The Chinese equivalent to bacon is Chinese Sausage, or “lap cheong” in Cantonese. If there’s one ingredient that will make brussels sprouts your most favorite vegetable, it’s Chinese Sausage (yes, even more so than bacon).
Chinese Sausage is the secret ingredient to my fried rice – and hey, it’s sold on Amazon.com (actually, that’s a pretty good price $12.85 for a package of 3).
I should probably compare Chinese Sausage to pancetta, as it’s more like pancetta than bacon. But it’s much sweeter and not quite as salty.
Each sausage is dotted with fat…lot of it. Is that a good thing? Well, I believe that sausage without fat is just pork. The fat is where the flavor is, but I do understand the fine line between full-flavored and too fatty. I’ll show you exactly how to deal with this and let you decide how much of that fat to keep or discard. (photos of Chinese Sausage from Amazon.com)
Brussels Sprouts Chinese Sausage
One of my favorite ways to prepare brussels sprouts is to treat it like cabbage and shred it with a chef’s knife. It is a little time consuming, cutting every itty bitty mini “cabbage ball” by hand….feel free to use a food processor with a shredding disc OR just cut each brussels sprouts in half and leave ’em half orbs.
Dice the Chinese Sausage and throw ’em in a cold wok or saute pan. Yes. cold pan. Turn on the heat to medium-low and let the sausage heat up gradually.
As it heats up, you’ll begin to see ’em sweat. That’s a good thing – the fat inside each sausage is melting.
If you use a wok, it makes it easier, push the Chinese sausage up the sides of the wok and let the fat drip down. Make sure you control your heat – don’t let the sausage burn. Now at this point, you can use a paper towel and mop up all this extra fat and discard (!!!) or be like me and just use that fat to fry the brussels sprouts. Just do an extra lap in the pool.
Remove all of the cooked sausage to a plate, being careful to not scoop up any of that fat. We’ll add the cooked sausage back in the pan later.
Crank up the heat and add in the brussels sprouts. Add in 1 tablespoon of water to get the b.s. cooking. If you’ve taken the easy way out and only cut the b.s. in half, you’ll add in a bit more water, cover the pan and let the b.s. steam. But since we’ve got shreds, they cook rather quickly – no need to cover the pan.
Fish sauce is my other secret weapon in this dish – feel free to sub with soy sauce.
Once the brussels sprouts have cooked through – just taste one of them, they should still be just slightly crunchy but with no raw taste – add the Chinese Sausage right back in.
Toss toss toss!
Done. You’ll never have brussels sprouts quite like this….feel free to do this with regular cabbage as well.
Brussels Sprouts with Chinese Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts
- 6 ounces Chinese Sausage (or substitute with 4 ounces pancetta), diced
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce (or soy sauce)
Instructions
- Add the Chinese Sausage to your wok or large saute pan. Turn heat to medium low and let the sausage cook gently for 5 minutes. Watch the heat - don't let the Chinese Sausage burn. Move the Chinese Sausage up the sides of the wok to let the fat drip down. Remove the Chinese Sausage to a plate, use a slotted spoon to keep the fat in the pan.
- Turn the heat to medium-high and add in the brussels sprouts. Toss to coat the brussels sprouts with the fat. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add in 1 tablespoon of water and toss. Let the brussels sprouts cook for 2 minutes (or, if you have cut the brussels sprouts in half instead of shredding, add 3 tablespoons water, turn the heat to medium and cover.
- Cook for 5 minutes and check for doneness)
- Add in the fish sauce. Toss in the cooked Chinese Sausage. Taste and add season with additional fish sauce if needed. Remember, the Chinese Sausage is very salty, so when you're tasting, get a bite with both ingredients.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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I love this! Never tried Chinese sausage but this looks amazing
how much fish sauce should I use. that would be helpful to know
I finally made this recipe as a side dish for dinner tonight and it was a success. Pairing the Brussels sprouts with the lap cheong was brilliant and I received extra points because my Japanese American mom-in-law loves lap cheong. Thanks, Jaden, for another wonderful and easy vegetable dish. What took me so long to make it anyways?
Big hit!! I made this with your pork belly buns. However it was such a smash, that by the time I got a moment it was all gone. Oh well guess I will have to make more. This is the sixth or seventh recipe I have made from your site. All have turned out great, and directions are easy to follow.
Two of our all-time favorite foods in one dish?! We can’t wait to try this!
