This is one of those recipes that really takes no time to make at all, which is one of the reasons why it’s in a heavy rotation in our house. I make most of our dinners in 30-45 minutes, which is pretty much essential when you have two hangry toddlers lurking at your feet or playing in your tupperware drawer, am I right or am I right?
This dinner is so easy to make: just shred your brussels sprouts (this takes two minutes in the food processor and can be done ahead of time!), cook your bacon and spaghetti noodles, stir in some parm, spices, salt and pepper… and boom! dinner is ready.
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I hope you love this simple, yet delicious bacon parmesan brussels sprouts spaghetti. Highly recommend it with some garlic bread on the side, too!
Everything you’ll need to make this spaghetti with brussels sprouts & bacon
If you’re looking for a great way to sneak veggies into your fav comfort food, you’ve come to the right place. This veggie-packed spaghetti recipe has just 5 core ingredients (plus some seasonings) and the result couldn’t be more delicious. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Brussels sprouts: we’re filling this spaghetti recipe with veggies thanks to finely shredded brussels sprouts! The kiddos won’t even notice. You can shred them in the food processor or by hand with a knife — up to you!
- Olive oil: you’ll need a bit of olive oil to cook down the shredded brussels sprouts.
- Bacon: the savory, salty bacon adds such an amazing flavor to this pasta.
- Spaghetti: wonderful, twirl-able spaghetti pairs perfectly with the shredded brussels.
- Parmesan: gotta have some cheese with your spaghetti recipe. Grated parmesan gets melty and delicious when mixed with the warm spaghetti noodles and reserved pasta water.
- Seasonings: you’ll just need a bit of garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if you like a little heat.
Make it your own
This bacon brussels sprouts spaghetti is super easy to customize to fit your personal preferences. Here’s what I can recommend:
- Feel free to keep it gluten free. Simply use your favorite gluten free spaghetti noodles.
- Swap your bacon. Turkey bacon would also be delicious in here, or you can omit the bacon to make the dish vegetarian.
- Choose your veggies. This spaghetti would also be delicious with finely chopped broccoli, cauliflower, spinach or peas.
How to shred brussels sprouts
- Use a food processor. The easiest way to shred brussels sprouts is by using your food processor. Simply add the slicing attachment to your food processor, drop in the brussels sprouts (making sure the ends are trimmed off) and process until the brussels sprouts are thinly sliced.
- No food processor? No problem. If you don’t have a food processor you can thinly slice the brussels sprouts with a sharp knife. Just make sure to remove the stem and any outer yellow leaves.
Time-saving tip
Use either of the methods above to shred your brussels sprouts up to 2-3 days ahead of time to save time when you’re cooking! Just remember to store the shredded brussels sprouts in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to add them to the recipe.
Looking for more protein?
This brussels sprouts spaghetti would also be delicious with:
- Cooked, cubed chicken breast (my honey mustard chicken would be phenomenal!)
- Cooked, sliced chicken sausage
- My homemade mini pesto turkey meatballs from this recipe
- Or a can of chickpeas
Feel free to swap the bacon out for any of the options above, or add in extra protein to make this recipe go further!
How to make brussels sprouts spaghetti
- Shred the brussels sprouts. As I mentioned above, feel free to shred those babies ahead of time so that you can skip this step!
- Cook the bacon. Simply cook all of your bacon in a skillet until golden brown. I do this on medium to medium low heat to prevent burning. You can also bake your bacon if you prefer.
- Sauté the brussels sprouts. You’ll then cook your shredded brussels in a little olive oil, salt & pepper until they get nice and somewhat golden and a little crispy.
- Cook the pasta. Cook up that spaghetti in a large pot of water and a generous amount of salt. Be sure to save some pasta water when you drain it!
- Add your mix-ins. Drain the pasta, add it back to your pot and stir in parmesan cheese, reserved pasta water, garlic, cooked brussels, bacon, salt & pepper to taste. Top with red pepper flakes if you’d like and enjoy!
Storing & reheating tips
Store any leftover bacon brussels sprouts spaghetti in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days. To reheat simply do so in a microwave safe dish.
