Easy, healthy, delicious, satisfying. That’s all I ask of a weeknight meal! This delicious one-pan dinner takes less than 30-minutes to make and even less time to clean up. Really! Plus, it’s absolutely delicious, and like all the dishes here at Weird Sisters Kitchen, you can customize it to your taste!

A bowl of shredded green cabbage ready for cabbage.

It Starts with Cabbage

Be sure to have all your ingredients assembled and prepped before you start cooking, as this dish comes together very quickly.

Start by shredding some cabbage. How much you need depends on:

how many mouths you’re feeding
how large your skillet, and
if you want leftovers or not!

I’m using about four cups (½ a small cabbage or ⅓ a large cabbage) and that will yield 3-4 servings. Feel free to double or triple this recipe or cut it in half if need be. Also remember, you can adjust it to suit your tastes. If you want more cabbage per serving, go ahead and add more.

Ham, cabbage, and onion prepped for one-pan cabbage and ham.

Chop Some Ham and Slice Some Onion

This is a terrific recipe for using up leftover ham after a family dinner. Here, I’m using the leftovers from a spiral-sliced ham chopped into ½ inch pieces. I had glazed it with a lovely brown sugar and mustard sauce. And although I didn’t need the glaze for this recipe, it didn’t hurt the flavor one bit.

You can also use deli ham (even ultra-thin sliced), packaged ham from a pouch or a can, and even Spam. This is also delectable when made with prosciutto. I’ve also used thick-sliced bacon and pancetta (be sure to drain off the extra fat).

Whether you love or don’t love cooked onion, this is another ingredient you can adjust to your liking. Unless you’re allergic, I do encourage you to use at least a little onion or some onion powder. It adds a delicate, but necessary sweetness to this dish. You can use shallot if you prefer.

I slice about ½ a medium onion for four servings, but you can use more or less. And feel free to chop or mince your onion if you prefer. I use slices because once softened, they blend well with the cabbage.

Start Cooking!

If you’re using a non-stick pan, you may not need to add any fat or cooking spray. I usually do spray the pan with a little non-stick cooking spray just to make clean-up as easy as possible. If I’m using very lean meat (like some deli hams), I also add a pat or two of butter (1-2 tsp) before heating the pan.

And you will want to pre-heat your pan. The idea is to get the ham to render a little fat and brown up a bit. That requires a hot pan.

As soon as the ham begins to brown, stir in the onion. Normally, when I cook onion, I add a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture. That allows the onion to soften without browning. In this case, the ham is sufficiently salty to keep the onion from browning too soon.

Green cabbage added to a pan of cooked ham and onions.

Start Adding the Cabbage

As soon as the onion begins to become translucent, add ⅓ of the shredded cabbage (no matter how big the batch you’re making). This is an old Irish trick for cooking perfect cabbage every time.

Stir the cabbage into the browned ham and onion mixture. The cabbage will begin to add moisture to the dish as it cooks. That moisture will allow you to scrape the bottom of the pan for the tasty brown bits. Don’t skip that step. That’s where the flavor is.

Cabbage cooking in a skillet with ham and onions.

Time to Add More Cabbage!

The cabbage will begin to soften, and the color will brighten a bit. Once it does, add the second ⅓ of the raw cabbage shreds. Again, stir them in—or rather—toss the mixture like you would a good salad or slaw.

I usually use a set of silicon-coated tongs to make this dish. I find tongs make tossing the cabbage around much easier. Chopsticks also work well if you know how to cook with them. Two spoons will also work.

Once this lot has begun to soften and brighten, add the final ⅓ of your shredded cabbage. Toss and cook until it’s all crispy-soft and bright green. Some of the edges of the cabbage may have browned just a bit. That’s perfectly fine.

Taste a piece and season to your liking. I use a grind or two of sea salt (because the ham is already so salty) and a couple of good grinds of fresh black pepper.