11/09/21

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

JUMP TO RECIPE

I actually enjoy grocery shopping. Well, I enjoy it when I have plenty of time and I’m by myself (if you want to take me close to a meltdown, make me do a week’s worth of grocery shopping with Husband and the kids in tow). 

But I used Instacart for the first time this weekend! You know, the DoorDash of grocery shopping? Overall, it was great and I will totally be using it again but the one negative was the produce selection.

I imagined the shopper thinking, hmmm… this heifer is too bougie to buy her own groceries so I’m going to pick the crappiest looking vegetables in this entire store to remind her she puts her black leggings on one leg at a time like the rest of us. 

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts! Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

It was bad. Mama was eying the lettuce like, mm-hmmm how’d that work out for you and your CompuServe?

Evidently, if you reach all the way to the back of the bin and dig down to the bottom, you can find brussels sprouts that have black dirt all over their bruised, wilted leaves AND if you try real hard you can find hearts of romaine with actual slime in the bag. Super!

I had to toss the lettuce but I wanted to try to salvage the brussels sprouts. Once I started trimming off the outer leaves and cleaning them good, they were fine but they would not be very pretty to look at if I cooked them whole, or even halved. 

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts! Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

What to do??? What to do???

I’d seen a few recipes for salads and slaws made with thinly sliced sprouts (shaved or shredded, they’re called) and thought, meh, lets shred them like that and cook them. They’ll be alright!

Then I worried there wouldn’t be enough left to feed everybody once I’d trimmed all the bar brawl bruises and busted leaves off so I decided to add some other stuff to beef them up.

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts! Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

I was already going to use bacon then decided to add toasted pecans and dried cranberries to give everything sort of an Autumn/Fall/Thanksgiving feeling.

Now that I’ve made it – AND LOVE IT – I might add it to this year’s Thanksgiving menu and if not then, it will be amazing with a Christmas ham!

Mama walked over after I'd finished cooking everything and I thrust the bowl at her with a fork and told her to try it. I knew she would love it and I really wanted to redeem myself for the punky produce or I'd never hear the end of it. And she did - she LOVED it!! I asked if she thought I should tweak anything and she said it was perfect! YASSSS!!

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts! Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

NOTES ABOUT COOKING THESE SHREDDED BRUSSELS SPROUTS:

  • Cook the brussels sprouts per your preference. I wanted mine to be soft with just a tiny bit of bite here and there. If you’d like yours to be more al dente, cook less and then obviously cook longer if you’d like them to be soft all the way through.
  • Feel free to substitute raisins for the dried cranberries, walnuts for the pecans or leave either out.
  • Use sweetened dried cranberries such as Craisins brand.
  • I didn’t use fresh garlic because I didn’t want the garlic flavor to stand out too much but you’re more than welcome to! Add it half-way through cooking the brussels sprouts. 
  • If you’d like to omit the bacon, use about 3 tablespoons olive oil instead.

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts! Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

If you love brussels sprouts, be sure to check out my recipe for ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS too! They are tossed with olive oil and roasted with fresh garlic and sea salt! 

Recipe for Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts! Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Craisin Bacon Shredded Brussels Sprouts
Yield: 6 Servings
Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 20 Min
Thinly sliced brussels sprouts sautéed with crispy bacon, toasted crunchy pecans and sweet, tangy dried cranberries makes a perfect side dish recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!

Ingredients

  • 1 lb brussels sprouts
  • 4 pieces thick-sliced bacon
  • 1/2 cup pecan pieces
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  1. Add pecans to a large skillet then cook over medium heat until lightly toasted and fragrant. Remove pecans and set aside.
  2. Cut bacon into small pieces then cook in the same skillet over medium heat until very crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon, leaving the drippings in the pan. Set bacon aside to add back later.
  3. While pecans and bacon cook, prepare the brussels sprouts. Cut ends off each sprout and any wilted outer leaves. Slice each in half lengthwise. With the cut side down, slice each half into thin strips, starting with the top end and working your way back to the stem end.
  4. Add shredded brussels sprouts, dried cranberries, salt, garlic and pepper to the skillet with the bacon drippings then sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until sprouts are tender-crisp.
  5. Add cooked bacon and toasted pecans to skillet then continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Enjoy!

Notes

  • Cook the brussels sprouts per your preference. I wanted mine to be soft with just a tiny bit of bite here and there. If you’d like yours to be more al dente, cook less and then obviously cook longer if you’d like them to be soft all the way through.
  • Use sweetened dried cranberries such as Craisins brand.
  • Feel free to substitute raisins for the dried cranberries, walnuts for the pecans or leave either out.
  • I didn’t use fresh garlic because I didn’t want the garlic flavor to stand out too much but you’re more than welcome to! Add it half-way through cooking the brussels sprouts. 
  • If you’d like to omit the bacon, use about 3 tablespoons olive oil instead.
brussels, brussel, sprouts, shaved, shredded, slaw, sliced, chopped, bacon, cranberries, craisins, pecans, autumn, fall, thanksgiving, christmas, winter, dinner, easy, best, hot, how to, fresh, recipe, garlic, skillet, pan, sauteed
side dish, vegetable
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4 comments:

  1. I know I love this already. We actually love brussels sprouts at our house and all of your mix-ins sound perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm going to make this delicious Salad for Thanksgiving. Can you tell me how well it holds up? Going to my aunt's house early to help cook TG dinner. Could I make this at home in the morning for a 2PM mealtime, or will it break down after a few hours?

    p.s. I love your recipes Mandy. SYM is my go to recipe site!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it would be just fine! Don't cover it until it's cooled to room temperature then just reheat in a skillet or, if you microwave, just don't overheat it. And THANK YOU! Happy Thanksgiving!

      Delete
  3. I've cooked versions of this but these proportions were the perfect mix. To make a main dish, serve with some brown rice. It makes a beautiful dish.

    ReplyDelete

Hi there! While I’m not able to respond to every comment, I try hard to answer any questions that haven’t been addressed in the post, recipe or in other comments.

I can tell you now 1) I have no idea if you can substitute Minute Rice or brown rice in my recipes because I’ve never used them and 2) If I know how to convert a recipe to a Crock Pot version, I will make a note about it (otherwise, I don’t know).

And though I may not respond to them all, I do read each and every comment and I LOVE to hear from you guys! Thanks, y’all! - Mandy