One of the downsides of spending as much time on food blogs and looking through recipe books as I do is I often discover that the photos are not a good representation of every recipe.
That was definitely true with this week’s recipe.
This was one Joey shared with me after finding it on social media.
It was really pretty, featuring large, halved Brussels sprouts nestled in a bed of seasoned ground beef.
But I chose to follow the recipe, which means (as you can see if you look at my photo) that the gorgeous Brussels basically disappeared into my beef mixture after I shredded them.
It was really good, though, and I think shredding them contributed nicely to the texture of the meal, but it certainly wasn’t as pretty.
This comes from the influencer “Tory Recipes.” You can find the original post by searching for her on Facebook. I added extra garlic powder and mushrooms in my version.
Spicy Beef and Brussels
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef I used 80/20
- 1/3 cup green onions thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 pound Brussels sprouts shredded
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms sliced
- 1/2 cup chili sauce your favorite flavor and spiciness
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- sesame seeds and prepared rice for serving
Instructions
- In a large skillet, brown the ground beef, along with the onions, soy sauce, garlic powder and hot sauce, until the beef is cooked through.
- Transfer the beef mixture to a plate.
- Remove all but one tablespoon of grease from the skillet (if there isn’t that much or things start sticking, add a bit of neutral oil).
- Add the shredded Brussels sprouts and mushrooms and saute for several minutes until they are soft and starting to brown.
- Turn the heat to low, add back in the ground beef, and stir in the chili sauce, lime juice and salt and pepper, and heat until everything is warmed through.
- Serve over rice, topped with sesame seeds.
We really spiced our version of this up by using both a potent hot sauce and a pretty spicy chili sauce. If you’re not really into spice, get a sweet chili sauce instead and skip the hot sauce altogether, and I think you’ll still be happy with the result.
And if you need to hide Brussels sprouts in a family meal to get a few extra vitamins into someone at the table, I can tell you from experience that it’s pretty tough to identify them in the mixture.
That doesn’t make for a pretty photo, but it does make for a pretty good meal.
This piece first appeared in print Aug. 7, 2025.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
