These are the BEST brussels sprouts I have ever eaten – and I’ve eaten a lot of brussels sprouts in my life. But I am biased because I like most kinds of brussels sprouts. However, my very anti-brussels sprouts mother loves these kidney friendly brussels sprouts, so that should give you a hint at how delicious they are. What makes these so much better than others you may have tried? Well, let’s talk ingredients:
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Kidney Friendly Brussels Sprouts ingredients:
- Brussels Sprouts – brussels sprouts are one of my favorite vegetables. Did you know that they are a member of the cabbage family? They are high in fiber, and a single cup contain almost 100% of your daily value of vitamin C and vitamin K making them an excellent choice for people with kidney disease. For this recipe, we will be using a food processor to shave these down into little slivers of brussels sprouts. A lot of people don’t care for brussels because they are often not cooked thoroughly. The outside gets cooked, but not the inside. By shaving these down, we ensure that everything gets cooked properly, and the majority of them will get delightfully crunchy.
- Bacon – Bacon is an extremely flavorful food, so a little goes a long way, which is good because people with kidney disease need to limit their protein. The key to finding the right bacon for this kidney friendly brussels sprouts recipe is to choose one with no added phosphates and lower sodium compared to normal bacon. I’ll go into a bit more detail about how to find a bacon that meets that criteria.
- Olive oil – our last ingredient is a hefty dose of olive oil. This adds some healthy fats to kidney friendly brussels sprouts, but also helps the them achieve that crispy texture that is going to be so delicious.
How to choose a kidney friendly bacon
No matter what type of bacon you buy, it will technically be a high sodium food. It will also be a high protein food. Because of these two things, people with Chronic Kidney Disease on a low protein, low sodium diet will need to use it sparingly. We don’t have to completely cut it out, but we need to limit it’s use to more of a garnish rather than the main star of our plate. The two things you want to look for when buying kidney friendly bacon are:
- No added phosphates – the vast majority of bacon contains phosphorus additives, which we know are bad for our bone and heart health. You will need to read the ingredient labels to determine whether or not one contains phosphorus. In general, bacons that are labeled as ‘uncured’ tend to have no phosphate additives, and I honestly cannot tell the difference in taste between cured and uncured bacon (seriously, I did a blind taste test with my family and most of them actually preferred the uncured bacon!).
- Lower in sodium – Notice I didn’t say “low sodium”. I don’t think a bacon exists that is truly low sodium. However, there are definitely some bacons that are better than others. I’ve seen bacon that contains 9x the sodium than calories. NINE TIMES THE SODIUM! That is wild. The nutrition for this kidney friendly brussels sprouts recipe is based on using Hormel’s Black Label Lower Sodium Bacon which contains 200mg of sodium per 80 calorie serving. You’ll notice that the recipe overall is very low sodium. Each serving is 287 calories and only 115mg of sodium. So there is some wiggle room to use a slightly higher sodium bacon, but I would encourage you to aim for one that has 3x the sodium or less. Basically, if you pull out the calculator on your phone and divide the sodium per serving by the calories, the answer should be 3 or less.
Brands that I’ve found that meet this criteria include Whole Foods 365 Uncured Smokehouse Bacon, Hormel Black Label Lower Sodium, Wegman’s Center Cut Uncured with 25% less Sodium, and Shoprite’s Wholesome Pantry Applewood Smoked Uncured Bacon. Any of these would work well in the Crispy Kidney Friendly Brussels Sprouts with Bacon recipe. You can also check out our Kidney Friendly Bacon post for more information about bacon and kidney disease.
Crispy Kidney Friendly Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Nutrition:
Nutrition:
3
servings10
minutes20
minutes30
minutesIngredients
1 lb brussels sprouts
1/4 cup olive oil
2 slices lower sodium bacon
Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Trim ends off of brussels sprouts and use food processor to shred brussels.
- Add olive oil and shredded brussels sprouts to a bowl and toss to evenly coat sprouts with oil.
- Spread brussels sprouts evenly on a foiled lined baking sheet.
- Dice bacon and spread evenly on top of brussels sprouts.
- Cook brussels in oven for 20 minutes or until edges of larger pieces begin to turn golden brown.
Notes
A kidney diet that limits or avoids phosphorus additives and keeps sodium less than 2300 mg per day is recommended.
