Learn how to make the Best Roasted Brussels Sprouts Oil-free with just 5 ingredients! These are a game changer, so full of flavor, sweet, salty, moist, tender with a crispy edge and absolutely to die for!
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BEST ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS OIL-FREE
Easily one of the best side dishes I have ever created. These are restaurant-worthy Best Roasted Brussels Sprouts and they are oil-free! I know most recipes typically call for the same thing…olive oil, salt and pepper. However, I wanted to make something a little bit more exciting than that and of course you know what I figured out? Oil is 100% NOT needed! These roasted brussels sprouts turned out incredible. I love teaching how you don’t need oil to cook incredible food.
These roasted brussels sprouts are sweet, salty, moist, tender with a crispy edge and absolutely to die for! I created these last week on a whim because my husband recently went out of town and came home raving about these sweet and salty brussels sprouts he had at a restaurant. He wanted me to create something like them so bad that he actually went out and bought the brussels sprouts himself, lol.
I got to work immediately. This 4 ingredient sauce I whipped up is perfection.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS EVER
For these amazing oil-free roasted brussels sprouts recipe, you will only need 5 ingredients:
- low-sodium soy sauce
- maple syrup
- chili powder
- garlic powder
- brussels sprouts
First, trim the bottoms of each brussels sprout and pull off any of the outer leaves that are gross looking or too brown or spotty. I buy the 12 oz bags that are already prewashed and trimmed, but still found several leaves that needed removing and trimmed all the bottoms so they were as fresh as possible. Cut them in half.
If you don’t buy yours prewashed in a bag, then you will need to rinse them and make sure to really pat them dry before making.
Make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, maple syrup, chili powder and garlic powder in a small bowl. Stir until smooth.
Add the brussels sprouts to a large ziplock bag and pour the sauce over them. Seal the bag and shake vigorously and massage the bag to ensure all of the brussels sprouts are well coated and absorb every bit of that sauce.
Spread out the brussels sprouts evenly so they are not overlapping. Sprinkle salt over the top (1/4-1/2 teaspoon). I found this extra bit of salt made them perfect after baking. Do not worry about it tasting too salty before baking, as the brussels sprouts really absorb the flavors.
Bake 15-20 minutes until just charred and fork tender. The smell while these best roasted brussels sprouts are baking is absolutely DIVINE! I kept putting my nose by the oven and sniffing like a mad woman. Just wait, you’ll see!
Serve alongside my Low-fat Unfried Rice! The two go beautifully together because they both have soy sauce!
I mean, look at how gorgeous these babies are. These Best Roasted Brussels Sprout were definitely one of my favorite things ever to photograph!
I really hope you love these oil-free roasted brussels sprouts as much as my hubby and I did! Guaranteed, I think you will!
Other Oil-free Vegan Roasted Veggies:
- Miso-Glazed Sweet Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Oil-free Zucchini Fritters
- Chunky Potato & Zucchini Soup
Best Roasted Brussels Sprouts (Oil-free!)
Ingredients
- TWO 12 oz bags brussels sprouts (weigh 573 grams AFTER you trim them)
- 4 teaspoons (20g) low-sodium soy sauce (see NOTE)
- 1 tablespoon (20g) pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C) and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Trim the bottoms of each brussels sprout and pull off any of the outer leaves that are gross looking or too brown or spotty. I buy the 12 oz bags that are already pre-washed and trimmed, but still found several leaves that needed removing and trimmed all the bottoms so they were as fresh as possible.
- If you don't buy yours pre-washed in a bag, then you will need to rinse them and make sure to really pat them dry before making.
After you have trimmed and discarded any outer leaves, cut them in half. THIS is when you will weigh the 573 grams and the sauce will be the perfect amount to soak fully into the brussels sprouts. Keep rotating the bag until they absorb all the sauce.
- Make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, maple syrup, chili powder and garlic powder in a small bowl. Stir until smooth.
- Add the trimmed brussels sprouts to a large ziplock bag and pour the sauce over them. Seal the bag and shake vigorously and massage the bag to ensure all of the brussels sprouts are well coated and absorb every bit of that sauce. If you accurately weighed your brussels sprouts, there should not be ANY residual sauce.
- If you have any residual sauce, then scoop out the brussels sprouts and place them on the lined pan. You DON'T want to pour any extra sauce onto the pan, as the puddle of sauce will burn. Your pan should look like my photo before baking. Since these are oil-free, that will make the extra sauce burn on the pan. They bake up perfectly soaked onto the brussels sprouts though.
- Spread out the brussels sprouts evenly so they are not overlapping, doesn't matter which way they are facing up, I did about half and half and they all baked perfectly. Sprinkle salt over the top (1/4-1/2 teaspoon). I found this extra bit of salt made them perfect after baking. Do not worry about it tasting too salty before baking, as the brussels sprouts really absorb the flavors.
- Bake 15-20 minutes until just charred and fork tender. These cook FASTER than those made with oil. NOW, here's the thing, depending on the size of your brussels sprouts, that will affect how long they take to cook and be tender. Mine were rather big, 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. Mine were perfectly fork tender with gorgeous just charred bottoms, as you can see in the photos, at about 20 minutes. If yours are small, yours may only take 15 minutes. Set the time for 15 minutes and then check a couple of them with a fork. If the fork easily goes in and is tender, they are done. If they still feel a bit stiff, let them go a couple more minutes. Be careful about overbaking them, as since these are oil-free, they can go from done to burnt.
