Copycat Ruth Chris Brussels Sprouts (Bacon & Honey Butter)

These copycat Ruth Chris Brussels sprouts are the reason people who swear they hate Brussels sprouts end up ordering seconds — deeply caramelized edges, smoky applewood bacon in every bite, and a honey butter glaze that turns a humble cabbage into the best thing on a steakhouse table. You can have them at home in 35 minutes, without the à la carte side charge.

I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count, and I’ll tell you up front where most copycat versions go wrong: they reach for maple syrup or a balsamic reduction. Those make a good dish. They just don’t make this dish. The restaurant version is rounder and quieter than that — warm honey, real butter, and a splash of acid to keep it from going cloying. Get that ratio right and everything else is technique.

Key Takeaways

• Fresh sprouts only. Frozen carry too much water to caramelize.
• Ruth’s Chris lists this side with three ingredients: roasted Brussels sprouts, bacon, and honey butter. No maple, no balsamic, no parmesan.
• The honey butter goes on off the heat, at the very end. Added early, honey scorches and turns bitter.
• Deep browning is what removes bitterness. “Tender” is not the goal — blistered and crisp is.
• Works in the air fryer (12–15 minutes) or the oven (22–25 minutes) with nearly identical results.

What Are Ruth’s Chris Brussels Sprouts?

Ruth’s Chris Brussels sprouts are a shareable signature side of roasted Brussels sprouts tossed with applewood smoked bacon and a honey butter glaze. On the restaurant’s signature sides menu the description runs just three words long — bacon, honey butter — and the listing clocks in at 570 calories for the shared portion, which tells you plenty about how generous they are with the butter.

That brevity is the whole point, and it’s what most home versions miss. They add ingredients trying to improve on it and end up cooking something else entirely. The flavor here comes from hard caramelization and rendered bacon fat, not from a long list.

What Makes the Steakhouse Version Different

Three things separate this from an everyday sheet pan Brussels sprout:

1. Aggressive browning, not gentle roasting. The outer leaves should be nearly black at the tips and shatter when you bite them. High heat converts the sulfur compounds that read as bitter into genuine sweetness. If your sprouts have ever tasted acrid, undercooking was almost certainly the reason.
2. Bacon fat as the cooking medium. The sprouts get tossed in rendered fat before they ever hit heat, so the smoke lives inside them instead of sitting on top as a garnish. If you want that rendered fat to come out clean and plentiful, my Instant Pot Air Fryer Bacon method is the most reliable way I’ve found to cook a batch evenly.
3. Honey butter added last, off the burner. This is the step that separates a good copycat from a great one, and it takes 90 seconds.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It converts skeptics. Bacon and honey butter do a lot of quiet diplomatic work. I’ve watched adults who pushed sprouts around their plate as children go back for a third helping of these.

Seven core ingredients, all of them things you likely have.

Two methods, one result. Air fryer when you want speed and maximum crunch, oven when you’re feeding a crowd. Both are in the recipe card.

It scales for holidays without any recalculating. Double it straight across for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Thirty-five minutes, start to finish.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Brussels sprouts: Look for tight, bright green heads about the size of a walnut. Oversized sprouts run bitter and their outer leaves go limp. Fresh matters more here than in nearly any other preparation, because frozen sprouts hold water and water prevents browning — if frozen is genuinely all you have, my guide to air fryer frozen Brussels sprouts walks through how to compensate.
• Thick-cut applewood smoked bacon: Applewood is the specific smoke profile that reads as steakhouse. Thick-cut matters because thin bacon shatters into brittle dust rather than staying meaty against the sprouts. If you’re working with regular cut, use eight slices and shorten the render time — my notes on cooking bacon in the air fryer cover the timing differences between cuts.
• Unsalted butter: Real butter. This is a four-ingredient glaze and a substitute has nowhere to hide.
• Honey: Standard clover honey is perfect. Save the expensive raw wildflower for toast — the delicate floral notes cook off here regardless.
• Apple cider vinegar: The secret handshake. Without it the glaze reads flat and sugary instead of balanced. Fresh lemon juice substitutes fine.
• Olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper: For the initial roast. Kosher salt specifically — table salt over-seasons badly by volume.
• Optional: red pepper flakes. Not in the restaurant version, but a pinch in the honey butter is genuinely excellent.

