Brussels Sprouts Salad with thinly sliced brussels sprouts, toasted almonds, real Parmesan cheese shavings, and easy lemon garlic dressing. This shaved brussel sprout salad is so good, you will be craving it in summer!
When grill season comes about you’ll love swapping this salad out with spinach strawberry salad, lemon kale salad, and mango black bean salad!
Shaved Brussel Sprouts Salad
This brussels sprouts salad has exceeded all of my expectations. I like but not love roasted brussels sprouts. However, I love sauteed brussels with bacon (then again, can you ever go wrong with pairing bacon and greens – like this bacon-wrapped asparagus?!). But after today, I might just love raw mini cabbages (aka brussel sprouts!)
Because next best thing to eating shavings of fresh Parmigiano Reggiano might be:
- shaved brussels sprouts combined with
- toasted crunchy slivered almonds,
- popping juicy pomegranate arils,
- big slices of fresh Parmesan cheese and…
- garlick-y lemon extra virgin olive oil salad dressing.
And when you let all this goodness marinate for an hour, you will be blown away by what happens to raw shredded brussels sprouts.
They soak up the dressing while softening up and you immediately want to put this salad on your holiday’s menu. Mark my words!
Then when it’s time for dinner, ditch the mini cabbages and go for the full-size instead and enjoy Braised Cabbage with Apples, Cabbage Roll Casserole, Cabbage Stir Fry, or Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage – the Ukrainian in me will always love cabbage!
How to Make Brussel Sprouts Salad
I think the most intimidating part about making anything with shredded brussels sprouts is the shredding part. Do not fret. It is easy-peasy to do even by hand, with a food processor or a mandoline.
- Prep sprouts: Rinse brussels sprouts. Trim the ends and remove outer leaves – using sharp paring knife, cut off the dark part of the stem and remove bruised or 2-3 outer leaves that fall off.
- Shred them: Thinly slice using a sharp chef’s knife. You can also use a food processor with slicing blade. I find mandoline time consuming as you have to attach each mini cabbage to a guard.
- Prep dressing & other ingredients: Toast almond, shave Parmesan, make dressing and peel pomegranate, if necessary.
- Marinate for about 1 hour: Allow raw brussels sprouts to “cook” in the dressing, soften and soak up the flavors for about 1 hour. In a rush? Give it at least 30 minutes.
Variations and Tips
- Brussels substitute: If you really don’t like brussels sprouts, you can use shredded cabbage or even broccoli slaw.
- Pre-shredded sprouts: Buy if your store carries them or shred your own and refrigerate in a Ziploc bag for up to 5 days.
- Nuts options: Substitute slivered almonds with more affordable chopped whole almonds or pecans. Pistachios work well too.
- Parmesan tip: Use real Parmesan cheese and shave it on a slicing side of a box grater.
- Pomegranate substitute: Replace pomegranate with dried cranberries. If sweetened, please note salad will be sweeter.
- Spinach replacement: Instead of spinach you can use kale, arugula, or mixed salad greens.
- Extra protein: Add some chopped cooked chicken or turkey for a well-balanced lunch or dinner. You could also stir in some quinoa.
How to Serve, Store and Make Ahead
Serving: Salad tastes best within 1-5 hours after made. That’s when brussels are soft, almond still crunchy and spinach not soggy.
Storing: Refrigerate leftovers for up to 1 day. Salad will still taste good 90%.
Make ahead by refrigerating a bowl without almonds and salad dressing tightly covered for up to 48 hours. You can also store toasted almonds on a counter. Whisk salad dressing and combine everything at least 1 hour before serving. Easy-peasy.
Serving During the Holidays
I assume many of you will be looking at this salad in October-November. May I suggest a few pairings for your Thanksgiving, holidays, and just a healthy dinner table?
- Boneless turkey breast roast
- Roast turkey breast
- Mashed potatoes with turkey gravy
- Boneless leg of lamb roast
- Mashed sweet potatoes
- Instant Pot turkey breast
- Cauliflower mashed potatoes
- Healthy sweet potato casserole
Also, check out this list of 50 healthy Thanksgiving recipes!
More Salad Recipes
- Lemon kale salad
- Healthy broccoli salad
- Massaged kale salad with winter fruit
- Asparagus salad
- Mexican kale salad
- Kale and quinoa salad with apples and cinnamon dressing
You can also browse all my healthy salads, for more ideas!
Brussels Sprouts Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb brussels sprouts
- 4 cups baby spinach thinly sliced
- 2 small pomegranates 1 cup arils, seeded
- 1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup Parmesan shavings
- 4 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1 small garlic clove grated
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Trim the ends with paring knife and remove outer leaves from brussels sprouts.
- Using sharp chef's knife, slice brussels thinly. Alternatively you can use a food processor with slicing attachment. Transfer to a large salad bowl.
- Toast almonds in a skillet on medium heat, stirring constantly. Transfer to a bowl with brussels.
- Add spinach, pomegranate arils and Parmesan cheese.
- In a small bowl, whisk with a fork olive oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour over salad.
- Toss salad gently with tongs and let marinate for at least 1 hour.
- Serve as a side dish or as a main entree.
Store: Refrigerate salad covered for up to 1 day.
Make Ahead: You can make ahead brussels sprouts salad for up to 24 hours with the dressing. Or up to 48 hours without dressing and almonds and combine everything at least 1 hour before serving.
Notes
- Substitute slivered almonds with more affordable chopped whole almonds or pecans. Pistachios work well too.
- Use real Parmesan cheese and shave it on a slicing side of a box grater.
- Replace pomegranate with dried cranberries. If sweetened, please note salad will be sweeter.
- Instead of spinach you can use kale, arugula or mixed salad greens.
- If you really don't like brussels sprouts, you can use shredded cabbage or even broccoli slaw.
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
Did you try this recipe?
Follow @ifoodreal on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag it #ifoodreal. Show me what you are making!
Hello and welcome to iFOODreal.
My name is Olena Osipov. I'm a mom to 2 boys, a wife to Alex and we reside on magical Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This is our healthy family recipes blog. Originally from Ukraine, I grew up on real food. As an adult, I struggled with diets for years because none worked long-term. Now for over 10 years, I cook easy healthy meals for my family. I can help you with “What’s for dinner?” too.