Braised Brussels Sprouts are tender, juicy and full of garlic, butter, bacon flavor. What could be better?
My Aunt Mickey introduced me to Braised Brussels Sprouts when I was about 5 years old. I loved these sprouts because they reminded me of tiny little cabbages and I would peel off the leaves one at a time to eat them.
It’s a fault, I know. I always played with my food. Still do.
When I began to cook on my own, I tried a lot of different recipes for Brussels Sprouts like these Easy Roasted Brussels Sprouts which are great with their roasted nutty taste.
Still none compared to Aunt Mickey’s, I still remember watching her in her slippers stirring the Brussels sprouts. My Irish aunt, even when she was dressed for company, always wore slippers when she cooked.
I never found exactly what her recipe was but as I did a little research I discovered Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa and one of my favorite cooks, had a recipe for Brussels Sprouts that tasted close to it in all it’s tender, butter texture.
But I remember my aunt’s Brussels Sprouts had bacon, so I added it and bingo, my aunt’s recipe just as I remembered.
Ingredients for Braised Brussels Sprouts
- Bacon
- Brussels sprouts
- Garlic
- Manischewitz Low Sodium Chicken Broth
- Lemon Pepper
- Butter
How to Make Braised Brussels Sprouts
Bacon and Brussels sprouts just fit together.
But you really don’t need an an overwhelming amount. Just two slices of bacon will really give the Brussels sprouts a great smoky flavor.
So after cutting the bacon in about 1/2” pieces, the next step is to render the fat out until the bacon becomes crispy and brown. At that point scoop the bacon pieces to a paper towel leaving that flavorful bacon oil in the frypan.
You can either use whole small Brussels sprouts in this recipe as I did, or the large ones. But if you use the large ones, just cut them in haIf. Otherwise cooking time will be a lot longer.
Plus have you ever tried eating a large Brussels sprout? Not good.
Then after cleaning and removing the outer leaves of the sprouts, just add them to your frypan and sauté them over medium high heat for 2 minutes until they are lightly browned.
Add 2 minced cloves of garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more. You’ll be able to smell that wonderful garlic at that point.
Next add about a half a cup of chicken broth. I really like the taste of Manischewitz Low Sodium Chicken Broth. It’s the only one I’ve found that tastes like you cooked it from scratch.
I buy this soup in the large 32 oz cartons so when I only need a small amount like in this recipe, I freeze the rest in ice cube trays and then store them in a gallon zip lock bag in the freezer.
It’s soooo convenient and no waste! Depending on how high you fill them, it takes about 8 ice cubes of chicken broth to equal 1/2 cup.
After adding the chicken broth, reduce the heat to medium low, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Then add in the lemon pepper.
I used Mrs. Dash to cut the sodium, but you can use any lemon pepper mix. The thing about lemon pepper is that it’s a mixture of all kinds of wonderful spices – garlic, oregano, onion, savory, thyme, lemon and pepper of course, and so many more.
Just cook them another 5-6 minutes uncovered until most of the liquid is evaporated and the Brussels sprouts are tender. Then add them to a serving bowl. Add the bacon pieces and a little butter and lightly mix in.
Pretty simple and so delicious.
And if you’re in to Healthy Recipes, this is a winner. Each serving has only 106 calories, 5 grams of fat and 114 grams of sodium.
If you like this recipe, please leave a comment below and be sure and pin this recipe on Pinterest!
Also check this recipe out:
Braised Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
- 2 Slices Bacon
- 1 Lb. Brussels Sprouts Trimmed and halved
- 2 Cloves Garlic Minced
- 1/2 Cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth Prefer Manischewitz
- 1/2 Tsp Lemon Pepper Prefer Mrs. Dash
- 1/2 Tsp Butter
Instructions
- Render bacon in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook until browned and remove to a paper towel.
- To same skillet over medium high heat add Brussels sprouts and allow to cook 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more.
- Then add chicken broth, reduce the heat to medium low and cover.
- Cook for 5 minutes. Then add in the lemon pepper and allow to cook, uncovered another 5-6 minutes until liquid is reduced and Brussels sprouts are tender.
- Add Brussels sprouts to a serving bowl. Lightly mix in the bacon and butter and serve.