How to Make Copycat Ruth Chris Brussels Sprouts

Step 1: Trim and halve. Cut the woody stem end off each sprout and pull away loose or yellowed outer leaves. Halve through the stem so each piece holds together, quartering anything unusually large. Don’t discard the leaves that fall off — scatter them into the basket and they crisp into chips, which are the best part of the whole dish.

Step 2: Render the bacon. Cook the chopped bacon in a skillet over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes until crisp but not brittle. Move it to a paper towel-lined plate and reserve two tablespoons of the fat. Don’t rush this — slowly rendered bacon gives up more fat and crisps more evenly than bacon cooked hot and fast.

Step 3: Combine the halved sprouts with the reserved bacon fat, olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper in a large bowl. Use your hands rather than a spoon; you want oil down in the crevices between leaves.

Step 4: Get them deeply crisp. Air fryer: preheat to 380°F, arrange the sprouts cut side down in a single layer, and cook 12 to 15 minutes, shaking at the halfway mark. Oven: roast at 425°F on a preheated sheet pan, cut side down, for 22 to 25 minutes without stirring. Either way, you’re looking for real color — the same approach I use for air fryer garlic butter Brussels sprouts, where the browning does most of the flavor work.

Step 5: Make the honey butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Pull it off the burner, then whisk in the honey, apple cider vinegar, and a pinch of salt until smooth. Off the heat is not a suggestion. Honey scorches fast and takes the whole glaze down with it.

Step 6: Toss and serve immediately. Transfer the hot sprouts to a bowl, pour the honey butter over, add the bacon, and toss to coat. Taste for salt. Serve while the edges are still crisp.

Air Fryer vs. Oven: Which Is Better?

Both work. Here’s the honest comparison:

	Air Fryer	Oven
Time	12–15 minutes	22–25 minutes
Crispiness	Slightly better	Very good
Batch size	1½ lb max, often 2 batches	Up to 3 lb on two pans
Hands-on	Shake once	None
Best for	Weeknights, small batches	Holidays, crowds

I use the air fryer for a normal dinner and the oven whenever I’m cooking for more than four people. The air fryer edge on crispiness is real but small — it’s not worth doing three cramped batches to get it.

Why Are My Brussels Sprouts Not Crispy?

This is the single most common failure, and it’s almost always one of these four:

• They were wet. If you washed them, dry them thoroughly with a towel before oiling. Water steams instead of browns, and steamed sprouts are exactly the sad vegetable everyone remembers from childhood.
• The basket or pan was crowded. Overlapping pieces trap moisture. Two batches always beats one crowded batch, and the second batch runs faster because the appliance is already hot.
• They weren’t cut side down. That flat face is your largest contact surface and where caramelization actually happens. Spend the extra 30 seconds arranging rather than dumping.
• You pulled them too early. When they look done, they usually need three more minutes. Deep brown is the target, not golden.

Pro Tips

• Preheat the sheet pan if you’re using the oven. Sprouts hitting hot metal start browning on contact.
• Salt lightly up front. Bacon contributes significant sodium; adjust at the end after everything is tossed.
• Serve within ten minutes. The glaze softens the crisp edges as it sits — still delicious, but different.
• Don’t stir in the oven. Every time you move them you interrupt the browning.
• Reserve more bacon fat than you think you need. If your bacon renders less than two tablespoons, make up the difference with olive oil rather than skipping it.

