Copycat Houston's Coleslaw (2024)

Houston’s Coleslaw is perfect for your barbecue, summer festivity, or when you want a light and refreshing side dish. You can make this recipe in a matter of minutes, and it tastes even better when you make this flavorful coleslaw recipe one day in advance.

Houston’s is known for its consistent high quality and great tasting meals, including side dishes such as coleslaw. Houston’s Coleslaw is made from chopped cabbage, green onion tops, honey mustard, and more to make it taste extra special. This is definitely not your conventional coleslaw.

What Makes Houston’s coleslaw so tasty?

Unique flavors make Houston’s coleslaw stand out. They add horseradish, and dill pickle relish to give their coleslaw something extra special.

Sometimes a mayonnaise-based coleslaw can be too creamy. This perfectly seasoned coleslaw will soon become a favorite.

The Name Coleslaw is Derived from the Dutch

The Dutch settlers in New York State grew a great deal of cabbage and had to come up with different ways to eat it. They made a salad out of shredded cabbage and called it koosla – kool means cabbage and sla means salad.

A recipe from 1770 found in The Sensible Cook: Dutch Foodways in the Old and New World is made from slivers of cabbage combined with melted butter, oil, and vinegar.

For those of you who are interested in making some traditional Dutch recipes, you can purchase this intriguing book from Amazon.

Ingredients

Here’s a list of what you need:

• Cabbage
• Fresh parsley
• Green onions
• Salt
• Mayonnaise
• Buttermilk
• Sour cream
• Brown mustard
• Apple cider vinegar
• Sugar
• Prepared horseradish
• Dill pickle relish

What is the Best Kind of Cabbage for Coleslaw?

There are many takes on coleslaw, but there is one thing everyone agrees on – coleslaw always contains cabbage.

Many people don’t often venture beyond the popular head of green cabbage. But for a more colorful coleslaw, you can combine green cabbage with red cabbage and even mix in some savoy or Napa.

How to Cut the Cabbage for Coleslaw

Whatever type of cabbage you choose, the way to prepare it is the same. Here’s how to do it:

• Remove any ugly looking outer leaves.
• Cut the cabbage into quarters. This makes it easy to then remove the core.
• Depending on the type of coleslaw you want, chop or slice the cabbage quarters. If you want thin shreds, you can use a mandoline or your food processor shredding attachment.

Coleslaw Shortcut: Bagged Coleslaw Mix

You can buy bags of pre-shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix. I’ve even seen supermarket coleslaw mixes that include broccoli stems (delicious) and other kinds of vegetables if you’re feeling in the mood to try something a little bit different.

How to Make Houston’s Coleslaw

1. Place chopped cabbage, parsley, green onion tops, and salt in a large bowl.Stir to combine.
2. Place mayonnaise, buttermilk, sour cream, brown mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, horseradish, and dill pickle relish in a small bowl. Stir until well blended.
3. Drizzle the coleslaw dressing over the cabbage.
4. Stir to coat the cabbage with dressing.
5. Refrigerate when not serving.

This may be served immediately, but tastes better when served the second day.

Recipe Tips

• Salt the cabbage before making the slaw. The salt will pull out the excess moisture and keep your coleslaw super crisp. Put the cabbage in a colander over a bowl. Sprinkle a little salt on the cabbage and stir. Let it sit for at least 1 hour.
• Adjust seasoningsas coleslaw sits. The flavor will change as the ingredients mingle together.
• Don’t just serve it as a side!Coleslaw is great on a burger or hotdog!

How Long will Coleslaw Last?

Coleslaw that includes mayonnaise, like this copycat coleslaw recipe, will not stay fresh for very long. However, you can chop up the vegetables in advance, and they will stay fresh in your refrigerator in a sealed plastic bag for a couple of days.

You can make coleslaw and freeze it so you always have some on hand. Get my family’s favorite freezer slaw recipe.

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Can’t get enough coleslaw? Try these recipes!

• Chipotle Coleslaw
• KFC Coleslaw
• Sweet and Sour Cole Slaw
• Vinegar Based Coleslaw

Favorite Salad Side Dishes

• Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
• Carrot and Raisin Salad
• Cold Beet Salad
• Cucumber Tomato Onion Salad Recipe
• Easy Broccoli Salad
• Lime Jello Salad with Cottage Cheese
• Sauerkraut Salad
• Spaghetti Pasta Salad

Check out more of my easy side dish recipes and the best copycat recipes for casual dining restaurants here on CopyKat!