Gordon Ramsay’s Crunchy Coleslaw Recipe

Gordon Ramsay’s coleslaw recipe combines finely shredded red and white cabbage with fresh chives in a tangy yoghurt and wholegrain mustard dressing. There’s no mayo, no cooking, and it takes about 10 minutes to put together.

The recipe appears as “Crunchy Light Coleslaw” in Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking, where he pairs it with his slow-cooked beef brisket. He writes that “sometimes coleslaw made with mayonnaise can be too heavy” when served alongside rich meat, so he swaps it for yoghurt with wholegrain mustard and cider vinegar instead.

What separates his version is using wholegrain mustard rather than smooth Dijon. The whole seeds stay intact in the dressing, which adds tiny bursts of heat and a visible texture you don’t get from Dijon. It turns the dressing into something you can feel in each bite rather than just a smooth coating.

FAQs

Why does Ramsay use two types of cabbage instead of one?

Most homemade coleslaws use white cabbage only, which gives you crunch but not much else. Adding red cabbage brings a slightly peppery bite and a deeper colour that makes the bowl look more interesting.

The two cabbages also have different textures. White cabbage shreds are juicy and snap cleanly, while red cabbage is denser and chewier. Mixing them means every forkful has some variety instead of the same one-note crunch throughout.

Why wholegrain mustard instead of Dijon?

Dijon dissolves into a dressing and disappears. You taste the heat evenly but there’s no texture to it. Wholegrain mustard keeps the whole seeds intact, so you get small pops of sharp flavour as you chew.

In a recipe this simple with only five ingredients in the dressing, every component needs to pull its weight. The mustard seeds do double duty here: they add heat and they add physical texture to a dressing that would otherwise just be smooth yoghurt. His Tangy Yogurt Coleslaw in Uncharted takes a different path, skipping the mustard seeds entirely and using honey and apple cider vinegar for a sweeter, smoother finish.

How is this different from his Broccoli Slaw in the same book?

Both appear in Ultimate Home Cooking and both use a yoghurt-based dressing with cider vinegar, but they’re designed for different meats. The Broccoli Slaw goes with his pulled pork, so it adds toasted almonds, currants, and diced banana shallot (echalion shallot) for sweetness and crunch.

The coleslaw is leaner on purpose. Brisket is richer than pulled pork, so the side needs to be sharper and simpler to cut through it. No nuts, no dried fruit, just raw cabbage and a tangy dressing. If you’re serving pulled pork rather than brisket, the Broccoli Slaw is the one Ramsay designed for it.

How does his Four Cabbage Coleslaw compare?

The version in Healthy Appetite uses four types of cabbage including Savoy, and the dressing is completely different: olive oil, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, and wholegrain mustard. No yoghurt at all, so it’s closer to a vinaigrette slaw than a creamy one.

The bigger difference is method. Ramsay marinates the Four Cabbage version for at least 20 minutes so the cabbage softens and absorbs the dressing. The Ultimate Home Cooking version does the opposite, keeping everything separate until the last second. One gives you tender, flavour-soaked shreds. The other gives you raw crunch. Which you want depends on whether crunch or flavour absorption matters more for your meal.

Why chives instead of a stronger herb like parsley or dill?

Chives are mild and oniony without being sharp. In a coleslaw with no onion, shallot, or garlic in the recipe, the chives are doing the job of the allium. They add that savoury backbone without overwhelming the cabbage.

Parsley would add colour but not much flavour here, and dill would push the whole thing toward a Scandinavian direction. His warm potato salad in Quick and Delicious uses dill with crème fraîche and capers, which works for salmon but would clash with the clean, sharp yoghurt dressing in this coleslaw.

Can you make this with buttermilk dressing instead?

Ramsay doesn’t use buttermilk in any of his published coleslaw recipes across all 20 cookbooks. His closest alternative is the Tangy Yogurt Coleslaw from Uncharted, which keeps the yoghurt base but adds honey, grated apple, shredded carrot, sliced green onions (spring onions), and toasted pecans. That version is sweeter and busier, built to go with his barbecue ribs rather than brisket.

If you want a thinner, tangier dressing than straight yoghurt, mixing equal parts yoghurt and buttermilk would work without changing the character of the recipe. Keep the wholegrain mustard and cider vinegar ratios the same and dress it at the last minute so the cabbage holds its crunch.