Vegan Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

A delicious shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with sweet cranberries, crunchy sunflower seeds and a creamy maple dijon dressing.

This easy vegan Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad needs just seven ingredients and comes together in minutes. There's a delicious medley of textures here with the sweet dried cranberries and crunchy sunflower seeds and tying it all together is a creamy dijon mustard and maple syrup dressing. It's the perfect side for the holiday table. The salad is gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free, and I will show you how to tweak it for a low-carb diet.

You won't be able to stop eating this delicious vegan Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad. There's so much flavor and texture packed in every mouthful, and that's quite amazing given the short ingredient list and ease of making this.

This hearty, nourishing salad can be a meal by itself but it is also a perfect side salad to serve at the holiday table. It makes a veggie not many crave very craveable and it's so festive with the cranberries, which add a startling and welcome pop of sweetness.

This is an easy salad to make, especially if you have a food processor that can slice the Brussels sprouts for you. You can also slice the sprouts fine by hand and that's perfectly fine although it would take a bit more time.(Some advise a mandoline but I don't see how you can slice a Brussels sprout on a mandoline without slicing your hand.)

I hope you'll make this delicious salad for your family this holiday. Be sure to let me know if you do! And if you're looking for a lighter, summery salad, be sure to try this Vegan Caesar Salad.

Why you'll love this shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

• It's so delicious. When cooked, Brussels sprouts take on that sulfurous odor that makes most people hate them. But raw Brussels sprouts don't have that odor because the chemical compounds that cause it are only released when cooked. When tossed together with the other ingredients the sprouts assume the perfect flavor and texture.
• It's so easy. If you are looking for a salad that's quick and tasty, this one checks all the boxes. The only work here is slicing the Brussels sprouts, and that's easy if you have a food processor with a slicing blade that will do the work for you. The easy dressing comes together in a blender in seconds.
• It's everyone friendly. This salad is vegan, of course, and it's gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free. If you are eating low-carb, you can easily adjust it to a low-carb diet by cutting down the cranberries to half a cup and substituting the maple syrup with monk fruit sweetener or erythritol or stevia or any keto-friendly sweetener.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds Brussels sprouts. Trim and slice the sprouts using the thinnest slicing blade on your food processor, or by hand.
• 1 ½ cups dried cranberries. Cranberries with their tart-sweetness, are amazing here, but if you must you can sub with raisins.
• ¾ cup roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds. I like using the unsalted kind so I can control the amount of salt in the salad, but if the salted kind is all you can find, that's fine, just make sure you taste everything before adding salt to your salad. You can also use pumpkin seeds here, or toasted walnuts or pecans.
• ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup. For a low-carb version use any keto-friendly sweetener, a tablespoon should be enough. Taste and add more if needed.
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar. Balsamic vinegar would work too.
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste.

How to make the Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

• Make the salad dressing by placing all ingredients--olive oil, dijon mustard, maple syrup and apple cider vinegar -- in a blender bowl or in a bowl. Blend or whisk until a smooth, creamy salad dressing forms. Set aside. I prefer not to add the salt and ground black pepper directly to the salad and not the dressing to make sure the flavors are just right.

• Wash and trim the Brussels sprouts. Slice them thinly using the thinnest slicing blade on your food processor or with a knife. Place in a large bowl.

• Add the cranberries and sunflower seeds to the bowl along and mix.
• Drizzle on the dressing and add salt and ground black pepper. Toss the salad to mix all ingredients thoroughly. Make sure you check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Tweaking this salad for a low-carb diet

To make this salad suitable for low-carb eaters, bringing down the net carbs to just 8 grams per serving, cut down the amount of cranberries to ½ a cup and replace the maple syrup with a tablespoon of any keto-friendly sweetener, including monk fruit sweetener, stevia or erythritol.

Storage instructions

This salad will keep well in the refrigerator for a couple of days, so it's fine to make it ahead. Bring back to room temperature or serve slightly cold.

More yummy Brussels sprouts recipes

• Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Indian Style
• Easy Brussels Sprouts Stew
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Rosemary
• Vegan Spaghetti with Brussels Sprouts
• Creamy Vegan Orzo Risotto with Brussels Sprouts