Crispy Cast Iron Brussels Sprouts

This cast iron brussels sprouts recipe is your best bet at converting the sprouts haters in your life to the dark side. They’re crisped in bacon grease and cooked with red onion, roasted corn, walnuts, tossed in a cranberry BBQ glaze, and topped with freshly grated pecorino. 

I’ll run you through the recipe and cover ingredient modifications below. And you can find the printable recipe card for these crispy cast iron brussels sprouts at the bottom of this post. 

Crispy Cast Iron Brussels Sprouts Recipe Walkthrough

This is a simple, fast-cooking recipe so it’s best to have everything ready to go before you start cooking. 

Mise en Place

Begin by largely dicing an onion (you can see the technique I used for this in the photo below) and halving the brussels sprouts. Similar to my sweet chili ground beef and brussels sprouts, the recipe calls for microwaving the brussels sprouts before halving. This speeds up the cook time and allows you to throw everything in the cast iron skillet together. 

Cooking the Bacon

Once your Mise en Place (everything in its place) is taken care of, it’s time to cook the bacon. Like I mentioned in my loaded ground beef and potatoes skillet, slicing the bacon prior to cooking is my preferred method. I find the bacon cooks faster and gets evenly crispy.

Totally optional, though! Throwing it straight in will save you some raw meat handling. 

Adding the Veggies

Once the bacon cooks, transfer it to a paper towel and carefully add the brussels sprouts, onion, corn, and walnuts. Give it a stir and leave it alone for a few minutes to keep the contact with the cast iron skillet and develop some color. 

You can stir occasionally and position the brussels sprouts cut side down on the skillet for optimal crispness. This should take about 6-8 minutes but feel free to go longer if you want them extra extra crispy. 

Extra crispy note: If you know you want extra crispy brussels sprouts, you might put them in the skillet on their own for a few minutes before adding the onion, corn, and walnuts. Since the latter will cook faster, you don’t want to burn them in the process of getting crispy sprouts.

Glazing Your Brussels Sprouts

Once the veggies are done, so are you. Well, almost. 

Just add the BBQ sauce, dried cranberries, and cooked bacon. Give it a stir and be sure to get any crispy bits off the bottom of the pan before topping with some freshly grated pecorino. 

Deglazing note: If you’re using a stainless steel pan or have lots of sticking on the bottom of the pan, you can use a bit of apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar, broth, water, etc.) to help deglaze the pan and get those crispy bits back into the mix.

If you wanted to make your own sauce, check out my balsamic BBQ brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes recipe.

Final Notes for Cast Iron Brussels Sprouts

Feel free to modify ingredients as you see fit. You can’t really mess anything up.

The only modification that might create the need for something else would be the bacon. If you omit the bacon, add a bit of olive oil (maybe 1/2-1 tablespoon). 

Other than that, you should be good to go. If you have a question about these cast iron brussels sprouts, leave a comment below or join my Facebook group with more than 10k healthy home cooks that would love to assist you! 

Crispy Cast Iron Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts with bacon, charred onion, roasted corn, pan toasted walnuts, and a cranberry BBQ glaze.

4.86 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 Servings

Calories: 135kcal

Author: Mason Woodruff

Ingredients

• 4 slices Center Cut Bacon
• 12 oz Brussels Sprouts halved*
• 1 medium Red Onion largely diced
• 2/3 C 84g Frozen Corn, thawed or microwaved for 60 seconds**
• 1/4 C 30g Raw Walnut Pieces
• 1/4 C 60g G Hughes Sugar Free BBQ Sauce
• 1/4 C 40g Reduced Sugar Dried Cranberries
• 2 Tbsp 14g Freshly Grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan

Instructions

• Microwave the brussels sprouts for 2 minutes or until tender before transferring to a cutting board. Cut them in half once they've cooled.
• Pan fry the bacon over medium-high heat in a large cast iron skillet. (You can pre-slice the bacon or fry it whole and crumble after cooking.)
• Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel, leaving the bacon grease behind.
• Carefully add the brussels sprouts, onion, walnuts, and corn to the cast iron skillet. Cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the brussels sprouts and onions have developed a slight char.
• Remove from the heat and add the cooked bacon, BBQ sauce, and dried cranberries. Toss until everything is evenly coated.
• Top with grated pecorino and serve!

Video

Notes

Each serving of brussels sprouts has 3 Smart Points.

*I used a bag of washed and trimmed fresh brussels sprouts. If you use frozen, microwave for about half the time listed on the packaging before halving.

**I used Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn, but you can use any frozen corn. You can also use well drained corn from a can.

Nutrition

Serving: 90g | Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 5g

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