Side dishes · Vegetable sides

Roasted cabbage steaks

Name: Roasted cabbage steaks
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 head green cabbage, cut into 2 cm (¾-inch) slabs; 2 tbsp olive oil; 3 cloves garlic, grated; 3/4 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 1/3 cup grated parmesan; 1/2 lemon lemon

Thick slabs of cabbage roasted hard until the edges go brown and brittle and the middle turns sweet. Cabbage was named the vegetable of 2026, and this is the recipe that explains why: it costs almost nothing and eats like something that cost a lot more.

Time: 45 min (10 prep + 35 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 171 kcal
Protein: 5 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

1 head green cabbage, cut into 2 cm (¾-inch) slabs900 g
2 tbsp olive oil28 g
3 cloves garlic, grated9 g
3/4 tsp salt4 g
1/2 tsp black pepper1 g

To finish

1/3 cup grated parmesan30 g
1/2 lemon lemon20 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Heat the oven to 230°C (450°F) — high heat is the whole recipe. Cut the cabbage through the core into slabs about 2 cm (¾ inch) thick so each one holds together.
Mix the oil with the garlic, salt and pepper and brush it over both sides. Lay the slabs on a tray with space between them; crowded cabbage steams and stays pale.
Roast 25 minutes, flip carefully, and roast another 10–15 until the edges are properly brown and papery.
Scatter over the parmesan and return for 2 minutes, then squeeze the lemon over just before serving.

Mine came out soggy.

Either the oven was too cool or the tray was too full. Cabbage holds a lot of water and it has to leave as steam with room to escape — two trays beats one crowded one.

Why this score

solidly filling

Low energy density — a lot of food for the calories.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

11% of kcal

82% water

35 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 682 kcal goes into the pot, 992 g of ingredients comes out as ~700 g of food → 97 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 97
Protein: (11%); 3 g
Fat: (51%); 6 g
Carbohydrates: (39%); 9 g
of which sugar: 4 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sodium: 318 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.