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Cheesy Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Bake
This cheesy Brussels sprouts and bacon bake is rich, comforting, and gloriously golden on top. Roasted Brussels sprouts and salty bacon are smothered in a creamy cheese sauce, then baked until bubbling and crisp around the edges. It’s perfect for a Sunday roast, Christmas dinner, or simply one of those weekends when vegetables covered in cheese feel like the only sensible option.
Cheesy Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Bake
This Cheesy Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Bake is the kind of side dish that makes sprouts genuinely exciting. Tender Brussels sprouts are baked with crispy bacon, creamy sauce, and plenty of melted cheese until bubbling and golden. I love serving it with a Sunday roast or as part of a traditional Christmas dinner, especially when I want something richer than plain vegetables. It’s comforting, easy to prepare, and a brilliant way to turn humble sprouts into something everyone actually wants to eat.
Ingredients
- 500g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise
- 125g bacon bits
- Olive oil spray
- 25g butter
- 25g plain flour
- 250ml milk
- 1/2 tsp chicken stock paste
- 50g cheddar cheese, grated, plus extra for topping
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C (fan) or 220°C (conventional). Spray a baking tray with a light coat of olive oil.
- Place the Brussels sprouts cut side down on the tray and spray with another light coat of olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle the bacon bits over the tray and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the sprouts are golden and the bacon is starting to crisp.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then transfer to a baking dish. Set a small amount of bacon aside for serving.
- In a small pot over low heat, melt the butter and add the flour, whisking to create a roux. Cook until just turning golden.
- Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously until smooth and well combined. Stir through the chicken stock paste and cheddar until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour the bechamel over the Brussels sprouts and bacon. Sprinkle over the extra cheddar to create a golden top.
- Return to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.
- Remove from the oven, sprinkle over the reserved bacon, and serve immediately.
Notes
- Roasting the Brussels sprouts cut side down before adding them to the bake gives you a lovely caramelised, golden surface that adds depth and flavour. It also stops them from going soggy in the bechamel.
- If you're not a Brussels sprout convert yet, this is the recipe that will change your mind. The combination of crispy bacon, golden sprouts, and rich cheesy bechamel is absolutely irresistible.
- I use this baking dish for cheesy bakes. It's the perfect depth for holding the sprouts and sauce, and conducts heat evenly for a golden, bubbling top.
- The roux needs to cook until just turning golden before you add the milk. This gets rid of the raw flour taste and adds a subtle nuttiness to the bechamel.
- Add the milk slowly and whisk continuously to avoid lumps. If you do get lumps, just keep whisking over low heat and they'll smooth out.
- Grate your own cheddar rather than using pre-grated. Pre-grated cheese has anti-caking agents that prevent it from melting as smoothly into the sauce.
- Chicken stock paste adds a subtle savoury depth to the bechamel without overpowering the cheese. Don't skip it.
- Reserving a little bacon to scatter over at the end adds a final hit of crunch and saltiness that lifts the whole dish.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven at 180°C for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through and the top is golden again.
- Not suitable for freezing as the bechamel can split and the Brussels sprouts become watery after defrosting.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 348Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 8gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 737mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 7gSugar: 2gProtein: 19g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Serve this with
- Serve with my Braised Lamb Shanks with Red Wine for a proper cold-weather dinner. The rich gravy and tender lamb work beautifully with the creamy, cheesy sprouts and smoky bacon.
- Pair with my Rosemary and Garlic Roast Potatoes as part of a Sunday roast. Their crisp edges and herby flavour give you a lovely contrast against the soft sprouts and bubbling cheese sauce.
- Add my Honey Roasted Carrots for a sweeter side that balances all that cheese and bacon. Together they make a brilliant set of roast trimmings for beef, lamb, chicken or pork.
