
Fondant sprouts with bacon and chestnuts
- Published: 28 Oct 24
- Updated: 20 Dec 24
Crisp, buttery fondant sprouts with bacon and chestnuts will become your favourite festive side dish. This best-ever recipe uses a nifty two-step cooking process to get the very best out of every little green sphere.

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Before you start
Whese these are the best sprouts
Win-win cooking: Roast or fried sprouts are delicious but a little ugly and rich; boiled sprouts are fresh and bright but taste a little puritan. By cooking them a little like potato fondants (frying them until crisp, then braising in liquid to cook them through), you get the best of both worlds – a crispy caramelised sprout on the cut side with a soft, fresh, green round on top.
Keep it classic: We’ve seen sprouts flavoured a million different ways, but there’s a reason chestnuts and bacon are the most popular additions – you just can’t beat that mixture of creamy nuttiness and salty pork. Frying both off hard and fast before the sprouts hit the pan creates lots of flavoured fat to crisp the sprouts up in and keeping the chestnuts in bigger halves rather than chopping them down provides textural contrast.
Taking stock: Replacing the usual water with chicken or vegetable stock infuses each sprout with extra flavour and prevents that ‘boiled cabbage’ taste that puts some people off. It also helps season them throughout and once combined with the butter creates a delicious glaze for a glossy finish.
Make it veggie: Leave out the bacon and add an extra knob of butter and a pinch of salt before you fry the sprouts.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 180g vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts, halved
- 150g smoked bacon lardons
- 25g unsalted butter
- 750g brussels sprouts, halved through the root, discoloured outer leaves removed
- 300ml chicken or veg stock
- Sea salt flakes
Method
- Pour the oil into a wide frying pan, then add the chestnuts and bacon. Set over a high heat and cook, stirring regularly, for 5 minutes or until crisp and golden. Lift onto a plate with a slotted spoon.
- Add the butter to the pan, reduce the heat to medium, then add the sprouts, cut-sides down, and cook, undisturbed, for 5 minutes – you want the cut sides to turn a deep golden brown (a little charring is absolutely fine). They probably won’t all fit cut-side down, but aim to get as many as you can touching the pan.
- Pour the stock into the frying pan and turn the heat back up to high. Leave to simmer until reduced to a glossy glaze (about 8 minutes), stirring gently every now and then.
- Transfer everything to a serving bowl or platter and finish with a sprinkling of sea salt flakes.
- Recipe from November 2024 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 189kcals
- Fat
- 11g (3.8g saturated)
- Protein
- 7.9g
- Carbohydrates
- 12g (5.6g sugars)
- Fibre
- 5.4g
- Salt
- 1g
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