Grilled Brats with Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw
I’ve partnered with Johnsonville® to share these tasty Grilled Brats with Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw.  Fire up the grill tonight!
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I piled into the car with some friends and took the short drive out to Cooperstown, NY. Â Cooperstown is home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and it’s a mecca for baseball fans everywhere.
As a kid, I loved baseball. Â I collected baseball cards. Â Lots of baseball cards. Â Like boxes and boxes and boxes of baseball cards. Â I followed my favorite teams religiously, and I eagerly awaited opening day every year. Â But then the baseball strike of 1994 happened. Â Half of the season was cancelled along with the playoffs and the World Series. Â And somehow in that break, I lost interest in baseball. Â I am still a sports addict, but now I turn to football, college basketball, soccer, cycling and even curling before baseball.
But back to Cooperstown. Â Our trip didn’t involve a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Â Nope, we were heading out to visit a Belgian-style brewery that also happens to be located in Cooperstown. Â My wife and I had the chance to visit Belgium a couple of years ago, and we’ve been huge fans of Belgian beers ever since that trip. Â So of course a stop by a local(ish) Belgian brewery was definitely high on our list!
After our tour of the brewery, we decided to grab lunch at their cafe. Â Holy woah. Â That was an amazing lunch! Â My wife ordered a sausage sandwich topped with an amazing brussels sprout slaw. Â I could have eaten a big bowl of this slaw with a fork and been perfectly happy. Â Ok, maybe a big bowl of brussels sprout slaw with a Belgian beer. Â We were in a brewery after all!
Grilled Brats with Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw
Grilled Brats with Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout SlawIt didn’t take long for me to recreate this amazing slaw here at home.  As you guys know, I am always looking for any excuse to pull out the grill…and I knew this slaw would be perfect on top of some grilled brats.  Slaw (made from cabbage) is a classic on top of pulled pork sandwiches…but brussels sprout slaw is new to me.  But it’s quickly become a favorite!  The slightly bitter brussels partner with bacon, dried cherries and a quick vinaigrette to create the perfectly balanced combination of flavors.  Toss it on top of grilled Johnsonville® brats, and you’ve got a winner of a summer recipe!
We are currently in the process of moving my office down to the basement (more on that to come!), and we invited some friends over this past weekend to help with that process.  By “invited,” I mean we baited them with promises of Grilled Brats with Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw.  After we got the furniture down the stairs, I threw some Johnsonville® Beer ‘n Bratwurst on the grill and pulled out the brussels sprout slaw.  We hung out on the back deck eating brats and drinking Belgian beer.  Talk about a great way to enjoy the last several weeks of summer!
Beer and brats have always been a classic summer combo, and Johnsonville’s® Beer ‘n Brats are nothing short of delicious!  Bratsgiving (aka National Bratwurst Day) is coming up on August 16. It’s the perfect day to invite friends over and grill up a big batch of brats.  The summer might be starting to wind down soon, but there’s still plenty of time for grilling out with friends on the back deck!  But make sure to have plenty of this Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw on hand…it tends to disappear quickly!
Did you make these Grilled Brats with Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw at home? Leave a comment. Or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). Happy grilling!
Looking for more tasty summer grilling recipes? Check out these favorites, too:
Grilled Blackened Chicken Kabobs
Grilled T-Bone Steaks with Greek Seasoning
Grilled Moroccan Chicken
Grilled Philly Burgers
Citrus Grilled Salmon Skewers
Grilled Brats with Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw
Ingredients
- ¼ cup dried cherries
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ Tbsp lemon juice
- ½ Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1½ Tbsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 8 oz. Brussels sprouts
- ¼ cup bacon cooked and crumbled
Instructions
- Place dried cherries in a cup of hot water; set aside for 5 minutes to allow cherries to plump.
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk until well combined; set aside.
- Meanwhile, using a mandolin or a food processor attached with a grater, shred the Brussels sprouts into a medium bowl.
- Cut cherries in half and add to the bowl along with the crumbled bacon.
- Pour olive oil mixture into bowl; stir until well coated.
- Use this slaw as a topping for grilled bratwurst.
I’d pick lunching on Brats and Brussels Spouts slaw over a trip to the baseball hall of fame anyday – especially when that slaw looks like this! This Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw sounds amazing! This has gotta go on our dinner to-try list! Thanks David and Happy Monday!
