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 too long. 🙂
For this pan-fried brussels sprouts recipe, I caramelized the onions, garlic, and brussels sprouts. I found that caramelizing and browning the brussels sprouts gave it a wonderful nutty flavor and really added some wonderful dimension to the dish. Brussels sprouts also don’t need to be cooked for a long time, I find they taste best when they still have a bit of a soft crunch to them. Lastly, I tossed it with a soy sauce honey glaze which gave the whole dish a slightly sweet and savory addictive taste.
INGREDIENTS FOR PAN-FRIED BRUSSELS SPROUTS
- Brussels sprouts – 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 waterlogged since it has been previously frozen which changes the texture of it.
- Garlic and Onions – The garlic and onions add a lot of flavor when combined with the brussels sprouts, especially when the onion is a bit caramelized and browned from the cooking.
- Soy Sauce – I use regular/light soy sauce for this recipe.
- Honey – I usually like to use honey for this recipe because I always have it on-hand but you can also use maple syrup as well if you have it.
- Butter – Try to use unsalted butter for this dish, since the soy sauce will be providing the sodium and you don’t want it overly salty.
- Corn Starch – I use corn starch as a thickener for the sauce so that the sauce can coat the brussels sprouts better for more flavor, however I have tried this without a thickener and it worked just as well – the sauce is just a bit runnier. If you’re okay with that, you can definitely skip the corn starch.
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 where 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! 😛
LOOKING FOR MORE SIDES RECIPES LIKE THESE PAN FRIED BRUSSELS SPROUTS? TRY THESE!
- Sweet Ginger Soy Fried Cabbage
- Roasted Okra Recipe
- Honey Miso Garlic Roasted Potatoes
- Curtido (Salvadoran Pickled Cabbage Slaw)
DID YOU MAKE THIS HONEY GLAZED PAN FRIED BRUSSELS SPROUTS RECIPE?
If you made this Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts recipe, I want to see! Follow Pups with Chopsticks on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag and hashtag it with @pupswithchopsticks and #pupswithchopsticks. I love to know what you are making!
Stay connected and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for all of my latest recipes!
Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
- 1 lb brussels sprouts (fresh, not frozen. approximately 25 small ones)
- small onion (approx. 1/2 cup. sliced)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped, or grated)
- 1 tablespoons butter
Honey Soy Sauce Glaze
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
Instructions
Preparing the Honey Soy Sauce Glaze
- In a small bowl, combine cold water and starch and mix until the starch has dissolved.
- Then add the soy sauce to it, and then the honey and mix together. Set aside.
- Preparation
- Slice the onion up and set aside
- Use the side of your knife and smash the garlic to flatten it. Set it aside for later
Prepping & Browning the Brussels Sprouts
- For each brussel sprout, remove any yellowed outer leaves from the brussels sprouts and slice off the dark tips at the ends and cut them in half lengthwise.
- Give them a good soak in water and dunk it a few times to remove any dirt or soil from between the leaves. Drain them once they are clean.
- In a skillet or frying pan, set to medium heat and add a little oil and butter
- Once the pan is hot, and the butter has melted, add in the onions and cook them for approximately 1 minute
- Add in the brussels sprouts into the pan and try to keep all the brussel sprouts flat side down to brown them (this will take approximately 3-5 minutes depending on how hot your stove is)
- Once the brussels sprouts are brown on the flat side, add in the garlic and stir everything together. Flip the brussels sprouts and brown the rounded side of the brussels sprouts for a minute.
- Once both sides are brown, stir everything together again for a few more seconds and add in 2-3 tablespoons of water and cook the brussels sprouts until the water evaporates.
- Once it is brown, and bright green, transfer everything off the frying pan onto a plate.
Putting It Together
- With the same pan, set the heat to medium low
- Mix the sauce in the bowl with a fork again (the corn starch may settle on the bottom) before adding it into the pan.
- When the pan is hot, add the sauce into the pan and keep stirring the sauce until it has thickened. If the sauce boils too violently, turn down the heat very slightly. You still want the sauce to bubble but on a mild level. Depending on how hot your stove is, this should take about 1-3 minutes.
- Add all the brussels sprouts back into the pan and toss it with all the sauce and serve with toasted sesame seeds!
- Enjoy! 🙂
Notes
- Always try and always use fresh, raw brussels sprouts and avoid frozen brussels sprouts if you don't want soggy brussels sprouts
Nutrition
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Disclaimer: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you, however, I provide these links to make items easier to find if you cannot purchase this locally and I would never recommend anything I don’t own myself or highly recommend. I would prefer you to buy your items locally if possible to support your local shops (and chances are they are cheaper locally as well!) 🙂
Charlie says
Horrible!
Joyce says
Bummer, that sucks! What about this did you find horrible? 🙂