Spice up your holiday table with these Honey Chipotle Brussels Sprouts. They're roasted in the oven, then tossed with honey-chipotle sauce in the last few minutes of cooking for a spicy spin on a classic.

Photography Credit: Nick Evans

Holiday side dishes are tricky beasts. People expect what they expect—the classics: mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy. You don’t want to venture too far out of the standard realm of side dishes for fear of invoking disappointment or anger.

Still, I like to occasionally throw a curveball into the mix.

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BRUSSELS SPROUTS FOR THE HOLIDAY TABLE

Brussels sprouts are always a standard on my holiday table. Mostly I keep them simple, either roasted with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of Parmesan, or shredded into a light starter salad and tossed with apple cider vinaigrette and dried cranberries.

These roasted honey chipotle Brussels sprouts will fit right in on your table spread, but they bring a fun twist. They’re slightly spicy and sweet, and they go well with any protein you would serve during the holidays, whether it’s roasted turkey or even something as hearty as prime rib.

HOW TO SHOP FOR CHIPOTLE PEPPERS

There are a number of options out there when you are looking for chipotle peppers. For this sort of application, I prefer the canned ones that come in adobo sauce, which is a deep, slightly spicy, red sauce.

The peppers are easy to prepare by scraping out the seeds and then mincing the flesh. You can also use the sauce itself in recipes, which this one does. A little goes a long way.

DOUBLE ROAST YOUR BRUSSELS SPROUTS

I like to roast Brussels sprouts at a fairly high heat so they caramelize, but this will burn the honey chipotle mixture if you leave it on the entire time.

So I recommend roasting the sprouts alone with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, then tossing with the flavorful sauce about halfway through and returning to the oven to finish roasting.

Since your oven will most likely be stuffed during the holiday season, you can do the first roast of the sprouts ahead of time. Then just toss them with the chipotle honey sauce and roast a second time right before serving!

SCALE THE RECIPE FOR LARGE CROWDS

As written, this recipe served four, but it’s easily doubled and you could probably get three batches of the recipe out of one can of chipotle peppers.

MORE IDEAS FOR BRUSSELS SPROUTS!