Easily one of my favorites side dishes to serve to my clients; brussels sprouts sauteed in chicken stock with bacon lardons, leek, shallot, thyme, garlic and finished with balsamic reduction.

I would say this is an intermediate recipe, as there are a few more steps that just cutting up the brussels sprouts and throwing them in the oven.

But follow the steps below and you’ll be making sauteed brussels sprouts like a professional private chef.

As with any recipe, it’s important to get all your mise en place done before cooking. This is a french phrase for ‘things in place’.

Be sure to have your bacon, leeks, shallots, garlic, chicken stock, brussels sprouts and herbs cut and/or portioned out and ready to go before cooking, or ‘firing’ this dish.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with lardons and balsamic glaze

Total Yield: 4 serving

1 1/2 lb Brussels Sprouts

2 tablespoon Olive Oil

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 cup Chicken Stock (unsalted)

4 oz Bacon (cut and fried into lardons)

2 tbsp Unsalted Butter

1  large Shallot (cut into 1/4″ think rings)

1/2 cup of leeks (cut into 1/2″ thick rings)

2  Garlic, cloves (finely minced)

2 tblsp Balsamic glaze

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

Salt and Pepper to taste

Prep Method

Prepare your ingredients

Lets get everything cut, cleaned and portioned before we begin cooking.

Lay your bacon out on a cutting board and cut across the bacon diagonally (we call this cut ‘on a bias’), into strips about 1 1/2 inches long and half an inch wide.

To prepare your Brussels sprouts, slice off the nubby ends and remove any discolored or damaged leaves. It’s important to shave as little of that nubby root off as possible, so the sprouts stay in tact.

Then, cut each sprout in half from the flat base through the top.

Cut your leeks into rings, about 1/2″ thick. Do the same for the shallots, but you can go a little thinner on these rings.

Now, crush your garlic cloves and remove the paper, and mince finely.

Let’s get cooking!

Hopefully you have all your mise en place now, so lets jump right in and start cooking!

Get large sautee pan heating up over medium-low heat.

With the pan hit, add the bacon and slowly cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. You want to slowly render out the fat, so that way they bacon cooks evenly without the fat burning.

This is important because we are goong to use that bacon fat to cook our leeks and shallots, so keep an eye on the temperature to avoid burning.

Once the bacon lardons are nice and crispy and browned in color, remove the bacon from the pan and set aside, keeping the fat in there for the next step.

Now, add in your leeks and shallots to the pan with the bacon fat. Sautee over medium-low heat for 5 minutes

Place the cut side of each brussel sprout face down in the pan for about 5 minutes, searing to create a lightly charred face. This will ass additional flavor and a makes for a nice presentation.

Now, add the garlic and add back in the bacon!

Add chicken stock, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf.

Add in butter, let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once brussels sprouts are tender, remove from heat and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle with balsamic glaze. Enjoy!

Serve and enjoy!