Caramelized Brussels Sprouts:

I have a serious vegetable crush on Brussels Sprouts this season. The market down the street from my house has been keeping them in stock all winter and I make sure to pick up a pound or two every chance I get. I love them almost as-is: just a quick steam, a little bit of salt and a deep caramelization, I can think of few things that are better.
Not only are they delicious, they are super easy to cook and they are packed with Vitamin K, aka potassium, for all of you non banana lovers out there! Plus, they have the highest glucosinolate content of any commonly eaten cruciferous vegetables. (Which is tech speak for important phytonutrients, i.e. nutrients from plants, needed as the base building block for numerous cancer-protective substances, see, told you I was a Nutritionist). Brussels Sprouts are part of the Brassica family, and like all brassicas, they contain the chemical compounds that produce hydrogen sulfide when exposed to heat for a sufficient amount of time. As they cook, their cell walls soften and rupture, which allows for previously separated chemicals to mingle, which then produces sulfurous compounds which not only taste and smell bad, but give these little green gems a bad rap. As a general rule, when it comes to brussels sprouts, never cook them for more than seven minutes during the initial heating and you should be smell free.

Below is my simple yet delicious brussels sprouts recipe. It's a good example of just how important it is to source good quality ingredients, since there is little done to the vegetable, their natural flavor really shines through. For two people, I generally count on 12-16 sprouts to provide enough for each of us. Be sure to select the smallest sprouts at the store, as they will cook the fastest and have the sweetest flavor. Remove any dark or damaged outer leaves, trim the dried out base and cut each sprout in half. At this point, each half will be close to bite-sized. Trust me, with little to no work you too will soon have a crush on these itty-bitty cabbages, guaranteed.

Perfectly Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

Select as many Brussels Sprouts as you think you will eat.

1-2 cups of Water

Pinch of Sea Salt

1-2 tbsp Vegetable Oil


1. Peel the outer leaves of each sprout until you think it looks good enough to eat, trim the stem but not so close that you cut off any leaves, then slice it in half.

2. In a non stick pan, place as many sprouts as will fit on the bottom of the pan. (You may need to do a few rounds of cooking, don't crowd the pan!)

3. Pour water in the pan, sprinkle with salt and crank the heat up to high, bring the water to a boil and let it go until it has all evaporated. If you need to, add more water and continue the steaming process until the sprouts are tender, i.e. a knife can easily pierce each sprout.

4. Once the water is gone, pour the oil down the side of the pan, swirl the pan around until the oil has been distributed. Turn heat to medium and let the sprouts caramelize, face down.


Note: Don't check them too often, I've pretty much found that letting them go for about 5 minutes gives good color, I usually pull them off the stove right at the brink of burnt, it's how my boy likes to eat them, you might want to pull them off sooner, it's really a personal preference.

I've stumbled upon a few other tasty recipes in the past. I recommend you try them my way first, that way you learn what good brussels sprout taste like so that in the future you will be able to know what flavors to pair with them.