This is a fun one for sure, Shashi! I’d never thought about using Brussels to make slaw…but it’s pretty darned tasty. The sweetness from the cherries really balances the tarter Brussels. This is definitely worthy of a place on your dinner list! 🙂
I absolutely LOVE that you have topped these with brussels sprouts. I love sprouts and I don’t think they get enough love in the blogging community. We should start a sprout link up or something haha.
For sure, Dannii! Sprouts totally get the shaft when it comes to blogging love. They get such a bad reputation. Probably because grandmas everywhere force-fed them to their kids…and now the kids won’t touch them. But turn them into slaw on top of brats? Sign me up for that one! Oh, and a good beer next to that brat doesn’t hurt either. 🙂
Hi David! It doesn’t get much better than brats and beer! I personally love Brussels sprouts – I make a sweet and sour Brussels sprout which, of course, has bacon in it! Roasted sprouts don’t suck either – I splash them with a little balsamic vinegar. I can sometimes find them still on the stalk – I don’t know if most people know that they grow on a stalk.
Bacon and Brussels pair so well together! (You’ll notice that this slaw has a bit of crumbled bacon mixed in.) And roasted sprouts are one of our favorite Fall side dishes. They always got such a bad rap growing up, but man, Brussels sprouts are tasty!! We actually grew them one summer in our garden. They grew, but we decided they took up too much space for the yield. Still, it was fun to experiment!
Yum – I need to try this – especially how you do the brussel sprouts!
Yes!! Running the Brussels through a food processor is an easy way to turn them into slaw. This recipe takes all of about 10 minutes to make. And it’s delicious!! But don’t skip on the dried cherries…they’re a great way to balance out the bitterness of the Brussels!
Hi again David! Forgot to mention “hint” 🙂
Hahaha…oh, Dorothy! I love your comments. 🙂
That slaw is next level! Love the cherries 🙂
Thanks so much, Medha! Cherries + Brussels = win!
I have not used a lot of brussels sprouts in my cooking, yet! This is such a creative way to use them though! Never would have thought of it 🙂
Brussels get such a bad reputation, Savita…but they are actually really, really fun! They’ve quickly become one of our favorite side dish ingredients around here. Give it a shot!
David, I could easily eat two bowls of this slaw! Without beer. Just don’t like beer:) But I do love Brussels sprouts. Paired with bacon, cherries, and mustard, that’s super scrumptious!
Fair enough, Ben. Beer is definitely an acquired taste! But brats + this slaw? Not acquired. It’s just plain delicious! Definitely a great summertime grilling on the back deck kind of recipe. 🙂
OK, I think it’s kind of hilarious that you went to Cooperstown and did not visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but the tour of the brewery sounds awesome! and this Cherry Bacon Brussels Sprout Slaw?! what an inventive and creative and delicious way to top your brats!!! LOVE!
Hah! Yeah, but Cooperstown is only about 1.5 hours away from us, so I figured we’ll make it back there at some point to see the Hall of Fame. And our brewery trip led to this amazing Brussels sprout slaw. I never would have thought about topping brats with slaw made from Brussels…but it’s totally legit, Alice! 🙂
I can’t believe I’m about to admit this but for much of my childhood, I thought baseball was a make believe game (like Qudditch) and something you’d dress up for on Halloween . Blame the Australian in me for that.
This not only sounds delicious but the slaw….Damn, I’d eat a whole bowl of that too, minus the beer. Beer + veggies = no dice!
Yup, you admitted it now. The whole world now knows that you think baseball is fake. Haha! Well, I think cricket and kangaroos are fake…so there. Just kidding, mate! Yes, this slaw is amazing…even better on top of grilled brats! Pull that grill out and make up a batch. 🙂
Cherry bacon brussels, say what? Holy woah indeed!
Looking forward to Bratsgiving, never knew. Don’t ya just love going to a new restaurant and being floor with a new idea or dish. Killer post.
THanks, Kevin! This was definitely a unique discovery. While I don’t have their recipe for the slaw, it was fun to come home and create this version inspired from our visit. We often get a lot of inspiration from our random meals out and about! I would never have thought about using Brussels for a slaw…but it’s totally awesome. The cherries help balance the bitterness of the Brussels. A+ slaw for on top of brats!