well, it’s the CLASSIC summer side dish and I love options. So choose your favorite version.
Easy ColeSlaw Recipes:
- KFC Cole Slaw: Made with milk, buttermilk, lemon juice chopped cabbage, onion and carrots, this is the perfect KFC copycat. It has a bit of a bite from the onions.
- Tony Roma’s Cole Slaw: This recipe is the perfect higher end recipe with celery seeds and a bit less creamy texture. If you’re serving up a summer dinner menu, you can go a bit fancier with this version.
- Easy Cole Slaw: This recipe, this is the standard classic version made to take the place of buying pre-made.
Easy Cole Slaw Recipe (Coleslaw)
Ingredients
- 14 ounce coleslaw mix with red cabbage and carrots*
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
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Add the mayonnaise, sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl and whisk together until fully combined.
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Add in the coleslaw mix and stir well to combine.
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Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
Recipe Notes
* If you want to uses your own mix for the coleslaw, I use 8 cups shredded cabbage, 1 cup shredded red cabbage, and 4 julienned carrots.
Came out really well! Only change I made is I added a little bit chopped onions and let the coleslaw sit. I love onions so just had to incorporate them lol. Simple and delish! Perfect with crispy chicken sandwiches. Thank you.
Sounds amazing, Sar. Thanks for the 5 stars.
Best coleslaw dressing ever. This is the only one I will ever use! Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 stars, Lisa.
Thank you for sharing. It looks so yummy.
Looks yummy. I’ve tried to make this for my family, and my family really love it. I will introduce your recipe for my friends. Thank you so much. I love it.
Simple and excellent, making it with your bake beans as well, just tasted both, just perfect. I bookmarked this site to use as a future reference. Thank you Sabrina.
Thank you for the 5 stars, Michael.
Very easy recipe. Delicious whole family loved it . Never buy store bought again. It’s a keeper.
Thank you for sharing.
Anne.
This is a great staring base recipe. I’ve tweaked it a couple times. A little less sugar. Cut the Mayo a bit. Added some celery seed. But I use this as my go to every time. Thanks
Glad you were able to customize it more to your liking.
used this for our bbq today. thanks for the great recipe!
Made this tonight….love it! Just tart enough and not too mayonaisy. Will be my go to for slaw!!!
Best Coleslaw Ever! I usually dislike coleslaw intensely but I love this recipe. It has great seasoning.
wow im very interested to know cooking your recipe … thanks for sharing …
This is such a good base for a slaw. It is so easy and so good. I make this at least once a week. I adjust it a little: less mayo, apple cider vinegar rather than white, and I don’t put in black pepper because my daughter won’t eat it if she knows there’s pepper in it. If I have celery and a little time, I’ll shred some into it. Can’t thank you enough.
My husband is a coleslaw lover and absolutely loved this recipe. He loved the tanginess with a little sweetness in the background. Definitely saving this recipe. Thank you!!
Yummy!
Thank you for posting this easy and delicious recipe! Used the Trader Joe’s 9 oz. bag of organic green and red cabbage, and carrots. No white vinegar on hand so substituted apple cider vinegar. Add-ins were 1/2 grated honey crisp apple and 1/4 tsp celery seeds. Great summer side!
Easy and delicious
I made the Cole Slaw with store-bought mix of both white and red cabbage and carrots,
using your recipe for dressing. Exactly as written. My husband and I both enjoyed it
very much. It was creamy, great-tasting and very easy to make !
Next time, I will add even less Mayo and maybe try adding regular table or sea salt in
place of kosher one. To experiment a little. Mayo can be reduced for sure, to my taste.
It’s a great recipe ! Thank you very much, Sabrina !
Loved dressing . Used rice wine vinegar in place of white vinegar. I add black raisins , good handful, and one carrot and apple grated. B
Great
This is my go-to coleslaw recipe – it’s just perfect. I make it exactly as directed and always have happy eaters.
Delicious! So easy, simple ingredients and so tasty! Thank you!!
My husband & I love this recipe! I use seasoned rice wine vinegar, which is sweet in itself, so I cut the sugar down to 1 tbsp. I also add more carrots & red cabbage than what comes in the grocery cabbage mix. Delicious!
