BACON!! There. I got your attention! Woo hoo. Brussels sprouts! Wait!! Come back! I promise you will love them. I’ve adapted this recipe from my favorite food blogger on Instagram, Diane Morrisey. She’s fab. Her recipes are fab.

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

6 or so pieces of bacon

1 pound Brussel sprouts (fresh not frozen) quartered with stems removed

bacon grease

olive oil

salt and pepper

The beauty of this dish is the use of bacon grease as a cooking oil, and crispy bits of bacon mixed in with perfectly roasted vegetables, topped of with dried cranberries. Put it in a fancy bowl and you WILL impress your family.  It’s so easy. The preparation can be done in steps, which is my favorite approach to anything.

I start with cooking the bacon on the stove top, low and slow. You want it crispy. Once it’s crispy, put it on a paper towel lined dish. After it cools, you will break it up or chop it, and add the bacon to the vegetables, later. When I am feeling particularly lazy, I use microwave bacon. Don’t judge. It’s still bacon!

The next step is to prepare the sweet potatoes. I peel and dice them. You want them to roast quickly, so make sure they are not too large.

Then I trim the Brussels sprouts. Once the end is cut off, I cut the sprouts in quarters, pulling off the outer leaves. Sometime they are spotted or wilted. Just toss them.

Heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the vegetables in a bowl. Use the bacon grease and some olive oil to coat the vegetables. You’ll have a nice shiny coat. Ha!  Add salt and pepper. You can always add more while they are cooking. 

Arrange the vegetables on a sheet pan, in a single layer. You don’t want them overlapping. They need to be separated to roast. 

Roast them for about 20 minutes. Give them a toss or a stir. They may start caramelizing. You can add a sprinkle or two of more olive oil if needed. You want them in some olive oil to roast and not burn. Just look at the sheet pan. You will know! Cook them for another 15- 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven when all the vegetables are fork tender. Taste some and see if it needs more salt and pepper.  I like to add the chopped/broken up bacon and dried cranberries to the sheet pan. Let them all warm up together.  You can serve this room temperature or hot. 

This is good side dish for chicken, beef or pork. I hope you try this recipe. Roasted vegetables are a fantastic way to introduce vegetables to your family. The leftovers also make a great lunch.