Best Sauerkraut Recipe
This best sauerkraut recipe is one of the easiest ways to preserve fresh cabbage and enjoy a naturally fermented food at home. With just two simple ingredients—fresh cabbage and salt—you can make crisp, tangy sauerkraut that's perfect for sandwiches on my artisan sourdough bread recipe, burgers, my sausage sauerkraut soup, and more. Homemade sauerkraut is also an inexpensive way to preserve a garden cabbage harvest and keep fermented vegetables on hand throughout the year.
Quick Look: Best Sauerkraut Recipe
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 20 minutes
- 🍳 Ferment Time: 14 days
- 🕒 Total Time: 14 days 20 minutes
- 👥 Servings: 12 quarts
- 🔥 Cook Method: Camp chef stove in a waterbath canner
- 👩🍳 Flavor Profile: Tangy, salty, slightly sour, and pleasantly crisp with a fresh cabbage flavor.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy — just slice, salt, massage, and ferment.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
So many ways to use it – Enjoy it with brats and hot dogs with my Sourdough Hot Dog Bun Recipe, add it to burgers and Reubens, or use it in hearty soups and other meals.
Simple ingredients – All you need is fresh cabbage and salt to make homemade sauerkraut.
Easy to make – Once the cabbage is sliced and salted, the fermentation process does most of the work.
Great for preserving cabbage – Turn a garden harvest into sauerkraut that you can enjoy for weeks or months.
Naturally fermented – Homemade sauerkraut is a simple way to add fermented vegetables to your meals.
Ingredients
- Caraway Seeds: If you are used to eating kraut from the grocery store that has caraway seeds in it, you can certainly add some to your kraut.
For a full list of ingredients needed to make this recipe, see the recipe card below.
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How To Make The Best Sauerkraut Recipe
Step 1: Prepare Cabbage. Make sure your fermentation container is clean, then thinly slice the cabbage using a sharp knife or kraut cutter. Add a layer of cabbage to the container and sprinkle with salt. Continue layering cabbage and salt until full. A general guideline is about 1 teaspoon of salt per head of cabbage.
Step 2: Work the cabbage. Using clean hands or a kraut pounder, stomp, massage, and work the cabbage and salt together to help release its natural juices.
Step 3: Press out the juice. Continue working and pressing the cabbage until it releases plenty of liquid. When you press the cabbage down, you should see the cabbage juice rise above it.
Step 4: Weight down the cabbage. Place a fermentation weight on top of the cabbage and press it down, making sure all of the cabbage stays submerged beneath the juice.
Step 5: Cover and ferment. Cover the container with plastic wrap or a clean cloth secured with a rubber band to keep fruit flies and debris out. Leave the sauerkraut at room temperature, out of direct sunlight and preferably in a dark place, for 2–3 weeks. Check it occasionally as it ferments.
Step 6: Check the finished sauerkraut. Once it has developed a delicious tangy flavor and is still slightly crisp, it's ready to eat. If you'd like it more sour, let it ferment longer.
Step 7: Pack into jars. Pack the finished sauerkraut into clean jars, pressing it down so the cabbage remains covered with juice. Cover and refrigerate for up to 6 months.
Step 8: Can for long-term storage. If you want to can your sauerkraut, place it in a heavy-bottomed stockpot and bring it to a gentle boil. Pack the hot sauerkraut into clean jars, add two-piece canning lids, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 20 minutes. Once cooled and sealed, remove the rings and store in a cool, dry place.
Tips for Making The Best Sauerkraut Recipe
Always use clean equipment. Start with clean jars, utensils, hands, and fermentation equipment to help keep unwanted bacteria and mold away.
Use fresh cabbage. Fresh, firm cabbage will release more juice and give you a crispier sauerkraut.
Don't skimp on the salt. Salt helps draw out the cabbage's moisture and creates the right environment for fermentation.
Be patient when working the cabbage. It can take several minutes of massaging and pounding before the cabbage releases enough juice.
Keep the cabbage submerged. Make sure the cabbage stays underneath the brine throughout fermentation to help prevent mold and spoilage.
Use a fermentation weight. A weight makes it much easier to keep the cabbage below the liquid.
Don't seal the jar tightly during fermentation. The fermentation process produces gases that need a way to escape.
Check it regularly. It's normal for the flavor to become more sour as it ferments. Taste it after about 2 weeks and decide when it's fermented enough for you.
Ferment according to your taste. Two to three weeks is a good starting point, but you can let it ferment longer for a stronger, tangier flavor.
Keep it away from direct sunlight. A cool, dark spot is ideal for fermentation.
Best Sauerkraut Recipe FAQs
Homemade sauerkraut usually takes about 2–3 weeks to ferment at room temperature, but you can let it ferment longer if you prefer a stronger, more sour flavor.
Sauerkraut is ready when it has developed a pleasantly tangy, sour flavor and the cabbage is still slightly crisp. Taste it as it ferments and refrigerate it when it reaches the flavor you like.