I’m also on a low carb diet and could not wait to make this dish! I made it last night and couldn’t have enjoyed my “diet” food more! Thank you for such an easy-to-follow recipe and instructions. Your recipes are always great.
Oh gooosh help me!! I’m being tortured heeere! This looks great! I actually eat brussel sprout often and I’m totally gonna try this!
Oh YUM! I love Brussels sprout and am forever on the hunt for more ways to use them…as I like Asian cooking too I am sure I will love this! Thanks for this recipe Jaden!
On another note, I just had Chinese goose liver sausage for lunch…this is my favorite Chinese sausage ever!
I didn’t have chinese sausage on hand so I used chopped pancetta. I also added a handful of sliced red onions to the pancetta and cooked it until carmelized. Might add a bit of sriracha next time. Thanks for the recipe. Will make it again soon!
I’m asking after I linked your post, I hope it’s ok.
I’m on a low carb diet and reading this recipe made me really hungry. I figured out the carbs to be about 5-6 per serving which would be perfect for a low carb meal. Thanks for the recipe, if you have more low carb recipes please post them up!
the link is
http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/comments/sgien/brussels_sprouts_with_chinese_sausage/
There is this new restaurant in Laguna Beach CA (started by a former Charlie Palmer chef) that serves brussel sprouts with chinese sausage and it is out of this world. Can’t wait to recreate!
How did you know I have 5 pounds of brussel sprouts in the fridge…and half a package of laap cheung? 😉
Looks like we’re having this for dinner!
I like native Chinese cooking. They tend to use natural ingredients to the utmost even including seasoning.
Lap cheong is an old favorite of mine and brussels sprouts a relatively newer one! I never would have thought of putting them together! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
This would look really good as a rice topping 🙂
“Happy Cooking”
The Chinese sausage is new to me but it sounds incredible.
I made this last night – – it’s so easy, and super delicious! Definitely a keeper recipe; I’ll be making it for company soon. Thanks!!!
I am definitely making this!! I have been wanting to make a brussels spout slaw type concoction and this will give me a good place to start!
I love lap cheong!!! Will definitely try this recipe in the near future.
This looks delicious! If I can’t get Chinese sausage (here in provincial England 😉 I’m wondering if I could substitute chorizo? They look similar…
Love the simplicity in this recipe. I make stir fried with brussels sprout with Indian spices and have never combined it with meat. Your recipe tempts me to try it with a sausage soon. And yes even I love fish sauce in my dish. YUM!
I just fainted.
Love Brussels Sprouts with bacon, so I can see how delicious this will be as well!! I learned the fish sauce trick from David Chang’s recipe. Looks awesome!
I did a similar stir-fry for dinner last night! Except with chicken and not sausage. It was sooo yum! And yes, fish sauce is my BFF too 😉
I get that same sausage at my local Asian market and guess what? I have a pkg in my freezer right now! So making this!
Jaden – this is awesome. I can’t wait to make this!
Jess
Why would you compare lap cheong to bacon? Bacon is smoked, lap cheong is not..and it’s a sausage!
I buy it locally at a Oriental grocery and have found a brand not too heavy on the 5 spice.
As for Brussel Sprout prep, I like to steam, then finished in a saute pan with crushed garlic in olive oil, sometimes adding bacon, or ham or pancetta
Too funny. I made this tonight for dinner, well with bacon instead, and I added thin sliced sugar peas too. I don’t take my bacon out of the pan before adding in the shredded sprouts, nor add water. Just salt and pepper to season. Though by accident we found that raw thinly sliced red onion adds a great shalloty flavor. My husband was teasing me about being inventive with my veggies and I told him, I didn’t put in fish sauce, or balsamic vinegar! Lo and behold another inventive cook with similar ideas. I have some lop cheung in the deli drawer and another 2 lbs of brussel sprouts, guess this is coming up on the dinner menu in the next few days.
I LOVE Brussels sprouts and I LOVE Chinese sausage, but I never would have thought to combine them! Thank you!
I love how you can see the steam coming from the pan in the last picture.
I don’t really care for brussel sprouts, but after the visuals on this post – I think I might just have to give this dish a try. All Chinese Sausage Everything!
Any ideas for a sausage free version? Would any of the replacement “meats” work?
I collect Brussels sprouts recipes as my oldest daughter won’t eat them. But this gives me hope – she loves bacon and I know she will love Chinese sausage:)
we have two Asian markets very close to where we live and I ma sure I can find the sausage there (it would help to scan your photo, though:)
Have a great day:)
Holy amazingness batman. Sausage was definitely the right decision for these brussels.