Last Updated: 
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.
The sweetness of the carrots contrasts nicely with the sharpness of the garlic in this sauerkraut recipe and is sure to please all palates. Many children find this to be their favorite sauerkraut.
Plus, I only fermented it for a week! I have additional jars that I made and we are going to let them sit longer and see how they taste different. Thanks for all the tips and the hard work with running this wonderful website! God Bless!!!!!!!!
This post was originally published on September 26, 2014. It was last updated with new information and images on February 8, 2017.
Note: If this is your first time to make sauerkraut, learn how to choose the best cabbage for sauerkraut, and use The SureFire Sauerkraut Method… In a Jar: 7 Easy Steps, with its step-by-step photography, tips, and additional fermentation information first, then return to this recipe.
And, once you are comfortable making sauerkraut in a jar and want to make larger batches follow: The SureFire Sauerkraut Method… In a Crock: 7 Easy Steps.
Notes and Tips to Get You Started on this Sweet Garlic Sauerkraut Recipe
Love Your Garlic?
Too much garlic can turn your sauerkraut bitter. Start with 2-3 small cloves and gradually increase in subsequent batches until you hit upon the desired flavor.
Want to Remove the Garlic Smell from Your Hands?
Many swear by the stainless steel trick. Rub soapy hands on the faucet (and then dry it with a towel). Clean hands, shiny faucet. Me? I just wash my hands immediately with soap and water and it’s fine. But then, I don’t mind the smell of garlic on my hands.
Don’t Go Overboard on the Carrots
If you add too many carrots, the sugar content of your ferment is such that you turn it into a sweet slime. Like with the garlic, start with 2-3 carrots and gradually increase in subsequent batches until you achieve the balance you want. A good rule of thumb to follow for any batch of sauerkraut: 75% cabbage, 25% other ingredients. That would mean no more than 7 ounces (200 grams) of carrots.
Fermenting in Hot Weather?
I wrote this post just for you: 11 Cool Fermentation Tips for Hot Weather.
Ways to Eat Sweet Garlic Sauerkraut
I maintain an ever-growing list of ways to enjoy your sauerkraut. Check out #17: An Amazing Hamburger!
Ginger Carrot Sauerkraut Recipe
I have two forms of my Ginger Carrot Sauerkraut Recipe for you. The online one that follows – with numerous pictures – and a PDF version below for printing that includes Gourmet Pairing Options and information on recipe ingredients.
The Five Tools I Grab Every Time I Make a Batch of Sauerkraut
Sweet Garlic Sauerkraut Recipe [Kid Friendly!]
INGREDIENTS
Ingredients
- 1 medium head fresh green cabbage, 2 ½–3 pounds (1 kg)
- 2-3 carrots
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) iodine-free salt (fine-grain)
Equipment
- Kitchen scale, ideally digital
- Cutting board and chef’s knife
- Large mixing bowl
- Vegetable peeler,, grater and measuring spoon
- 1 quart 1-quart (L) wide-mouth canning jar or similar sized jar
- 4 ounce 4-ounce (125 ml) canning jar (jelly jar), or other "weight"
- Wide-mouth plastic storage cap,, or use the lid and rim that comes with jar
INSTRUCTIONS
1 SET UP: Gather Supplies and Set Up Scale
- Using a scale to make your sauerkraut will ensure that you add the correct amount of salt for a safe fermentation environment.
- You don’t want to include the weight of your bowl in your measurements, so either zero out the scale (usually done with a button on a digital scale or a knob under the tray on a mechanical scale) or write down the weight of your bowl (tare).
2 CHOP: Prep Your Vegetables and Cabbage
- You will need 1¾ pounds (28 ounces, 800 grams) of vegetables and cabbage in your bowl. When making sauerkraut, you first prepare the flavoring ingredients – carrots, ginger, radish, caraway seeds or whatnot – then add sliced cabbage. This allows you to add only as much sliced cabbage as necessary to hit 1¾ pounds on the scale.
- Peel and grate carrots, mince garlic and place in your bowl. Discard the limp outer leaves of the cabbage, setting aside one of the cleaner ones for use during the SUBMERGE step.Quarter, then slice cabbage crosswise into thin ribbons. I leave the core in because I find it helps to hold the layers of cabbage together making the slicing job easier.Add sliced cabbage to your bowl until the weight of your vegetables and cabbage is 1¾ pounds (28 ounces, 800 grams).
3 SALT: Create Your Brine
- Salt pulls water out of the cabbage and vegetables to create an environment where the good bacteria (mainly lactobacillus) can grow and proliferate and the bad bacteria die off.
