This Beer Brat Salad is totally cravable. Get ready.
Hope you all had a happy, chill, fun long holiday weekend! My cooking schedule has been filled with easy, hearty breakfasts followed by smoothie or sandwich/toast lunches and either summer-y dining out or an easy dinner. Lots of big salads to match the warmer weather and mood to not want to turn on my oven unless I'm baking cookies.
Well this plant-based Avocado Candied Nut Beer Brat Salad fits very nicely into that schedule. I have made this salad about three times now because I love it so much! And there are plenty of ways to tweak the ingredients. But really the special ingredients are those quick candied nuts and the beer brats. If you have never tried vegan beer brats, I hope this post entices you!...
I love the cool meets toasty aspect of this salad. Cool butter lettuce and fruit and avocado pairs with the toasty skillet-warm brats and nuts.
The Components to this salad:
- butter lettuce (or another leafy green)
- quick candied nuts (pecans or walnuts)
- avocado
- skillet beer brats by Tofurky (could also be tempeh bacon or another similar ingredient)
- fruit: sliced peaches, mandarin oranges, grilled apricots...
- dressing of choice. I have been using either Vegan Bleu Cheese (by Follow Your Heart) or my own DIY No-Honey Mustard Dressing.
..And that's it! Super easy and so flavorful.
The salty, crispy-edges beer brat slices pair perfectly with the toasty-sweet candied nuts and sweet fruit. The cool butter lettuce mixture on the bottom layer. And of course, buttery avocado slices to bring everything together.
Still in it: Beach-y. Mood. #SantaMonica
Pairing Options. This salad pairs really well with pizza, pasta or serve a giant portion and use it as it's own entree. Last night we added some easy marinara pasta with vegan Parm on top and it was perfection!
What's Next for Summer? We are already in July, can you believe it?? Well, we already had a nice mini vaycay in Coronado California, which I need to do a blogpost about! And we might do another mini vaycay before the summer is through. But really guys, I am a fall travel-lover. I love beachy getaways in summer months, but since I already live in LA, land of beaches and (usually) lots of sunshine, I guess i get more excited about cold travel months! Less tourists and off-season rates! I wrote about off-season travel to Croatia in this post.
And there are a few more things on my calendar, but I'll share those later!
I am also doing a lot of screenwriting. Polishing up my scripts that I started in my UCLA program, and I'm staring on a few new projects as well. I am so excited for this screenwriting journey. It is such a special craft - creating stories and characters with hopes to bring them to life on a screen.
OK, enough rambling. Hope you guys can hop in the kitchen and try this salad! Happy July! ~ K
Beer Brat Salad
Ingredients
- 6 cups butter lettuce
- salad dressing of choice, to taste
- ½ cup mandarin oranges, or another fruit - seasonal works well
- 1 small avocado, diced
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- pinch of salt
- black pepper to taste
- 1 vegan sausage, Tofurkey Beer Brats used, sliced
- EVOO for pan - about 2-3 tsp
Instructions
- Toss the salad with your dressing and avocado, set aside.
- Warm a skillet over high heat. Add a splash of EVOO. Add the beer brats and cook 2-3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. A minute before they are done, add the nuts to one side of the pan. Toss a bit to toast. Add the maple syrup over top the nuts. Toss a bit to coat. Allow to simmer on low heat for a minute, then turn off the heat. As the nuts cool they will get a bit stickier. Add a pinch of salt to the nuts.
- Add the salad to serving bowl(s). Then top with the fruit, beer brats and nuts. Add black pepper over top to serve. Enjoy!
Equipment
- skillet
nutrition estimate | per serving
Pin it for later..