This was so unexpectedly good!!! Picked this over the recipes on the internet because it had the most basic ingredients which I had in my pantry.
I would suggest to only adjust for taste after it has been chilled. I followed the recipe to the letter and it tasted too sour when I first put it together. Let it chill and let the sourness mellow down before judging if you need to add more salt, pepper or sugar etc.
I was thinking I’d add some sugar before consuming it, but after spending a few hours in the fridge it tasted perfect and I didn’t need to adjust! Will definitely make this again.
Thank you, Nikki A, for your suggestion on waiting for this to chill first. Great recipe and great suggestion.
Wow , this is so easy and tastes delicious
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Peggy. Thank you for the 5 star rating.
Great coleslaw dressing. I chopped my own green cabbage, a bit of red cabbage, and grated some carrot to make my own mix. My husband is a Type 2 diabetic, so I used Erythritol instead of sugar. We will eat it with leftover baked cod for tacos.
Owsumm
Super-simple but perfect! This worked great with our Shrimp Tacos.
Thanks for the 5 stars.
This stuff is GREAT!! So easy and so good for you! I don’t use the mix-I get cabbage and carrots for free! Shred in food processer and add the other stuff.Once in a while I drizzle a little balsamic on it- so good!!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have NEVER liked coleslaw (or potato salad) but after I mixed this recipe together I couldn’t wait to eat a bowl. I did add an extra 1 1/2tbsp. sugar because I did want it a bit sweeter but OMG it’s good. The bowl of coleslaw may not survive until dinner tonight haha
My first time making my own coleslaw, can’t stand the store bought. Cut my own cabbage and carrot, and it was excellent. Followed the recipe to a “T”. There might be better recipes out there, but this is my go to for sure. Thanks from all of us at home.
Very good. Not fancy nothing to right home about but just what you think of when you want slaw
Greatly appreciated, finally a quick recipe I can make with the things I have a lot home and still ENJOY! FIRST TIME making my own coleslaw, it’s something I on again off again crave (especially now that I’m super pregnant) and it’s nice to be able to just do this and go on about my day.
Loved this recipe. It was so delicious my family was in love with it.
Thanks for the 5 stars, Eileen.
I added a little onion and green pepper. It is our favorite cole slaw recipe so far.
Yum! Glad you liked and were able to make it like you like!
Wow I like it
Happy to hear that!
I haven’t had coleslaw long time.
This recipe is easy wonderful.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for the review!
Hi
The bacon corn looks very gd. I am not keen on BBQ sauce.what other sauce can i use instead pls.
Many thks
You can use whatever flavor sauce you’d like.
Tried it with eggless mayo and asked kids for review.. got 5 stars, Thank you Sabrina !
Yay!! Thanks for letting me know Suren.
Love this recipe! I doubled it and added some celery seeds, dry mustard, and onion powder as suggested in the comments. So good!
Fantastic! Thanks for the 5 stars.
Can you use miracle whip in place of mayo?
I’ve not tested it that way before but if you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
What are the serving sizes for the Cole slaw recipes….1 cup, 1/2 cup etc.? I am doing WW and need to know serving size to determine points
Thank you
1/2 cup 🙂 Enjoy!
Simple. Tasty. Fast. Bada bing, bada boom!
It’s as easy as that!
How do you think it would come using avacodo mayo?
I’ve not tested it but I would think it would be fine. I hope you enjoy it!
Made this and WOW. So darn good. Now I keep bag slaw on hand and make this couple times a week. So very easy and tastes better the next day.
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoy it so much!
Great love this
How long does this last in the fridge please
About 3-5 days. 🙂 Enjoy!
Yum. Used a “southern style” slaw mix (onions, cabbage, finely chopped bell pepper) and used 2Tb of White Wine Vinegar (didn’t have a lemon or white vinegar) and it came out DELICIOUS!
Very nice recipe – thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, Dom!
