Anthony Bourdain's Best Trick To Turn Brussels Sprouts Into An Irresistibly Savory Side Dish

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As a chef, Anthony Bourdain had very little patience for fussy things. This was a man known for his love of fast food burgers and his no-nonsense way of writing. He appreciated food that was direct, to the point, and logical — and that's why his Brussels sprouts recipe, which you'll find in his book Appetites: A Cookbook available on Amazon, is absolutely timeless.

It's not a strictly unique Bourdain recipe — combining Brussels sprouts with bacon isn't exactly reinventing the wheel. That combination of fat and heat is a tried and tested chef move, but Bourdain's version isn't about just roasting everything together and hoping for the best. He brings in his trick early by cooking the bacon in a pan with a ¼ cup of water. This may sound like an inconsequential step, but it changes everything. The water renders the bacon fat slowly, which helps the bacon cook evenly and stay tender even when it browns. Then by the time the water evaporates, you've got evenly cooked bacon bits and a pan full of smoky, salty fat that's ready to for step number two. It's all about that fat, because that's what you're going to use to cook the Brussels in.

But let's go back to the start, because before your pan even hits the stove, you have to make sure you prep your sprouts properly. Trim off the woody ends and any damaged outer leaves. Then, Anthony Bourdain calls for you to halve them — which actually matters more than people think, if you want to achieve the crispiest roasted Brussels sprouts. Halved Brussels will cook more evenly and achieve a better caramelization than whole ones.

Then, it's time for bacon. What the bacon it brings isn't just fat — it's salt, smoke, umami, and a little sweetness once it browns. So when your sprouts hit that pan of fat, they have a lot of flavor to soak up. It's an approach that can be applied to a lot of vegetables — from green beans to cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli rabe. Anything that tastes good when it's been roasted and caramelized will only taste better with the addition of bacon fat. Finally, after cooking the Brussels sprouts down for 10 minutes, Bourdain brightens the whole thing up with lemon juice.

If you don't eat meat, that's fine. This idea still holds — but you need to swap the source of savoriness. Try a plant-based umami ingredient like miso, liquid smoke, or even capers instead. What recipes like this teach us isn't necessarily to follow them step-by-step, but rather an understanding of how flavor actually develops. Once you try your Brussels sprouts like this, there's just no way you'll be caught eating them plain again.