The Trick to Making Restaurant-Style Brussel Sprouts at Home - Nikki Vegan (2024)
Nicole Vranjican /
this …
Restaurant Brussel Sprouts are generally delicious. Salty and savory, with charred, crispy edges and a super caramelized exterior that almost makes you forget that you’re eating a vegetable.
I was beginning to think that it was some kind of weird law of nature, like gravity, or the one that says that the winged eyeliner on your right eye will NEVER match the left!
This particular law seem to state: Restaurant Brussel Sprouts are good, and homemade Brussel sprouts are soggy, flavorless wannabes that will never live up to their professionally made counterparts – which feels a bit like “Nature” shrugged and mumbled “deal with it” under its breath…😏
So I’ve been under the assumption that “that’s just the way it goes” until recently, when I stumbled upon this video, which taught me that the kind of pan you use is key because surface area is everything (Like learning how to do the Scotch-tape trick to achieve even eyeliner on both eyes, everything!)
Immediate contact with a very hot, flat pan is what it’s all about, and the best way to do this is to place a cookie sheet inside the oven before pre-heating it to 400 degrees. This allows the pan to become very hot before ever coming into contact with the Brussel Sprouts.
The initial interaction between the sprouts and the searing hot surface of the pan helps to caramelize the edges and ultimately leads to better flavor and a more enjoyable texture. The combination of techniques, searing then roasting, is what gives restaurant Brussel Sprouts the upper hand on the until-now pathetic homemade variety. Eureka!
Avoid using a glass baking dish with very high sides, as this will trap moisture inside the pan, causing the sprouts to steam rather than roast. A cookie sheet is ideal because it allows air to circulate properly. This small change makes a HUGE difference!
Use Fresh. Frozen veggies like peas and cauliflower rice are typically as good as fresh, if not better, but frozen sprouts are always going to be mushy. Read that again: always going to be mushy.
Make sure your Brussel Sprouts are dry before seasoning them. This goes for any veggie you plan on roasting 🙂
A very hot oven is more important than you might think! I’ve found that a 400 degree oven produces a significantly better outcome than one set to 350, for example, because it allows the outside to get really crispy while the inside remains tender and juicy.
Keep an eye on the oven! Give ’em a look every 15-20 minutes or so, stirring if needed, to prevent burning. This is a “your nose knows” situation, so you’ll be able to smell when they’re getting close to done. Trust those instincts 🙂
Below you’ll find the full recipe, which is a veganized restaurant classic: Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan. Nothing novel, no new spices or sauces, or fancy anything…just simple, delicious, CRIPSY Brussel spouts that actually taste good.
Serves 6 as a side dish
1 pound of medium sized Brussel Sprouts
2.5 tbsp grapeseed or olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
4-5 dashes of cayenne pepper
5 grinds of black pepper
3 tbsp of vegan parmesan cheese (I used VioLife for this + feel free to use more cheese if desired)
Place a cookie sheet into the oven and pre-heat to 400 degrees.
Wash and dry the Brussel Sprouts and cut in half.
Then add to a bowl with oil, salt, cayenne, and black pepper. Massage for 2 minutes to ensure that they are well coated.
Carefully remove the hot cookie sheet from the oven and transfer the seasoned sprouts to the pan, cut side down.
Roast for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally when needed (cooking time will differ depending on the size of your sprouts, so roast until they look good to you 🙂 )
Remove the sprouts from the oven and immediately sprinkle with vegan parmesan. Stir one more time.
Serve with an extra sprinkle of vegan parmesan and red pepper flakes if desired.
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Nicole Vranjican
Hey! I’m Nicole and I make practical vegan recipes for REAL life. I cook with simple, easy to find ingredients and I’m passionate about creating delicious plant-based meals that everyone will love!
I hope you enjoy my recipes and videos :) Happy Cooking!
For best results, soak your Brussels sprouts in salt water. Not only does salt act to tenderize the dense sprouts, but it will also help to season them all the way through. It won't take a lot -- just add 1 tablespoon of salt per 1 quart of water and toss in trimmed and halved Brussels sprouts.
A splash of lemon juice, or even apple cider vinegar, works wonders on bitter sprouts. Another key ingredient is fat, which helps Brussels sprouts to crisp up. This is why it's so popular to render bacon fat and cook Brussels sprouts in it, then add the bacon bits back in at the end.
Over the last twenty years, farmers have mellowed the "unpleasant" flavor of brussels sprouts by breeding a vegetable that contains fewer bitter compounds or glucosinolates. So, brussels sprouts just taste better than they used to when we were kids. The rub is that glucosinolates help protect sprouts against pests.
In the late 1990s scientists identified specific chemicals, called glucosinolates, that made Brussels sprouts taste bitter. Plant breeders started growing old seeds, previously discarded for producing paltry harvests, to identify tastier versions with lower levels of these compounds.
Add the brussel sprout halves to a bowl with 1-2 tbsp olive oil, garlic powder, oregano, red chilli powder and salt. 4. Spread them on a baking tray with no parchment paper, with the center FACE DOWN. Bake or airfry at 400F for about 20-25 minutes.
To maximize the flat areas, which get the most crispy surface area, cut your Brussels sprouts in half. If your Brussels sprouts are very small, you can leave them whole (and if they are very large, quarter them).
Steaming Brussels sprouts preserves more of the nutrients and antioxidants than any other cooking method. And they turn out tasting like crisp-tender, sweet little nuggets. Plus they're just about the quickest veggie side dish you can cook.
Wash sprouts under cold running water and remove any leaves or yellow spots you may see. Place sprouts in a pot and cook for about 10-15 minutes. Sprouts are done when a knife will easily cut through them. Season with butter, salt, and pepper to taste.
If any of the leaves have brown spots or are yellowing, it's a sign of early spoilage. If you remove the blemished leaves and the interior looks OK, you can still use the sprout. However, if the interior leaves are also showing blemishes or yellowing, it's best to toss it (or compost it, if you can).
Although a healthy vegetable, consuming too many Brussels sprouts can be unsuitable for people on anticoagulants since it contains vitamin K, which results in blood clotting. Another issue with consuming Brussels sprouts excessively is that it can lead to gas and bloating.
A Dutch scientist named Hans van Doorn, who worked at a seed and chemical company, figured out exactly which chemical compounds in Brussels sprouts made them bitter. The next step was to plant sprouts with the least amount of these chemicals and eventually cross-pollinate the chemicals out.
The bitter taste of Brussels sprouts comes from compounds called glucosinolates and their degradation products, he explains. These bitter tasting compounds are an important part of the plant's defence mechanism against leaf-eating enemies, such as insects, nematodes, slugs, and herbivores, like pigeons and deer.
Like other cruciferous veggies, Brussels sprouts have a type of carbohydrate that your body can't easily break down. This can cause you to have belly pain, gas, and either diarrhea or constipation.
He selected seed varieties with lower levels of the bitter chemicals and bred new high-yielding varieties that tasted less bitter. And better-tasting brussels sprouts are good, not only for our appetites but also because most of us aren't eating enough vegetables.
National Public Radio reports that the sprouts began to change in the 1990s. A Dutch scientist named Hans van Doorn, who worked at a seed and chemical company, figured out exactly which chemical compounds in Brussels sprouts made them bitter.
"People with certain genetic variants in the TAS2R38 gene can detect bitter taste more than others and therefore may be more likely to dislike sprouts,” 23andMe senior product scientist Alisa Lehman recently told the Daily Record. "There are many factors outside genetics that play a part in the foods we like.
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