The cabbage may need more time and additional massaging or pounding to release its natural juices. If it still isn't releasing enough liquid, sprinkle in a small amount of additional salt and continue working the cabbage.
Yes. The cabbage should remain submerged beneath the cabbage juice throughout fermentation. A fermentation weight helps keep the cabbage underneath the liquid.
Room temperature works well for homemade sauerkraut. Keep it out of direct sunlight and preferably in a cool, dark place.
Yes. Sauerkraut can ferment longer than 3 weeks. A longer fermentation will generally produce a stronger, more developed sour flavor. Taste it periodically and refrigerate it when you like the flavor.
Properly fermented sauerkraut can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, as long as it remains covered with its liquid and is stored in a clean, sealed container.
Yes. If you want to store your sauerkraut at room temperature, you can process it in a boiling water bath canner according to an appropriate tested canning method.
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How To Make Homemade Sauerkraut
Equipment
- 1 canner
- 1 2 burner camp stove
- Fermentation container Large mason jars or a fermentation crock. I've always found the best way for making homemade sauerkraut is in a large 5 gallon crock. But you can also make it in large mason jars as well.
- Kraut pounder or some kind of plastic or wooden malletThis isn’t as necessary if you’re making sauerkraut in quart jars because you can just massage the salt into the cabbage and press it down firmly to make it juice. But if you’re making a large crock full of kraut, you’re gonna want to a kraut pounder or mallet for pounding the cabbage and kraut together and making it juice. In the old days they called it “stomping the kraut”.
- Sharp knife or kraut cutterI’ve always just used a sharp knife and thinly sliced the cabbage into kraut sized pieces. If you want your kraut super fine, you might want to invest in a kraut cutter, but it’s totally optional.
- Fermentation WeightsYou need some way of keeping the cabbage below the surface of the brine or juice so that it doesn’t mold. As mentioned above, you can use a small glass jar filled with some water to weigh the cabbage down. Or you can purchase fermentation weights. You’ll see on the video below that I used one of my cheese making weights wrapped in plastic wrap for my big 5 gallon crock. They also make large weights for fermenting in large crocks. You can also use one of the big cabbage leaves left from the outside of the cabbage, or even some large grape leaves to help hold the cabbage below the line of the juice. Use what you have if you can, and be creative. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but you do need to keep the kraut below the line of the cabbage juice.
- canner
- Water Bath Canner
- Two Burner Camp Chef Stove
- Camp Chef Stove
Materials
- 1 head raw cabbage
- 1 teaspoon of salt
Instructions
- Make sure your fermentation container is clean.
- Using a sharp knife or a kraut cutter, thinly slice the cabbage and place some in the fermentation container.
If using a jar, you’ll want to fill the jar a quarter of the way full, and then sprinkle with some salt before adding more cabbage. The general rule of thumb is 1-2 tsp. Of salt per head of cabbage.
If you’re using a crock, put 3-4” of cabbage in the bottom of the crock. Sprinkle salt liberally on top of the shredded cabbage before adding another layer of cabbage.
- The general rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon of salt per head of cabbage. I’ve never followed this rule exactly. If your kraut doesn’t seem like it’s releasing it’s juice even after being worked awhile, just sprinkle a little more salt on the cabbage, and it will release it’s juice.
- The idea is to layer cabbage and salt into your container, and using clean hands, massage and pound the salt and cabbage together, all while pressing down every so often, to encourage the cabbage mixture to release it’s own juice. This is shown in the video below.
- It takes a little bit of time for the cabbage to fully release it’s juice so keep layering more cabbage and salt and be patient. By the time your jar or crock is full, you should be able to press down on the cabbage and there should be enough liquid to cover the top of the cabbage.
- Place your fermentation weight on top of the cabbage, making sure that there is no cabbage sticking up above the cabbage juice.
- Cover with some kind of cloth or plastic wrap and a rubber band to keep fruit flies out.
- Allow to sit at room temperature out of direct sunlight and preferable in a dark place for 2-3 weeks or until cabbage is fermented into sauerkraut and tastes the way you want it to taste. It should have a delicious tangy flavor, and the cabbage will still be slightly crispy when the kraut is fresh.
- Place some in the refrigerator for fresh eating.
- If you want to can some of your kraut, place it in heavy bottom stock pot and bring to a gentle boil.
- Pack hot kraut into clean jars and assemble two piece canning lids.
- Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.
- After they cool and are sealed, remove the rings and place on the shelf for long term storage.
Notes
- Use fresh, firm cabbage for the best texture.
- Massage and pound the cabbage until it releases enough juice to cover it.
- Keep the cabbage completely submerged during fermentation.
- Use a fermentation weight to keep the cabbage under the brine.
- Ferment for 2–3 weeks, or longer for a stronger, tangier flavor.
- Taste the sauerkraut as it ferments and refrigerate it when you like the flavor.
- Keep fermented sauerkraut refrigerated and covered with its natural juices.
This is such a great way to preserve cabbage, thank you!
Wonderful for preserving cabbage