🥔 SIDE
Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage)
Finely shredded white cabbage simmered slowly with caraway, grated apple and a splash of vinegar, then balanced with sugar, the pale sweet-sour cabbage that sits beside the Christmas ribbe.
Norwegian · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 50 min
~80 cal · 1g protein · 20g carbs · 0g fat · 5g fiber · 14g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Surkål means sour cabbage, and in Norway it is the fixed companion of ribbe, the crackling-topped roast pork belly that many families eat on Christmas Eve. It also goes with pork roast, sausages and the rest of the Christmas meats, and a Norwegian Christmas plate without it looks unfinished.
Despite the name, the Norwegian version is not a sauerkraut. White cabbage is sliced very thin, layered in a pot with salt and plenty of caraway, which gives surkål its characteristic taste, and simmered slowly in a little water or until soft. Many cooks add grated or chopped apple, and the pot is finished with vinegar and sugar, tasted and adjusted until it is both sour and sweet. Some stir in a spoonful of the fat from the roasting tin just before serving.
Like many Christmas dishes it is better made a day or two ahead, which is lucky, because on the day the oven belongs to the pork.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 750 g white cabbage, cored and very finely shredded
- 2 tart green apples, peeled, cored and grated
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 250 ml water
- 3 tbsp white vinegar, plus more to taste
- 2 tbsp sugar, plus more to taste
Instructions
- 1Layer the shredded cabbage in a heavy pot with the grated apple, sprinkling salt and caraway between the layers.
- 2Pour in the water and 2 tbsp of the vinegar. Bring to the boil, cover, turn the heat right down and simmer gently for about 45 minutes, stirring now and then, until the cabbage is very soft.✎ Chef’s noteIf the pot looks dry before the cabbage is soft, add a splash more water. It should end moist but not swimming.
- 3Stir in the sugar and the rest of the vinegar and cook 5 minutes more. Taste and keep adding vinegar and sugar a little at a time until it is clearly both sour and sweet.
- 4Serve hot beside roast pork belly or other Christmas meats. It keeps for several days in the fridge and tastes even better reheated.✎ Chef’s noteA spoonful of fat from the pork roasting tin stirred in at the end is the old finish; it makes the dish no longer vegetarian.
Norwegian Christmas tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Vestland (Bergen). Bergen grew rich on dried fish it never caught. Stockfish came down the coast by boat from Lofoten, and from around 1350 the Hanseatic merchants who ran the Bryggen wharf controlled its export to Catholic Europe. Those wharf buildings are still standing and carry World Heritage listing.
🗺️
Norway. Brunost is not cheese in the ordinary sense: it is whey boiled down for hours until the milk sugars caramelise into a firm brown block, sweet and faintly fudgy, shaved in thin curls onto bread with a slicer designed for the job. It is a preserving trick that turned a by-product into a national habit.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Norway
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FiskekakerLight pan-fried fish cakes bound with milk and potato starch, a Norwegian everyday staple served with vegetables.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
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RømmegrøtDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage)?
Finely shredded white cabbage simmered slowly with caraway, grated apple and a splash of vinegar, then balanced with sugar, the pale sweet-sour cabbage that sits beside the Christmas ribbe.
Where does Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage) come from?
Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage) is a Norwegian dish from Vestland (Bergen), Norway.
Can Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Surkål (Norwegian Sweet and Sour Cabbage) take to make?
About 65 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 50 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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