Roasted Cabbage Steaks with Tangy Almond Butter Sauce

When you hear the word “steak,” the first thing that comes to mind probably isn’t cabbage. 

We usually associate “steak” with beef or tuna fish or even beefsteak tomatoes (YUM!), but the concept can be applied to other foods as well. This past week, I tried my hand at cauliflower steaks (oh.my.goodness recipe to come!) and cabbage steaks.

First of all, this method of making vegetables is SO EASY. No teeny tiny chopping/dicing/mincing required! You can have the steak slices cut and ready to go in the oven in 5 quick minutes.

I’ve featured cabbage in other recipes including my “I Can’t Believe There’s No Mayo” Cole Slaw, Beauty Detox Salad and Beautifying Purple Cabbage Slaw. All of the anti-cancer benefits of cabbage are preserved best by those raw or minimally cooked preparations, but I decided to change things up a bit today by roasting it. It’s always good to add some variety to your meals!

A beautiful head of green cabbage!

When cabbage is roasted it takes on a sweet, buttery flavor and melt-in-your mouth texture. I can’t even think of anything I’d compare it, too, but the crispy leaves tasted a bit like the outer crunchy leaves of roasted Brussels sprouts – one of my absolutely favorite fall foods!

I drizzled a few spoonfuls of a homemade almond butter sauce on top.

The creamy, slightly tangy sauce seeped into the folds of the buttery cabbage leaves and made for an amazing bite!

If you’ve never had cabbage prepared this way before (I didn’t even eat cabbage at all until about 2 years ago!), then you have to try this 🙂

Cabbage steak with tangy almond butter sauce. YUM!

Ingredients

Cabbage Steaks

• 1 head green cabbage, sliced into 3/4″ steaks
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed (makes it easier to rub them on the steaks)
• Sea salt & pepper, to taste

Tangy Almond Butter Sauce

• 1/2 cup canned full fat coconut milk (I use this kind by Native Forest)
• 1/3 cup almond butter (I used raw almond butter from Trader Joe’s)
• 2 tablespoons tamari (or coconut aminos for a paleo version)
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. Slice cabbage from top to bottom into 3/4″-thick steaks.

Rub smashed garlic clove on both sides of cabbage “steak”

Sprinkle both sides of steak with sea salt and black pepper. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes per side (total of 50 minutes, flipping steaks halfway through)

Steaks are done when they’ve browned around the edges and can be pierced in the center with a fork.

Look how beautifully browned this is! Make sure to eat the crispy outer edges. They are amazing!

Eat them “as is” OR top with the Tangy Almond Butter Sauce (so worth it!)

Directions: To make the sauce, whisk dressing ingredients together in a bowl or mason jar and pour several spoonfuls on top of the cabbage steak. I found that the sauce “set” a little bit after I left it in the fridge overnight, but you can use it right away, too. It will just thicken up a bit overnight. Adjust seasonings to your tastes.

You may end up licking this stuff off your plate. It’s that good 🙂

The almond butter sauce melting off the roasted cabbage steaks. SO good!