This healthy vegetarian Brussels Sprout Salad with Feta Cheese and Pistachios is packed full of bright flavors and never loses its crunch. 

If you follow me on Twitter or  Instagram (if you don’t you should – Follow @awellfedlife), you know that last week I spent the entire weekend in Memphis, Tennessee eating barbecue. I actually ate so much Q that at one point I contemplated if BBQ sauce was running through my veins.   So, when I arrived back home all I wanted to eat were vegetables.  This Brussels sprout salad with feta cheese and pistachios fit the bill.  Full of bright dill and lemon, the salad is fresh and makes a great side dish for grilled meat or fish.

What I really love about this salad is the crunch.  It is for this reason that I really love Brussels sprout salads, period.  Brussels sprouts are hearty and stand up to dressing, especially this lemon citrus vinaigrette.  Studded with pistachios, this salad keeps you chewing and chewing and chewing.   And all that chewing slows my pace of eating which helps me feel full BEFORE I’m stuffed.  The fiber also helps keep me feeling full.  Win, Win.

For this recipe, I used feta cheese for a touch of creaminess to cut the bite of the lemon dressing.  You can easily substitute goat cheese or any other mild crumbly cheese.  Don’t eat dairy?  Skip the cheese and add a few more nuts, if you’re so inclined.  If the dressing is too tart for your liking, add a few drops of agave or a pinch of raw sugar.

Brussel Sprout Salad with Feta Cheese and Pistachios

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, cores removed and chopped
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup dill, chopped
• 1/4 cup roasted pistachios
• 3-4 oz feta, crumbled

Dressing

• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons ground pepper

Instructions

Dressing

1. In a small bowl whisk ingredients together until combined.

Salad

1. Place ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Pour dressing over ingredients.
3. Toss until thoroughly combined.

Preparation Tips

The key to this salad is choosing quality ingredients including the salt.  Yes, the type of salt you use in cooking is really important.  Salt brings out the flavor of other ingredients and can reduce bitterness.  Adding a touch of salt can make a bland dish flavorful by enhancing the other components of the dish.   PRI has a great line of natural and organic salts.  PRI uses solar evaporation of sea water producing refined salts that contain a variety of minerals.  Their Sel de Mer Pacific Sea Salt is also very fine;  it quickly dissolves when making the dressing for this salad.  You can PRI salts online at  PRI or  Wamart.com

Finding unsalted roasted pistachios can be difficult.  If you can only find the salted variety, adjust the salt added to the dressing.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly.  You actually want to work this salad quite a bit to make sure all the ingredients are equally distributed.  This way you will get a little bit of everything in each bite.

** Disclosure: I was given samples of PRI salt to try.  All opinions are my own.