It’s another #MeatlessMonday here at AK and I’ve got a gorgeous rainbow salad for you to make this week.
Let me reintroduce you to this crunchy, bright, fresh shredded brussels sprouts salad.
I first made this salad a couple of years ago on a whim when I was absolutely craving a big green salad, or just about anything packed with veggies. This shredded brussels sprouts salad was my solution to cleaning out the fridge as I was able to use just about every remaining veggie that had been lurking in there. It’s crunchy, filling, flavorful and perfect for topping fish tacos, burgers, or even using it as a slaw.
F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! (Imagine singing it Fergie style though.)
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Ingredients in this shredded brussels sprouts salad
This shredded brussels sprouts salad is the best way to clean out your fridge because it includes tons of veggies and a savory sesame ginger dressing that you’ll want to make again and again. It’s vegan, gluten free and super easy to customize to your taste preference. Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:
- For the veggies: we’re using fresh brussels sprouts, purple cabbage, carrots, red bell pepper, green onion & cilantro. Talk about a rainbow in a bowl!
- For extra crunch: I love adding roasted salted cashews and toasted almonds to this salad for little savory bites.
- For the dressing: the sesame ginger dressing is out-of-this-world delicious. It’s made with toasted sesame oil, olive oil, low sodium soy sauce, rice vinegar, a little maple syrup, garlic & freshly minced ginger.
Looking for an extra boost of protein?
This shredded brussels sprouts salad is the perfect base for adding your favorite proteins — plant-based or not! Here’s what I recommend:
- 1 cup of cooked edamame or chickpeas
- Grilled, diced chicken breast (use the sesame ginger dressing as a marinade!)
- Grilled shrimp or salmon (I recommend my maple glazed salmon)
Level up your dressing
The sesame ginger dressing adds a wonderful umami flavor to all of the fresh veggies, but you can also kick it up a notch by adding a tablespoon of tahini or cashew butter for creaminess! SO GOOD.
How to shred brussels sprouts
To make this salad you’ll need to shred your brussels sprouts. It might sound tricky, but it’s actually super easy and there are a few great ways to do it:
- Use a food processor: trim the small stem off of the brussels sprouts and add them to your food processor about a handful or so at a time. Use the slicing attachment on your food processor and pulse until they’re nice and shredded.
- Use a box grater: you can shred your brussels sprouts against a box grater on the side with the largest holes. I’d suggest spraying the grater with a bit of cooking spray so that the sprouts easily glide against the grater.
- Shred them with a knife: this is the method I typically use, and once you get the hang of it it will go pretty quickly. Using a sharp knife cut the stem off of your brussels sprouts and then cut them in half lengthwise. Then, with each half laying flat side down, chop your brussels sprouts into fine shreds. No need for them to be perfect!
Do the brussels sprouts need to be cooked?
Nope! You’ll use raw, shredded brussels sprouts in this recipe for the perfect amount of crunch.
The perfect salad for meal prep
Absolutely. Personally, I think the salad is best after sitting for a few hours in the dressing, but ultimately it’s the most delicious within a few days of making it. Just make sure you wait to add the cashews and almonds until you are ready to serve!
How to store this brussels sprouts salad
This crunchy shredded brussels sprouts salad gets even better over the course of a few days as it marinates in the sesame ginger dressing. Store it in an airtight container (or a few meal prep containers like these) for up to 5 days, and see the tips above for meal prepping it or making it ahead of time to serve more people!
What to serve with this brussels sprouts salad
You can serve this salad as is or pair it with a protein of choice. Here are some suggestions:
- Firecracker Salmon
- Spicy Maple Glazed Salmon
- My Favorite Turkey Burgers
- One Pan Ginger Chicken Meatballs with Peanut Sauce
- Sweet & Spicy Hot Chili Chicken Noodles
- Healing Lemongrass Chickpea Thai Green Curry with Toasted Coconut Brown Rice
More salad recipes to try
- Spicy Cashew Thai Chickpea Broccoli Salad
- Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Sunshine Dressing
- Spicy Ranch Chopped Chicken Cabbage Salad
- Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Curry Roasted Cauliflower Sweet Potato Salad (whole30, vegan & gluten free)
Get all of our delicious salad recipes here, plus more amazing recipes using brussels sprouts!