Whenever I’ve made coleslaw in the past, it’s sucked. I couldn’t figure out what was so hard and had pretty much given up making it. (Even though it seems rather simple?) I was always looking at some famous chef’s recipe, but it always tasted bleh… This slaw was delicious and EASY as promised. I made the dressing as written and sliced one head of cabbage thin. Maybe a hair too much dressing but not by much. May I never lose this recipe, and bless you!
Yay!! So glad you didn’t give up the search Marika.
Love love love the recipes, will be making them all!! Thank you
Yay!! Look forward to seeing you around the site.
This is an easy and very tasty recipe. The dressing is creamy and it holds up well over time. I reduced the white sugar to 1 tablespoon and found the taste to be very pleasant.
This coleslaw is perfect! Simple and so delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it, Kathryn!
Love all the cookin styles ?????
This is a very good coleslaw as is. For a little flavor boost, add some mini marshmallows, very delicious.
Excellent!!
I used apple cider vinegar instead of white and added about a tsp of Dijon mustard…yummy!
Thanks for the suggestions, Rhonda!
Delicious the best coleslaw recipe for my taste to date. I like miracle whip so I used 1/2 mayo 1/2 miracle whip we also like a little celery seed so added it as well. Lovely balance of sweet and tart!
Sounds delicious!
This is the best cole slaw recipe , by far. Easy ,fast, and delicious. Thank you
So glad you enjoyed it, Debbie!
AMAZING. Only change I made was to use cider vinegar, but I am sure white would have been just as good. Really a very simple and tasty recipe!
Quick and easy recipe. I left out the lemon juice because I didn’t have any and it was delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it, Nadine!
Why do I have to scroll through so much BS just to get to the recipe?
There’s a “jump to recipe” button at the top of the page if you want to get straight to it.
You obviously don’t go on many web sites. They are all like that.
Made this yesterday for ribs today. Tasted it while making it and was tastey. Ate it today and fabulous. Definitely gets better for the next day.
Hi!
Can you make the dressing the day before or is it best made on the day? Xx
You can make it ahead of time. Enjoy!
Looks great! I tried with my hamburger. Awesome
The best coleslaw, and so easy. She nailed this one. Make it, you won’t be disappointed.
Awww, thanks! So glad you loved it!
Love this! Did half the sugar and 1.5tbls cider vinager and added garlic and onion powder. BINGO! The perfect savory side to our fried fish dinner!
Thanks!
It’s such a easy recipe, I have two broken arms , and I was to make this easy cole slaw, tastes perfect.
Oh no, Deanna! I hope you have a quick recovery!
Simple yet excellent!
Thanks, Bob!
PERFECT! Thank you!
You’re welcome!
thank you for the recipe
This was such an easy recipe to make and it was delicious. This will be my go to recipe from now on. Thanks!
Thanks so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I like it simple and easy straight to the recipte. Thank u.
You’re welcome, Tiffany!
Amazing! Quick, easy and tasty!! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, Kathleen!
I love this recipe, reminds me of my moms coleslaw. I have been searching forever for a recipe like yours and i finally found it. Thank you for sharing.
I like using Miracle Whip for this recipe, gives it a great taste.
HELP – I’m wanting to make this today – can I use miracle whip in place of real mayo?
I’m so sorry I’m just now seeing this. 🙁
How did it turn out?
Miracle whip is mayo and will work fine with even better results.
Very good! Just made this and the dressing makes a good coleslaw.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Kim!
Quick and easy but ABSOLUTELY delicious! This slaw us a must have with any BBQ this summer.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
A summer side dish I could eat every day!
Great side dish to any BBQ this Summer!
Definitely!
I love cole slaw and this looks perfect!
Thanks Amanda!
What a great recipe! This needs to happen at my house very soon!!
I made this tonight and my wife told me it’s a keeper. Perfect salad to accompany my summer grilling.
So glad you all enjoyed it!
Love easy and delicious! Saving!
Thank you!
This recipe is almost like the one my mother always made and I still make (I’m 78): 2 T sugar, 3 T ACvinegar, 1 t celery seeds, 1/2 to 3/4 c mayo, S&P. We never heard of Tony Roma’s! Although I’ve been cooking a long time, I still enjoy your blog.
This is such a perfect side for so many meals! I can’t wait to make a big batch.
Definitely!!