Warm Brussels Sprout Salad With Bacon and Hazelnut Vinaigrette Recipe (2024)

Quick Salads
Hazelnuts
Bacon
Brussels Sprouts
Thanksgiving Appetizers

A simple seven-ingredient salad packed with flavor.

J. Kenji López-Alt

Culinary Consultant

Kenji is the former culinary director for Serious Eats and a current culinary consultant for the site. He is also a New York Times food columnist and the author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.

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Updated April 03, 2023

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Why It Works

Lightly crushed hazelnuts and honey act as an emulsifier, creating a creamy vinaigrette that holds together.
Rendered bacon fat performs double duty, both as a cooking medium for Brussels sprouts leaves, and as an essential flavor in the vinaigrette.

Adri and I once had a wonderful meal atDirty Habit, my old chefDave Bazirgan's restaurant in San Francisco. As my first real chef, I credit him with a lot of things. Teaching me how to judge my own work (and start over if it's not good enough). Instructing me on therightway to make hollandaise by hand (I've sincestarted using the hand blender). Giving me the tools to be able to tell the difference between good and bad ingredients (and when it's okay to use the latter). Giving me my first taste of a truly excellent warm spinach and bacon salad.

It was this latter—something he threw together for our back-of-the-house family meal one day to prove to the rest of the kitchen staff that it didn't have to just be a random stew of odds and ends—that inspired this dish, a super-simple salad of warm Brussels sprouts leaves in a vinaigrette made from warm bacon fat, shallots, hazelnuts, honey, and sherry vinegar with just a touch of extra-virgin olive oil.

I have to say, it actually works a great deal better than the spinach-based original. Brussels sprouts and bacon fat were born to be together, and hazelnuts are a classic pair with both. The honey in the dressing makes it just sweet enough to temper the bite of sherry vinegar and help it pair up with the bacon fat.

To get the best texture out of the sprouts, I like to peel off as many layers of whole leaves as possible. This gives the dressing, hazelnuts, and bacon bits something to cup into.

Once I get down to the very central core of each sprout, I slice it thin so that it cooks in just about the same time as the whole leaves.

Once I've rendered out the bacon fat and added it to the dressing, I use the remaining fat in the pan to very rapidly sauté the Brussels sprouts leaves. I find that you get the best combination of nutty, lightly charred flavor with crisp texture by adding the leaves in a single layer once the bacon fat starts lightly smoking, then letting it sit to char on the first side for about a minute before rapidly sautéing.

The great part about this particular vinaigrette is that because of the high proportion of emulsifiers (both honey and the small particles created by pounding the hazelnuts help the bacon fat and vinegar get along nicely), you don't even have to take the typicalslowly-drizzle-while-whisking-constantlyapproach to forming the vinaigrette. You can just dump all the ingredients together and whisk it until it emulsifies naturally.

The end result, with its sweet, crunchy-tender greens, shallots, and bacon is very reminiscent of a classic Frenchfrisée aux lardonssalad (yet another dish that Baz taught me to make for the first time).

Come to think of it, whydon'tI take it all the way and put apoached egg on here?

These are the kinds of questions that keep me awake at night.

October 2014

Recipe Details

Warm Brussels Sprout Salad With Bacon and Hazelnut Vinaigrette

Active30 mins

Total30 mins

Serves2 servings

Ingredients

12 ounces Brussels sprouts
3/4 cup hazelnuts
1 small shallot, finely minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 ounces bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Trim off bottoms of Brussels sprouts and separate leaves that are released. Transfer leaves to a large bowl. Continue trimming off the bottom and removing released leaves until only the very central core remains.
Thinly slice the central core and transfer to bowl with the released leaves. Discard trimmed bottoms.
Pound hazelnuts in a mortar and pestle or under a small skillet until coarsely crushed and then transfer to a medium bowl. Add shallots, honey, vinegar, and olive oil and set aside.
Spread bacon in a medium cast iron or non-stick skillet and place over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until completely crisp and fat has rendered, about 4 minutes total. Using a slotted spoon, Transfer bacon to a small bowl. Pour two tablespoons bacon fat into bowl with hazelnut mixture and whisk to combine. Season hazelnut mixture to taste with salt and pepper.
Return skillet with remaining bacon fat to high heat and heat until lightly smoking. Add Brussels sprouts, spread in an even layer, season with salt and pepper, and cook without moving for 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking, shaking and stirring constantly, until leaves are bright green and just starting to turn tender, about 1 minute longer. Transfer to a large bowl. Add bacon and dressing and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Special Equipment

Mortar and pestle

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
663	Calories
52g	Fat
31g	Carbs
26g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2
Amount per serving
Calories	663
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 52g	66%
Saturated Fat 8g	42%
Cholesterol 42mg	14%
Sodium 861mg	37%
Total Carbohydrate 31g	11%
Dietary Fiber 9g	33%
Total Sugars 15g
Protein 26g
Vitamin C 108mg	541%
Calcium 128mg	10%
Iron 5mg	26%
Potassium 1147mg	24%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)