How to make it
How to make sauerkraut at home with the tested salt ratio
Shredded cabbage, salt and time. The tested method from the National Center for Home Food Preservation, scaled to one 5-pound batch, with the safety checks that matter.
By the editors of Alimentotherapy Last reviewed 6 min read Not medical advice
- Makes
- About 2 quarts (from 5 pounds of cabbage)
- Hands-on
- 45 minutes
- Total time
- 3 to 6 weeks
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The short answer
Mix 5 pounds of shredded cabbage with 3 tablespoons of canning or pickling salt, pack it under its own brine and ferment at 70 to 75°F for about three to four weeks, following the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) method Nchfp. As for health effects, our fermented foods page grades the human evidence as limited: the best trial found a fermented-food diet raised gut microbe diversity and lowered inflammatory markers in 18 healthy adultsWastyk 2021.
Ingredients and method
Ingredients
- 5 pounds (about 2.3 kg) firm, fresh green cabbage
- 3 tablespoons canning or pickling salt (not iodized table salt or flake salt)
- For top-up brine if needed: 1 1/2 tablespoons canning salt per quart of water, boiled and cooled
Equipment
- 1-gallon food-grade container: glass jar, food-grade plastic bucket or unchipped glazed crock (1 gallon per 5 pounds of cabbage)
- A plate that fits just inside the container
- A large food-grade plastic bag (such as a freezer bag) to fill with brine as a weight
- Large bowl, sharp knife or mandoline, measuring spoons
- Clean bath towel to cover
Clean everything
Wash the container, plate and any jars in hot, soapy water and rinse well with very hot water. Wash your hands.
Shred the cabbage
Use cabbage within a day or two of harvest or purchase. Discard the outer leaves, rinse the heads under cold running water and drain. Quarter, cut out the cores and shred to about the thickness of a quarter.
Salt and pack
In the container, mix the cabbage with 3 tablespoons of salt using clean hands. Pack it down firmly until the salt draws out enough juice to cover the cabbage. The rim should sit at least 4 to 5 inches above the cabbage.
Top up if needed
If the juice does not cover the cabbage, add boiled and cooled brine made with 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt per quart of water. The cabbage must stay 1 to 2 inches under the brine.
Weigh it down
Set the plate on the cabbage. Fill a food-grade plastic bag with brine (1 1/2 tablespoons salt per quart of water, so a leak does not dilute the kraut), seal it and set it on the plate. Cover the container with a clean towel.
Ferment
Keep at 70 to 75°F for about 3 to 4 weeks. At 60 to 65°F allow 5 to 6 weeks. Below 60°F it may not ferment; above 75°F it may turn soft. With a brine bag, leave it undisturbed until bubbling stops. If you used jars as weights instead, check 2 to 3 times a week and remove any scum.
Refrigerate
When bubbling stops, pack the kraut and its juice into clean jars, cover tightly and refrigerate. It keeps for several months. For shelf storage, can it by the NCHFP boiling-water method instead.
If you need the equipment
Where the method comes from
The steps above follow the NCHFP sauerkraut recipe, adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. The original is written for 25 pounds of cabbage with 3/4 cup of salt, worked 5 pounds and 3 tablespoons at a time, and yields about 9 quarts Nchfp. A single 5-pound round in a 1-gallon container is the same recipe at one fifth the size; NCHFP says to allow 1 gallon of container for each 5 pounds of vegetablesNchfp.
Salt for sauerkraut (NCHFP)
| Cabbage | Canning or pickling salt | Container |
|---|---|---|
| 5 lb | 3 tablespoons | 1 gallon |
| 25 lb | 3/4 cup | 5 gallons |
| Top-up brine, per quart of water | 1 1/2 tablespoons | - |
In the kitchen
Quart and half-gallon mason jars work for sauerkraut, but NCHFP notes they may lead to more spoilage losses than a larger crock or bucket Nchfp. If you use a jar, a small brine-filled bag pressed into the neck keeps the cabbage under.
Why salt and temperature matter
Sauerkraut is preserved by the lactic acid that bacteria on the cabbage make as they ferment it. Salt draws water out of the cabbage to make the brine and steers the fermentation: in fermented foods, NCHFP explains, salt favors the growth of desirable bacteria while inhibiting others, and it is vital to safety as well as flavor and texture. Its caution is plain: do not try to make sauerkraut by cutting back on the salt Nchfp.
Temperature sets the pace. USDA recommends 70 to 75°F, where the kraut is fully fermented in about three to four weeks; at 60 to 65°F it can take five to six weeks; below 60°F it may not ferment at all, and above 75°F it may soften Nchfp. A spare room or a cupboard away from the stove usually does the job. See the fermentation guide for the wider picture, including why brined vegetables are a different risk from foods stored in oil.
