Brown Sugar Glazed Brussels Sprouts

Favorite Trader Joe’s Item #5: Brussels Sprouts

washing em up!

I never really had brussels sprouts until 4 years ago, when I ordered a chicken dish at Luna Park that had brussels sprouts & roasted butternut squash as a side. They were heavenly! It made me wonder why I had always heard such awful things about brussels sprouts. They seemed to be put on the disgusting list with things like tuna casserole (which i have yet to try). Ahh….It was love at first bite. I almost asked them for seconds! I knew had to recreate this at home! I tried some different concoctions and came up with this one.

Ingredients:

ingredients for brussel sprouts

  • 2 bags of TJ’s Brussels Sprouts
  • 3/4 stick of butter (more if you are feeling frisky)
  • 1 large yellow onion chopped (more or less depending on your love for onion)
  • 3-5 tablespoons of brown sugar (this usually changes depending on how bitter the sprouts are)
  • 2 cloves of garlic

Take sprouts out of their packaging. Soak in water & rinse. Cut the ends off all the sprouts & quarter the sprouts. Set aside. Place 1/2 stick of butter in a pan on medium heat. Stir in onions & garlic. Cook on medium until onions are translucent. Add sprouts & toss them in the butter/onion mixture. Let sit- stir occasionally. At this point, you are working on steaming them. When the sprouts are softened (about 10 minutes), add brown sugar & remaining butter. Turn the heat to high and brown the sprouts. The brown sugar & butter help caramelize them. Put the little beauties in a dish & serve.

This dish has the power to change someone into a Brussel Sprout Lover. You’ll see……

Closeup of Packaging:

trader joes bagged brussel sprouts

A Perfect Dish for Thanksgiving:

perfect side dish

Sink your fork into it:

up close & caramelized

Try them. You’ll love theses little babies:

cut them in quarters

***note: I used three small onions for the dish above- one large one will work out fine!***

  • xsquared

    This looks delicious! Love your NaBloPoMo series – I’m a huge fan of Trader Joe’s, but so far all of your posts have been new items for me to look for.

    I also expected Brussels Sprouts to be nasty the first time I tried them, but I instantly fell in love.

  • Anna

    I LOVE Brussels sprouts! I’ll make them for Thanksgiving, for sure.

  • jeska

    you even make sprouts a thing of beauty with your lovely pictures. Even tho I am a fellow lover of sprouts, this is no mean feat!

  • Tracy

    xsquared: thank you! I’m glad i have a fellow TJs & brussels sprouts fan 😉

    anna: you should! you should make them for non-special occasions too. They are good with meatloaf & mashed potatoes….with roasted chicken…now im hungry

    jeska: thank you! that made my day!

  • Lelo

    I’ve been craving brussel sprouts for the past week, and bought some today. Had intended to roast them with some lemon juice, but this sounds too tasty to pass up….yum!

  • Lelo

    P.S. Followed you here from Flickr, but am also doing NaBloPoMo, I’ll be back!

  • Tracy

    thanks lelo! I’ll be checking on your website too!

  • Melisser

    Oooh, I’ve only had brussels sprouts a few times, but this makes me want more!

  • Lelo

    Hey Tracy, I did make them, and blogged about it too. What a delicious recipe, and a totally different way of making them than I have before. Thank you for posting about brussel sprouts!

  • Mark H

    Whew! Sprouts with Brown Sugar, eh? THAT sounds TOO tempting NOT to try… I came here by linking from LELO’s page…and glad I did. I TOO had been wanting my first fall Sprouts, so I guess I’m off to get ’em at the store. I’ll have to report back. You’ve created a fabulous blog site, THANK YOU so MUCH for sharing your wisdom and doing it so beautifully. **We’re in NW Portland.

  • C

    I love and adore brussel sprouts and this looks totally perfect. Obviously I need to go to Trader Joe’s after work.

  • Tracy

    mark h: try it! thanks for you kind words! send me some pics of your sprouts!

    c: yes, you do need to go!

  • Flo

    I was googling food cravings and found this post AS I sit here eating plain brussel sprouts with some sharp cheddar cheese on top. Mmmmmm.
    I’m 8 weeks preggers so I’ve been having some odd cravings, but honestly I have always loved brussel sprouts, so I was not surprised that I got a mad craving for them today.
    I can’t wait to try this recipe, I had never noticed these at TJs before!

  • Tony

    I found your site via Google while searching for chicken casserole and your post regarding Brussels Sprouts looks very interesting to me.

  • Jess

    I discovered brussel sprouts the same way, at Luna Park; they did away with all the horrible things I had heard about them in my prior 25 years of existence. Not only did I like them, I craved them, and got the bug to make them myself. Thanks so much for breaking down the recipe!

  • Tracy

    you are welcome jess! sometimes i add some golden raisins in the mix! it’s SOOO good. Hooray for Luna Park for transforming us into sprout lovers. 🙂

  • chefcreole

    Exquisite and popping with a medley of complimentary flavors!!!!! I added bacon and a few red pepper flakes to compliment this fabulous receipe.

  • Patricia

    Once again, tried it and loved it!!! I have yet to try one of your recipes and not be 100% impressed- amazed- completely satisfied!!!!

  • luluthewondercat

    I make them the same way, but cook them in a little olive oil instead of so much butter. Makes them a bit healthier but just as delicious.

  • Brie

    These are so amazing. I’ve used this recipe four or five times and each time, it’s a hit. It’s the dish that everyone keeps talking about and there are never, EVER any leftovers. It’s amazing what kind of reactions it gets. Sprout-lovers are astonished and can’t stop raving and act like they’ve just found some sort of holy grail. The ones who don’t really hate or love sprouts are like “Whoa! Seriously? Can I get this recipe??” And sprout-haters who give it a chance because I insist and call them wusses are like “Ummm…. This is … actually pretty good. Weird.”

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  • WJ

    I added small cubes of carrots to the sprouts abd finished the dish with pine nuts for a crunch. It was delicious.

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  • Abby

    How long do you soak the sprouts

  • Lin

    Sounds very simple but I’ll use fresh brussel sprouts, thanks!

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