Cabbage with Vegetables, Ribs and Bacon

Mar 25, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Nov 22, 2025

## Hearty Cabbage and Meat Medley

Cabbage with Vegetables, Ribs and Bacon

You can prepare this cabbage dish with an assortment of vegetables, bacon, and ribs either in a kettle outdoors with friends or in a larger, deeper 6-liter pot at home. This dish is both delicious and rich in vitamins and proteins. In Serbia, it is common for hosts to prepare this traditional sweet cabbage in this manner, similar to the wedding cabbage recipe. I consistently make it this way, and I assure you, it is truly delightful, sure to impress both your guests and hosts. This method represents the authentic peasant preparation of sweet cabbage, which is universally loved. Please follow the recipe.

Cabbage-with-Vegetables-Ribs-and-Bacon — **Cabbage with Vegetables, Ribs and Bacon**

Ingredients: simple, total time: 3 hours, 6 serving

1 medium head of cabbage/ cut into smaller pieces
3 Tbsp Olive oil EVO
100 g bacon/ diced
4 big ribs with meat - 800 g/ water and 2 Tbsp vinegar (or smoked ribs)
2 medium golden onions/ finely chopped
4 big cloves of garlic/ minced
4 medium carrots/ cut into thin rings
1 small red paprika/ diced
1 medium green paprika / diced
4 medium potatoes/ cut into cubes
1 tsp dry spice Vegeta
salt and black pepper to taste
2 flat Tbsp red ground paprika
10 peppercorns/ as you like optional
fresh parsley leaves / or celery leaves/ finely chopped — optional
water as needed
Deep pot 5-6 liters

Preparation:

Put the ribs in a medium saucepan and cover with water and vinegar. Cook for about 35 minutes. Remove from heat and discard liquid. Set aside.
While the ribs are cooking, prepare all the vegetables as described above.
Then put the chopped onion to stew for about 2 minutes until it becomes transparent. Add the chopped bacon and mix.
When the bacon has become transparent, add carrots, diced peppers, stew for about 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chopped garlic, stir and as soon as the smell starts adding 1/2 of the cabbage that you cut into smaller pieces, add the ribs over the cabbage, then the rest of the cabbage and finally diced potatoes.
Pour water up to half the pot (don't cover the vegetables on top).
Cover pot and cook on low-moderate heat for about 1 hour.
After the time has passed, add: bay leaf, red ground sweet pepper, dry spice Vegeta, salt and pepper to taste, add a water if necessary. Cover it all with cabbage leaves.
Note for ribs if it is bigger: (Immediately I have pulled the ribs out of the cabbage (because they were huge pieces) seasoned them to taste and fried them in a little oil in a pan until golden brown. After that, I put the ribs on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess fat. I removed bones from the meat and cut them into pieces, immediately put them back in the pot with the cabbage. You can do the same).
Continue to cook for another 1 hour and 40 minutes on low, moderate heat. Control the taste, add spices if necessary.
The cabbage is ready when the cabbage and meat are well softened!
Towards the end of cooking (2 minutes) add chopped fresh parsley or celery leaves, as you like. Put out the fire.
Serve warm cabbage in deep plates with ribs and slice of bread.

Buon appetito!

NOTE:

In this cabbage, you can add hot pepper or red-hot pepper flakes, if you are a fan of spicy food.
In this recipe, I used meatier ribs, they were larger pieces and unsmoked, and you can also use smaller pieces and smoked ribs.
As for salt and pepper, I added about a teaspoon and a half of salt and a little more than half a teaspoon of pepper. I evaluate all of this objectively.
Wash cabbage and other vegetables well before preparation.
When cutting the cabbage, cut it lengthwise into thinner slices, then cut them into three places. Remove the hard part of the cabbage heart. Cover the outer and larger leaves over the arranged cabbage in a deep pot.
Transfer the rest of the cabbage to a small pot and store in the refrigerator covered for up to 4 days.