Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad

Make this colorful raw Brussels sprouts salad. The holidays are here, and I love to make recipes fun and festive to add to our family table! Many of us eat with our eyes, and color is one way to add variety to the meal! If you look at many of the foods that are served during the holiday season, many of them come in shades of brown, beige, and white, which has inspired this month’s Recipe Redux November theme: Naturally Colored Holiday Treats and Trimmings!

On the celebration table, there is lots of room available for color, whether it be some fun cookies naturally colored with blueberries or strawberries or a gorgeous salad, soup, or appetizer made with a variety of fruits and vegetables. The more colorful the food from nutrient groups, the greater the number of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. The more colorful, the better! What a fun way to get the nutrients that you need!

I wanted to add every color possible to this salad to make this holiday dish stand out! Yellow from the peppers, blue from the blueberries, red from the pomegranate, purple from the onions, orange from the oranges, green from the Brussels sprouts, white from the feta, and even brown from the pecans. I could go into detail about all the nutrients in each one of these nutrition powerhouse foods, but today, I want to focus on the beauty and the color! I want to share that Brussels Sprouts are cruciferous vegetables from the cabbage family, so they contain lots of cancer-fighting properties and are full of flavor!

Rainbow Brussels Sprout Salad

This salad offers a beautiful array of blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and white, so it adds needed color to every holiday table. And it tastes delicious, too!

You can use sliced green cabbage instead of Brussels sprouts to make the recipe look low in Fodmap!

Makes 6-8 servings

6 cups of shaved Brussels Sprouts (or shredded green cabbage)

Two oranges cut into slices then peeled and sectioned

One pomegranate, peeled with pith removed and seeds separated into a small bowl

1 cup blueberries, washed well

1/2 cup purple onion cut into rings (use green onions if you are intolerant to fructans)

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced

Salad dressing recipe:

1/2 cup olive oil

Juice from one orange

Juice from one lemon

One clove of garlic, pressed (if you are intolerant to garlic, try using garlic oil instead)

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

On a cutting board, closely cut Brussels sprouts into thin slices. Add the shaved Brussels sprout greens in a bowl or a platter. Add the onion rings and diced yellow bell pepper over the sprouts. Sprinkle with blueberries and pomegranate seeds. Top with crumbled feta cheese. Finish off with pecans if desired. Drizzle with salad dressing. (see recipe below)

Directions for salad dressing: Mix olive oil, orange juice, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a bottle. Shake well before serving.

If you have room and time, this salad looks lovely plated ahead of time in small salad bowls and added to place settings.

Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad

I hope you love my latest holiday Brussels sprouts salad, which adds lots of color to your meals! As a registered dietitian nutritionist in Asheville, I love helping my family, friends, and clients find new recipes that benefit their health.

You can find many colorful foods to add more fun to your holidays! And you can find many more on the Vine Ripe Nutrition blog. Check out these 10 Vegetarian Brunch Recipes for the Holidays – Vine Ripe Nutrition. Besides this salad recipe and these breakfast ideas, you can also check out some of the other recipes from my friends from Recipe Redux!

Sweet. Savory. Beautiful! The Holidays! Enjoy!