Easy Cole Slaw (Coleslaw)

by Sabrina Snyder

Last updated on

132 Comments

5 from 58 votes
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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.

Cole Slaw
 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.

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.

Bowl of Cole Slaw

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.

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Cole Slaw
5 from 58 votes
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Easy Cole Slaw Recipe (Coleslaw)

Easy Cole Slaw made 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.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword Easy Cole Slaw
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Servings 8 Servings
Calories 120 kcal
Author Sabrina Snyder

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
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  1. Add the mayonnaise, sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, salt and pepper to a large mixing bowl and whisk together until fully combined.
  2. Add in the coleslaw mix and stir well to combine.
  3. 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.

Nutrition Facts
Easy Cole Slaw Recipe (Coleslaw)
Amount Per Serving (1 g)
Calories 120 Calories from Fat 90
% Daily Value*
Fat 10g15%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 5mg2%
Sodium 170mg7%
Potassium 84mg2%
Carbohydrates 6g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 4g4%
Vitamin A 60IU1%
Vitamin C 19.2mg23%
Calcium 20mg2%
Iron 0.3mg2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Summer Southern Cole Slaw
Easy Southern Cole Slaw

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. 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.

    Reply

  4. 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.

    Reply

  5. 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.

    Reply

  6. Very easy recipe. Delicious whole family loved it . Never buy store bought again. It’s a keeper.
    Thank you for sharing.
    Anne.

    Reply

  7. 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

    Reply

  12. 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.

    Reply

  13. 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!!

    Reply

  15. 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!

    Reply

  17. 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 !

    Reply

  18. Loved dressing . Used rice wine vinegar in place of white vinegar. I add black raisins , good handful, and one carrot and apple grated. B

    Reply

  20. This is my go-to coleslaw recipe – it’s just perfect. I make it exactly as directed and always have happy eaters.

    Reply

    1. 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!

      Reply

  22. 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.

    Reply

  24. 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.

    Reply

  27. 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!!

    Reply

  28. 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

    Reply

  29. 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.

    Reply

    1. Very good. Not fancy nothing to right home about but just what you think of when you want slaw

      Reply

      1. 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.

        Reply

  33. Hi
    The bacon corn looks very gd. I am not keen on BBQ sauce.what other sauce can i use instead pls.

    Many thks

    Reply

  35. Love this recipe! I doubled it and added some celery seeds, dry mustard, and onion powder as suggested in the comments. So good!

    Reply

    1. I’ve not tested it that way before but if you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!

      Reply

  37. 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

    Reply

  40. 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.

    Reply

  43. 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!

    Reply

  44. 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!

    Reply

  46. 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.

    Reply

  52. 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!

    Reply

  54. 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!

    Reply

  57. 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.

    Reply

  61. 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!

    Reply

    2. 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.

      Reply

  72. Quick and easy but ABSOLUTELY delicious! This slaw us a must have with any BBQ this summer.

    Reply

    1. I made this tonight and my wife told me it’s a keeper. Perfect salad to accompany my summer grilling.

      Reply

  78. 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.

    Reply