- Remove and scarf them down! I've made these twice now and have served them with pot pies and also with my Low-Fat Unfried Rice. It went amazing with the rice since they both have the Asian flavor from the soy sauce.
Recipe Notes
For the soy sauce, you can also sub with low-sodium tamari for gluten-free or liquid aminos. If allergic to soy, you can try coconut aminos, but please keep in mind that it is much sweeter and less salty than soy sauce, so it won't have quite the same flavor. You may need to add more salt, to taste, after baking.
Will frozen brussel sprouts work if they are thawed and wiped dry? Please say YES 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Cynthia, I’d assume so as long as they are not wet at all! I’ve only ever used fresh, but I would think so! 🙂 Let me know how they turn out!
Hi Brandi!
These look Great!!!
Wonder if I could sub slightly diluted date paste syrup for the maple syrup?
Watcha think?
Thanx!
Hi Susan, I don’t use date paste so I don’t know, but give it a shot and let me know!
This is my new go-to recipe for Brussels sprouts! They are delicious!
Woohoo, so glad to hear that Tanya!
We always use maple on our Brussels! It gives that delicious caramel like crispy outer coating. I mix up the seasonings, love balsamic with them too. Also smoked paprika is really good with maple. This combo sounds amazing too! Oh man, now I want crispy Brussels Sprouts.
Thanks girl! I know, I love the maple syrup, so good right? My friend makes them with honey and balsamic too. Oh yes, agreed, I do smoked paprika and maple syrup on a roasted carrots recipe here on the blog and they are an addicitng combo. These with the Asian flare of soy sauce and spices were a total game changer for me though, I could NOT stop eating them! lol
Love these brussel sprouts
So glad you loved them Kay, thank you so much for making them!
These are great, especially since there is no oil. If you don’t like spicy, I would suggest cutting the pepper in half or maybe using smoked paprika instead.
Sometimes it’s hard to find good recipes for roasting vegetables without oil. My husband & I love Brussels Sprouts, so I was excited to try this recipe. Wow, so simple and so delicious! The combination of the soy sauce and maple syrup along with the spices was just awesome. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Made these the other day…easy and delicious
So glad to hear that Rebecca, thank you for making them!
I made these today and they’re amazing!! I can’t stop eating them lol. I’ll have to exert a lot of willpower not to eat the rest (I want to eat them in a planned meal later in the week). Thank you for the great recipe. The seasoning combination is a winner for sure. In the past I’ve enjoyed roasted Brussels with balsamic and Dijon mustard, but yours is particularly good.
Woohoo! Thank you Natasha! So very happy to hear how much you loved these!
I have your cookbook and have a question about a recipe. Can I use pinto beans instead of chili beans in the secret ingredient Three-bean chili?I love your recipes by the way. Your cookbook is amazing!
Thanks Vicki Bottenfield
Hi Vicki! So glad to hear you love my book! Yes, chili beans are a mix of black beans, pinto and white beans, so you can do 3 cans of pinto beans, or for better variety, do 1 can each of pinto, black and white, or you cooked even sub white for red kidney beans! Any would be good!
Brussels are a weekly staple in our house, so these will have to be made ASAP! We LOVE the salty-sweet combo and while we almost always use maple syrup on ours, we also use a crazy amount of other spices…so it’s really nice to see a short and sweet ingredient list here. I LOVE that your hubby went out and bought the brussels himself!!! Hehe!! I saw the note in regards to coconut aminos…since I can’t do soy and coconut aminos is significantly sweeter, would you recommend cutting down on the maple syrup? Really looking forward to giving these a try! They look incredible and as always, the photos are beautiful. Love that caramelized look! Sure does pop against the white background! xo
Thank you Mandy! Brussels sprouts are so good, right?! I think I could eat these daily! Yes, possibly just reduce the syrup by 1 teaspoon, so maybe try just 2 teaspoons?? I owe you an email too! Hope you are well! xoxo
I just received a freshly boiled jar of maple syrup…match made in heaven! Delicious and easy! This is my new “GO TO” with little guilt!
Oh wow, that sounds amazing! So glad you loved these Dori!
Delicious!! I didn’t look back at the picture so I didn’t cut them in half. It isn’t written in the recipe, that I could find. Still good. They would have been better had I cut them in half but they are almost gone and I will make them again.
I can’t believe I missed that and even crazier nobody else has mentioned that yet! Fixed!
This recipe is crazy good!! I was never a huge fan of brussels but this recipe has changed my life! Have made them twice so far and have given the recipe to all my co-workers. They are super delicious in salad. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes.
Yay Adria, really happy to hear that!! Yay!
Brandi, these are awesome! I don’t usually dress up my vegetables with anything (I know… but I really love just really simple food), but this was a fun change and it went well as a side with many different things. I’ll definitely be making these again.
Made these and loved it. Was happy to get rid of the oil. I do have to mention though that I did not use a plastic bag to mix. There is no need for the use of the plastic. Just use a bowl. Way better for our environment.
So glad you loved them!