These Brussels sprouts with bacon follow a North Carolina Cooperative Extension recipe: halved sprouts roasted on a sheet pan at 400°F with diced bacon, garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar for 12 to 14 minutes, then tossed with a honey and balsamic glaze. It serves 6 and takes about 15 minutes in the oven.
We follow the extension recipe exactly, with the four diced slices of bacon it calls for coming from our America’s Best Dry Cured Bacon or the uncured line. Below are the recipe, the recipe at a glance, and what our product pages say about the ham beside it.
Roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon: the recipe
This is the Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts recipe, ingredient for ingredient and step for step, from N.C. Cooperative Extension, Lenoir County, published January 10, 2022. Serves 6.
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided
- 2 pounds Brussels sprouts, halved
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat it with nonstick spray.
- Mix the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk the honey with 1 tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar and set it aside.
- Roast. Place the sprouts in a single layer on the sheet. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of balsamic, the olive oil, the bacon, and the garlic, and roast 12 to 14 minutes, or until tender.
- Finish. Stir in the honey mixture, season with salt and pepper, and serve at once.
Bacon must be cooked completely, per USDA’s bacon page, so check that the diced bacon is browned and cooked through when the sprouts are tender; give it a few more minutes if it is not.
Which bacon
The recipe says four slices of bacon, diced, and that is what we use: four slices of ours, diced. Our bacon is thick cut, which the extension recipe does not specify either way, so check that the bacon is browned and cooked through when the sprouts are tender, and give the pan a few more minutes if it is not.
Dry cured bacon lists brown sugar, salt, black pepper, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrite; the uncured line lists water, salt, turbinado sugar, and celery powder. Both are slow smoked over real applewood, per their product pages, and we explain the cure difference in uncured bacon vs cured bacon.
Both lines are thick cut and come frozen, so thaw the pack in the refrigerator before you dice the four slices. The rest of the line is in the bacon category, and the slice itself is explained in thick cut bacon.
Brussels sprouts with bacon at a glance
| Step | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Oven | 400°F, lightly oiled baking sheet | N.C. Cooperative Extension recipe |
| Glaze | 1 tablespoon honey whisked with 1 tablespoon balsamic | Extension recipe |
| Roast | 2 lb halved sprouts, 2 tablespoons balsamic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 4 slices diced bacon, 4 cloves garlic; 12 to 14 minutes until tender | Extension recipe |
| Bacon check | Browned and cooked through before serving | USDA bacon page: cook bacon completely |
| Finish | Stir in the glaze, salt and pepper, serve at once | Extension recipe |
| Yield | 6 servings | Extension recipe |
Every row but the bacon check is the extension recipe; the bacon check is USDA’s rule for any bacon. We have not tested other finishes or additions, so we do not list any. If you change the recipe, you are on your own schedule, and the bacon check still applies.
On the Thanksgiving table
Sprouts at 400°F and a spiral ham at 325°F need different ovens or different times. Our ham’s package heats it at 325°F for 10 minutes per pound, covered, so heat the ham first, then turn the oven up and roast the sprouts in the 15 minutes before you carve; the recipe says to serve them at once.
The ham method is in how to cook a spiral ham, and the rest of the plate is in our older post on seasonal heritage pork pairings.
USDA lists home cooked dishes at 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, so leftovers keep through the weekend. Reheat them in a hot oven or skillet until hot through; USDA’s bacon page says cooked bacon itself keeps 4 to 5 days.
Questions people ask about Brussels sprouts with bacon
What is the best way to cook Brussels sprouts with bacon?
Roast them together on a sheet pan at 400°F with olive oil, balsamic, and garlic. The N.C. Cooperative Extension recipe above does it in 12 to 14 minutes, then finishes with honey and balsamic.
Do you need to boil sprouts before frying with bacon?
Not for roasting. In the extension recipe, halved sprouts go on the pan raw with the oil, balsamic, bacon, and garlic, and come out tender in 12 to 14 minutes.
What goes well with Brussels sprouts and bacon?
A spiral sliced ham, a pork loin roast, or the turkey. The honey balsamic finish sits well next to a honey glazed ham.
What is the best thing to put on Brussels sprouts?
In this recipe, bacon, garlic, and a honey balsamic finish. That is the extension recipe’s answer, and it is the one we follow.
One sheet pan, one extension recipe. Brussels sprouts with bacon are the simple Thanksgiving side, and four slices of applewood smoked Heritage Duroc bacon are what we put in the pan.
Check availability on the dry cured bacon, or pick the in stock uncured bacon. Everything is in the bacon category and ships frozen from the farm shop.