Brussels sprouts, those cute little mini-cabbages named after a Belgium city, are one of the higher carb vegetables that I regularly eat.
One cup of plain cooked Brussels sprouts will set you back about 11 grams of carbohydrates, and 4 grams of protein. All that, and you only get 55 or 56 calories of energy. That means a lot of us will be inclined to eat more than a cup. I probably eat between a cup-and-a-half and two cups at a time.
As with other green vegetables, there is little fat naturally present in Brussels sprouts, just eight-tenths of a gram of fat in the one-cup portion.
So, the combined weight of the carbs and protein in a cup of Brussels sprouts is 15 grams versus barely one gram of fat. If you are attempting to balance the carb-and-protein content of your food against the fat content, you are in a 14 gram hole to start with.
The saving grace of the Brussels sprout is its fiber content. The one-cup portion contains a touch over 4 grams of fiber, so the net carbs of a one-cup serving of plain cooked Brussels sprouts is 7 grams. Factoring in the fiber makes Brussels sprouts reasonably low-carb.
Brussels sprouts have twice the carbs of cauliflower, but also nearly twice the fiber. Still, the 7 net carbs in a cup of Brussels sprouts contrasts to just under 3 net carbs in a cup of cauliflower. Broccoli has just over 3 net carbs per cup. A more favorable comparison for Brussels sprouts is to green beans, which contain 6 net grams of carbs per cup.
Anyway you look at it, you are going to want to add healthy fat to your cooked Brussels sprouts. Isn’t that always the case with vegetables? They have many virtues, but providing fat isn’t one of them.
When Anita and I are eating Brussels sprouts, the easiest thing is to melt some butter over the top. Generally, you can count on me to do the easy thing, especially when it involves eating butter.
Another of our favorite ways to eat Brussels sprouts with hot Mexican sausage (loose-style Chorizo) and onion, all cooked together in a single pan of the stove top. In that dish, the fat is provided by the pork sausage.
At home, we typically eat Brussels sprouts once or twice a week. It is one of Anita’s favorite cooked vegetables, which means that it one of mine. We buy Brussels sprouts fresh and also whole frozen.
In recent years, a couple restaurants in our area have started to feature Brussels sprouts on the menu, usually roasted. Our area is a backwater of the culinary arts, so I’m sure Brussels sprouts on the menu is passe in many places.
Brussels sprouts are a good source of vitamins A, C and K, and of iron and potassium. (And a decent source of dietary fiber!)
Links to more Brussels sprouts info
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