Brussels Sprouts, Apple & Pomegranate with Candied Pecans Salad Recipe

I’ve got a very unique Brussels sprouts salad for you today. It can be prepared in two ways. One uses raw sprouts and the other uses roasted ones. Since I made both last night and since I prefer the roasted, I’ll give directions for that version below. You may want to try both, just to see which you prefer.

The Recipe

This recipe is versatile. You can easily substitute ingredients and you can roast the Brussels sprouts to any degree you wish. Overall, this is a good salad. It takes advantage of pomegranate arils, apple, onion and a nice Greek yogurt dressing that everything is mixed into. In the original recipe, it was called a slaw. That can be true, depending on how thinly you slice the Brussels sprouts.

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6

1-2 Pounds of Fresh Brussels Sprouts
1 Apples, Cored and Chopped
Seeds (Arils) from One Pomegranate
1/4 Large Red Onion, Peeled and Chopped
1/4 Cup Pure Maple Syrup
1 1/2 Cups Pecans
1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
1 Tablespoon Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

Step-by-Step Instructions

I’d like to thank Natasha from Salt & Lavender for this recipe. She did a really great job with this one and I’m proud to pass it along.

Pre-Heat the Oven

Make sure one of the oven racks is in the center position and then pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prep the Ingredients

This is where you’re going to need to make a few decisions. If you’d like to keep the Brussels sprouts raw, then you’ll need to trim the bottoms from them and slice them very thinly. Brussels sprouts can be tough like this, so you’ll want to make them as easy to eat as possible. They do have an interesting flavor and texture when they’re raw, so don’t discount it.

I prefer to roast my Brussels sprouts so they’re a bit softer on the palate. Because of this, I trimmed the bottoms and cut my Brussels sprouts into quarters and eighths. Just to break them down a bit.

Next, I chopped the red onion and the apple.

Finally, I placed the pre-seeded pomegranate arils in a bowl to measure them out. My grocery store didn’t have any fresh pomegranates, so I had to purchase the processed ones. Same thing. These were put out by POM Wonderful.

Roast the Brussels Sprouts

Spread the chopped Brussels sprouts out on a large baking sheet and place the sheet in the oven. For fully roasted sprouts, keep them in the oven for 25 minutes. For just tender ones, limit the time to 15 minutes. I chose the 15 minute route and it was perfect. Next time, I’ll try going for the 25 minutes to make things even softer.

Prepare the Dressing

In a medium sized bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix these ingredients together well.

Candy the Pecans

Warm a small skillet over medium heat. Then, add the pecans and the maple syrup. Stir these ingredients for a few minutes until you feel the syrup begin to thicken and become sticky. Once that happens, remove the skillet from the heat and allow the nuts to cool. For another version of this same technique, please check out this post.

Combine Ingredients

In a large bowl, add the Brussels sprouts, apple, pomegranate and red onion. Mix everything well.

Then, add the yogurt dressing and mix everything else into it so it’s coated well.

Plate & Serve

Divide the salad between plates. Then, add the candied pecans to the salads. I found that they stay crunchier if you add the nuts last. Serve and enjoy!

The Final Brussels Sprouts Salad

While it took a bit of tweaking to find the combination I preferred the most, I did it and things came out well. As I said, I think I’ll fully roast the Brussels sprouts next time and let them cool completely before I continue on with the remainder of the recipe. I really do love these vegetables when they’re roasted. Anyway, if you give this dish a try, please let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!