Grilled Cabbage Steaks

Name: Grilled Cabbage Steaks
Prep time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon tahini; 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger; 1 garlic clove, (minced); Pinch of kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1 lime, (juice); 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1 cabbage (about 2-1/2 pounds), (sliced lengthwise, 1/2-inch thick); Toasted sesame seeds (for serving); Chopped fresh herbs (for serving (parsley, cilantro or chives))

By Paige Adams

on Aug 30, 2025

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These grilled cabbage steaks are an easy vegetable recipe that you can serve as a vegan side dish or main dish paired with grains. Before grilling the cabbage, I whisk together a marinade with tahini, soy sauce, lime juice, ginger and garlic and brush it all over the cabbage slices. Grilling takes just a few minutes per side, so if you already have the fired up, this is a quick way to cook cabbage.

Also try this balsamic glazed roasted red cabbage.

Grilled cabbage steaks on a serving platter.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Cabbage is a vegetable that deserves more attention. Budget-friendly and easy to find, cabbage has year round staying power. You can roast it or eat cabbage raw, and grilling makes the leaves tender while adding smoky flavor to its nutty sweetness.

The marinade is easy to make and full of incredible flavor with ingredients that are meant to be together. It has tahini, soy sauce, fresh lime juice, minced garlic and ginger.

You can serve this as a vegan main or a side dish. The marinade/sauce is enough to give the cabbage main character energy, but it also works with other dishes with Asian-inspired flavors.

The Ingredients

Ingredients including sliced cabbage, soy sauce, tahini, fresh herbs, lime, olive oil, sesame seeds, ginger garlic, salt and pepper.

This is what you need:

Cabbage: You can use green cabbage or red cabbage. I am always amazed at how dense the leaves are in a head of cabbage. You really get a bang for your buck plus it’s a packed with nutrients.
Tahini: I always have a jar of this sesame seed paste in my fridge. It is vegan and adds rich nutty flavor to sauces, and of course, it is a core ingredient in hummus.
Ginger and Garlic: Minced fresh ginger and garlic are a dream team, adding so much aromatic flavor to the marinade.
Soy sauce: No matter the recipe, I always use low-sodium soy sauce to control the amount of salt.
Lime juice adds brightness to the marinade. It’s important to use fresh lime juice and not bottled citrus juice, which has preservatives and other unnecessary ingredients and doesn’t taste as good.
Olive oil is the base of the marinade and adds subtle richness to the mixture.
Sesame seeds: To finish the grilled cabbage with more nutty flavor in addition to the tahini, I sprinkle it with sesame seeds as I plate it.
Kosher salt and black pepper season the marinade. Because this simple recipe has soy sauce, I only add a pinch of salt.

How To Cut Cabbage

First I trim the bottom stem of the cabbage head, so it will it will be sturdy sitting on the cutting board. You want to keep the stem intact to minimize layers of leaves separating from each other. Then cut it into 1/2-inch-thick slices. You will notice that the end pieces are more likely to fall apart.

How To Make This Grilled Cabbage Steaks Recipe

Preheat a charcoal or gas grill or a stovetop grill pan over medium high heat.

1. Make the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk the tahini, minced ginger & garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Marinate the cabbage. Drizzle it over the slices. I like to use a brush or my hands to make sure that they are dressed on all sides. You may not need all the marinade.

Tahini-soy sauce marinade in a bowl. Marinated fresh cabbage steaks on a plate.

3. Grill the cabbage slices. Give them 2-3 minutes on one side on the hot grill grates. Then carefully flip them over and grill for another few minutes. They should have grill marks and lightly charred edges. Don’t overcook it. Cabbage on the grill should turn out tender, but still crisp.

4. Sprinkle the grilled cabbage with sesame seeds and fresh herbs. Serve with extra marinade in a bowl.

Grilled cabbage steaks on a plate right after you grill them. Grilled cabbage sprinkled with sesame seeds and fresh herbs.

Alternate Cooking Method: Roasting

If you don’t have a grill, you can roast the cabbage. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the marinated cabbage slices on sheet pan and roast them for 20-25 minutes.

Serving

As mentioned, you can serve this grilled cabbage recipe as a vegan side dish or you can turn it into a main dish by pairing it with cooked grains or lentils. I also love the tahini marinade with with other grilled vegetables like zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant and bell peppers. You can take it from there and create a bowl with cooked grains, cabbage and other veggies.

Leftovers & Storage

Grilled cabbage is best eaten warm or at room temperature. You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 2 days. Keep the marinade in a separate jar. You can reheat it in a 400-degree F oven. The cabbage won’t be as crisp on the edges. Sometimes I chop leftover cabbage steaks and toss them in a salad with other greens, vegetables and grains.