Warm Chickpea, Mushroom, and Brussels Sprouts Salad
Hubby and I LOVE brussels sprouts. When they’re roasted, they are my favorite vegetable. We probably eat roasted brussels at least once a week. Sometimes more like three times a week. They’re just SO GOOD. And I’m proud to say that I introduced them to my family and now my 17 year old sister makes them at home for dinner.
As much as I love roasted brussels, I also like to mix things up sometimes. I made this recipe for the first time as an excuse to try that Cardamom Candied Bacon. Let me tell you, we’ve been mixing this Warm Chickpea, Mushroom, and Brussels Sprouts Salad pretty often since that first time.
If I don’t have candied bacon, I just use regular old bacon. I honestly couldn’t notice a difference when the bacon wasn’t candied. The hardest part of this recipe is just slicing the brussels. Luckily, Hubby enjoys this dish so much, he offers to slice the brussels for me while I cook the bacon. This salad is great fresh off the stove and it also reheats well and is a perfect addition to a packed lunch from home.
Two Years Ago: Mixed Berry and Cream Cheese Filled King Cake
Three Years Ago: Crockpot Red Curry Chicken with Butternut Squash
Warm Chickpea, Mushroom, and Brussels Sprouts Salad
Brussels sprouts are roasted with bacon, chickpeas, and mushrooms for a hearty tasty vegetable side dish
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp butter, divided
8 oz mushrooms
20 brussels sprouts (~10 oz)
2 cans (15 oz each) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 slices cardamom candied bacon, crumbled (or plain bacon, fried, and crumbled)
1/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
freshly grated parmesan for topping
Directions:
Heat a large skillet oven medium heat and add 2 Tbsp of butter.
Add mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes, or until they begin to caramelize, stirring occasionally.
Add brussels with a pinch of salt and the remaining tablespoon of butter, stirring to coat, then cooking for another 5 minutes.
Add in chickpeas, bacon, pecans, pepper and nutmeg, then stir and let sit for 5-6 minutes until chickpeas are warm and the flavors come together.
Serve warm with grated parmesan on top.
Recipe from How Sweet It Is
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’ll take any leftovers! They sound amazing. I keep saying dessert recipes with bacon and bookmarking them, but I haven’t tried any yet. Adding this one to the list now too. 🙂
These look so terrific. I love the flavor combinations!
I’m intrigued!
interesting! I have a recipe for chocolate bacon fudge or maybe pb bacon fudge but I’m afraid to try it
The frosting sounds amazing. I honestly still can’t bring myself to get behind bacon in desserts. Maybe someday I’ll try a bacon cupcake if I’m given one though. 🙂 I can only resist so long.
YUM! These look so good! I haven’t tried the bacon / sweet combo yet, but I’m sure I would love it!
This looks delicious but I’ve got to ask….what is a pirate party?
Fun and Fearless – It’s exactly like it sounds… Everyone dresses up as a pirate (or something related – Hubby and I went as Treasure maps last year). They even hire this guy who looks like Captain Jack Sparrow to come and there’s a prize for best costume. One of the best parties of the year!
Sounds great! The problem I’ve seen with bacon is that sometimes it is chewy in cupcakes. That’s not good. I like that this recipe says to cook until crispy. Extra crispy for me!
My favorite candy bar is bacon chocolate!!! I can’t wait to try this 🙂
Wow, those look and sound amazing!
oh yum. after putting bacon in last years cookies this might need to be next 🙂
I’m so curious to try bacon in baked goods, but do you think turkey bacon would work?
Corrine – I’m sure turkey bacon would work if you could get it nice and crispy. I’ve heard that if the bacon isn’t super crispy, it has a really weird chewy texture in baked goods.
Thanks Jen! I’m going to give it a try!
This has just about everything that I would want to go together. Awesome recipe!
This is certianly a unqiue mixture of tastes and textures, but it comes together nicely. Definatly a must try!
Chocolate..caramel…bacon…PERFECTION.
I am infatuated with the perfect smoky/salty addition of bacon into sweet baked goods. So delicious. Of course, I’m kind of a fan of adding bacon into just about anything.
Great pics, def wanna try these out!
Sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out like you wanted. Have you ever tried the bacon/chocolate cupcake at Cherry Bomb Bakery in Brighton? They are fantastic!