Low Carb Creamy Brussel Sprouts with Crunchy Bacon. 5g carbs per serving and your kitchen will smells divine.
Are you a Brussels hater? Don’t be. I’m going to teach you how to love them. Forever. With a little savoir faire I’ve turned one of the most hated vegetables from gross to sexy. 
Cooked veggies have long been associated with blandness, bitterness, sogginess and a whole host of other unflattering taste buds-related adjectives. Everyone has their preferences and dislikes. But there is one thing for certain: a sure way to kill all flavour (and nutrients) and make vegetables unpalatable is to boil them to death. Which is historically what’s happened to the miniature cabbages known as Brussel sprouts. Poor little blights.
My method of cooking them involves some water. But not so much as to drown them, kill their benefits and make the kitchen smell rank. To counter the natural bitterness of the sprouts, I use mascarpone and sweet spices. Bacon, THE keto staple par excellence, adds crunch and enhances both sweetness and saltiness. The recipe involves nothing extraordinary. Yet transforms a boring, tasteless vegetable into a seriously enjoyable feast.
The History of Brussel sprouts
Have you ever wondered why Brussel sprouts are so unpopular and yet omnipresent on the British Christmas table? Me too. And there is no definite answer. Food historians have been asked that very question, but have only managed to come up with speculative answers. One of these is that Brussels arrived in Britain from continental Europe around Christmas time, so they were added to the traditional Victorian roast dinner plate as a novelty. Thereon, they became synonymous with Christmas. I quite like this hypothesis, and it kind of makes sense. They’re tiny, fit nicely on the plate and look cute. I can actually picture Victorian socialites presenting their fashionable roast dinner plates with haughty pride.
Low Carb Creamy Brussel Sprouts with Crunchy Bacon: a nutrition powerhouse.
Fables and fancies aside, Brussel sprouts should not be served only on 25th December. We should copy our European cousins and enjoy them much more regularly. They are incredibly nutritious and loaded with Vitamin C and K. As they belong to the brassica family, they are, like all cruciferous vegetables, linked to numerous health benefits as well as cancer prevention. If you learn new ways to cook them, you and your family – and I dare say, even your children – will like them enough to want them.
I am pretty confident that my Low Carb Creamy Brussel Sprouts with Crunchy Bacon will ignite that new-found love. If you’re still unconvinced, close your eyes and imagine you’re in a kitchen filled with the incomparable aroma of crispy bacon and wafts of sweet spices…. Are you there yet?
Enjoy!
- Yield: 2
- Calories: 260
- Fat: 27g
- Net Carbs: 5.5g
- Protein: 26g
- 250g frozen (or fresh) brussel sprouts
- 80g streaky bacon (about 5 thin rashers)
- 1 small garlic clove (minced)
- 1 piece (about 2cm/ ¾") of baby shallot (minced)
- fine himalayan pink salt (U.S. option HERE)
- freshly ground black pepper
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- organic broth granules
- 50g mascarpone cheese
- pan-fry the bacon until crispy, then transfer it to a separate dish and cut it into large crumbs.
- using the same frying pan that you used for the bacon, add Brussel sprouts, minced garlic and shallot, a sprinkle of each of salt, pepper, spices and broth granules, and 130g water.
- stir and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until the water has evaporated, stirring occasionally.
- squash the sprouts with a fork (you can keep them whole if you want, but mashing them adds flavour), add the mascarpone and 40g water, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- sprinkle bacon crumbs and serve immediately.
Unless served immediately, the brussels will soak up all the remaining moisture and dry up. When you're ready to plate them, simply add a little water and re-heat for a few minutes.
Metric kitchen scales are an inexpensive yet invaluable gadget to enable accurate measurement of ingredients. Stored upright in a cupboard or over your worktop, they'll only take up a tiny bit of space. Click HERE for the ones I use in the UK. For U.S. option click HERE.
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Fab – thank you. That’s really helpful! =)
Hi – thank you for your recipes (it makes such a change having an ingredient list that I can easily buy in the UK)!
One quick question about this recipe – how many broth granules do you use (and do you prefer a particular make/type)? Thanks!
Hello Jane! You’re welcome!
The broth granules I use are by an Italian brand called Well (100% organic + no MSG) and I add a sprinkle – more or less 1 tsp. You can use any broth granules or stock cube (1/2 would suffice – dissolved) you prefer, as it’s just for a more intense flavour. Even a 1/2 tsp of Marmite works a treat. Sorry I can’t offer a link to the tub of granules I use – but if you travel to Italy you’ll find them in a mega-shop called Iperlando, where they keep the stock/broth/salt/spices/condiments.