Blackened Napa Cabbage!! Juicy, smoky, with crispy bits and basted in a brown butter soy (or miso!) sesame sauce. The perfect way to get in your greens!!

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

Blackened Napa Cabbage


5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 13 reviews

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1/2 Napa cabbage, quartered
  • 1/4 cup neutral oil with a high smoke point

Sesame Soy Brown Butter sauce:

  • 1 garlic clove, halved
  • 4 tbsp 60g butter
  • 5 (30 ml) tbsp soy sauce
  • 4 tbsp sake
  • 4 tbsp mirin
  • 1.5 tbsp sesame oil

Sesame Miso Brown Butter sauce:

  • 1 garlic clove, halved
  • 4 tbsp 60g butter
  • 4 tbsp sake
  • 4 tbsp mirin
  • 1.5 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 tbsp red miso paste

Instructions

  1. Add butter to a saucepan over medium heat to melt. Once melted add in the garlic and cook, while swirling until browned, and smells toasty and nutty. Immediately remove from the heat and pour into another bowl. Add remaining ingredients (if using miso, use a muddler to dissolve). Taste and adjust to your liking. Remove garlic and set aside.
  2. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and add 2 tbsp of oil with a high smoke point. Once hot, add half the cabbage cut side down, and press on it with a spatula or another cast iron pan.
  3. Flip and char the other side. Let cabbage sear without moving until almost burnt.
  4. Turn off the heat and cover with a pan, continuing to let it steam for 5 minutes until soft.
  5. Drain excess oil out of the pan. Add half the sauce to the pan, tilt the pan and baste the top of the cabbage. Cook for another minute. Remove cabbage from the skillet. Repeat with other quarter of the napa cabbage. Serve and enjoy!

Okonomi Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. When you purchase something through my amazon affiliate links, I earn a small commission that helps me produce consistent content at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my plant based kitchen! 

Konnichiwa

About Lisa

I'm Lisa, a home cook, recipe developer and founder of Okonomi Kitchen. Here, you'll find a mix of classic and modernized Japanese recipes, and creative, plant-forward meal inspiration using seasonal ingredients. I hope to share more about Japanese cuisine and culture through food and recipes.


Related Recipes


subscribe

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

16 Comments

  1. This recipe was super easy to make for a quick lunch and the sauce was delicious! I tried the miso version but planning on trying the soy next. I feel like this could work well with a variety of sauces too, so versatile!

  2. I try the recipe and now is my favorite way to eat napa cabbage! I used to eat it really simple and i was tired of the same recipe.






  3. This recipe was 10/10. The sauce was incredible and it paired soo well with the cabbage. The butter makes all the difference. This is my new fave way to eat Napa cabbage






  4. Super delicious!! I had to make a few substitutions but it still came out with a lot of umami and savory goodness. I also cut down the oil/fat content, but still came out crispy because of the char I got from the cast iron. I recommend eating with rice or another grain/starch to absorb all of that scumptious sauce! Thanks for the great recipe!






  5. I did not have mirin or sake on hand but needed to use my Napa cabbage so I subbed that for some dry white wine. Even with that, 10/10. The miso was just enough salt. Blackened combined with the basting made for a very soft and savory cabbage, no bitterness left in the cabbage at all. I will be making this again following the real recipe, but the garlic miso butter alone is just fantastic. Had a lot of liquid leftover like the other person but I may just bottle it and reuse it on some rice and egg tomorrow for breakfast.






  6. Full-on the best sauce I’ve ever had for a cabbage steak. I don’t know if I maybe grabbed a really *smol* napa cabbage or what but I have so much sauce leftover that I’m gonna go ahead and use it to marinate some mushroom meat.






  7. So delicious! This was easy to prepare and packed with flavour! I had mine with a little bit of brown sticky rice to soak up all that umami goodness! Im putting this one in the regular rotation! Thank you so much Lisa 💕






  8. this was honestly an amazing new way to use cabbage 🥰 it tasted so yummy & I ate some yogurt with it too ♥️ can highly recommend