These Maple Bacon Brussel Sprouts will be your new favorite vegetable side dish! Coated with a sweet and savory maple balsamic glaze and topped with salty bacon pieces, these oven roasted brussel sprouts are so flavorful and delicious! They’re the perfect side dish to pair with an easy weeknight dinner or even your holiday feast! {gluten-free & paleo}
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Roasted Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts
If you’ve been looking for the ultimate way to serve up brussel sprouts, these maple bacon brussel sprouts will not disappoint!
Coated in a maple balsamic glaze, the brussel sprouts are oven-roasted until lightly browned and crispy and are then tossed with crispy bacon bits. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and savory that even non-brussel sprout lovers will love!
This healthy side dish is easy enough to serve up for an everyday family meal, yet fancy enough to serve during those fancier holiday gatherings. Both easy and delicious, these balsamic brussels sprouts will be your new favorite way to serve up this highly underestimated vegetable.
For more vegetable side dishes, be sure to try my Maple Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes and Seasoned Green Beans with Bacon too!
Why We Love These Maple Balsamic Brussel Sprouts
Just in case, you’re not totally convinced about brussel sprouts, here are a few points that may just convince you to give them a shot.
- Quick and easy: Did you know these savory sprouts are ready from start to finish in just 25 minutes? That’s quick!
- So much flavor: The combination of bacon, sweet maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and dijon are the perfect match for mellow sprouts. There are layers and layers of flavors here. You won’t be able to stop eating them!
- Casual or fancy: Although these sprouts are fancy enough to serve with your Thanksgiving meal, they’re also perfect for serving with grilled sausages, roast chicken, or even leftovers!
- Make ahead for later: This is such a great side dish for meal prepping! Just roast a big batch of sprouts once and reheat them all week long.
Ingredient Notes
- Fresh Brussels sprouts: Look for brussels sprouts with bright green heads that are firm and heavy for their size with tightly packed leaves. Remove the outer leaves and trim down the stems.
- Olive oil: Helps the Brussels sprouts to get nice and crispy in the oven. I typically like to use extra virgin olive oil, but you could also use lite if preferred.
- Maple syrup: Adds a nice sweetness to the glaze, which complements the balsamic and bacon. Use 100% pure maple syrup.
- Garlic: Use freshly grated garlic for best results.
- Dijon mustard: Adds a slight tanginess to the glaze. Use smooth to ensure that it gets evenly distributed in the glaze mixture.
- Balsamic vinegar: Good quality balsamic vinegar will generally have ‘Grape must, tradizionale’ listed first on the ingredients list. This means that it has been aged for at least 12 years, and the vinegar will be thicker and sweeter. If you prefer to go with a cheaper variety, it still works well in this recipe.
- Bacon: Adds a nice saltiness and light crunch to this recipe. I typically like to look for a reduced sodium bacon to lower the sodium content.
How to Make Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk together the ingredients for the maple balsamic glaze in a small bowl.
- Place the brussel sprouts in a large bowl and toss with half the maple balsamic mixture until they’re well coated.
- Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet (you may wish to use two pans) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tender on the inside and golden and crispy on the outside.
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized frying pan, cook bacon slices for 10-12 minutes over medium high heat until crispy.
- Transfer to a cutting board, dab with some paper towels to get rid of excess grease, and cut the bacon into small pieces.
- Transfer roasted brussel sprouts to a serving bowl or tray. Just before serving, drizzle remaining maple balsamic sauce over brussel sprouts and toss until every distributed. Add bacon and toss again. Serve warm.
Recipe Tips:
- Look for brussel sprouts that are similar in size so that they cook up evenly. Smaller brussel sprouts tend to be sweeter and more tender than larger ones.
- Before halving the brussel sprouts, slice off the nubby ends, as they tend to be more tough.
- Be sure to distribute the brussel sprouts in a single layer on the sheet pan to ensure that they cook up evenly and get nice and crispy. For best results, place them flat side down to ensure the edges turn deeply golden and crispy when roasted.
- Although it may be tempting to skip this step, it’s very important that you reserve half the maple balsamic sauce to drizzle on the brussel sprouts after they’re baked. It really helps to amplify the flavour when you pour some of the sauce on just before serving.
- Although I typically recommend flipping roasted vegetables half way through the cooking time, in this case, it’s not necessary. Brussel sprouts tend to get more crispy on the outside if you don’t flip them.
- After cooking the bacon, place on some paper towel to soak up some of the grease to cut back on some of the saturated fat.
- If you want to minimize clean up, you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper before roasting the brussel sprouts.
Keep scrolling to the recipe card below for the full printable recipe!
How to Store
These maple bacon brussel sprouts can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to four days. They generally taste best when fresh out of the oven since you get all of those nice crispy bits, but the flavor is still good after they’ve been sitting in the fridge for a few days.
How to Reheat
Oven method: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the Brussels sprouts out in a single layer on a baking sheet and reheat them for 10 to 12 minutes.
Microwave method: For a quicker method, you can also reheat them for 1-2 minutes in the microwave, but they won’t be as crispy using this method.
Recipe FAQs
Although brussel sprouts can be cooked in a number of ways, my personal favorite way to cook them is by oven roasting them. It makes them tender on the inside and lightly crispy on the outside, while bringing out a nice caramelized flavor, especially when baked in the maple balsamic glaze.
