Shredded Brussels Sprouts and White Beans with Soft-Boiled Eggs and Almonds
Thinly shredded brussels sprouts seared hard with garlic and thyme, tossed with cannellini beans, lemon, and toasted almonds, and topped with halved eggs and shaved parmesan.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Vegetables are the thing most breakfasts forget, and this is my answer to that. A pound of brussels sprouts shredded thin cooks in eight minutes, which is the whole reason the dish works on a weekday, and shredding gives you far more cut surface than halves do so the pan tastes toasted rather than steamed. Beans go in for substance, almonds for crunch, an egg on top for the thing that makes it breakfast. It is one skillet and a small pot of water, and it is on the table in under half an hour, which is about as much as I can promise myself on a weekday morning.
Everything here depends on leaving the pan alone. The sprouts go in, get pressed flat, and are not touched for three full minutes, which is long enough for the cut faces against the metal to caramelize and sweeten. Stir too early and you get a pale, slightly sulfurous tangle instead. The beans go in near the end so they warm without breaking up, the garlic goes in later still so it perfumes rather than burns, and the lemon goes on off the heat, where it stays sharp rather than cooking away into nothing. The almonds come out of the pan first and go back in last, for the same reason.
By Tuesday the week has already gotten away from me, and something green before ten in the morning helps. It reheats well, it is good at room temperature out of a container at a desk, and it takes an egg cooked any way you like, though nine minutes in boiling water gives the yolk I want here. In the fall I add a diced firm pear to the pan with the beans, and in January I add a spoonful of chile and eat it standing at the stove with the pan still warm.
Ingredients
- 1 lb brussels sprouts, trimmed and shredded thin
- 1 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 large eggs
- 2/3 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 cup shaved parmesan
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 4 tsp lemon juice, plus the zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Boil the eggs: Bring a small saucepan of water to a rolling boil, lower the eggs in on a spoon, and cook for nine minutes at a steady simmer. Move them straight to a bowl of ice water for three minutes, which stops the cooking and makes them far easier to peel. Nine minutes gives you a yolk that is set but still bright and creamy rather than dry and chalky.
- Shred the sprouts: Trim the stem ends, halve each sprout, lay the halves flat, and slice them thinly into shreds. The slicing disc of a food processor does a pound in about a minute. Pull apart the clumps with your fingers so nothing goes into the pan as a solid disc.
- Toast the almonds: Put the sliced almonds into a large dry skillet over medium heat and shake them for three minutes, until they smell nutty and are patched with gold. Tip them onto a plate. They will keep toasting on their own heat, which is why they come out before they look finished.
- Sear the sprouts: Add the olive oil to the same pan over medium-high, add the sprouts and the salt, press them flat, and leave them undisturbed for three minutes so the undersides brown. Toss, press flat again, and repeat twice, six to eight minutes in all, until there are dark edges through the pan and the shreds are tender.
- Finish and build the bowls: Push the sprouts to one side, add the garlic and thyme to the bare patch for thirty seconds until fragrant, then stir in the beans and warm them through for a minute. Take the pan off the heat, add the lemon juice, zest, pepper, and almonds, and toss. Divide among four bowls, halve the peeled eggs over the top, and shave the parmesan across.
Variations
- Pear and black pepper: Add a diced firm pear with the beans and double the pepper for a sweet and sharp version that suits cold weather.
- Chile and mint: Finish with a pinch of chile flakes and a handful of torn mint for a brighter, hotter bowl.
- Smoked trout: Flake a fillet of smoked trout over the top in place of the parmesan for something saltier and more substantial.
- Poached rather than boiled: Slide a poached egg onto each bowl and let the yolk run through the sprouts as a sauce.
Storage & Leftovers
The sprouts and beans keep four days in a sealed container and are one of the better cold breakfasts in my refrigerator, sharp with lemon and still crunchy at the almonds. Store the eggs separately, unpeeled, and they hold five days.
Reheat in a dry skillet over medium-high for three minutes, spread flat and left alone for the first two so the browned edges come back. The microwave works but softens everything, so if that is your route, add the almonds fresh afterward.
This does not freeze well. Brussels sprouts go limp and watery on thawing and the beans turn to paste. It is quick enough to make fresh that I have never wanted to try harder.
Notes & Tips
- Use the widest pan you own: A pound of shredded sprouts needs contact with metal to brown. In a crowded pan they release water and stew, and no amount of extra time fixes it.
- Leave them alone for three minutes: The urge to stir is strong and it is the enemy here. Undisturbed contact is what makes the cut leaves go sweet and nutty at the edges.
- Add the garlic late: Sliced garlic burns in about ninety seconds over the heat these sprouts need. Thirty seconds in a cleared patch of pan at the end gives you all of the aroma and none of the bitterness.
- Ice the eggs properly: Three minutes in genuinely icy water is what separates the shell from the white. Eggs left to cool on the counter tear as you peel them.
- Lemon goes on off the heat: Acid added to a hot pan cooks off and flattens out. Take the skillet to the counter first and the whole dish tastes brighter for it.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Sprouts, beans, almonds, and egg each carry a different part of this bowl. The sprouts give the bulk and most of the fiber, the beans add substance and more fiber still, the almonds bring fat and crunch, and the egg and parmesan carry the protein that makes it hold as a breakfast.
- Brussels sprouts are in the cabbage family, which is where their faint bitterness and their sulfur smell come from, and shredding and searing turns that bitterness sweet. They carry vitamin K and a lot of vitamin C for a vegetable most people think of as heavy.
- Cannellini beans are soft, creamy, and mild, which is exactly what a pan full of browned edges needs alongside it, and they bring soluble fiber, plant protein, and potassium into a dish that would otherwise be all texture.
- Almonds toasted in a dry pan give up their oil and go fragrant, and they contribute vitamin E and magnesium along with the crunch that keeps every forkful from being soft.
- Eggs are the reason this eats like breakfast rather than a side dish. The yolk carries choline and vitamin D, and a whole egg on top of a bowl of vegetables adds the protein that makes the meal hold you through the morning.
- As you eat, notice the difference between the dark toasted shreds and the soft beans underneath them, and let the yolk and the lemon meet on the fork before you take the next bite.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use frozen brussels sprouts?
You can, but they will not brown the same way, since they release water as they thaw. Cook them from frozen in a very hot dry pan until the water has gone, then add the oil and carry on. Expect a softer result and a milder flavor.
What if I want a runnier yolk?
Six and a half minutes gives a properly soft center, and seven and a half gives a jammy one. I use nine here because the yolk sets to a texture that holds together on the fork against the sprouts rather than running straight to the bottom of the bowl.
Can I swap the beans?
Navy beans and chickpeas both work and behave the same way. Whatever you use, rinse it well and add it at the end, since beans that sit in a hot pan too long break apart and cloud the dish.
My sprouts came out soggy.
Crowding, nearly always. A pound of shreds needs a twelve-inch skillet, and in anything smaller they steam. Cook them in two batches if you have to, and make sure they are properly dry before they go anywhere near heat.