Swedish pizza salad

This grated cabbage salad is served in pizzerias in Sweden. Hence the name. This Scandinavian cabbage salad is marinated with vinegar, oil, salt, sugar, and oregano. This salad is great; crispy and refreshing side with pizza and other food.

This cabbage salad is something I really crave living in Finland. I miss the time when ordering home pizza in Sweden and you always get this cabbage salad and garlic dressing as a condiment.

We always make this at home and I want to share with you my go-to recipe. Check also out my post about Swedish pizzas, pizza toppings, and the most popular pizzas they eat in Sweden.

Origin of the Swedish cabbage salad

I often wondered why it is only served in Swedish pizzerias, but this was invented in Sweden by a pizza bakery owner who wanted to serve free salad with his pizzas. Cabbage was really cheap, so he used that as the base. Origin to the salad idea was from his childhood. He used "Kupus Salata" as an inspiration. So it has actually an Italian origin.

Ingredients and replacements

• Cabbage. Use white cabbage to get a nice neutral flavor and crisp.
• Vinegar. White wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Vinegar amount is easy to adjust to your taste.
• Olive oil. Also rapeseed or sunflower oil works.
• Salt. Salt makes the juices in the shredded cabbage come out better.
• Black pepper. Black pepper adds some punch. If you don't have black pepper, then use white pepper.
• Oregano. This can be replaced pizza spice, pizza spice also has some other herbs and garlic, hoes really well in this salad.
• Sweetness. Some sweetness balances the vinegar taste. Use sugar, maple syrup, or even honey.

Other things to add

• Garlic. Add 1 garlic clove or 1 teaspoon garlic powder to get a garlicky salad.
• Roasted Red Bell pepper. Add canned roasted bell pepper in thin slices for additional taste and color.
• Chili. Add sambal oelek paste, sriracha or chili flakes. Small amount goes far. ½-1 teaspoon is enough.

Some Finnish people like to add chopped pineapple to their shredded cabbage salads.

What to serve this pizza salad with

With pizza of course. But this goes with other dishes also. It is a great topping to hot dogs, grilled meat, and other fatty dishes. I like this in tacos also, it gives a really nice crisp.

How to make the salad?

• Take the outer leaves of the cabbage away
• Cut your cabbage in half.
• Slice the cabbage into really thin slices with a knife, a cheese slicer, or a mandolin.
• Put the shredded cabbage in a jar/pot and add rest of the ingredients. Give it a good stir.
• Let your salad rest at least 30 minutes. Preferrably for some hours in the fridge. It is actually best the next day.