Recommended tools for this recipe
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More delicious pasta recipes to try
- Date Night In Cilantro Pistachio Pesto Shrimp Pasta
- Vegan Pasta Primavera with Creamy Garlic Cashew Sauce
- Brown Butter Pistachio Pesto Pasta with Chickpeas
- Brussels Sprouts Mac and Cheese
- 30 minute Healthier Pasta Carbonara
Get all of our delicious pasta recipes here!
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I hope you love this wonderful bacon parmesan brussels sprouts spaghetti! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Bacon Parmesan Brussels Sprouts Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and outer yellow leaves removed*
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or avocado oil
- 8 ounces bacon (or sub turkey bacon)
- 10 ounces spaghetti, feel free to use gluten free or whole grain pasta
- 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup reserved pasta water
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste
- Red pepper flakes, if desired
Instructions
- First, shred the brussels sprouts by using a food processor with the slicing attachment and pulse until the brussels sprouts are thinly sliced. If you don’t have a food processor, feel free to use a sharp knife to thinly slice. Set aside. You can prep the brussels up to 2-3 days ahead of time, if you’d like.
- Next, add bacon to a large skillet or pan and place over medium heat, cook bacon on both sides until golden brown. If the pan starts to smoke at any point, simply lower the heat. I always cook my bacon on medium to medium low heat. Once bacon is done cooking, you can set aside to cool, blot with a paper towel to absorb excess grease and then chop into bite-sized pieces.
- Add oil to a large pan or skillet and place over medium-high heat. Add in shredded brussels sprouts, season with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently until tender and slightly golden brown. Remove from heat once done.
- While the brussels cook, place a large pot of water over high heat and add in a generous amount of salt. Once the water boils, stir in the pasta and cook until al dente. Once pasta is done cooking, reserve ⅓ cup of pasta water and set aside, then drain pasta in a colander and transfer pasta back to the pot.
- Immediately stir in the parmesan cheese, reserved pasta water, garlic powder, shredded brussels, chopped bacon, and salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with red pepper flakes, if desired and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on March 15th, 2021, and republished on March 7th, 2023.
55 comments
Super simple to make and so delicious!! Definitely adding this to our repeat meals. I made it with gluten free pasta and still so good!
Love it! Easy and delicious dinner 🙂
We made some modifications with what we had on hand (like using shredded frozen brussel sprout), but this recipe was delicious! We used buccatini for our pasta
Perfect! Glad it was a hit 🙂
I love love love your recipes!
So easy to make and bake.
Raspberry chocolate bread is my favorite for this moment. Just saw you making your cinnamon roles. Yummmm. Gotta make them sometime.
I missed the chocolate chips in it 😉
Every time I watch a recipe I think to myself “is she using the chocolate chips?” And then in the end yesss there they are😊👍🏻 the chocolate chips!!
For my you are the best 🥇✨
Greetings from The Netherlands
🙋♀️ Desiree
So glad you’re loving the recipes here! Chocolate chips are always a plus 🙂
Love this recipe! I recently have been on a brussel sprouts kick after a lifetime of thinking I didn’t like them, and now I am always looking for new recipes to incorporate them! Especially ones that involve bacon! This was very easy to throw together for an easy dinner. I used Banza chickpea spaghetti and it turned out so good!
Love it! Glad you enjoyed!
I made this last night. It is SO good. All the flavors go so well together. I used Banza (chickpea) spaghetti and it worked perfectly. I also used the teeny-tiny cubed pancetta; it crisps up in only a few minutes and you don’t have to chop. Thanks for all the creative pasta recipes, Monique! I appreciate how you always find a way to incorporate veggies.
Perfect! Love that idea!
This was a fabulous and easy to make recipe! I happily ate the leftovers for lunch AND dinner the next day.
Love that! Perfect leftovers 🙂
We made this for dinner last night, it was so delicious that I am still thinking about it. Will be on our regular menu rotation as it was also quick to make and my kids loved it too!
So happy to hear that!
You can’t go wrong with bacon and Brussels sprouts! This was very good. I would make it again. My only comment is that my pasta dried out a little at the end once I mixed everything together. I ended up topping it with a drizzle of olive oil.
Glad you enjoyed! And hmmm you could also try adding a little reserved pasta water next time 🙂
I love recipes like this….simple ingredients, quick to throw together and delicious.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
This was PHENOMENAL. My husband and I devoured every bite and our toddler even liked it too! Definitely will be making this again!
So happy to hear that!
So simple yet amazingly delicious!
Perfect dinner!!