I know you’re going to love this shredded brussels sprouts salad, please let me know if you make it by leaving a comment and rating the recipe below. I’d love to hear from you and it helps encourage others to make the recipe too! xo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Cashew Crunch Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
- For the salad:
- 1 pound brussels sprouts, end trimmed and any yellow outer leaves removed
- 4 cups shredded red cabbage (also known as purple cabbage)
- 1 ½ cups shredded carrots (from the bag) or carrots cut into small matchsticks*
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup diced green onion
- 3/4 cup salted roasted cashews
- 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
- For the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos if GF)
- 2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly minced ginger
- Optional if you want a creamy dressing: add 1 tablespoon tahini or cashew butter
- To garnish:
- Extra cashews and almonds
- Green onion
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Shave the brussels sprouts by using a food processor with the slicing attachment and pulse until the brussels sprouts are thinly sliced. If you don’t have a food processor, feel free to use a sharp knife to thinly slice.
- Add shaved brussels sprouts to a bowl, along with shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, red bell pepper, cilantro and green onion. Top with cashews and toasted almonds.
- Make the dressing by whisking together the following in a medium bowl or shaking in a mason jar: sesame oil, olive oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup, garlic and fresh ginger. If you want a creamier dressing, add in a tablespoon of tahini or cashew butter.
- Drizzle over the salad and use tongs to toss the salad together so that the dressing coats all of the brussels sprouts and cabbage. Garnish salad and enjoy! Serves 4-6.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
79 comments
This looks perfect for our summer concerts in the park. We always pack a picnic dinner and a bottle of wine to bring along.
Absolutely! That sounds amazing.
Just made this salad for dinner and it was SO GOOD! One of those recipes that I had to leave a comment on because it was THAT delicious (another are your zucchini brownies). Can’t wait to have the leftovers after they marinate in the dressing!
Amazing!! So happy to hear that Kylie 🙂 Thanks so much for leaving a comment!
Loved this recipe, but thought the dressing was a bit too garlicky. Maybe I’ll try powdered garlic or less garlic next time.
Glad you enjoyed! Feel free to use only 1 clove of garlic next time, that should do the trick.
Do u think this salad can be made ahead or dress it right before I eat it?
Thanks!
You can definitely make this one ahead!
Why can I never print the recipes in your site, it gives me the print option and when I click in it, it takes me to the full page recipe and there is no further print option there, so annoying
Hi! Once you’re at that full page recipe you’ll just need to click “File>Print” at the top of your browser. That should do it!
There is loads of sodium in this yet you don’t list it in the nutritional information. I like that you put info up but sodium info is crucial for me.
Don’t know where the comment came about so much sodium? There is only 2 tbsp….and it is low sodium!
I currently live in a country where it’s hard/expensive to get pure maple syrup. Do you think honey would be a good substitute? And should I use the same amount?
I think honey would be great, or feel free to use a tablespoon of sugar or coconut sugar.
I made your recipe this morning for tonight’s dinner. Looking forward to eating it! Please tell me how to print it?????
Hope you love it! Under the nutrition facts you’ll see a pink “print” button, which will pull up a full page. Click File>Print to print it out!
Would love to twist this for keto it looks beautiful fresh and inviting they are beautiful dish to bring to a party
I love shredded brussels sprouts salads! Can’t wait to try this one 🙂
The best! Hope you love this one 🙂
This salad is amazing! I had to have seconds everytime. Throw away your romaine-ramen noodle recipe. This will be my “go to” recipe all summer long,
YES better than the romaine-ramen combo 🙂 Glad you found this one!
Made this today, it’s delicious! Thanks
Glad you enjoyed!
I’ve been looking for easy dinners to put together for busy weeks. This was great with some cooked chicken I bought from the store sliced on top. Husband approved. I used honey instead of maple syrup because I didn’t have it handy in the house and it worked great!
I’m glad you found this recipe! Perfect for a weeknight dinner with some extra protein. Honey for the dressing is great!
This salad was absolutely delicious! My husband and I are devouring it right now!
Great! One of my favorites for lunch 🙂
delicious!!
so good!
I tried this out and wasn’t sure about it whilst making it, I am not vegan or vegetarian but thought it would be something different with salmon. I have to say it was delicious! I left out the almonds as I didn’t have any. I would definitely make this again. I probably used a little less maple sauce as I am diabetic. Otherwise I recommend it!
This sounds delicious with salmon! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I’m new at eating this way and I needed new ideas thank you!
I’m glad you found this one! Perfect way to eat more veggies 🙂
This is delicious! I accidentally forgot to add ginger to the dressing, but it was still awesome. I added a whole head of green cabbage with a bunch of Brussels sprouts and doubled the dressing (but I omitted the olive oil.) I added cilantro, but couldn’t really taste it at all once it had been sitting in the dressing so next time I’ll add right before serving. My husband renamed this Cashew Crack Slaw! He loved it so much!
Perfect! Love the new name haha. Such a great lunch or side!
This was delicious! I used my thermomix to shred the brussel sprouts and cabbage
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Could you use coconut oil instead of olive oil in the dressing?
I wouldn’t recommend it as it will solidify when it’s refrigerated 🙂 avocado oil will also work!
