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    Home » Recipes » Side Dishes

    Pan Fried Honey Soy Brussel Sprouts

    Mar 27, 2023 • Author: Joyce Lee • 29 Comments • This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    5 from 27 votes

    Quick and easy pan-fried brussel sprouts tossed in a sweet honey soy sauce glaze made on a stovetop! No need for ovens or a roasting pan for this one!

    Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts topped with sesame seeds and served in a large bowl
    Table of Contents
    • Pan-Fried Brussel Sprouts with Honey
    • Ingredients for Honey Soy Brussel Sprouts
    • Tips
    • How to Make Pan-Fried Brussel Sprouts
    • Smash the Garlic to Keep them in Larger Pieces
    • Brown the Brussel Sprouts Flat Side Down
    • What To Serve with These Honey Soy Brussel Sprouts
    • More Side Dishes You May Like
    • Recipe Card

    Pan-Fried Brussel Sprouts with Honey

    For this pan-fried brussel sprouts recipe, I caramelized the onions, garlic, and brussel sprouts.

    I found that caramelizing and browning the brussel sprouts gave it a wonderful nutty flavor and really added some wonderful dimension to the dish.

    Brussel 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 these pan-fried brussel sprouts with a soy sauce honey glaze, which is made with honey and soy sauce. This easy sauce gave the whole dish a slightly sweet and savory flavor.

    Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts in a large bowl sprinkled with sesame seeds on top

    Ingredients for Honey Soy Brussel Sprouts

    Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts Ingredients (garlic, honey, soy, onions, Brussels sprouts, butter)
    • Brussel sprouts - It's a bit counter-intuitive but when you are shopping for brussel sprouts, try to use fresh ones and pick the smaller ones. They have a sweeter flavor and tend to be more tender as well. 🙂 Also try to always buy fresh brussel sprouts - frozen brussel sprouts tend to be soggy and a bit waterlogged since it has been previously frozen which changes their texture of it.
    • Garlic and Onions - The garlic and onions add a lot of flavors when combined with the brussel 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 brussel 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.

    Tips

    • Always use fresh, raw brussel sprouts and avoid frozen brussel sprouts if you don't want soggy brussel sprouts
    • Use a large pan to make it easier to cook these brussel sprouts, flat side down in one layer.
    • When picking brussel sprouts at the store, pick smaller ones, instead of large ones. The smaller ones are more tender, and sweeter.

    How to Make Pan-Fried Brussel Sprouts

    Brussel 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.

    Brusells sprouts cut into halves

    Generally, brussel 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 🙂

    Smash the Garlic to Keep them in Larger Pieces

    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.

    Garlic cloves smashed on a cutting board in preparation for Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts recipe

    Brown the Brussel Sprouts Flat Side Down

    When you are browning the brussel sprouts, try to keep them flat side down as much as you can to maximize the caramelization. That's where all the flavors come from! 🙂

    Brussels sprouts being pan fried flat side down in a cast iron pan

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

    Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts in a cast iron pan with dark charring

    What To Serve with These Honey Soy Brussel Sprouts

    This recipe is a recipe I make every Thanksgiving and Christmas and I love serving it with my Herb Roasted Turkey Legs, Coffee Rub Turkey Thighs, or my Peking Chicken!

    More Side Dishes You May Like

    • Sweet Ginger Soy Fried Cabbage
    • Roasted Okra Recipe
    • Honey Miso Garlic Roasted Potatoes
    • Curtido (Salvadoran Pickled Cabbage Slaw)

    If you made this Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussel 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!

    Recipe Card

    Pan Fried Honey Soy Brussel Sprouts

    Super quick and easy pan fried brussel sprouts tossed in a sweet honey soy sauce glaze! No need for ovens or a roasting pan for this one!
    Print Pin Email Rate
    Course: Side
    Cuisine: American, Asian
    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 20 minutes
    3 Servings
    5 from 27 votes
    Made with ♡ by Joyce | Pups with Chopsticks

    Recipe Notes

    • Always use fresh, raw brussel sprouts and avoid frozen brussel sprouts if you don't want soggy brussel sprouts
    • Use a large pan to make it easier to cook these brussel sprouts, flat side down in one layer.
    • When picking brussel sprouts at the store, pick smaller ones, instead of large ones. The smaller ones are more tender, and sweeter.
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
     

    • 1 lb brussel sprouts (fresh, not frozen. approximately  25 small ones)
    • small onion (approx. ½ 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.

    Prepare the Brussel Sprouts, Onions, and Garlic

    • 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
    • For each brussel sprout, remove any yellowed outer leaves from the brussel 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.

    Browning the Brussel Sprouts

    • In a cast iron 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 brussel 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 brussel sprouts are brown on the flat side, add in the garlic and stir everything together. Flip the brussel sprouts and brown the rounded side of the brussel sprouts for a minute.
    • Once both sides are brown, stir everything together again for a few more seconds and add in ¼ cup of water or broth and cook the brussel sprouts until the water evaporates.
    • Once it is brown, and bright green, transfer everything off the frying pan onto a plate and cover it to let it 'steam' and soften while you are making the glaze.

    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 to the pan and keep stirring the sauce until it has thickened.
      If the sauce boils too violently, turn down the heat. You still want the sauce to gently bubble and thicken.
      Depending on how hot your stove is, this should take about 1-3 minutes.
    • Add all the brussel sprouts back into the pan and toss it with all the sauce and serve with toasted sesame seeds!
    • Enjoy! 🙂
      Honey Glazed Pan Fried Brussels Sprouts topped with sesame seeds and served in a large bowl

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 205kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 781mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 27g

    *Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*

    Did you try this recipe?I'd love to hear from you! Let me know how it was and consider giving it a rating! Tag me on Instagram with @pupswithchopsticks to show me!

    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!) 🙂

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Josie says

      May 16, 2023 at 12:14 pm

      5 stars
      I love this nice recipe to cook Brussels Sprouts. Besides its good tasty texture flavour and is very healthy as well.. Thank you Joyce.

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        May 16, 2023 at 12:33 pm

        Hi Josie!
        I'm so happy you liked it!

        Reply
    2. Jordan says

      October 12, 2021 at 8:25 pm

      5 stars
      This was just what I needed tonight! Quick, easy and delicious 🙂 thank you!!!

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        November 02, 2021 at 2:03 pm

        Hi Jordan
        Woohoo! I'm very happy I can share! It's one of my favorite side dishes as well since it's so easy to put together.

        Reply
    3. LB says

      April 15, 2021 at 10:21 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious. I'm made this at least 5 times now and good everytime.

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        April 28, 2021 at 1:06 pm

        Hi LB!
        So happy this turned out for you! 🙂 It's definitely my go-to side dish whenever I can get my hands on some brussel sprouts!

        Reply
    4. Jess says

      March 25, 2021 at 6:14 am

      5 stars
      Absolutely delish! I like mine to be a little crispier so I tossed them under the broiler for a couple minutes!

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        March 25, 2021 at 12:46 pm

        Hi Jess!
        So happy you liked this! I actually love them crispy as well, I will have to try sticking them in the broiler next time as well! Thanks for the brilliant tip! 🙂

        Reply
    5. Emily says

      April 08, 2020 at 3:27 pm

      5 stars
      So good! I also added mushrooms at the end because I had them on hand. A great balance of sweet and salty.

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        April 14, 2020 at 9:08 am

        Hi Emily!
        Great idea with the addition of mushrooms! I should try that next time as well! Thanks for sharing with me!

        Reply
    6. Charlie says

      January 27, 2020 at 5:17 pm

      5 stars
      Horrible!

      Reply
      • Joyce says

        January 31, 2020 at 1:55 pm

        Bummer, that sucks! What about this did you find horrible? 🙂

        Reply
        • Betterintructuctionsplz says

          January 24, 2021 at 6:54 pm

          Your instructions dont include what to do with onions. Maybe that's why

          Reply
          • Kari Holzgang says

            April 04, 2021 at 10:29 pm

            5 stars
            We've made this recipe 5 or 6 times over the last year and love it! The instructions are very clear (onions are sautéed before Brussel sprouts go in the pan, step 4). The hubby likes Brussel sprouts with just oil and garlic. This recipe really allowed the whole family to enjoy them more. Thanks so much!

            Reply
            • Joyce Lee says

              April 28, 2021 at 12:54 pm

              Hi Kari!
              I am so happy everyone in the family enjoyed it! 🙂 and I'm super happy that I can share this with you

              Reply
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    Hi I’m Joyce Lee and Welcome to Pups with Chopsticks! Good eats and cooking is my passion! Join me in my kitchen as I create, test and share traditional and Asian fusion recipes with step-by-step tutorials. Read More…

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