I love this recipe because it is so flavorful and delicious, but is super quick to make! Makes it look like a spent a long time in the kitchen with how amazing it is 🙂
Absolutey! Glad you love it!
Sooo good! Really great flavor combo and this was super easy to make. I baked the bacon in the oven while I cooked the Brussels sprouts and pasta to save time. Also added some sliced green onions on top since I needed to use. My husband loved it…plan to make again! Thanks for another great recipe
Perfect! So glad you both enjoyed!
Inspiring. I always have leftover sprouts from something and this blog has me using them for everything! The bacon makes this dish feel like a carbonara! Love every bite and so did the kids.
So happy to hear that! Yes it’s like a veggie-packed carbonara 🙂
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make! Love the recipes from ambitious kitchen!!
So glad you enjoyed! Hope you find more recipes here that you love 🙂
Wow. This came together so quickly and my entire family loved it. This will become part of our regular rotation. I ended up using a whole box of WW pasta and two 12oz bags of Brussels. Perfect.
Love that! Such a great dinner.
I made this as a side for a dinner party I was hosting and it was delicious! I love the creativity of these recipes, and everyone raved over it. I added some heavy cream to make it a little more rich and it was fabulous!
So glad that everyone loved it. Great idea to add heavy cream!
This dish was so delicious! I cooked the Brussel spouts until some were a little bit charred. Thank you for sharing!
Delicious and nutritious! I fried my brussels sprouts in the grease from the bacon and it turned out very well! Can’t get enough of that bacon-y flavor!
Ooooh so yummy! Happy you enjoyed it, Katherine!
This is absolutely delicious! The third time we made it we added cherry tomatoes and loved it even more!
Oooh that sounds AMAZING, thanks for the idea!!
So yummy!! Both my husband and toddler loved this. I love how simple but flavorful it is. It would be really great with lemon juice too. Will definitely make again and again!
This recipe is delicious , my favorite foods in one quick meal! Mostly I make it vegetarian, just as wonderful. One of my go to meals ! Thank you
Aw thanks, I’m so glad this one’s on repeat in your kitchen!
I absolutely love your recipes but I don’t understand why you only use 10 oz of pasta in a lot of them. This isn’t practical for a family of four or more and especially when 16 oz is typical for a box so often times I find myself trying to increase ingredients so that I can use the full pound of pasta. Can you write recipes for the full box moving forward? Not criticizing just suggesting! Keep creating delicious meals! 🙂
Thanks so much for the suggestion! We will keep this in mind moving forward!
I love this recipe! It’s a simple meal to prepare that’s yummy & satiating. We also like how it’s quite a bit different than most of the pasta recipes we usually enjoy. I personally like using whole wheat pasta because I like how the nuttier flavor & courser texture pairs with the course brussel sprouts. I like to use pancetta instead of bacon & fresh garlic instead of powdered. I definitely recommend not skipping red pepper flakes. I also like to add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice in at the end.
Loved this one! Came together quickly and tasted a lot better than the plain spaghetti I normally serve when I feel rushed for time. We’ll definitely be adding this to the rotation.
So delicious and versatile! You know when you read a recipe and you immediately get hungry? That was this one for me! I did not have bacon on hand, so I pulled out a couple of mushrooms, sliced them, and sautéed in the olive oil before adding the brussels. I skipped the chili flakes, but I topped my pasta with some momofuku chili oil and what a fantastic meal! I loved it!
This is very good. Very flavorful and easy to make.
So delicious! I did just cook the brussels directly in the pan after the bacon. Used the bacon fat rather than adding any additional oil, and it was perfect! Then just added the pasta, cheese, bacon, and pasta water back to that pan.
OH YUM! I am sure that bacon grease gave the Brussels the best flavor. Glad you are loving this recipe!
Made this last night! I think it’s a little bit more of a niche flavor preference because I loved it but my family thought it was a little out there. It is sooo easy and is a great way to mix up pasta night!
Excellent recipe, thank you. I reduced white wine and added cream
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
So delicious!!! Will 100% make again. Like some other commenters, I cooked my Brussels in the bacon grease. I also tossed in halved cherry tomatoes and two cloves minced garlic (in lieu of garlic powder) towards the end of sautéing the Brussels. And the food processing the Brussels was an amazing trick I hadn’t done before!
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed!