Healthy Creamy Coleslaw

Healthy Creamy Coleslaw made with basic wholesome ingredients for an amazing side dish or condiment! This easy to prepare recipe will bedazzle your friends and family.

I recently found myself craving a massive pile of coleslaw. Does this ever happen to you?

While I’m all about traditional coleslaw recipes made with mayo and sugar, I try to keep the food I make at home a little lighter in order to try to maintain some semblance of discipline, but also to justify the volume I’m about to eat.

So I whipped up this healthy creamy coleslaw with a mayo-free dressing and it truly hit the spot. 

I’ve tried this healthy coleslaw recipe two ways, one using coconut cream (the thick part of coconut milk), and one using non-fat Greek yogurt for the base of the dressing in place of mayonnaise. Both work great!

The one caveat with the coconut milk version is the dressing stiffens up a bit in the refrigerator so it isn’t quite as saucy, making it more ideal for a coleslaw you eat immediately rather than saving. The flavor is there, though!

Typically, I add sliced almonds to my coleslaw recipes for a little crunch, but this time I added roasted salted sunflower seeds, and let me just say, what a great decision!

Sunflower seeds add a nice little burst of texture and their flavor is so fun!

If you prefer a vinegar coleslaw over s creamy coleslaw, check out my Mayo-Free Coleslaw, which uses an Italian dressing rather than a creamy dressing.

The way I see it, this no mayo coleslaw is one of those all-star coleslaw recipes you can whip up any time and it will disappear quickly, specially at a summer cookout. It’s crisp, cool, refreshing, and inviting with tangy flavor and colorful veggies. It plays very well as an easy side dish with just about any main entrée and other side dishes.

Let’s discuss the fresh ingredients needed to make this thing happen.

Ingredients for Healthy Creamy Coleslaw:

Green and Purple Fresh Cabbage: The classic coleslaw ingredient! For color and vitamin content, I like using both green and purple cabbage in coleslaw. Because purple cabbage is tougher, I use mostly green cabbage. If you want to omit the purple cabbage, feel free to substitute it with an additional cup of green.

Carrots: Grated carrots add lovely texture and natural sweetness to coleslaw, which I absolutely love. Plus it gives a nice pop of color.

Green Onions: Bringing a zing of flavor, fresh green onions generate that burst of flavor without being too overpowering like regular yellow or red onion.

Sunflower Seeds: A little crunch from sunflower seeds is so lovely in this slaw! It may sound weird to add seeds or nuts to a coleslaw recipe, but trust me, it adds such a neat dimension. 

For the Creamy Coleslaw Dressing: Greek plain yogurt (or coconut cream for dairy-free), avocado oil (or olive oil), rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) garlic powder, pure maple syrup (or a bit of honey), and sea salt.

This combination of dressing ingredients yields a creamy, tangy, sweet healthy coleslaw dressing that ties everything together so nicely. 

The Greek yogurt dressing keeps the slaw low calorie, whereas using coconut cream or avocado oil mayonnaise brings an infusion of healthy fats.

Pure maple syrup is used to add sweet flavor to the dressing without the need for white sugar. You can easily replace it with your favorite sweetener.

To save yourself some time, you can pick up a couple bags of pre-shredded coleslaw mix from the produce section of the grocery store, which is typically a combination of shredded green cabbage, purple cabbage, and carrot. This eliminates a few minutes of the prep.

Optional Recipe Adaptations:

Add 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard or 2 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of celery seed to the tangy dressing if you like them.

You can also add green or red bell peppers if you enjoy them in your slaw.

Use broccoli slaw mix from the produce section of the grocery store.

Replace the plain yogurt with avocado oil mayo, vegan mayo, or light mayo if you prefer using mayonnaise in your cole slaw dressings.

Now that we’ve covered the simple ingredients list, let’s make this healthy coleslaw recipe!

How to Make Healthy Creamy Coleslaw:

Mix together the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl until well-combined. If you own a small blender like a Nutribullet or a small food processor, feel free to use it!

Thinly slice the cabbage using a sharp knife and grate the carrots using a box grater. Add the sliced green cabbage, red cabbage, grated carrot, green onions and sunflower seeds to a large mixing bowl.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and stir well until everything is combined and the cabbage is well-coated in dressing.

Serve this healthy coleslaw immediately with you main dish, or store it in an airtight container for later. Coleslaw will stay nice and crisp for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

You’ll love this simple coleslaw recipe for a healthier version anyone can enjoy!

How Much Does This Recipe Make?:

This coleslaw recipe yields about 6 cups of coleslaw, which serves 4 to 6 people (depending on whether or not other side dishes are available).

You can easily double or even triple the recipe if you’re serving more than four just to be sure there is enough.

Coleslaw saves well for a couple of days but by the fourth day, the cabbage becomes somewhat wilted and less lively. You can easily prepare this the night before or day before you serve it, but I wouldn’t suggest making it more than two days in advance.

Use this tasty fresh homemade coleslaw on Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa, Shrimp Tacos with Chipotle Lime Sauce, hot dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, an easy salad, or as a great side dish to any meal.

If you love perfect side salad recipes like this, also try The BEST Broccoli Salad and The BEST Potato Salad!

Looking for main entrees to pair with coleslaw? Here are some of my favorite recipes that go well with coleslaw.

Main Entrée Suggestions:

• Prime Rib Recipe
• Crock Pot Ribs
• The Best Grilled Chicken Thighs
• Skillet Salmon
• Grilled Chicken Kabobs
• Grilled Salmon

Coleslaw all day every day!

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.