- Sprinkle vegetables and cabbage with 1 tablespoon of salt and mix well. If you want the salt to do some of the work for you, you can leave your salted and well-mixed bowl of cabbage sit for 20-60 minutes. Then, massage the vegetables with strong hands until moist, creating the brine. You should be able to tilt the bowl to the side and see a good-sized puddle of brine, about 2–3 inches in diameter. This process can take anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes.
4 PACK: Pack Mixture into Jar
- Now that you have a puddle of brine, it’s time to pack the cabbage mixture into your jar.
- Grab handfuls of the salty, juicy cabbage mixture and pack them into your quart-sized wide-mouth canning jar, periodically pressing the mixture down tightly with your fist or a large spoon so that the brine rises above the top of the mixture and no air pockets remain.Be sure to leave at least 1 inch of space between the top of the cabbage and the top of the jar. Because we weighed out just the right amount of cabbage to fit in your jar, this should happen automatically.Pour any brine left in your mixing bowl into the jar.Lastly, wipe down the outside of your jar and posh down any loose bits stuck to the sides of the bowl or the side of your jar.
5 SUBMERGE: Hold Ferment Below Brine
- Now make sure your fermenting mixture is in a safe anaerobic (no air) environment. This means that you need to keep the cabbage mixture submerged in the brine while it ferments.
- Floaties Trap. Take that cabbage leaf you saved during the SETUP step. tear it down to just fit in the jar, and place it over the surface of the packed cabbage. Forgot to save a cabbage leaf? No problem. You can fold a narrow piece of parchment paper to size or even cut an old plastic lid to size.
To hold the mixture below the brine, place the 4-ounce jelly jar on top of the cabbage leaf, right side up with its lid removed. Lightly (to allow for escape of CO2 gases), screw on the white plastic storage lid.I like to label my jars using green or blue painter’s tape and a permanent marker. I note the flavor of sauerkraut I made and the date I started fermenting.
6 FERMENT: Ferment for 1 to 4 Weeks
- Time now for the friendly bacteria to do their work while you watch and wait. Can you wait 7 days to taste the tangy crunch?
- Place your jar of fermenting sauerkraut in a shallow bowl (to catch the brine that may leak out during the first week of fermentation), out of direct sunlight.Should the brine level fall (very unlikely) and remain below the level of the sauerkraut during the first week. For what to expect as your sauerkraut ferments, see SALTY Cabbage to SOUR Sauerkraut: Fermentation Signs to Monitordilute 1 Tbsp of salt in 2 cups of water and pour some of this brine over the sauerkraut (removing the little jar first) until it just covers the mixture. Put the little jar back in, screw the lid on lightly and let the fermentation continue.Don’t worry if the brine disappears after the 7- to 10-day mark. By this time, you’ve created a safe environment in which the bacteria that would cause mold or slime has been chased away by the beneficial bacteria produced during the fermentation process.You can ferment your sauerkraut for up to 4 weeks. The longer you ferment it, the greater the number and variety of beneficial bacteria that can be produced.
7 STORE: Store in Refrigerator for Up to 1 Year
- After fermenting your sauerkraut, it’s ready to go into the refrigerator and ready to be eaten.
- Rinse off the outside of the jar. You can take the little jar out. Clean the rim if necessary (sometimes it can get sticky from the brine that overflows), and screw the lid back on tightly. Add to your label how long you fermented the contents.Enjoy a forkful or two of your sauerkraut with your meals. It will continue to ferment – aging like a fine wine – but at a much slower rate than before. If the flavors are too intense, leave it the jar for a month or two and then eat it. You will be amazed at how the flavors have changed.If successfully fermented (tastes and smells good), your sauerkraut can be kept preserved in your refrigerator for up to a year.
Notes and Tips
- Too much garlic can turn your sauerkraut bitter. Start with 2-3 small cloves and gradually increase in subsequent batches until you hit upon the desired flavor.
- Many swear by the stainless steel trick. Rub soapy hands on the faucet (and then dry it with a towel). Clean hands, shiny faucet.
- Don't go overboard with the carrots. If you add too many carrots, the sugar content of your ferment is such that you turn it into a sweet slime. Like with the garlic, start with 2-3 carrots and gradually increase in subsequent batches until you achieve the balance you want.
- A good rule of thumb to follow for any batch of sauerkraut: 75% cabbage, 25% other ingredients. That would mean no more than 7 ounces (200 grams) of carrots.
Nutrition
The Book That Will Transform Your Meals, And… Your Health
Learn to make gut-healing sauerkraut to instantly add delicious flavors to your meals. Step-by-step, easy-to-follow instructions with photos and tips.
Sweet Garlic Sauerkraut Recipe PDF
FREE PDF Download
Use the button below to get your own PDF copy of the Sweet Garlic Sauerkraut Recipe.
All my sauerkraut recipes include a downloadable PDF in the same style as the recipes in my eBook: The SureFire Sauerkraut Recipe Collection.
Click to Download the above PDF for my Sweet Garlic Sauerkraut Recipe with its useful set of tips and Gourmet Pairing Options on the backside. NO OPTI-IN required.
Want More Delicious Sauerkraut Recipes? Click Below to Check Out My eBook: The SureFire Sauerkraut Recipe Collection
Last update on 2024-04-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
I have also read to cover the jar with a cheese cloth to allow air flow when starting the fermentation process. What is the difference of these methods?
Thanks for the question Amy. Sauerkraut fermentation is an anaerobic – WITHOUT air – process. The lactic-acid bacteria that multiply and preserve the cabbage don’t like oxygen. We need to keep them happy by keeping the air out of the jar, especially at the beginning when they do most of their work.
Just covering the jar with cheese cloth would allow air in.
In an aerobic – WITH air – environment, the yeasts present in the ferment can oxidize and prevent healthy fermentation and yummy sauerkraut..
There are many different methods out there, and as I’ve worked my way through them and as more science has become available, my method has been refined and uses the lid to keep as much air out as possible. Hope this helps.
Hi Holly, I have made 2 batches of carrot, garlic sauerkraut and I have noticed that at day 4, a orange looking fluffy cloud like substance was sitting in the brine above the layer of cabbage I used to hold the smaller bits of cabbage down. It does not break the surface of the brine and is not grey / black mould. Is it the beginning of good bacteria clumping together? Do you need a picture attached?
Hello David, My guess it’s from the carrots. I get it at times. I wouldn’t worry about it.
If you end up with some sliminess to the sauerkraut when done fermenting, you may have used too many carrots. If so, leave it in your fridge for a few weeks and it should balance out. Enjoy!
Holly, I attempted a batch of your sweet garlic sauerkraut and I have a question for you.
I made a pint of this sauerkraut because I only had enough vegetables for one pint.
I used 2 cloves of garlic, 1 small green cabbage and 1 shredded carrot, but I used two teaspoons of himalayan salt. Did I use too much salt for my pint of sweet garlic sauerkraut?
My daughter and I had some of the vegetable mixture that was left over and it was delicious: I can’t wait until it ferments!
Thanks
It sounds about right. How did it taste? Pleasantly salty, like chips but not overly salty like sea water? If you have a digital scale, it is easiest to determine salt by weight when you’re doing various sized batches. See if this helps for future batches: https://www.makesauerkraut.com/salt-by-weight/
It tasted GREAT and thanks for all your help!
So good to hear. ENJOY!
Holly, I just opened my sweet garlic sauerkraut and we are doing summersaults! This sauerkraut is from out of this world! Plus, I only fermented it for a week! I have additional jars that I made and we are going to let them sit longer and see how they taste different.
Thanks for all the tips and the hard work with running this wonderful website!
God Bless!!!!!!!!
You are quite welcome!!! Enjoy the somersaults. 🙂
Holly, you mention in your instructions for making Sweet Garlic Sauerkraut to use: “1 medium head fresh green cabbage, 2 ½–3 pounds.”
So, one cabbage weighing 2 1/2 to 3 pounds produces 2 quarts of SGS, correct?
Thanks!
The weight is given so that you know how big of head of cabbage to buy. And yes, you should be able to make 2 quarts with that if there is not much core waste and you use carrots or other vegetables. Just put your flavoring ingredients in first and then add enough cabbage to hit the 1 3/4 pound on the scale. You’re Welcome!
Holly, there will be no more guessing how much of this or that for me! I just received my KD-8000 Kitchen Scale in the mail. I can’t wait to start using my scale. Now I can really begin to mass produce my fermented cabbage.
Enjoy! And, be sure to go to this post to get directions on how to disable the out off – if you haven’t already done so. https://www.makesauerkraut.com/myweigh-kd-8000-digital-scale-review/
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b6790d248a3c9ce164ccc94d628b3b0e3d121dbabe210c9d5259ab7282ccb68.jpg
So wonderful to see!!! And, so great to have your daughter involved in the process. Thanks for keeping us all up to date. Inspiring.
