These roasted Asian brussels sprouts are crisp on the outside, and drizzled with a sweet and savory ginger-garlic sauce. Packed with caramelized and charred-goodness, these are perfect for your holiday dinner table!

The holidays are nearly around the corner and everyone’s looking for recipes to serve up on their dinner table. Brussels sprouts always seem to get a bad rep for being mushy and just outright inedible, but prepare them correctly and you’ll have everyone coming back for seconds.

The technique to making actually good brussels sprouts is by giving them a good sear, just enough to initiate the Maillard reaction, and cooking them through to get the centre nice and tender.

Roasted Asian Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Bacon

For this recipe, we’ll be using rendered bacon fat, the crispy bacon bits, and an Asian-inspired ginger-garlic sauce to toss alongside the roasted brussels sprouts. The end-result is a savory and sweet combination of flavors that compliment the charred sprouts perfectly.

How to Prepare Brussels Sprouts

Prior to getting these into the oven, we’ll be doing some quick prep-work. I know, if only if it were that easy to just pop these on a baking tray and call it a day.

Trust me on this, you’ll want to the prepare these brussels sprouts effectively in order to achieve that perfect end result.

Start by slicing off the bottom stem of each sprout. These can be super tough and difficult to eat even after roasting.
Peel and remove any loose outer layer of leaves until you reach the sprout’s tightly packed core. These outer leaves tend to be bruised, damaged, or too thin which can burn faster in the oven.
Cut the sprouts in half. Not only will splitting the sprouts prevent them from rolling around in the tray, but it also increases their surface area for a greater chance of caramelization and charring when roasting.

Once all the brussels sprouts have been prepped, you’re ready to proceed with the rest of the recipe!

Instructions for Roasted Asian Brussels Sprouts

Preheat your oven to 425 F. Meanwhile, prepare the brussels sprouts (see instructions above).

To prepare the bacon, lay the bacon in a pan along with just enough water to cover the slices. Cook the bacon over medium-high heat until the water evaporates, flipping occasionally for even cooking. Once crispy, set the slices aside and reserve the rendered bacon fat.

In a large bowl, combine together the prepared sprouts, rendered bacon fat, and ground black pepper. Gently toss until the sprouts are fully coated. Lay the sprouts cut-side down (flat side) in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking tray. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the sprouts are visibly charred and the centre is tender.

While the sprouts are roasting, prepare the ginger-garlic sauce by combining all the ingredients together until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Take the reserve crispy bacon slices from earlier, and roughly chop into smaller pieces.

Once the sprouts are roasted, toss the sprouts along with the crispy bacon bits to combine and drizzle the ginger-garlic sauce on top. Taste and season the sprouts with additional salt and/or pepper if needed. Enjoy!

Tips for Success

Avoid Overcrowding: to achieve a crisp outer layer, be sure to lay the brussels sprouts in a single layer on the baking tray. Overlap them, and rather than caramelizing, they instead steam over each other and become mushy as a result (it might even be better to use two baking trays to split the recipe if you have difficulty achieving this).
Season to taste: You might have noticed that I didn’t add any salt to this recipe. When testing this one, I found that the bacon fat and crispy bacon bits already lended the sprouts a decent amount of salt. Combine it with the sauce (which contains soy sauce), it seemed well balanced enough. Otherwise, if you feel the recipe still needs a dash of salt, feel free to add some towards the end.
Do not disturb: It might be tempting to check on the sprouts every now and then, but just like anything with baking or roasting, keeping the oven closed is your best bet to ensure the heat doesn’t fluctuate. Unlike other vegetables where it might be more acceptable to flip them halfway through, sprouts don’t need turning over. The bottoms will char and crisp up along with the top leaves as well.

You may also like these tasty side dishes: