Cabbage Calories & Nutrition Calculator

Green cabbage has 25 kcal per 100g, red cabbage has 31 kcal, and savoy cabbage falls between at 27 kcal. That 6-calorie gap between green and red — small as it seems — reflects a genuinely different carbohydrate profile: red cabbage has 7.4g carbs per 100g vs. green's 5.8g, largely due to the anthocyanin pigments that give red cabbage its distinctive color ^[1].

The vitamin C story diverges even more dramatically: red cabbage provides 57mg vitamin C per 100g — 56% more than green cabbage's 36.6mg. Red cabbage also delivers more vitamin A (56mcg RAE vs. 5mcg) and more iron (0.8mg vs. 0.47mg). These differences are nutritionally meaningful when consumed in typical salad-sized portions of 100–200g.

Savoy cabbage occupies a middle ground nutritionally but stands out for fiber (3.1g per 100g — the highest of the three) and folate (80mcg per 100g — roughly double green cabbage's 43mcg). Its crinkled texture holds dressings and seasonings better than smooth-leaf varieties, which affects recipe applications but not inherent nutrition.

A medium head of green cabbage weighs approximately 908 grams and contains about 227 calories. This makes cabbage one of the highest volume-per-calorie vegetables available — you'd need to eat an entire head to reach the calorie equivalent of two slices of bread ^[1].

This volume-to-calorie ratio has practical implications for portion tracking. When shredding cabbage for coleslaw or stir-fry, the volume shrinks considerably: 908g of whole cabbage becomes roughly 10–12 cups shredded. Cooking further reduces the volume by about 50% as the cell walls break down and release water. One cup of raw shredded cabbage (89g, 22 kcal) cooks down to about half a cup.

For food journaling, always weigh cabbage rather than estimating by cups. The volume difference between loosely piled shredded cabbage and tightly packed shredded cabbage can be 2–3x by weight — a cup could weigh 70g (loosely piled) or 130g (packed), producing a calorie estimate ranging from 18 to 33 kcal.

Green cabbage provides approximately 76mcg vitamin K (phylloquinone) per 100g raw — about 63% of the Daily Value (120mcg) in a single cup serving. This places cabbage among the more concentrated dietary sources of vitamin K1, alongside broccoli (101mcg/100g) and Brussels sprouts (177mcg/100g) ^[2].

Red cabbage has slightly less vitamin K at about 38mcg per 100g, while savoy cabbage provides approximately 69mcg per 100g. Cooking has minimal effect on vitamin K content because it's fat-soluble and heat-stable — unlike vitamin C, which drops significantly after boiling.

For nutrition logging purposes, vitamin K is one of the few nutrients that remains consistent across cooking methods. Whether you eat cabbage raw in coleslaw or boiled in soup, the per-gram vitamin K content stays roughly the same. The vitamin C content, by contrast, can drop by more than 50% from raw to boiled.

Raw green cabbage has only 18mg sodium per 100g — one of the lowest-sodium vegetables available. Sauerkraut, made by salting and fermenting shredded cabbage, jumps to approximately 661mg sodium per 100g — a 37x increase. A single cup serving of sauerkraut (142g) contributes about 939mg sodium, roughly 41% of the Daily Value ^[3].

The calorie count also changes during fermentation: sauerkraut has approximately 19 kcal per 100g, slightly lower than raw cabbage (25 kcal), because some carbohydrates are converted to lactic acid and carbon dioxide by lactobacillus bacteria. The fiber content remains similar.

For anyone tracking sodium intake, sauerkraut should be logged as a distinctly different food from fresh cabbage. Even rinsed sauerkraut retains substantial sodium (approximately 400–500mg per 100g). If your food journal has a generic 'cabbage' entry, using it for sauerkraut would understate sodium by 97%.

One cup of raw shredded green cabbage weighs approximately 89 grams (22 kcal). One cup of boiled shredded cabbage weighs approximately 150 grams (35 kcal) — the cooked cabbage is denser because it has wilted and compressed. This 75g weight difference for the same volume means that per-cup calorie counts change significantly between raw and cooked ^[1].

The calorie density per 100g barely changes (25 raw vs. 23 boiled), but the calorie per cup nearly doubles because more grams fit in the cup after cooking. This is a common tracking pitfall: logging '1 cup cabbage' without specifying raw or cooked produces a potential 60% calorie error.

The shredding method also matters. Fine shredding (as for coleslaw) packs more densely than rough chopping — a cup of finely shredded cabbage can weigh 95–100g vs. 70–80g for roughly chopped pieces. For consistent food journaling, weigh the cabbage rather than relying on cup measurements.