Place the 2 slices thick-sliced bacon on a rimmed baking sheet. Place in the oven, and then preheat your oven to 375 degrees F, allowing the bacon to cook while the oven warms up. (This is a good time to prep your Brussels sprouts if you haven’t already).
Once the oven is at temperature, check the bacon – if it isn’t crispy and done yet, leave it for another 5 minutes or so. Remove from oven once it’s crispy and fat has rendered off, and place the bacon on a plate, leaving the bacon grease in the pan.
Add the prepared halved or quartered 1 lb. Brussels sprouts to the baking sheet. You want there to be about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. If there is less than that, drizzle a little olive oil on the sprouts to make up for the difference (don’t worry too much about precise measurements here).
Drizzle the 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup on the Brussels sprouts, and season with ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Toss to coat well, then spread out the sprouts on the baking sheet so they aren’t touching each other. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, tossing around 1-2 times during that time, until browned and thinner outer leaves have started to become crispy.
While the Brussels sprouts roast, chop the cooked bacon into small pieces. When they are done roasting, add the chopped bacon and toss together. Serve.
Notes
You can double this recipe easily. The baking sheet may be more crowded, so just make sure to take a little extra time to spread the Brussels sprouts out evenly on the pan to ensure they aren’t touching as much as possible (otherwise the result won’t be as crispy and browned).
After washing the Brussels sprouts, make sure to dry them as much as possible, which will help yield a more crispy result. I usually pat them dry with a kitchen or paper towel.