P.S. To turn the picture… right click on it when selecting it to upload and you should see a menu with an option to rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise. At least, that’s how I do it on my PC.
My daughter and I are addicted to the Sweet Sauerkraut and here is the proof to show that we are. I produced 7 quarts within the last two days and the rest was produced less than a week. I’m going to invest in larger crocks because the way that I’m fermenting this delcious recipe of Sweet Sauerkraut I will need to start renting a storage unit!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ea094d67472c78c4559d0a3e3e3b0d94fd9f227976872569432c9d43782beec.jpg
🙂 What’s in that jar of rather milky-white looking stuff on the middle row, right end?
It’s a batch of Sweet Garlic and I had a hunch you were going to question that particular jar.
It really stands out among the other jars, doesn’t it?
That particular jars cabbage seemed whiter than the other jars cabbages and it’s a bubblin as I finish this response to you, Holly.
Take care my friend and I’m off to Kroger to purchase more cabbage. They are having a sale on cabbage and It is only 29 cents a pound! ?
Be careful, garlic has botulism in it naturally, and needs to be either stored in the fridge or to have the temperature raised to kill the botulism.
You bring up a common fear. Botulism spores can’t survive in the acidic fermentation environment where the pH is 4.0 or below. Here’s a nice article to explain further: http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/342/what-about-botulism/
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0eb403ea2edd9e79833133819c2ab3d5824bf2c5e3e22ed6e819b544a1d07bc1.jpg
Beautiful! And always nice to learn another skill – uploading a picture with the right orientation. 🙂
I’m grateful to you for offering this wonderful website, Holly. You have helped me discover and learn how to ferment awesome, delicious cabbage and me and my family are healthier because of it!
Thank you,
Fred Lopiccolo
Thanks so much for the recipe! I had a few failed attempts and was ready to give up. I found your recipe and gave it one more try. Success! I love this sweet garlic kraut and have made plain as well. I am just wondering if I can reduce the salt at all. Could I try using 1/2 Tbsp? Or do I need that amount in order to preserve it? Thanks again!
Hello Sarah, Yaa!!! Delicious success. Yes, you can reduce the salt. It’s easiest if you have a gram scale; use 1.5%. With measuring spoons, I think 1/2T would be a bit low. Try one batch with 2 1/2 teaspoons and then one with 2 teaspoons. I haven’t tested to see how low I can go, but the 1.5% is a standard for the low end.
Hi, I have been searching online for sometime trying to find out how much potassium and how much magnesium is in a cup of homemade fermented sauerkraut? Can anyone here point me to that information?
The only info I’ve come across is for commercial sauerkraut: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2614/2
You can also look at some of the raw sauerkraut producers as search for their nutritional label. That would be closer. You can find some for Farmhouse Culture here: https://www.farmhouseculture.com/kraut
Thanks, I have tried those tricks. I am doing this to track my electrolytes for sodium, magnesium and
potassium. My Fitness Pal does a pretty good job, but not
always accurate for all foods and it does not track magnesium at all…so I am just
trying to keep a separate daily log to stay on top of it. Sodium is not
an issue and pretty easy to get with meals. I can get most of my
magnesium from food. Potassium is a bit harder. I eat quite a bit of
fermented foods but have had a hard time finding all the nutritional
information. My
daily targets: 300 mg sodium, 400 mg magnesium, and 4700 mg potassium. Cheers and Be Well
Holly, I made my first jar last night! Ive been afraid to do this for so long because I don’t want to poison my family if I do it incorrectly 🙂 I have a few questions. I didn’t quite get the instructions on zeroing out the scale. I put my bowl on and hit Tare. It was 3.8 oz. While I sliced the cabbage it automatically zeroed out while the bowl was still on the scale. I added everything until it read 1 lb 12 oz (28 oz). I didnt have to do any subtracting of the weight of the bowl since it timed out? Question 2: I had more brine than would fit in the jar once I added a little 4 oz garlic jar inside. Is it ok for the brine to go all the way up to the lid? I thought you said leave an inch of space but you show two pictures– one with an inch headspace and one with brine to the top. I lightly screwed on the lid until it stopped. Assuming that is not too tight…. Oh, and will ants be attracted to this? We seem to get them in the kitchen in the spring! Thanks for bearing with me……love your site and have shared it!
What if I have a few floaties right after filling and closing the jar? Do I need to get them out and reseal the jar or what should I do?