For the past several years at our home, some version of this side dish has appeared on the Thanksgiving table. The first couple of years, it was a popular recipe I had seen online at purewow.com, and I made it exactly as written, using honey and sriracha. The next year, I doubled the sriracha because my husband, Les, loves spicy so much. The year after that, I swapped out the honey in favor of maple syrup to keep it friendly to Les’s daughter, who adheres to the vegan lifestyle. What I love most about this recipe (besides the fact that Brussels sprouts are awesome and so good for you) is that it’s easily adaptable and it flies in the face of so many things people believe about their own tastes. This dish has been a winner with guests who don’t like Brussels sprouts, and also with people who don’t like the spicy nature of sriracha.

This year, in advance of Thanksgiving, I’ve been testing a few favorite recipes so that I can jot down the amounts and times that are appropriate for sharing. This has been one of the important challenges of doing a food blog—because I cook by instinct and memory, I don’t always know offhand how much of different ingredients I use or how long I cook them at whatever temperature. But a surprise popped up when I started working on my spicy Brussels sprouts for this post: our sriracha gave an odd aroma, and we realized it was almost a year out of date! Oops.

The saying goes that necessity is the mother of invention, and it’s certainly true in the kitchen, isn’t it? If I had a nickel for every time I made an emergency substitute, we could finally take the plunge on some new granite counters! But in this instance, the substitute was obvious to both of us—cayenne sauce would be the perfect stand-in for the sriracha. It’s mouthwatering, spicy and marries perfectly with maple syrup. If you’re looking to try something a little different this year, I hope you enjoy these.

Ingredients

Up to 2 lbs. fresh Brussels sprouts, rinsed, drained and patted dry

4 Tbsp. maple syrup

3 Tbsp. cayenne pepper sauce (we used Frank’s RedHot, of course!)

1/4 cup rice vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
2. Trim the sprouts by using a sharp knife to make a thin slice off the bottoms. This will loosen the outer leaves, which you may discard. When all sprouts are trimmed, cut them into halves, lengthwise (top to bottom).
3. In a large bowl, combine syrup, cayenne sauce, rice vinegar, salt and pepper. Stream in the olive oil gradually, whisking quickly to create an emulsion. Alternatively, add all the ingredients together in a jar with a tight lid and shake the dickens out of it.
4. Immediately transfer the Brussels sprouts to the bowl with the marinade and gently fold to toss them, taking care to coat every side of the sprouts.
5. Arrange the sprouts, cut side down, onto the prepared baking sheet. Keep a little room between the sprouts to ensure even roasting. Do not discard the marinade.
6. Roast for 20 minutes, then remove the baking sheet and toss the sprouts once again in the marinade. Return them to the baking sheet (direction does not matter) and back into the oven for 5 additional minutes.

The sprouts emerge from the oven with fragrant, crispy edges and tender, caramelized interior from all the marinade that weeps into the creases between leaves. These are best served right away, but for the sake of sanity on Thanksgiving, you may also make them ahead and warm them up in time for dinner. The sprouts will lose the crispiness, of course, but you will still love the flavor.

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