Stewed cabbage (Dominican repollo guisado) is a flavorful combination of cabbage, vegetables, spices, and herbs, and surprisingly tasty despite how light and healthy it is. It's also an excellent vegan main dish, and if you're not a vegan, a beautiful, colorful side dish.

Why we ❤️ it
How did you get here? Are you a cabbage-lover? Someone interested in eating better? Or were you looking for this Repollo Guisado recipe because you are a vegan or vegetarian? Well, then, lend me your ear...
Dominican vegans
For a significant period of my life, I was a vegan, later vegetarian living in the Dominican Republic. While things have improved, abstaining from meat wasn't particularly easy back then.
Eating out was often a challenge though, luckily, Dominican cooking offers many vegetarian-friendly choices if you know how to navigate our traditional cuisine. I am no longer a vegetarian, though I appreciate vegan and vegetarian cuisine all the better for my long stint as one.
This Dominican vegan dish is one of the most popular ones we have to offer. We have a pretty large collection of vegan and vegetarian recipes in our blog that I am sure you'll love too.
Stewed cabbage (repollo guisado).
Serving suggestions
This is a dish that goes very well with any of our moro rices or white rice with stewed beans. And of course, some avocado slices.
I also recommend the stewed hearts of palm if you are looking for another light and vegan dish.
More cabbage recipes
If you like trying other cabbage recipes, here are my traditional and non-traditional favorites. Curiously, researching for some great cabbage recipes, I also found this Ethiopian cabbage dish that seems quite interesting.
About this recipe
This vegetarian cabbage stew saved my hide a few times. It's a great side dish if you are a vegan or vegetarian, and, if not, it goes great with your choice of grilled meat.
There may be some variation in the way Dominican cooks make this, but not significantly, although one of my very old Dominican cookbooks has it made with pork and lard, so if you make it in a different way, I'd love to hear it.
Video
Recipe
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Stewed Cabbage [Recipe + Video] Repollo Guisado
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small red onion, , cut into strips
- 1 clove garlic, , crushed
- 1 bell pepper, , cut into strips
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- ¼ head cabbage, , shredded
- ¼ cup pitted green olives, (optional)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, or lime juice
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt, (or more to taste)
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, of your preference (or more to taste)
- Handful minced parsley, or cilantro
Instructions
1. Sauteeing vegetables
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onions and garlic until the onions become translucent. Add the bell pepper and tomatoes. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce.
2. Cooking cabbage
- Stir in the cabbage, olives, vinegar and water and simmer over very low heat until the cabbage is wilted (about 5 mins.).Season with salt and hot sauce to taste. Mix in parsley or cilantro.
3. Serving
- Serve right away to prevent the cabbage from becoming mushy. Goes great with arroz blanco, tostones and avocado.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.