Bacon Brussels Sprouts
How many people grew up thinking Brussels sprouts were just a terribly weird looking vegetable that no one actually ate? I know they were never something I had when I was a kid. So you could imagine my surprise when I realized just how delicious, nutritious, and insanely easy they were to make as an adult. This recipe only calls for 1 pan, you can use two if you want a separate pan for your bacon, but for the sake of speed I had mine ready when I started this recipe.
First, let's take a look at the nutritional facts for these tasty little green globes of goodness.
Holy vitamin K Batman! As well as plenty of vitamin C and Fiber?! Am I selling you on the sprouts yet? Did you know that with those high levels of vitamins C, folic acid and dietary fiber they can help protect against colon and stomach cancer? Well then it's probably also a really good thing there's close to 9,000 different ways to prepare them right? So, without further distraction, let's get to one of those ways, shall we?
Ingredients:
Yeah, seriously, that's it! Actually, if spicy isn't your thing, you'll probably want to skip the magic orange powder in the jar there, because it's home made habanero powder. So really, 6 ingredients to make this amazing side dish.
-Brussels Sprouts (when picking them out you're going to want to look for nice, firm, green sprouts without any yellow leaves or squish to them.)
- Bacon
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Oh, and a little water...7 ingredients!
- Habanero Powder (totally optional)
Cook time: about 20 - 30 minutes
Okay, pay attention here because this one is gonna be pretty quick!
Step 1:
Slice, dice and cut up your sprouts into a nice pile...Or spread them everywhere, I'm not your boss. All you really have to do is make sure there's no really large pieces left. Small to medium sized chunks are okay though.
Step 2:
Toss them into a pan and coat them in olive oil. not too much to where they're swimming in the stuff, but just a nice coat or drizzle
Step 3:
Add in a generous amount of onion powder and garlic powder. Just a dash of salt and, if spice is your thing, toss in your habanero powder here too. (I've also added a little chili powder before as well)
Step 4:
After mixing in your seasoning, add just a LITTLE water and cover on a low to medium heat. This way we get a quick steam to them and bring our cook time down a little.
Step 5:
Stir 1-2 times every 2-3 minutes and place the lid back on. Again, we're just looking for a bit of a quick steam here to soften them up, not too mushy and not too crunchy
Step 6:
Remove the lid and turn the heat up a little bit, this is usually when I add a little bit of extra olive oil to make sure they get a nice fry. Keep stirring and tossing in the pan. These are the steps that we start working towards a nice golden brown.
Step 7:
Juuuust about right. Maybe a minute or two more and a bit of a stir or flip here and there and these sprouts are ready for some bacon!
Step 8:
Oh, did I not mention you were supposed to dice the bacon? Well....Dice the bacon and add it into the pan. Give a few more flips, maybe a taste test to check if it needs more seasoning and this side dish is ready to be served!
Step 9:
Serve up and ENJOY. I usually like to pair this with my normal half an avocado and whatever meat I have prepped for the week. But, you're an adult, I'll leave those options up to you.
