Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts

Super quick and easy pan fried brussels sprouts tossed in a sweet honey soy sauce glaze! No need for ovens or a roasting pan for this one!

All my life, I had no idea what brussels sprouts tasted liked – I barely knew what they looked like. One thing I did know was that everyone I ever spoke to always seemed to hate them. They were apparently always vile things that are not meant to be eaten. I saw that as a challenge and I took my chances with it and have not regretted it since.

 

Brussels sprouts are definitely not your average looking veggie. To me they looked like a mini cabbage but tasted like a very common Chinese veggie I grew up eating – Gai Lan choy. I could see why people didn’t like the flavour – it was slightly bitter but it was a good bitter, a flavourful bitter but to be honest I thought it tasted fantastic (and I don’t normally like vegetables!), you just had to make sure it was never overcooked or boiled. 🙂

 

 

For this pan fried brussels sprouts recipe, I caramelized the onions, garlic and brussels sprouts, I found the caramelization toned the bitter flavour down a bit because it gave it a nutty flavour that almost hid the bitterness. Brussels sprouts also doesn’t need to be cooked for a long time, I find they taste best when they still have a bit of a chew to them. Lastly, I tossed it with a soy sauce honey glaze which worked quite well with the caramelization flavours.

 

 

INGREDIENTS

For this honey glazed pan fried brussels sprouts recipe, all ingredients can be found at a local grocery store.

 

 

It’s a bit counter intuitive but when you are shopping for brussels sprouts, try to use fresh ones and pick the smaller ones. They have a sweeter flavour and tend to be more tender as well. 🙂 Also try to always buy fresh brussels sprouts – frozen brussels sprouts tend to be soggy and a bit water logged since it has been previously frozen which changes the texture of it.

 

 

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Brussels sprouts are pretty easy to work with, peel off any yellow outer leaves and cut off the ends if they look super dirty. A few leaves may come off, you can keep them or discard them – I don’t like to waste food so I usually just keep them.

 

 

Generally, brussels sprouts are very clean, but I have found a few in the past with sand or grit stuck in between the leaves, so when you wash these, throw them in a bowl of water and dunk them up and down a few times for good measure 🙂

 

 

GARLIC SMASH! 

Whenever I cook with garlic, I tend to smash them instead of finely mincing it – I find they stay intact more and have a bigger surface area so they burn less.

 

 

 

FLAT SIDE DOWN MAXIMIZES THE YUMMINESS!

When you are browning the brussels sprouts, try to keep them flat side down as much as you can to maximize the caramelization. That’s were all the flavours come from! 🙂

 

 

I converted a brussels sprouts hater with this honey glazed pan fried brussels sprouts recipe – do you have a brussels sprouts hater you want to convert? Try it with this recipe! 😛

 

Tooty, toot toot! Why didn’t anyone tell me the side effects of eating too much of these things? Sheesh! 😉

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