What sauerkraut can and cannot do
Unheated homemade kraut carries live lactic acid bacteria. Whether eating them changes health is still an open question. In a 17-week Stanford trial, healthy adults randomized to eat more fermented foods (18 per group) had steadily rising gut microbiota diversity and falling inflammatory markers, while a high-fiber group did not show the same diversity change Wastyk 2021. It is one small trial with a mix of ferments, so our fermented foods page grades gut microbiome diversity as limited. A 2017 review notes that only a limited number of clinical studies on fermented foods have been done Marco 2017.
Canning heats the kraut to make it shelf-stable, so canned sauerkraut keeps its flavor but not its live microbes. If live cultures are the point, keep it refrigerated. For how it compares with kimchi, see kimchi vs sauerkraut, and for gut-focused eating more broadly, the gut microbiome page.
MAOIs, salt and who should go carefully
Tyramine forms in foods through the action of certain microbes. A 2018 review credits starter cultures and hygiene rules for the low tyramine content of most modern commercial foods Gillman 2018. Home ferments rely on wild microbes instead, so if you take an MAOI antidepressant, follow the food list from your prescriber; MedlinePlus warns that foods high in tyramine can cause a serious reaction with phenelzine MedlinePlus. More on tyramine and MAOIs.
Kraut is also salty by design. If you are on a low-sodium diet for heart or kidney reasons, use it as a condiment and count it.
Food safety
- Do not reduce the salt. In fermented sauerkraut the salt favors the lactic acid bacteria and holds back spoilage microbes; NCHFP warns against cutting it.
- Use canning or pickling salt. Flake salts vary in density, so a tablespoon of one is not a tablespoon of another.
- Keep the cabbage 1 to 2 inches under brine. Skim surface scum if it forms. Discard the batch if it is slimy, smells rotten or grows fuzzy, colored mold.
- Use food-grade containers only (never trash bags or non-food plastic), and avoid old or chipped glazed crocks that may leach lead into an acidic food.
- Sauerkraut is salty: count it if you are on a low-sodium diet.
- If you take an MAOI antidepressant, follow your prescriber's food list before eating home-fermented foods (tyramine).
Common questions
How much salt do I need for 5 pounds of cabbage?
3 tablespoons of canning or pickling salt, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. If the cabbage's own juice does not cover it, top up with boiled and cooled brine made with 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt per quart of water.
How do I know when sauerkraut is done?
When the bubbling stops. At 70 to 75 degrees F that takes about three to four weeks; at 60 to 65 degrees F, five to six weeks, per NCHFP. Then cover tightly and refrigerate, where it keeps for several months.
What should I do if mold grows on sauerkraut?
Skim off a thin white surface scum if it forms. Discard the whole batch if the kraut is slimy, smells rotten, or has fuzzy, colored mold, and wash and rinse the container well before reusing it.
Sources
Primary research and government sources, each checked on the date this page was reviewed.
- GuidelineNational Center for Home Food Preservation (University of Georgia). Sauerkraut. Adapted from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2015.
- GuidelineNational Center for Home Food Preservation. Suitable Containers, Covers, and Weights for Fermenting Food.
- GuidelineNational Center for Home Food Preservation. General Information on Fermenting.
- PubMedWastyk HC, et al. Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status. Cell. 2021. PMID 34256014.
- PubMedMarco ML, et al. Health benefits of fermented foods: microbiota and beyond. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2017. PMID 27998788.
- PubMedGillman PK. A reassessment of the safety profile of monoamine oxidase inhibitors: elucidating tired old tyramine myths. J Neural Transm. 2018. PMID 30255284.
- MedlinePlusMedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine). Phenelzine: drug information.
Keep reading
- RemedyFermented foodsSauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kefir and kombucha. One well-run trial suggests eating more of them changes the gut microbiome; claims beyond that are mostly untested in people.
- Kitchen practiceFermentationThe oldest way to keep vegetables through winter. A tested method, the right salt and clean equipment make it safe; the health claims are more modest than the hype.
- GoalFood and the gut microbiome: fiber, fermented foods and probioticsMicrobiome science is young. A varied, fiber-rich diet is sensible on many grounds, one small trial found fermented foods raised microbe diversity, and probiotic evidence is strain- and condition-specific.
- ComparisonKimchi vs sauerkrautBoth are cabbage fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Kimchi has a handful of small trials on blood sugar and blood pressure; sauerkraut has a pilot study in IBS. Neither has enough to grade, so choose by taste, salt and how you will eat it.
- InteractionAged, fermented and cured foods high in tyramine and MAO inhibitor antidepressants, such as phenelzine (Nardil)Eating high-tyramine foods while taking an MAO inhibitor can cause a sudden, dangerous rise in blood pressure, sometimes called the cheese reaction.