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!

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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. 

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. 

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.

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!!

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.

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

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.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2021/11/craisin-bacon-shredded-brussels-sprouts.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC

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side dish, vegetable

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