Fun Fact: I prefer my sprouts raw and Cody prefers his the texture of mush. So naturally I’ve been making this beautiful harvest salad featuring shaved brussels sprouts, apples and dried cranberries in a honey dijon dressing.
You can modify as needed (the beauty of a salad, right) but I highly encourage you to try at least at first with both the dried cranberries and the pumpkin seeds. The combo adds this delicious sweet and nutty crunch to the mix. However I think feta instead of parmesean would be lovely. Perhaps mandarin slices in place of apples even. Let me know what you do with it and how it came out in the comments!
To start I wash my produce and towel dry. Remove the bottom part of the brussels sprouts along with the first set of leaves or so. Similar to getting into a head of lettuce or cabbage. To ‘shave’ the sprouts you can use a mandolin or just plain cut thinly with a knife. Or you can do what I do and pull out the food processor. I can have a pound of brussels sprouts shaved in about 30 seconds with the food processor. Set aside.
For the dressing I clean out my food processor and add all my dressing ingredients and pulse for about a minute, scraping along the sides and bottom to pull up any honey that isn’t getting into the emulsion.
Once the dressing is made I mix up all the other ingredients, saving the apple for last so it doesn’t brown. Toss with dressing and serve. You could easily make ahead of time by getting the salad together sans apple (and perhaps cheese) until serving time.
Though I usually serve this as a side salad for my family of four, it could easily stand alone. Adding a grilled chicken breast would make this go from side dish to main entree quite quickly. Marinating the chicken in the dressing would probably be a good place to start, too!
Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 lb brussels sprouts shaved
- 4 slices bacon crumbled
- 1 med apple sliced
- 1/3 Cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 Cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 Cup walnut pieces
- 1/4 Cup parmesean cheese grated or shaved
Dijon vinegrette
- 3 tbsp dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp maple syrup, pure optional
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dehydrated onion flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 4 springs fresh thyme
Instructions
For Salad
- Wash and dry produce, remove bottom and outer layers from brussel sprouts.
- Shave sprouts with knife, mandolin or food processor. Set aside.
- Prepare dressing and cook bacon slices.
- Cut apple slices, grate cheese and crumble bacon.
- Toss all ingredients in salad bowl and add dressing gradually. May have leftover dijon dressing depending on preference.
For dressing
- Add all ingredients to food processor or blender. Only using leaves from thyme and discarding stems. Pulse until combined. Stopping to scrape honey up from bottom and sides.
- Optionally: Whisk all ingredients until blended and smooth.
- Store any leftover dressing in airtight container. Refrigerate.
Notes
- Feta cheese
- Mandarin Slices
- Chicken breast
- Pomegranate seeds
- Kale leaves
- Pecans
- Pears
- Red Onion