Does that jar of sauerkraut you just made – or bought – still sit on your refrigerator door untouched?
Do you feel guilty knowing about all the health benefits that are just one impossible bite away?
Do not despair. Once you know a few easy ways to eat that yummy sauerkraut, you’ll soon be eating one of the best foods for improving your digestion.
Don’t have a jar of sauerkraut in your refrigerator? Learn how to make some with my proven method using this photo-rich recipe with numerous tips:
How to Make Sauerkraut In a Jar in 7 Simple Steps [Healthy, Flavorful, Easy]
Just One Bite for 7 – or More! – Easy Ways to Eat Sauerkraut
First off, when looking for ways to eat sauerkraut, keep it simple. You don’t need an elaborate recipe nor do you need to eat a massive quantity to speed up your digestion or improve your health. Just one forkful of sauerkraut is teaming with beneficial bacteria.
As I see it, every day you do one of two things: build health or produce disease in yourself. – Adelle Davis
Cooking Sauerkraut Destroys Its Benefits
And be aware, if you want to enjoy the benefits of your naturally fermented sauerkraut, don’t destroy the good enzymes and probiotics by heating it.
It’s fine to stir sauerkraut into a warm bowl of soup or sprinkle on the top of your meal, you just don’t want to cook or bake with it if you are wanting to take advantage of its many health benefits.
Here are 7 – or more – easy ways to eat sauerkraut and get you going on the road to improved health.
Note: I’ll be adding to this list as readers share their favorite way to eat sauerkraut.
1Sauerkraut as a Condiment
The easiest way to add sauerkraut to your diet is as a condiment to your main meal. As you’re setting the table, put your jar of sauerkraut out, leaving it in the quart jar that is was fermented in, and add a forkful or two to your plate. It pairs well with almost anything, aids in digestion, especially protein and fats, and contains many vitamins, antioxidants and enzymes.
Don’t like cold sauerkraut? Try to remember to pull it out of the refrigerator as you begin to prepare the meal. Or, I find if I place on my plate at the beginning of the meal, it warm by I time I’m ready to indulge.
Sauerkraut in a Tossed Green Salad
Tear up some lettuce leaves, add a few forkfuls of sauerkraut along with some brine, a splash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a few grinds of black pepper. For a more fulfilling salad, add some chunks of cheese or leftover meat slices.
See Delicious Sauerkraut Salads with Local Vancouver Island Ingredients for two recipes using Passion Pink Sauerkraut, one that includes scallops.
3Mango-Kimchi Salad
Or, notch it up with this salad idea. Peel and dice both a mango and an avocado. I like to use a whole mango and just a half of avocado. Add the juice of one lemon. Stir in one-half cup of Kimchi-Style Sauerkraut, and eat to your heart’s content!
Sauerkraut to Add a Nice Zing to Scrambled Eggs
An easy way eat sauerkraut first thing in the morning is to mix it in with your eggs. Try some spicy Kimchi sauerkraut and top with sour cream.
Or my latest creation, Firecracker Sauerkraut, sour cream, chopped avocado and diced sweet red pepper.
Sauerkraut in a Sandwich
Make a boring sandwich scrumptious by adding a nice layer of sauerkraut to it.
6Sauerkraut to Ward Off the Flu
Tell-tale signs of the flu coming your way? It can’t hurt to try a few bites of sauerkraut. Even just a few sips of the brine can help. British sailor Caption James Cook was famously credited with conquering scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) by bringing barrels of sauerkraut with him to sea and feeding it to his crews daily.
It can’t hurt to try a few bites of sauerkraut. Even just a few sips of the brine can help. British sailor Caption James Cook was famously credited with conquering scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) by bringing barrels of sauerkraut with him to sea and feeding it to his crews daily.
7Sauerkraut as a Quick Pick-Me-Up
Have that afternoon slump and wish you could take a nap? Try a few bites of sauerkraut – yes, you can eat it right out the of jar – and see if you are soon re-energized.
Sauerkraut on a Hot Dog
Another easy way to eat sauerkraut is no smoother than that steamy hot dog topped with sauerkraut for the classic combination!
9Sauerkraut as a Topping for a Cheese Spread
Other of my favorite ways to eat sauerkraut is to take a slice of bread or favorite cracker, spread with cream cheese or goat cheese and top it with a bit of sauerkraut.
10Add Sauerkraut to a Smoothie
Add 1-2 tablespoons of sauerkraut to your favorite green smoothie recipe.
11Try an Almond Butter Dill Sauerkraut Sandwich
Tracy (Cowichan Station, British Columbia) says her boys loved this combination when they were on a wheat-free diet. Use rye bread (the kind sold in brick-like dense packages, double wrapped to last a year), preferred nut butter and dill sauerkraut. Make a sandwich, spreading nut butter on both slices of bread and add one layer of sauerkraut. Place in heated
Use rye bread (the kind sold in brick-like dense packages, double wrapped to last a year), preferred nut butter and dill sauerkraut. Make a sandwich, spreading nut butter on both slices of bread and add one layer of sauerkraut. Place in heated skillet with a little bit a butter and fry on both sides until golden brown. Devour wildly!
Ginger Carrot Sauerkraut Salad
Chop an apple into your serving bowl. Add some cubed cheddar cheese and Ginger Carrot Sauerkraut. Toss and top with toasted, chopped walnuts. Sure to please even the pickiest of eaters.
A To-Die-For Pizza Topping
Hawaiian Sauerkraut (A favorite in my eBook: The SureFire Sauerkraut Recipe Collection.) is to-die-for as a topping on pepperoni pizza.
14Fresh Carrot Slaw
Toss together some grated carrot, chopped parsley and your favorite sauerkraut, perhaps Ginger Carrot Sauerkraut. Add some toasted nuts for crunch and you’re set.
This is a great way to introduce sauerkraut to the hesitant. The sweetness of the carrots takes away the bite of the sauerkraut.
15Pasta a la Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut can also be stirred into pasta where it creates a whole new flavor profile and I find, takes away the “heaviness” of the pasta and aids in its digestion.
16Best Sauerkraut Salad
If you’re looking for an actual recipe, this one from fellow blogger Shannon at You Can Eat Now should fit the bill. Beautiful photos, lovely story and delicious ingredients.
17An Amazing Hamburger
From one of my readers…
And Don’t Forget Your Pets
Also from Bonnie…
Peanut Butter Delux
Now, this sounds good to me…
Gyst Fermentation Bar – Peanut Butter Kimchi Sandwich
More on that peanut butter sandwich…
Toasted focaccia roll + peanut butter + Kimchi + sliced green scallions + toasted peanuts.
I’m ready to move to Minneapolis just so I can support this tasty endeavor. Gyst Fermentation Bar
Which way sounds best to you – on your dinner plate, in a sandwich, on a salad?
Pick one, and enjoy a forkful of probiotic-rich sauerkraut with a meal today!
Looking for more ways to enjoy sauerkraut. My eBook:
The SureFire Sauerkraut Recipe Collection
not only has delicious sauerkraut recipes, but each recipe comes with a set of Gourmet Pairing Options that will have you salivating for sauerkraut.
What are Your Favorite Ways to Eat Sauerkraut?
Share your favorite way to eat sauerkraut in the comment section, below. I’ll add them to this post as they come in. Join my newsletter to be notified when this post is updated. Enjoy those fabulous ferments, Holly!
Join the MakeSauerkraut! Newsletter
Enter your email address and click DOWNLOAD to get your first newsletter and my Sauerkraut Shopping Guide. Not all sauerkraut does the body good.