When most people talk about bacon, they tend to talk more about its texture than its flavor. The usual adjectives used to describe bacon are crispy and chewy, salty and savory. Smoky is often mentioned, but rarely is bacon described as sweet. Considering how many different, subtle flavors of bacon there are available, it’s perplexing why more people don’t talk about bacon flavor.
Purists will say, “I want my bacon to taste like bacon!” Well, almost all bacon has some sort of flavor added to it. And trust us—the most heavily flavored bacon will still taste like bacon. There’s no disguising the remarkable flavor of bacon. Seasonings and smoking techniques only serve to enhance bacon’s flavor.
To show how versatile bacon is, we threw an impromptu bacon tasting party. These 6 bacon appetizers use 6 ingredients or less to create simple appetizers that show off bacon’s versatility. The best part about cooking with bacon is that you can add a small amount of it to just about anything, and it will turn out great. Here are the recipes and suggested bacon pairings.
1. Apple Cheddar Bacon Bites with Apple Cinnamon Bacon
Apple Cinnamon Bacon
Sharp cheddar cheese
Apples (we prefer Granny Smith)
- Cut cheese, apples and cooked bacon into bite-size squares. Squeeze lemon juice over apples to keep them from browning. Assemble on toothpicks in desired order. Bacon, cheese, apple. Or bacon, cheese, bacon, apple. Or, bacon bacon cheese bacon apple bacon will do nicely.
2. Herbed Bacon Wrapped Potato Bites with Summer Herb Bacon
Summer herb bacon
Fingerling potatoes
- Cut potatoes into bite-size chunks. Cut 1 strip of bacon into 3 equal pieces. Wrap uncooked bacon around each piece and secure with a toothpick. Place on a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet and place in 400 F oven. Bake for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Turn potatoes over halfway through cooking process.
3. Steak ‘n’ Bacon Bites with Pepper Bacon
Pepper bacon
Your favorite cut of steak
Blue cheese (optional)
- Place bacon on a rimmed bacon sheet and bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes or until done. Cut steak into bite size chunks. Add the warm bacon grease from your bacon to a skillet and brown the steak pieces in the bacon grease to desired doneness. Stack a chunk of bacon and a chunk of beef together, and secure with a toothpick. If using cheese, place the blue cheese crumbles between the bacon and beef.
4. Bruschetta with tomatoes and Sun Dried Tomato Bacon
Sun-dried tomato bacon
Sourdough bread
Tomatoes
Garlic
Basil
Olive oil
- The night before: Combine chopped tomatoes, chopped basil, olive oil, and roasted garlic in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Brush slices of bread with olive oil and rub garlic clove over the bread. Bake until bread is crispy. Add chunks of cooked, sun-dried tomato bacon to the tomato mixture, and then spoon onto each bread slice. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese if desired and serve immediately.
5. Jalapeno Guacamole Cheese Bites with Jalapeno Bacon
Jalapeno bacon
Tostitos Scoops® tortilla chips
3-4 Avocados
1 Jalapeno
1/2 – 1 packet Guacamole seasoning
1 jar Nacho cheese dip (store bought)
- Cook the jalapeno bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until done. Prepare guacamole by mashing avocados, and add chopped jalapeno and onion into a bowl. Mix in guacamole seasoning to taste. Leaving a few full strips aside, chop bacon and add half of it to the guacamole.
- Heat the cheese dip in microwave, then mix in the remaining chopped bacon. Fill each Scoops! chip with guacamole, then drizzle with melted cheese. Cut the remaining bacon strips into small slices and use as garnish.
6. Kahlua Milkshake Shooters with Maple Bacon
Maple bacon
½ cup whole milk
2 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
4 tablespoons bacon fat
9 scoops vanilla ice cream
Whipped cream (optional)
Oven-bake bacon for 15-20 min at 400 F or until done. Collect all the fat in a glass bowl and set aside. You want the fat cooled a little, still in liquid form but not piping hot. Put the milk, maple syrup, salt, and ice cream in the blender. Add 4 Tablespoons of cooled bacon fat and pour it into the mix. Blend it up! Pour into glasses and garnish with bacon bits and whipped cream if desired. Or, insert an entire strip of bacon! Or two. Or three…
Get the full recipe here.
When most people talk about bacon, they tend to talk more about its texture than its flavor. The usual adjectives used to describe bacon are crispy and chewy, salty and savory. Smoky is often mentioned, but rarely is bacon described as sweet. Considering how many different, subtle flavors of bacon there are available, it’s perplexing why more people don’t talk about bacon flavor.