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Cheesy Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Bake, and When the Salad Plan Completely Fell Apart
I had completely different plans for this weekend. There was supposed to be a kangaroo salad with goat’s cheese and sweet potato, plus a few other delicious things I’d been looking forward to cooking. Then yesterday happened and I barely woke up. After two weeks of feeling unwell, the exhaustion finally caught up with me and my body apparently decided that sleep was no longer optional. By today I was feeling slightly more human, but the thought of a fresh, virtuous salad gave me an immediate ick. I wanted something warm, cheesy, and very easy.
Of course, the blog remains permanently hungry, so I still needed to make something. Thankfully, the fridge and freezer provided the answer. I had a sad bag of Brussels sprouts originally destined for another recipe, cheddar that needed using, and bacon bits taking up freezer space after whatever I’d bought them for disappeared completely from my memory. Put those three things together and this cheesy Brussels sprouts and bacon bake was basically inevitable. Better yet, it was simple enough to make alongside my usual Sunday meal prep without requiring much brainpower.
And honestly, it ended up being exactly what I wanted for dinner. The sprouts become tender with lovely roasted edges, the bacon adds those salty little bites throughout, and everything gets covered in creamy cheese sauce before going back into the oven until golden and bubbling. It’s rich, yes, but the Brussels sprouts stop it from feeling like you’ve simply eaten a bowl of cheese for dinner. Although after this week, I wouldn’t judge anyone for doing exactly that. Sometimes your carefully planned weekend menu gets replaced by whatever your tired body actually wants, and sometimes that turns out to be much better anyway.
Roast the Brussels Sprouts First
This bake is very much in the same family as my roasted cauliflower cheese, which means it would be completely at home alongside a Sunday roast or as part of a traditional Christmas dinner. Brussels sprouts already belong on both tables, but covering them with cheesy béchamel and bacon makes them considerably more exciting. Even people who normally look suspiciously at sprouts may find themselves going back for another spoonful once they’re surrounded by golden cheese and crisp little pieces of bacon. Vegetables do tend to become much more persuasive when cheddar gets involved.
The important part, as always, is roasting the Brussels sprouts first. I don’t like throwing raw vegetables into a cheese sauce and hoping the oven sorts everything out. Roasting gives the sprouts proper flavour and those slightly caramelised edges before the béchamel ever enters the conversation. It also means you don’t end up with watery sprouts diluting your beautiful sauce. Once they’ve had their time in the oven, you can add the bacon, spoon over that creamy cheese sauce, scatter even more cheese across the top, and return the whole thing to the oven.
That final bake is where everything comes together. The sauce works its way around the sprouts, the bacon flavours the whole dish, and the cheese on top develops the golden crust that is, frankly, half the reason any of us make cheesy vegetable bakes in the first place. I love sprouts simply roasted too, but this is for the days when restraint isn’t particularly interesting. It’s comforting, generous, and incredibly easy to slot into a larger roast dinner because most of the work happens in the oven. And with Christmas recipes permanently lurking somewhere on my enormous blog to-do list, I’m very pleased to have another festive side dish ready to go.
Brain Fog, Chores, and One Week to Go
I wish I had a more exciting life update to add here, but the brain fog this week is very real. My floors desperately need a vacuum and mop, the chores are starting to pile up, and halfway through today I realised I’d completely forgotten to do my laundry. I still haven’t done a workout either, although at this point I think forcing myself through one for the sake of ticking a box would be slightly ridiculous. Two weeks of illness followed by this level of exhaustion has made it very clear that my body would currently prefer rest over productivity.
Thankfully, I’m only one week away from taking a week off work, and I cannot wait. My grand plans involve sleeping, cooking, and doing very little else, which sounds absolutely perfect right now. I’m sure I’ll accidentally turn the cooking part into an overly ambitious list of recipes and exhaust myself in an entirely different way, because apparently I never learn, but at least I won’t have meetings or alarms getting in the way. Expect plenty of new recipes, assuming I don’t spend the entire week curled up with Lulu instead.
