I am a brussel sprout fiend. It wasn’t always so, but now, I am a true brussel sprout lover. Growing up we never ate brussel sprouts. I’m thinking that it’s partially due to the fact that brussel sprouts don’t feature prominently in Chinese food and partially due to my mom thinking that they were a vegetable that kids didn’t like to eat. Considering how picky I was about food, it was a pretty safe bet on her part. I had heard from other kids about the horror of brussel sprouts so I was pretty happy that I never had to eat them.
Little did I know that I was actually missing out. Fast forward to my twenties and brussels sprouts still remained an vegetable that I never ate. That is, until I was at the grocery store one day. I spotted those tiny green cabbages and had to have them. Due to my lack of brussel sprout exposure I had never even known what brussel sprouts looked like. Who knew brussel sprouts were so cute? I love all miniature things and brussel sprouts are like tiny, tightly furled, miniature, cute cabbages. And I happen to love cabbages.
Brussel sprouts are enjoying a certain popularity in the food world today so I don’t think anyone is in danger of not being exposed to them. But if you haven’t tried them yet, you should. When you roast them they caramelize into slightly sweet nutty treat. The outer leaves get crispy and the insides get all creamy and delicious. Toss them in fish sauce and you have an addictive side dish, or in my case, dinner of sprouts.
Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Fish Sauce Recipe inspired by Momof*cku
serves 2-4 as a side
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 red bird’s eye chili
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- juice of a 1/4 lime
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 lb brussel sprouts
- 2 shallots, peeled and quartered
- 2 tablespoons oil
- salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Crush the garlic, chili and sugar together in a mortar. Transfer to liquid measuring cup and dissolve the sugar, garlic and chili mixture with the water. Add the lime juice then fish sauce. Set aside.
Trim the ends of the sprouts and remove any outer leaves that are loose or discolored. Cut sprouts in half. Toss the cut sprouts and quartered shallots with oil and salt and pepper. Place in an oven-proof dish and roast, stirring every so often, until deeply browned, 35-40 minutes.
Remove from the oven, toss with the fish sauce vinaigrette and enjoy immediately.
PS – Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! Hope you’re enjoying turkey and all the fixings!
15 Comments
November 28, 2013 at 7:19 am
These are a fabulous side!! Love this idea!
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Amanda says:
November 30, 2013 at 8:15 pm
Yuuummmm, this spin on it sounds fantastic. I love roasted brussels sprouts, they’re my favorite. It’s downright tragic that my oven is broken and I can’t make them right now!
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DLP says:
December 1, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Delish looking!
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Matt says:
December 8, 2013 at 6:07 am
And add the shallots to the sprouts in the roasting dish – no reference to them in the method.
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steph says:
December 8, 2013 at 4:31 pm
Whoops, thanks for noticing! I’ve added the shallots in.
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Francie says:
December 8, 2013 at 8:19 am
The shallots are roasted too?
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Enes says:
December 12, 2013 at 12:34 am
You are in my favorite photo and recipe list.
You are doing a great job, congratulations.
I’ll definitely try this. I love Brussels sproutsReply
Helen Marshall says:
January 20, 2014 at 2:20 pm
Had these at a very upscale restaurant, with pomegranate added…sprouts were torn into individual leaves. Very good!
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Paige says:
November 3, 2014 at 11:36 am
Which fish sauce brand to you prefer?
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steph says:
November 3, 2014 at 12:04 pm
I usually use Golden Boy – the one with a baby on the label :)
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Daniel Williams says:
November 27, 2015 at 2:13 pm
I made these for Thanksgiving yesterday, and they were quite well received. It’s such a perfect blend of flavors! I added some crushed peanuts at the end for a bit of added texture, which I think worked pretty well too. Thanks for the inspiration!
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J says:
February 5, 2016 at 4:37 pm
What is red bird’s eye chili? where do I get it? is there a reasonable substitute? So looking forward to trying this recipe!!
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Stephanie Le says:
February 7, 2016 at 12:06 pm
it’s thai chili peppers. they’re those tiny red peppers that you see. they sell them at most grocery stores, but if you’re doesn’t, you can always substitute in some spicy red fresnos, serranos, or jalapeños. just make sure to chop them up finely. hope that helps!
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