Thai-stir fried cabbage with fish sauce is a delicious side dish that is extremely easy to make, and it only contains 5 ingredients. It’s hard to believe how something so simple can be so flavorful! Combine this vegetable stir-fry with any of my other Thai food, because this is the perfect umami addition to any other meal, and it’s stir-fried in just a few minutes!

About the recipe

Going out to eat in a Thai restaurant and asking the waitress to bring some of their signature meals, that’s always an exciting gamble! It’s exactly what my husband and I did a few days ago. The waitress was surprised, since my husband is a foreigner here in Thailand, and Thai people always assume that they can’t eat as spicy as Thai people.

So, after assuring that he could really eat spicy by asking him at least 3 times (haha!), she went off to the chef. 15 minutes later, she came back with the restaurant’s version of tom yum pla, a spicy red curry with green beans, and a salty stir-fried cabbage with fish sauce.

The third meal was something that my husband and I had never tried before. It looked so simple, some cabbage on a small white plate, just that. We tasted it, without expecting too much, and to our surprise it was SO good! It was also the first plate that was eaten empty.

I loved it so much, that today I decided to resemble it as much as I can, and share it as an easy recipe with you.

Substitutions and alternatives

• Make this a spicy vegetable dish by tossing in some bird’s eye chilies in the mortar while pounding garlic. We combined it with this homemade Thai chili oil dip, and it was absolutely terrific! The chili oil added some tasty smokey and spicy flavors to the cabbage.

• Add protein to this meal by adding thinly sliced bacon or pork meat. Stir-fry the pork in a large wok pan before anything else, until crisp enough to your own liking, and then continue with the recipe instructions.

• For an extra garlicky cabbage: Instead of pounding all the garlic, cut some extra garlic cloves in thick slices and toss them in the wok together with the pounded garlic.

• My husband and I both LOVE garlic flavor. So, we tried topping the cabbage with some crispy fried garlic, and it worked out great!

Stir-fried cabbage with fish sauce ingredients

• Garlic – This dish is all about garlic and fish sauce, so feel free to add extra cloves of garlic!
• Green cabbage – White cabbage or oxheart cabbage will work as well.
• Fish sauce – The quality of fish sauce is an important factor in the end result of this stir-fry. Tiparis fish sauce is a sauce of good quality and can easily be found at Asian grocery stores in countries outside of Thailand.
• White sugar – Adds a bit of sweetness to the dish.
• Water

Step-by-step instructions

Recipe notes

• Use a neutral cooking oil.
• Turn this side-dish into a main-dish or lunch by serving it with hot jasmine rice.
• This simple dish is low-carb, so eat as much of it as you’d like!
• For a vegan or vegetarian meal: Sub the fish sauce with vegetarian fish sauce.
• I made this recipe once by frying the garlic before the cabbage, and a second time by frying it after the cabbage. The second time, the overall flavors turned out to be superior to the first time. Also, the garlic can get burnt easily when cooked first.

How to store

Stir-fried cabbage will remain fresh and retain the delicious flavors for up to 2 days when stored in the refrigerator. However, I suggest eating and serving this dish immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

More vegetable stir-fries you’ll love

• Vegetarian pad woon sen (delicious, quick, easy and flavorful)
• Vegetarian Thai fried rice (classic + traditional)

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4.5 from 1 vote

5-Ingredient Thai Stir-Fried Cabbage With Fish Sauce

Author: Praew Cooking Method: Stir-Frying Cuisine: Asian cuisines Courses: Side Dish, Dinner Recipe Keys: Egg Free Low Carb Nut Free O One Pot

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 5 min Cook Time 5 min Total Time 10 mins

Servings: 1

Description

This stir-fried cabbage with fish sauce tastes exactly as how you would get it served in a Thai restaurant, and it only needs 5 ingredients!

Ingredients

Servings

• 400 grams green cabbage (slice in 4-6 large pieces, wash and drain)
• 6 cloves garlic (roughly pounded or crushed)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 0.5 tablespoons white sugar
• 50 milliliters water

Instructions

1. Heat a large wok pan over high heat, and add 2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil right after the pan begins smoking.

2. Toss in the cabbage, stir and toss at high pace for 40 seconds, to prevent the cabbage from burning. Make sure all the leaves absorb the cooking oil.

3. Add garlic and keep stir-frying for 1 minute, mixing the cabbage and garlic.

4. Add fish sauce around the edges of your wok pan.

5. Add sugar, cook and toss for 20 seconds.

6. Add water, toss a few more times. This will create a tasty sauce to pour over the cabbage.

7. Serve immediately, optionally with white jasmine rice, and Thai chili oil.

Nutrition Facts

Servings 1

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Amount Per Serving

Calories 162kcal

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 0.5g1%

Total Carbohydrate 36.5g13%

Dietary Fiber 10.4g42%

Sugars 20.3g

Protein 8.1g17%

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* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Note

Use the nutrition card as a guideline. (cooking oil excluded)

Turn this side-dish into a main-dish or lunch by serving it with hot jasmine rice.

Use a neutral cooking oil.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, but this stir-fried cabbage tastes best eaten immediately after stir-frying.

Keywords: stir-fried cabbage with fish sauce, cabbage with fish sauce, Thai vegetable stir-fry, Thai cabbage stir-fry

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