For now, though, this Brussels sprouts bake is about as much creativity as I’ve got left in me. The kangaroo salad can wait. The house will get cleaned eventually. The laundry will hopefully make it into the machine before I run out of clothes, and exercise will still exist tomorrow. Tonight I’m eating cheesy sprouts with bacon and accepting that sometimes getting dinner made is productive enough. I would love to end this with some profound little reflection about slowing down and listening to your body, but honestly, my brain has clocked off. I made dinner. I photographed it. I wrote this. I’m out.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to roast the Brussels sprouts first or can I skip straight to the béchamel? The roasting step is non-negotiable. Pouring béchamel over raw or blanched sprouts won’t give you anywhere near the same result. Roasting cut side down caramelises the flat surface, removes the bitterness that puts people off Brussels sprouts, and gives the finished bake a depth of flavour that unroasted sprouts simply can’t provide. Even confirmed sprout sceptics tend to come around once they’ve had them this way.
Why does my béchamel have lumps? Almost always because the milk went in too quickly or too cold. Add it slowly, in a thin stream, whisking constantly, and the sauce will come together smoothly. If you do get lumps, keep whisking vigorously over low heat and they’ll smooth out. The roux needs to be properly cooked before the milk goes in, which also helps prevent lumps from forming.
Why do I reserve some bacon for the end? Bacon that goes in during the roasting stage ends up buried under the béchamel and loses its crispiness during the final bake. Reserving a small amount to scatter over the top after the dish comes out of the oven gives you a hit of properly crispy, salty bacon as a finishing element rather than having it all disappear into the sauce.
Ingredient breakdown
Brussels sprouts
Trimmed, halved lengthways, and roasted cut side down before the béchamel goes anywhere near them. That initial roast is what makes this dish. The flat cut surface caramelises against the hot tray and develops a sweetness and depth that removes the bitterness that makes Brussels sprouts divisive in the first place. They go into the baking dish after roasting and cooling slightly, which means the béchamel pours over vegetables with already-developed flavour rather than something raw and sharp.
Bacon bits
Added to the tray partway through the initial roast so they render and start to crisp up in the sprout juices before everything transfers to the baking dish. A small amount is reserved and held back until the very end, scattered over the finished dish after it comes out of the oven so it stays crispy rather than softening under the béchamel during the final bake.
Olive oil spray
A light coat on the tray before the sprouts go on and another over the top of the sprouts before they go into the oven. The spray format is useful here because it gives you a thin, even coating rather than pools of oil that would prevent the cut surface from making proper contact with the tray.
Butter and plain flour
Combined over low heat to make the roux that forms the base of the béchamel. The roux needs to cook until it just starts to turn golden before the milk goes in, which cooks out the raw flour taste and gives the finished sauce a subtle nuttiness. Don’t rush this stage and don’t let it colour too much.
Milk
Added to the roux slowly and in a thin stream, whisked continuously the whole time. This is the technique that produces a smooth, lump-free béchamel. Adding it too quickly is the most common reason for a lumpy sauce. Keep the heat low and keep whisking until the sauce is smooth and starting to thicken before the cheese and stock paste go in.
Chicken stock paste
A small amount stirred into the béchamel with the cheese, adding a savoury, umami depth that plain milk and butter alone don’t provide. The same principle as every other béchamel-adjacent sauce in this collection where stock paste makes the finished sauce taste more rounded and complete.
Cheddar cheese
Grated freshly rather than bought pre-grated, because the anti-caking agents in pre-grated cheese can make the sauce grainy rather than smooth. It melts into the hot béchamel and gives the sauce both flavour and a slightly thicker, glossier texture. For an extra cheesy finish, scatter another handful over the top of the sauce before the dish goes back into the oven.
Salt and pepper
Season the béchamel after the cheese and stock paste have gone in, because both bring their own saltiness and you may need less than expected. Taste carefully before adding anything and adjust from there.