I love to add edamame for some protein and a sprinkle of sesame seeds for fun 🙂
Love that idea! 🙂
This was a pretty darn good salad, especially the dressing! I will probably triple the dressing next time as my husband and I used 3/4 of the batch on our single serving. I forgot to add the carrots (only because I prepped this the day before and ran out of time to shred carrots but they will be a great addition, I felt like it was missing a little something, more ingredients! Maybe the carrots will round it out enough.
Glad you enjoyed! This one’s great for customizing with any veggies or protein you have on-hand, too 🙂
Love this salad. Real talk – I never have the patience to chop up the brussels sprouts and cabbage…I always use a bag of the Cruciferous Crunch mix from Trader Joe’s, and use all the same proportions for everything else and I think it still tastes amazing. This saves really well too. I’ll typically eat it as leftovers for a couple days.
One of the best salads EVER! We’ve made this weekly for the past few months and haven’t tired of it. It’s a salad that will actuallly leave you full! We make salmon ahead of time and use use the cold leftovers in the salad. Also highly recommend roasting your own cashews!
Love this recipe!
Love these recipes
I’m so glad!
I’ve made this all the times. I swap the brussels and cabbage for a coleslaw mix bag, to save time and I don’t like brussels. And coconut aminos instead of soy sauce to keep it paleo. Always the cashew butter. It is one of my favorite dishes, thanks so much! Even my kids (3-13) like it!
Perfect! So glad it’s a favorite!
I love kk the recouped
sorry just saw this now will be making this soon can i skip red bell pepper as am not a big fan of it i never had salad before perfect for my after office meals will dm you if i make this and let you know how it goes Thanks Ramya
Yes feel free to substitute any veggies in here! Enjoy 🙂
I made this last week with grilled salmon and it was amazing! Loved the dressing and all the flavors.
Love that! Such a great combo 🙂
Another salad winner from Ambitious Kitchen! Have no photos as it got eaten so fast….
Great mix of veggies that work really well with the dressing and the nuts, and so easy to throw together.
So happy you’re loving it, Tara!! One of my fav salads, too 🙂
This is excellent when I’m craving a salad that’s not leaf-based. So delicious and holds up for 3-5 days!
2 cloves of garlic was a bit much for me, but otherwise it is super tasty!
Totally fine to reduce the amount of garlic next time! Glad you still enjoyed it 🙂
Looks super tasty. I can’t wait to try this out for lunch.
So excited for you to try it, Ella! Enjoy!
Looks tasty. Going to try this out for lunch soon. Love all the veggies.
Excited for you to try it!
I love this salad. I like to make it for my lunches. Great to prep everything for the week and put it together each morning! It’s a delicious, healthy, crunchy, colorful lunch. I just love it.
Love all things Brussels. What a great fresh lunch idea.
This looks so tasty, Always looking for new ways to have a salad.
Hope you can try it soon! 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I just made this for Sunday dinner. Excellent!!!
Amazing! I will make this again for my next potluck. I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I made due with what I had:
Brussels sprouts, cilantro, red pepper, green onion, red onion, carrots. I decided to make quinoa for it to be more filling and to add more protein. When the quinoa was done and still hot, I dumped it into a bowl along with fresh kale, which softened from the heat. I used mixed nuts. Mixed it all together. Delicious! I just found your website, but I’m going to look around here for other great recipes. Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it! And those additions sound amazing. Such a flexible recipe!
And I’m happy you’re here 🙂 Can’t wait for you to try more.
This looks amazing, but I don’t do well with raw brussel sprouts. Do you think kale would work instead? Thanks for all the great recipes!
Yes, absolutely! Kale would be amazing 🙂 Enjoy!
Amei essa salada e vou fazer
I love this recipe!! It’s my go-to for lunches that I can easily meal prep and enjoy all week! Plus, I don’t have to cook anything! Great for those hot summer months! Yum!
Easy to make and tastes sooooo good 😋!! Especially if you give the dressing take to marinate. Yum!!
Just made this, sitting in the fridge to marinate a bit. Love your site and recipes. Only comment is that when a recipe calls for a”bunch of parsley” it might be more helpful to have a measurement, as bunches can vary in size
Hope you enjoy this salad, Cathy. Thanks for your feedback. As a general rule of thumb, a bunch is about 1-2oz 🙂
Love this recipe! Have been using brussel sprouts as a base for salads and this was a nice change from the typical Italian or Balsamic dressings. Followed the directions pretty closely (didn’t have almonds on hand so substituted with won ton strips and added chopped chicken and hard boiled egg) but did find that I wanted more dressing so made a second batch with the suggested tahini and WOW!! Delicious!!
Amazing! This one’s great for customizing!