Growing up my parents used to make Brussels sprouts and I HATED them! We would have either canned or frozen Brussels sprouts that my parents would boil. They tasted like green mush. I literally thought I was being punished by having to eat them. Outside of spinach, Brussels sprouts were one of my least favorite things to see on the dinner table.
To help cover up the taste and the texture, my dad always put French dressing on his Brussels sprouts. I have no idea where he picked up that habit, but even to this day, he still puts French dressing on them. No thank you!
I’m not sure what provoked me to try Brussels sprouts as an adult, but I did several years ago and fell in love! I’m not sure if it’s the bacon and garlic (because those things make everything better) or if the different cooking method changed everything that I ever knew about Brussels sprouts. But…I am so glad that I gave them another try!
Now, I make my almost famous crispy Brussels sprouts for all family holidays, weeknight dinners, and sometimes I have them as a meal. We just can’t get enough of these delicious little baby cabbages! Be sure to make more than you think you’ll need for your meal. Why, you ask?
Because if you’re anything like me, you’ll end up eating roughly 30% of them before they make it to the table. I like to consider my “sampling” as a pre-dinner snack. Sometimes cooking can make me so hungry that I just can’t resist eating part of the meal while I’m cooking it! ๐
Tips for making this recipe:
1.Freeze bacon. It is 1000 times easier to cut bacon into bite-sized pieces when it is frozen or close to it. When you buy bacon, open the package and separate it into sections of 4 or 5 pieces. Wrap in parchment and then put in a ziplock bag. Throw it in the freezer. Anytime you need to add cut bacon to a recipe, just pull out a section of bacon from the freezer and then slice all of the slices at the same time. This really saves time and makes your bacon easier to cut into even slices.
2.Don’t forget to cut the stem portion off of the Brussels sprouts. If you don’t you will end up with a very tough end on each one.
3.Cut the Brussels sprouts into smaller pieces and encourage some of the leaves to separate from the head of the Brussel sprouts. These little leaves will become the crispy, delicious gold of this dish. The more leaves that you have separated, the more crispy ones you’ll end up with. If you cut your Brussels sprouts into ยผ instead of leaving whole or cutting in ยฝ, you will have more surface area to become crispy and take in all of the bacon and garlic flavors.
4.When you are peeling the garlic, it can get very sticky and the paper can be quite difficult to get off. Here’s a tip for you! If you have a pastry scraper, use it. Place your garlic cloves on a cutting board and then place the pastry scraper over the top and smash the garlic underneath. The paper will come right off!!!!
Instructions:
- Prepare ingredients:
- Cut bacon into bite-sized pieces.
- Wash Brussels sprouts and cut off stem portion and then cut in ยฝ or in ยผ- depending on size.
- Peel 4 garlic gloves (individual cloves, not full heads) and dice.
- Turn Ninja Foodi on sauté on high for 10 minutes.
- Add cut up bacon to Ninja Foodi and sauté for about 4 minutes, stirring often. Bacon should be almost cooked but not quite fully cooked.
- Add garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- Add butter and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add cut up Brussels sprouts to Ninja Foodi. Season brussels sprouts with salt and pepper.
- Pour in ยฝ cup of chicken broth.
- Sauté Brussels sprouts for 3 minutes- stir regularly until most liquid has cooked out.
- Turn sauté function off.
- Close the crisping lid and select “air crisp”, set the temperature to 390 degrees, and set a timer for 12 minutes. Push start.
- When the timer beeps, open the crisping lid.
- Enjoy your Ninja Foodi Crispy Brussels Sprouts!
Ingredients:
- 4 Slices of bacon- cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 Cloves fresh garlic- diced (You can use jarred minced garlic but it will cook much faster and is more likely to burn)
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter
- ยผ Teaspoon salt
- ยผ Teaspoon pepper
- 1 Pound fresh Brussels sprouts- cut in ยฝ or ยผ depending on size
- ยฝ Cup chicken broth
Crispy Brussels Sprouts- Ninja Foodi Recipe
Rate this Recipe Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 4 Slices of bacon- cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 Cloves fresh garlic- diced (You can use jarred minced garlic but it will cook much faster and is more likely to burn)
- 3 Tablespoons salted butter
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- ¼ Teaspoon pepper
- 1 Pound fresh Brussels sprouts- cut in ยฝ or ยผ depending on size
- ½ Cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Prepare ingredients:
- Cut bacon into bite sided pieces.
- Wash Brussels sprouts and cut off stem portion and then cut in ยฝ or in ยผ- depending on size.
- Peel 4 garlic gloves (individual cloves, not full heads) and dice.
- Turn Ninja Foodi on sauté on high for 10 minutes.
- Add cut up bacon to Ninja Foodi and sauté for about 4 minutes, stirring often. Bacon should be almost cooked but not quite fully cooked.
- Add garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- Add butter and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add cut up Brussels sprouts to Ninja Foodi. Season brussels sprouts with salt and pepper.
- Pour in ยฝ cup of chicken broth.
- Sauté Brussels sprouts for 3 minutes- stir regularly until most liquid has cooked out.
- Turn sauté function off.
- Close crisping lid and select "air crisp", set temperature to 390 degrees and set timer for 12 minutes. Push start.
- When timer beeps, open crisping lid.
- Enjoy your Ninja Foodi Crispy Brussels Sprouts!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only.
Kathi
Recipe is cooking! Ingredients are awesome, smells delicious! There are a couple of things I wanted to point out. First off, I didnโt read the recipe until just before I was ready to prep it for dinner, so I didnโt see the note about freezing the bacon. Perhaps you could add a note for how much less time to cook the bacon if you didnโt freeze it. Freezing it is brilliant (I will remember that!), but I didnโt so I just cut it up with my kitchen scissors. More importantly, I knew as soon as I dropped the garlic in the hot bacon fat that it would be burned before a minute was up, and I always heard you should never burn the garlic since it turns bitter. So I cooked it for about 20 seconds and went to the next step as it started burning. I only added and stirred the butter for about 30 seconds for the same reason. Itโs ready! Yum! Thank you! ๐
Linda H
Is the salt and pepper for garnish? I donโt see the salt and pepper mentioned in the directions.
TheTastyTravelers
Good catch! I will update the recipe right away. Add the salt and pepper to the Brussels sprouts when you add them to the Ninja Foodi.
Jinx
Made this as written. Added some warmed Jalapeรฑo berry Jam for dipping on the side. To Die For.
Lisa S.
My bacon got way overcooked, burnt even. My ninja foodi sautรฉ HI is extremely hot. Next time Iโll have to take the bacon out then put it back at the end.
Nancy Curtis
Most delicious Brussel sprouts that I have eaten in my 73 years!! Easy to do and the crispiness was just fantastic. I cannot imagine anyone not loving these…..yummy for sure! I will for sure be making these often. Thank you for sharing it.
Veronica N.
I hated brussels sprouts… until this recipe! The best!! I cut the large ones into quarters and they were perfect!! Thank you!
TheTastyTravelers
I’m so glad that you liked them! I LOVE Brussels sprouts! ๐
carldmd
Sorry, but do you crisp them in the pot, or do you transfer the ingredients into the crisping pot and then crisp them? BTW, it sounds great!!
TheTastyTravelers
I crisped them right in the pot! I stirred them a couple of times to make sure they all crisped up nicely! ๐