This brussels sprout dish is the perfect example of how salads can be anything but boring. Your starring leafy greens are thinly sliced brussels sprouts that are lightly fried up in savory pancetta drippings. Add some farro, fresh herbs, chopped pistachios, manchego cheese, and a poached egg, and you have yourself the tastiest, most decadent salad of all time.
some notes
The great thing about this salad is you can really customize it as you’d like. Does it need the poached egg? Nope. You can also switch up what type of cheese you use. Parmesan or goat cheese both work great.
The real key to this salad is the brussels. I love a good brussels sprout dish, but when they’re raw they’re sometimes to bitter, and cooking them can sometimes lead to mushiness. This is a really happy medium where they’re almost just warmed and crisped up a bit in the pancetta fat which also gives them a great flavor.
the steps
This recipe really is super easy to master. Honestly, the hardest part is probably poaching the egg, which is NOT one of my finer skills lol. But I wish you luck with that!
The bulk of the salad comes together super quickly so I would just start with the dressing and set it aside as you work through the rest.
For the dressing you’ll find a small bowl and whisk together some extra-virgin olive oil, some kind of vinegar (white wine, red wine, balsamic, and apple cider all work), lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, minced or grated garlic, minced shallot, and some salt and pepper to taste. Alternately, you can add all the ingredients to a mason jar and just shake them up!
When the dressing is finished, you’ll brown the pancetta on the stove until it’s nice and crispy. Then you’ll add the brussels and cook very briefly. You don’t want to leave them on to long, or else they’ll start to overcook and get mushy. They should retain most of their crisp!
Then, you’ll mix up the pancetta and brussels with some herbs like parsley and thyme, chopped pistachios, and cooked farro.
You’ll poach your egg right before you’re about to eat so it’s nice and warm when you top the salad with it. At that point you’ll also grate some manchego (or other cheese) into the salad, add the poached egg, and serve!
⟶ the recipe
brussels sprout salad with pancetta & poached egg
ingredients
For the salad
1 package cubed pancetta
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
½ cup cooked farro
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
¼ cup roasted pistachios, roughly chopped
¼ cup shaved Manchego cheese
1 poached egg
For the dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
Salt & pepper
Prep time
10 minutes
Cook time
10 minutes
Total time
10 minutes
4 servings
instructions
Start by making the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, honey, garlic, shallot, salt, and pepper. Set aside or pour contents into a jar and refrigerate for later.
Heat a skillet on the stove and on medium heat, fry the pancetta until browned and crispy. Add the brussels sprouts and stir for about 1 minute until crispy and lightly browned.
Transfer the pancetta and brussels to a large salad bowl, and add the farro, herbs, and pistachios.
About five minutes before you’re ready to serve, poach your egg, and remove it from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and pat dry.
Toss the dressing with the brussels mixture, add the manchego, and top with the poached egg.
⟶ recipe notes
- This recipe was adapted from a People article reporting this salad as a meal ordered by Julia Roberts from Napa Valley Grille in L.A. While I’m not a big celebrity gossip fan, this recipe looked too good not to try. I did take a few liberties when adapting this, but I stayed relatively true to the recipe that was reported. Now, how do I get a table at this celebrity hotspot? Hmm…
- When cooking your brussels, you’ll want to make sure you’re swift so they don’t get too mushy. They should still have a crispiness and a bit of a bite to them. Also, since you’re cooking with pancetta first, you probably won’t need to add any additional oil when heating your brussels. The fat from the pancetta should already have left an oily coating on the pan
⟶ modifications
- You can easily make this vegetarian by skipping out on the pancetta
- Go a step forward by making it vegan. Just lose the egg and the Manchego. It’ll still taste amazing!
- For the dressing, I used white wine vinegar, but you can also use other vinegars, like red wine, apple cider, or balsamic
⟶ make it ahead
- You can make the dressing ahead of time and store it in a jar in the refrigerator for up to 5 days
- You can also double the recipe and have additional dressing for a different salad later in the week
