What Is Kohlrabi?

Have you ever eaten kohlrabi? These little sputnik-shaped vegetables come in green or purple, can be eaten raw or cooked, and taste a bit like broccoli stems, but milder and slightly sweeter.

The word kohlrabi is German for "cabbage turnip" (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip) though kohlrabi is not a root vegetable at all. It's a brassica—like cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower—and those cute bulbous shapes grow above ground, not below.

Kohlrabi is a rather versatile vegetable when it comes to how to prepare. We usually eat them raw—peeled, sliced and added to a salad or used for serving with a dip.

You can also steam, boil, bake, grill, or roast them. Just peel away the outside thick skin first. Add them to soups or stews. Grate them and toss with grated carrots or apples.

Boil them and mash them with potatoes or other root vegetables. Stir-fry them with other vegetables, or julienne them and fry them like potatoes. Look for Indian recipes using kohlrabi as they are often used in Indian cuisine.

The leaves are also perfectly edible, and can be cooked up like kale.

If you come by some kohlrabi and are wondering what to make with them, we have a kohlrabi ham bake here on Simply Recipes and the following are several enticing ideas from other food blogs:

Kohlrabi Noodle Salad from Love & Lemons

Roasted Kohlrabi from A Veggie Venture

Kohlrabi Green Apple Noodle Salad from Inspiralized

Kohlrabi Carrot Fritters from a Couple Cooks

Quick Kohlrabi Pickles from Hungry Tigress

Mashed Cauliflower and Kohlrabi from The Lemon Bowl

Beet, Kale, and Kohlrabi Salad from a Couple Cooks

Kohlrabi Kim Chi Salad from Jeanette's Healthy Living

Kohlrabi with Spiced Coconut Paste from My Diverse Kitchen

Kohlrabi Curry from Cook's Hideout

Do you have a favorite kohlrabi recipe? If so, please let us know in the comments.