Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad

Updated Oct 06, 2026

5 from 4 votes

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With Parmesan, almonds and dried cranberries, this shaved brussels sprout salad is a fantastic fall and winter recipe. It’s great for lunch and is still special enough for holiday meals like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Raw brussels sprouts are one of my favorite alternates to the usual leafy greens in salads.

Why You’ll Love This Salad
The Ingredients

Optional Additions

How To Make This Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
Serving
More Brussels Sprout Salads
Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad Recipe

Why You’ll Love This Salad

If you’ve only eaten brussels sprouts roasted, you have to try them raw. They taste like a more mild version of cabbage. Uncooked sprouts are nutty, a little bit sweet, and most importantly, they are crisp with a definite crunch for a satisfying texture. I also have a roasted brussels sprout salad where I keep half the sprouts raw.

You can find brussels sprouts year round, but peak season is September through February/March. They make a heartier salad which just feels right during those colder months.

Shaving (shredding) brussels sprouts is simple. Keep it equipment free and just use a sharp knife. You can slice them with a mandolin, or the fastest way to do it is in a food processor fitted with the slicing disc.

The Ingredients

Ingredients including brussels sprouts, cranberries, almonds, Parmesan, lemon, olive oil, vinegar and mustard.

For the salad you will need:

Brussels sprouts: Look for sprouts that are tightly closed. Fresh ones should have no loose or wilting leaves. You can substitute with shredded cabbage, which will give you a similar crisp bite.
Red onions: The theme of this salad is ingredients that are thinly sliced. Then you get everything mixed into each forkful.
Parmesan: Finely grated, this cheese blends right into the mix with the sprouts adding its umami and savory flavors.
Almonds: Make sure to toast the almonds to bring out all their nutty goodness. I spread them across a sheet pan and bake them in a 350-degree F oven for 5-7 minutes.
Dried cranberries add sweet-tart accents to the salad. If you prefer something fresh and juicy, pomegranate seeds are a good swap.
Parsley: Chopped fresh herbs round out all that good ingredient layering in this simple salad.
Lemon vinaigrette: Garlic and whole grain mustard add their flavor to this simple dressing with red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Optional Additions

I love this salad as the recipe is written, but if you want a little extra, try one of these:

Apples: Include thinly sliced apples that are crisp such as Pink Lady, Fuji or Honeycrisp apples.
Avocados: Dice an avocado and stir it right in. That creaminess is an interesting contrast to the crunch of te shredded sprouts.
Hard-boiled egg: I’m always a big fan of dicing a hard-boiled egg and throwing it into pretty much any kind of salad.

How To Make This Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad

1. Assemble the salad. Combine the shredded brussels sprouts, red onions, Parmesan, almonds, cranberries and parsley in a big bowl.

2. Make the vinaigrette. Whisk the lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl.

Salad ingredients assembled in a large bowl. Vinaigrette whisked in a small bowl.

3. Drizzle the dressing into the salad. Toss to combine.

Salad tossed with dressing in a large bowl.

Serving

Bookmark this recipe for a Thanksgiving salad, especially if you want sprouts to make an appearance in the meal, but you don’t have oven space to roast them. Again, this is where it is a salad and a side dish.

It’s also a great lunch or weeknight dinner salad. Even though it’s filling on its own, you can add roasted chicken, salmon or tofu.