Brussel sprouts pair well with lots of different meats. They taste especially good with turkey or chicken, meatloaf, roast beef, or steak. You can also serve them up with seafood such as salmon, trout, arctic char, or any type of white fish.
It’s possible that the pan is overcrowded and too much steam is being produced so the brussel sprouts aren’t able to crisp up. For best results, spread the brussel sprouts out on the pan and give them plenty of breathing room.
You may wish to use two baking sheets arranged on different racks near the middle of the oven, rather than trying to fit all of the brussel sprouts on one pan.
Another reason your brussel sprouts might not be getting crispy is because you’re using too low of a cooking temperature. I recommend cooking the brussel sprouts at 400 degrees F so that they can get nice and crispy with golden edges.
I recommend cutting the brussel sprouts in half before roasting and lying the flat surface directly on the pan if possible to ensure that they get nice and tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.
If brussel sprouts are not halved prior to roasting, they will take longer to roast and will not get as tender, crispy and caramelized.
Serving Suggestions
These roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic and bacon pair well with so many different dishes from simple weeknight meals to more elaborate holiday dishes! They’re really the perfect Thanksgiving side dish, but we love to serve them for Christmas as well.
Pair baked brussel sprouts with:
- Air Fryer Boneless Turkey Breast
- Christmas Beef Roast
- Slow Cooker Turkey Breast
- Slow Cooker Ham with Pineapple
- Cranberry Sausage Stuffing
- Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
- Cranberry Party Meatballs
- Healthy Squash Casserole
- Walnut Crusted Salmon
Recipe Variations
- Make them vegan: Leave out the bacon.
- For extra crunch: Add some nuts like crunchy pecans or slivered almonds for a nutty flavor.
- Lighten them up: Not sure about adding hunks of thick-cut bacon to your side dish? Try using turkey bacon instead.
- Add a sweeter kick: Toss in some dried cranberries at the end.
- Use bacon fat: Instead of olive oil, use leftover bacon grease for even more bacony goodness.
- Add some heat: Sprinkle the sprouts with some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes for a little heat to match the sweet-tangy-umami flavor.
What Readers Are Saying
“I made this and I put a whole package of maple bacon but kept the measurements for sauce and they were amazing!! I will be making this again, family loved it.” – Jade
“I tried these roasted maple bacon Brussel sprouts recipe the other day! Oh baby it’s a beauty. Absolutely delicious! Going to take this recipe with me at Christmas and introduce it to my boys. If only you were around 50 years ago to share this recipe with my Mom. I might have enjoyed Brussels sprouts so much more back then.” – Al
“Delicious! I roasted the brussel sprouts as per the instructions, then to finish off I added the roasted sprouts to the pan of heated bacon (I used pre cooked bacon crumble from Costco) and added the last bit of sauce to finish caramelizing. Spectacular!” – Katia
“Made this exactly as the recipe directed for a Friendsgiving gathering. Everyone commented on how much they loved the sprouts. Made again for Thanksgiving dinner and the only thing different was adding pecans. We really loved this recipe.” – Charlotte
More Similar Recipes
- Green Beans with Cranberries and Almonds
- Kale Beet Salad
- Green Beans with Red Peppers
- Roasted Turmeric Cauliflower
- Roasted Ranch Carrots
- Quinoa Salad with Pomegranate
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a star rating and review!
Roasted Maple Bacon Balsamic Brussel Sprouts
Ingredients
For the maple balsamic sauce:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
For the brussel sprouts
- 4 cups halved brussel sprouts (about 1 1/2 pounds brussel sprouts)
- 6 slices of reduced sodium bacon cooked until crispy
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the maple balsamic glaze in a small bowl.
- Place the brussel sprouts in a large bowl and toss with half the maple balsamic mixture until they're well coated.
- Spread brussel sprouts evenly in a single layer on a baking sheet (you may wish to use two pans). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tender on the inside and golden and crispy on the outside.
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized frying pan, cook bacon for 10-12 minutes over medium high heat until crispy. Transfer to a cutting board and cut the bacon into small pieces.
- Transfer roasted brussel sprouts to a serving bowl or tray. Just before serving, drizzle remaining maple balsamic sauce over brussel sprouts and toss until evenly distributed. Add bacon and toss again. Serve warm.
Video
Notes
- Look for brussel sprouts that are similar in size so that they cook up evenly. Smaller brussels sprouts tend to be sweeter and more tender than larger ones.
- Before halving the brussel sprouts, slice off the nubby ends, as they tend to be more tough.
- Be sure to distribute the brussel sprouts in a single layer on the baking sheet to ensure that they cook up evenly and get nice and crispy. For best results, place them flat side down to ensure the edges turn deeply golden and crispy when roasted.
- Although it may be tempting to skip this step, it’s very important that you reserve half the maple balsamic sauce to drizzle on the brussel sprouts after they’re cooked. It really helps to amplify the flavour when you pour some of the sauce on just before serving.
- Although I typically recommend flipping roasted vegetables half way through the cooking time, if this case you don’t have to. Brussel sprouts tend to get more crispy on the outside if you don’t flip them.
- After cooking the bacon, place on some paper towel to soak up some of the grease to cut back on some of the saturated fat.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted November 2019 and was updated November 2023 to include better tips and photos.
Brussels sprouts never tasted better!
Thanks so much Alan! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! I appreciate you swinging back to leave a review :)