This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
This shredded brussels sprout bacon salad has quickly become one of my favorites. It’s quick, festive, and so delicious. Shredded brussels sprouts, nutty manchego cheese, toasted hazelnuts, and juicy pomegranates, all tossed with a warm cider vinaigrette that’s sweet and tangy. Every bite of this salad is bursting with flavor. Great as a light lunch, served alongside your favorite dinner, or at your next holiday gathering!
Half Baked Harvest At Home
20+ new recipes for wholesome comfort food made with everyday ingredients. Pre-order today! HBH At Home will be released on Tuesday, February 23rd!
Happiest Thursday! Hope you’re all having a great week. It’s been a busy, cold and snowy week here. With all the snow we’ve been getting, the resorts actually opened ahead of schedule yesterday.
I’ve been madly working away on recipe testing, fun holiday content, and staying warm in the kitchen with lots of baking. All good things! And today I’m SO excited to share this salad, from my Thanksgiving menu, with you all.
No matter what the occasion, no dinner party is complete without a colorful salad, especially Thanksgiving. With all the turkey, gravy, potatoes, and rolls, something light and colorful is a must on every Thanksgiving dinner table.
One of the questions I’m often asked is what to serve for dinner parties. For me, what I serve always depends on the season. But there’s one thing that’s always on my dinner party menu.
Yes, salad.
My go-to salad is normally something full of leafy greens, a mix of vegetables, pomegranates, maybe persimmons, and a simple balsamic dressing. This year however, I knew I wanted to create a shredded brussels sprouts salad to throw everyone a curve ball. It’s something I’ve never done, but always wanted to do. I wasn’t sure how much I’d be into it, because roasted brussels sprouts will forever be my favorite…but you guys? Trust me when I say that this salad is beyond good. It’s so simple, so beautiful, full of texture, and incredibly delicious.
When I set out to make this, I knew I needed to keep it simple, but flavorful. There’s so much going on with the Thanksgiving meal that I wanted the salad to be able to compliment everything.
Enter this shredded brussels sprout salad.
It all starts with a heck of a lot of brussels sprouts. Like a lot. If you’re cutting your brussels sprouts by hand, like me, this will be the hardest part of making this salad. If you’re smart, and live near a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, then you might want to pick up a bag of pre-shredded brussels sprouts, and save yourself a good 15 minutes or so of chopping time.
Tip? Be that smart person and buy the pre-shredded brussels sprouts. I know it might be fresher to cut the sprouts yourself, but thinly slicing all those brussels spouts takes time. And well, no one has that kind of time, especially on Thanksgiving.
Ok. Moving along.
Once you have your brussels sprouts shredded and in a bowl, add the manchego cheese, toasted hazelnuts, and a good amount of juicy pomegranate arils. Then crisp up some bacon and you’ll have your salad.
Next make the warm cider vinaigrette and pour it over the salad.
The warm vinaigrette takes the bitterness out of the raw brussels sprouts by beginning to cook them just ever so slightly. It adds a sweet, tanginess that compliments the brussels sprouts very nicely.
The pomegranates add a freshness of color, and a burst of juicy flavor with every bite. Plus, they’re my favorite fruit to put in salads. I love them…as if you couldn’t tell from my many, many pomegranate filled recipes.
And the bacon? Well, it adds a saltiness that keeps everyone coming back for seconds.
One of the best parts to this recipe?
You can prep this salad a few hours ahead of time to make things easier. Personally, I love serving the salad just after it has been tossed with the hot vinaigrette so that the salad is a little warm. But that’s just me, I love warm food. Serve the salad up whichever way you’ll enjoy it most.
I’m already looking forward to enjoying this salad again in just a couple of weeks on Thanksgiving Day. Are you guys getting excited? Don’t forget to check out my 2018 menu!! I’ll be sharing a new dessert tomorrow that’s my favorite of the month. Very excited.
If you make this salad please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
watch the how to video:
Shredded Brussels Sprout Bacon Salad and Warm Cider Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 6 cups shredded brussels sprouts, (about one 12 ounce bag)
- 1 1/2 cups grated manchego or parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 cups pomegranate arils
- 6 thick cut slices bacon, chopped
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon apple butter or fig preserves
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
- kosher salt and black pepper
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- 1. In a large salad bowl, combine the shredded brussels sprouts, cheese, hazelnuts, and pomegranate arils.2. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain onto a paper towel. Wipe the skillet clean.3. To make the vinaigrette. Heat the olive oil in the same skillet used to cook the bacon over high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the shallots, cook until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, let cool slightly. Add the apple cider vinegar, apple butter, thyme, and orange zest. Season with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. 4. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad, tossing to combine. Top the salad with bacon. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
I would like to try bring this salad for a Thanksgiving dinner, but I feel it might be even better if the Brussels sprouts were cooked just a bit (a bit more than by just adding warm dressing). What are your thoughts about a quick saute (tender-crisp) before adding to the salad? Or a full-on roast? In either case, could you cook the sprouts ahead, then just warm dressing prior to serving?
for a nut allergy, do you recommend substituting with something like sunflower seeds or best to simply omit?
