Brussels sprouts ‘crispy and full of flavour’ with chef’s cooking tip

It’ll soon be time to cook your Christmas dinner and as ever Brussel sprouts are likely to prove divisive around your family’s table. 

For those who aren’t so keen on the vegetable, however, one award-winning chef has revealed her recipe for making srouts perfectly crispy and full of flavour, but you will need two extra ingredients. Jade Greenhalgh took to TikTok to reveal her key to success.

“Don’t boil your sprouts – do this instead and there will never be another sprout left on the plate,” she began in a video. Referring to the dish as “upside down sprouts”, Jade said her method is “incredibly easy”, allowing you to prep the sprouts in advance and leave in the fridge until it’s time to bake.

“All you need to do is make a flavoured butter and then you’re going to spread that all over your baking tray,” she continued. Next, Jade peels the sprouts before cutting them in half and placing them flat-side down on the butter.

“Then we just cover in foil and bake – and basically they steam in the butter and they are so incredibly delicious,” she said, adding that the sprouts should be baked at 190C for 25-35 minutes until they are fork tender.

As an optional addition, meanwhile, Jade adds bacon for that extra bit of flavour. “I just chopped it up so I could sprinkle it over,” she advised. “You could also roast some chestnuts – but they [sprouts] are that simple – you will never boil one again.”

When it comes to the bacon, Jade suggests: “At the same time [ass the sprouts], add the bacon to an oven tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until crispy. Leave to cook on an angel to drain the fat away, once cooked this will turn crispy and create your bacon crumb.”

Jade closed with a full list of ingredients – enough to feed four to six people. This included softened butter, garlic, thyme salt and streaky bacon. For the full list of ingreidents and measurements, be sure to check out Jade’s post.

She then added: “Additional ingredients you can use in the butter- finely chopped chestnuts, lemon zest, honey, miso paste.”

Writing in response to Jade’s clip, one TikTok user declared: “I am definitely going to give this a try. Thanks so much for sharing.” While a second person penned: “These look lush, will be trying them this way this year… love sprouts!”

A third shared their own tip, saying: “I fry mine with bacon, garlic and white wine, cook for 10 minutes then add stock and cook low on simmer reducing stock till sweet and sticky.”

And a fourth TikTok user said: “The only thing missing are the chestnuts! Bacon, sprouts and chestnuts – a partnership made in heaven.”