Name: Maple-Candied Bacon
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: ⅓ cup brown sugar; 3 tbsp maple syrup; 2 tbsp honey Dijon mustard; ½ tsp salt; pinch of cayenne pepper (optional); 12 to 16 slices of bacon

This recipe is just in time for Valentine’s Day.

What’s more romantic than candied bacon? Okay, maybe I can think of a few things, but this is definitely somewhere on the list. This maple-candied bacon is sweet, savory, and will make you wonder why you didn’t try it sooner.

This bacon is glazed with brown sugar, honey Dijon mustard, salt, and pure maple syrup. Be sure to grab a bottle of pure maple syrup and not pancake syrup, it makes a big difference. I also added a pinch of cayenne pepper for a hint of spice. You don’t need much, just ⅛th of a teaspoon or so.

I used this candied bacon in a few of my upcoming recipes (*hint* you can see one in these pictures). The bacon slices can be served whole as a fun appetizer, or chopped up and added to other dishes.

You may use thin or thick slices to make maple-candied bacon. I prefer thin bacon when eating the slices whole and thicker bacon when adding candied bacon lardons to other dishes.

Thin slices will take between 30 and 40 minutes to become crisp, depending on your oven. Be sure to check the slices frequently, in order to prevent the sugar from burning. Thick bacon slices will take much longer to crisp up in the oven (at least 20 extra minutes). Just be patient and resist the urge to crank up the oven temperature. I promise that it’s worth it in the end.

When picking out bacon at the store, try to find bacon with uniform slices. If one end of the bacon slice is tapered, it will burn by the time the rest of the bacon is crisp.

I speak from experience.

The first time I made candied bacon, I used bacon that was wide at one end and skinny at the other. The skinny end was black by the time the wide end was crispy. However, I just trimmed off the burned side before serving and no one found out about my mishap.

If you want to save some of the bacon slices for other dishes, be sure to hide the bacon from other family members. After a few of my dishes for That Oven Feelin’ went missing, I realized that I have to label food with “DO NOT EAT” in order to keep it safe!

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Maple-Candied Bacon

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Course: Side Dish

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 40

Total Time: 50

Servings: slices

Ingredients

▢ ⅓ cup brown sugar
▢ 3 tablespoon maple syrup
▢ 2 tablespoon honey Dijon mustard
▢ ½ teaspoon salt
▢ pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
▢ 12 to 16 slices of bacon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cover a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, maple syrup, honey dijon mustard, salt, and cayenne pepper with a whisk. Once combined, add the sliced bacon and toss until the bacon is well-coated.
Lay the bacon slices side-by-side onto the wire rack, careful not to overlap any slices. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, then flip the bacon slices over. Bake an additional 10 to 20 minutes, until the bacon has reached the desired crispness.* Check for doneness often to prevent the sugar from burning.
Once the bacon is almost crisp, remove the bacon from the oven and let it rest on the wire rack for about 5 minutes, then transfer to parchment paper using tongs. The bacon will continue to harden as it cools.