How to Make Candied Bacon
My candied bacon recipe combines salty bacon with sweet caramelized brown sugar and a little bit of spice and heat for the perfect addition to your Sunday brunch! You can also crumble them and add them to cookies, cupcakes or donuts.
I have heard candied bacon called lots of different things over the years:
- Praline bacon
- Sweet bacon
- Bacon candy
- Pig candy
- Man candy
- Brown sugar bacon
- Million dollar bacon
- And my personal favorite: millionaire's bacon
Regardless of what you call it, making candied bacon is pretty quick and easy, and really requires no baking skills. As long as you can turn on an oven, that's about the extent of the expertise needed!
What is candied bacon?
Candied bacon is made of bacon slices that are coated in a sweetener (like brown sugar or maple syrup) and baked to caramelize the sugar.
With thinner cuts of bacon, you get crisp strips full of sweet and salty flavor. If you use thick-cut bacon, they'll be a bit more chewy, but with delightfully crispy edges.
Ingredients for candied bacon
The ingredients for this easy candied bacon recipe can be varied based on the particular flavor you're going for, but here are the ingredients I like to use for mine:
- Bacon strips – The thickness of your bacon makes a difference. I usually opt to not use thick-cut bacon because the result is more chewy than crispy (but still freaking delicious, don't get me wrong)
- Light brown sugar – could substitute maple syrup or half of it for maple sugar. I don't recommend swapping for granulated white sugar or dark brown sugar.
- Ground cinnamon and ground black pepper – adds a nice flavor to the brown sugar mixture
- Cayenne pepper – for a little kick of heat!
How to make candied bacon in the oven
Making candied bacon is very similar to how I bake my bacon in the oven normally, just with a couple additional steps:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line one rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place an oven-safe wire rack on top of the foil. Line another sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper, and set both aside.
- In a shallow bowl (like a pasta bowl), whisk to combine light brown sugar, cinnamon and any other spices you might be including. If needed, break apart any clumps with your fingers.
- Take each strip of bacon and press it into the brown sugar mixture, making sure to coat the entire strip on both sides. Place each coated slice of bacon on the wire rack of your foil-lined baking sheet in a single layer. Top with any remaining brown sugar, if desired. Note: You'll likely fit about 6 slices on the baking sheet, so if you're making 12 strips of bacon you'll do this in two rounds of baking.
- Bake for 20 minutes until dark brown, firm and crisp. You may need additional time, as thicker slices will need longer to cook through.
- When done baking, immediately use tongs to transfer each slice to your parchment-lined baking sheet to cool completely.
How to make candied bacon in an air fryer
To make candied bacon in an air fryer, you'll follow the same preparation steps with the brown sugar mixture that you would for the oven method, but to cook it you can follow these instructions instead:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
- In a shallow bowl (like a pasta bowl), whisk to combine light brown sugar, cinnamon and any other spices you might be including. If needed, break apart any clumps with your fingers.
- Take each strip of bacon and press it into the brown sugar mixture, making sure to coat the entire strip on both sides.
- Arrange your slices of bacon in a single layer in your air fryer basket. Depending on the size of your air fryer and how many slices you're making, you may need to do this in multiple rounds. You can also cut each bacon slice with kitchen shears in half to make smaller strips.
- Cook at 400°F for around 15 minutes until dark brown, firm and crisp.
- When done cooking, carefully use tongs to transfer each slice to your parchment-lined baking sheet to cool completely.
Uses for candied bacon
Here's the thing – the limit of what to do with your candied bacon is basically just your imagination! But here are some ideas to add to your list of appetizer recipes:
- Add it to a Bloody Mary (plus a celery stick and pickle spear, please and thank you)
- Crumble the candied bacon strips and use them in some maple bacon snickerdoodles
- Or use the crumbles on top of maple bacon cupcakes or maple bacon donuts
- Break it into smaller pieces and add it to a charcuterie board for a little something sweet
- Stick them in a glass and place it on a dessert table for people to grab and snack on
- Put it on your BLT
- Take it one step further and turn it into chocolate-covered bacon
FAQs
Once the cooked bacon is room temperature, you can store it in an airtight container between pieces of parchment or wax paper in the refrigerator for up to 1 week – though mine has always been gobbled up long before then!
You can reheat candied bacon in the microwave or in the oven. In the microwave, place the bacon on a microwave-safe plate and heat for up to 60 seconds (40 is usually good for me). In the oven, place the bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet and heat on the broil setting for 2 minutes.
You sure can – cook them at 400°F like you did when you first made them, but only for 2-3 minutes.
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Candied Bacon
Ingredients
- 12 slices bacon, 1 pound, see notes below about bacon thickness
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch cayenne pepper, optional but encouraged
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, optional but encouraged
Instructions
Oven method
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Line one rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place an oven-safe wire rack on top of the foil. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper, and set both aside.
- In a shallow bowl (like a pasta bowl), whisk to combine light brown sugar, cinnamon and any other spices you might be including. If needed, break apart any clumps with your fingers.
- Take each strip of bacon and press it into the brown sugar mixture, making sure to coat the entire strip on both sides. Place each coated bacon strip on the wire rack of your foil-lined baking sheet. Top with any remaining sugar, if desired.Note: You'll likely fit about 6 slices on the baking sheet, so if you're making 12 strips of bacon you'll do this in two rounds of baking.
- Bake for 20 minutes until dark brown, firm and crisp. You may need additional time, as thicker slices will need longer to cook through.
- When done baking, immediately use tongs to transfer each slice to your parchment-lined baking sheet to cool completely.
Air fryer method
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
- In a shallow bowl (like a pasta bowl), whisk to combine light brown sugar, cinnamon and any other spices you might be including. If needed, break apart any clumps with your fingers.
- Take each strip of bacon and press it into the brown sugar mixture, making sure to coat the entire strip on both sides.
- Arrange your slices of bacon in a single layer in your air fryer basket. Depending on the size of your air fryer and how many slices you’re making, you may need to do this in multiple rounds. You can also cut each bacon slice with kitchen shears in half to make smaller strips.
- Cook at 400°F for around 15 minutes until dark brown, firm and crisp.
- When done cooking, carefully use tongs to transfer each slice to your parchment-lined baking sheet to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is generated by an automatic API and does not take variations across specific brands into account. This information is provided as a general guideline and should not be treated as official calculations. Learn more here.