Variations

• Spicy honey butter. A quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or a tablespoon of hot honey in place of regular. This is the version I make most often for my own family.
• Balsamic finish. Swap the apple cider vinegar for balsamic and drizzle a little glaze at the end. Less Ruth’s Chris, more Longhorn — and if that’s the profile you’re after, my Longhorn Steakhouse crispy Brussels sprouts is built around it. For a lighter everyday take on the same idea, air fryer honey balsamic Brussels sprouts comes together in about ten minutes.
• Garlic honey butter. Sauté a minced clove in the butter for 30 seconds before the honey goes in.
• Candied bacon. Swap standard bacon for air fryer twisted candied bacon, crumbled. It leans sweeter than the restaurant version but it’s a showstopper on a holiday table.
• Toasted pecans. A half cup, chopped and added at the end. Makes the dish feel distinctly seasonal.
• Shaved instead of halved. If you want the same flavors in a faster, crispier format, the technique in my air fryer shredded Brussels sprouts works beautifully with this honey butter.
• Vegetarian. Skip the bacon, use two extra tablespoons of olive oil, and add a half teaspoon of smoked paprika to the glaze to replace the smoke.

What to Serve With Ruth’s Chris Brussels Sprouts

This is a steakhouse side, so it wants a steakhouse plate. Air fryer bacon wrapped filet mignon is the natural pairing and what I make for anniversaries. On a weeknight, air fryer steak bites and potatoes puts dinner on the table in 20 minutes, and Ninja Crispi steak bites leave almost nothing to wash.

For potatoes, easy air fryer steakhouse potatoes are the closest match in spirit — crisp outside, fluffy inside, seasoned simply. Copycat Outback baked potatoes get you that salt-crusted skin if you’d rather go the loaded route, and air fryer twice baked potatoes are worth the extra step for a holiday spread.

To build a full Ruth’s Chris-style meal at home, add air fryer creamed spinach. It’s the other side everyone orders there, and the three together with a good steak is a genuinely restaurant-quality dinner for a fraction of the check.

Cooking for a party instead? Air fryer cheesy bacon spinach dip covers the same smoky-rich territory and travels well.

Storage, Reheating, and Make-Ahead

Refrigerator: airtight container, up to 4 days. The honey butter solidifies when chilled — that’s normal and it re-melts.

Reheating: the air fryer is the only method I’d recommend. Three to four minutes at 375°F restores most of the crisp. The microwave turns them soft and faintly sulfurous.

Freezing: don’t. Cooked sprouts lose their texture entirely on thawing and the glaze separates.

Make-ahead: trim and halve the sprouts up to 2 days early and refrigerate in a zip-top bag. The honey butter keeps 3 days and rewarms gently. Cook the sprouts fresh — this dish peaks in its first ten minutes and there’s no way around that.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s actually in Ruth’s Chris Brussels sprouts? Roasted Brussels sprouts, bacon, and honey butter. That’s the full menu description. There’s no balsamic, maple, cheese, or cream involved, which is exactly why the dish is worth copying — it’s a short ingredient list executed with good technique.

Can I use frozen Brussels sprouts? You can, but they won’t reach the same crispiness because frozen sprouts release too much water. Thaw completely, squeeze dry in a clean towel, and add about 5 minutes to the cook time.

Why are my Brussels sprouts bitter? Usually undercooking. Caramelization converts the compounds that read as bitter into sweetness, so the fix is nearly always more heat and more time. Oversized sprouts are the other common culprit.

Can I make this without an air fryer? Yes — 425°F on a preheated sheet pan for 22 to 25 minutes. Results are nearly identical.

Can I prep this for Thanksgiving? Prep the sprouts and the glaze ahead, but cook and toss right before serving.

How do I double the recipe? Everything doubles straight across. In the air fryer, work in two batches rather than crowding. In the oven, use two pans and rotate them halfway through.

Do I have to use bacon fat? It’s what makes this taste like the restaurant, but olive oil alone works. Add a half teaspoon of smoked paprika if you go that route.

Is this gluten free? Yes, as written — just confirm your bacon brand, since a few cure with gluten-containing ingredients.

More Brussels Sprouts Recipes to Try

If this one’s in your rotation, air fryer chicken and Brussels sprouts turns the same vegetable into a full one-basket dinner, and my air fryer garlic butter Brussels sprouts are the weeknight version I fall back on when I don’t want to render bacon.