Hey Cal,
I think sunflower seeds would be great here! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I made this last night for guests. They loved it and so did I. Easy, nutritious and delicious. I will be making this quite a bit. I love a salad that doubles as the vegetable side dish so that when entertaining, I’m not fussing with a last-minute hot vegetable.
Aw I am so happy this recipe turned out so amazing for you, Deborah! Thank you! xTieghan
Can’t wait to try this! So many of your recipes call for Manchego heese but I just can’t seem to find it here in Canada. You mention Parmesan as an alternative but is this true in all your recipes that call for Manchego? Many thanks!
Hey Patti,
Yes Parm is a great sub but you can also use another cheese that you enjoy. I hope you enjoy the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I made this recipe this week and it was so easy and flavorful. The assembly was quicker than I expected. I loved the warmed olive oil and shallots to complement the raw brussels. There was a great crunch in every bite with the nuts, brussels, and pom seeds. The orange zest was a terrific burst of citrus flavor! I can’t wait to make this again!
I am so happy this recipe turned out so well for you, Brittany! Thank you so much! xTieghan
This looks amazing! I’m definitely going to make this soon! Just to clarify, the brussel sprouts aren’t cooked?
Hey Shannon,
Yes that is correct! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if I can help in any other way! xTieghan
I found my answer to substitution in previous comments – Tuscan or curly kale. Thank you!
Amazing! I hope you love this recipe, Judy! xTieghan
Would this work with kale or do you have something similar without Brussels sprouts? Will be having the bourbon pecan sweet potatoes too.
Fantastic recipes! I’m new to your site and love the ideas and commentary too 🙂 I also love the serveware used – what store/brand are you typically using?
Hi Nikki! I am really glad you are liking my site and recipes! I usually get it from williams sonoma, athropologie, etsy or antique stores! Also, I have mostly everything linked in my shop page! I will put the link to the page below!! xTieghan
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/shop/kitchen/
I’m new to your blog, and am loving your recipes! I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now and have just tweaked it a bit (personal preference I suppose). I’m not a fan of raw onions, so I decided to add the shallots to the olive oil (as called for in the recipe) to a small saucepan and let the shallots slowly brown in the oil. Once slightly cooled, I pour the oil/shallot mixture into a jar and added the other dressing ingredients. It just took it took another level. Also, I generally like to have my olive oil ratio be much less than 1/2 of the other ingredients, so I ended up adding some of the orange juice (1/3 cup) since I had used the rind for the recipe, and 1 Tbs. of Dijon mustard. Lastly, I doubled the fig preserve and the orange rind. Yum!! This is a great make ahead recipe. Simply reheat the dressing and the bacon in the microwave and combine with the rest of the salad ingredients. Thanks so much for putting all of these great ingredients together to make a wonderful salad!!!
Hi Janet! Sounds so great! I am so glad you could modify this recipe to your liking! I hope you continue to love other recipes of mine! Thank you! xTieghan
For me, this recipe has great potential but definitely needs more citrus and sweetness. I added a small splash of orange juice and would probably add more next time. I would also add apple cider to add sweetness.
Thank you so much Stephanie! I hope you love this more with added sweetness! xTieghan
Amazing Recipe for Xmas eve also made the herb potatoes over the top wonderful
Love that! Thank you for trying this Carol! Merry Christmas! xTieghan
How far in advance can I open a pomegranate up for the arils? Making this salad and your roasted butternut squash lasagna for company this week. First time. I know it will be a hit. Never been disappointed in your recipes or cookbooks. Thanks
Hi Deb! I would think the arils should be good for a few days in the fridge! Thank you! xTieghan
How far ahead could this be made? and then add the dressing before serving.
Hi Robin! You can make this 3-4 days ahead. Same with the dressing. Then, just toss it all together an hour or so before serving. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you and happy holidays! xTieghan
I made this with all of the extra groceries I had from Thanksgiving. It was SO good, and I am not usually a brussel sprout fan. I used clementine zest because someone ate all the oranges. I will be making this again.
That is so great! Thank you so much for trying this recipe Randy! xTieghan