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Oven Baked Candied Whiskey Bacon is the crispiest, sweetest, spiciest bacon recipe ever! And it’s not just for breakfast; add to sandwiches, salads and everything in between.
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Oven Baked Candied Whiskey Bacon
Oven Baked Candied Whiskey Bacon is my absolute favorite way to make delicious and unique bacon. Brown sugar and whiskey infuse the meat which is then baked in the oven until nice and crispy. It’s done in just minutes and tastes incredible! A little sweet, a little spicy, a LOT scrumptious!
Because this whiskey bacon is oven baked, there’s no turning required, and no heavy smoky bacon smell permeating the house all day. Win!
What to Serve with Oven Baked Candied Whiskey Bacon
Candied Whiskey Bacon is the perfect addition to any breakfast food. Eggs, pancakes, omelets, cinnamon rolls…the possibilities are endless. But many delicious appetizers or entree recipes are elevated with a little (or a lot) of this tempting treat. Try a few yourself:
What Ingredients Do I Need to Make Candied Whiskey Bacon?
This recipe calls for only four ingredients, yet packs such a powerful flavor punch, you’d never know it was so easy to make. Here’s all you need:
First, start with good quality bacon. I love a thick cut, but thick or thinner strips will work just great.
Next, grab a cup or your favorite Bourbon or whiskey.
Mix the bourbon with dark brown sugar. The darker the brown sugar, the richer the flavor.
Finally, kick up the spice by adding some cayenne pepper.
Check out the recipe card below for all the details on how to make Oven Baked Candied Whiskey Bacon. Enjoy!
Can Candied Whiskey Bacon Be Left Out?
Don’t leave leftovers out at room temperature. Even fully cooked, bacon is still perishable. You can store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Then reheat by microwaving for a few seconds or popping back into the oven for a couple of minutes.
More Ways to Prepare Bacon:
I’m pretty picky about how I eat my bacon, so when I find a recipe I like I stick with it! With that in mind, try a few of my favorite ways to make the very best bacon.
This candied bacon recipe is oven-baked with a sweet and spicy whiskey reduction that tastes amazing.
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Ingredients
12strips of Wright Brand Bacon
1cupwhiskey or bourbon
1 1/4cupdark brown sugardivided
1/2teaspooncayenne pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F
Mix together your whiskey with 1 cup brown sugar and cayenne pepper in a small saucepan over medium/high heat. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place each strip of bacon directly on a baking sheet, allowing a bit of space between strips. Brush the bacon with the whiskey reduction and then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Place bacon in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, checking after 12 minutes. Ovens vary, so you want to make sure they don't burn. Mine took the full 20 minutes.
Take bacon out of the oven and allow to sit on a paper towel to cool/drain.
Serve and enjoy!
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made!Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Regular, thin-cut bacon will typically bake in 12 minutes at 400 degrees F. If you want it extra crispy, you can let it bake a little longer, but keep a close eye on it. For Thick-Cut Bacon. Thicker bacon will take 14 to 20 minutes, depending upon your thickness and how crisp you would like it to be.
Even though it doesn't necessarily come with a mild flavor, bacon is a total blank canvas. With the help of some extra ingredients and spices for your bacon, you can take its original savory, salty, and smoky flavor and enhance it with things like chili powder and coffee, Sriracha, maple syrup, brown sugar, or honey.
Turn your Traeger or other pellet grill on to 225 degrees F. After it comes to temperature, place the bacon directly on the grill grates, making sure they don't touch. Cook the bacon until it reaches your desired crispiness. This takes me about 2 hours.
Medium-thick bacon slices will need 18 to 20 minutes to reach the perfect level of crispiness. But check the bacon at 10 minutes, and adjust your cooking time to your preferred degree of doneness.
In my experience, using the convection baking setting bakes the bacon faster than the standard baking setting. Either one is fine and will give you perfectly crisp bacon but you just may need to continue to bake the bacon longer after coming to temperature if using the standard baking setting.
About This Method: Martha Stewart's technique promises a “spatter-free” way to get “perfectly crispy bacon.” You simply line one or two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, arrange the bacon on top, and bake at 400°F until it is crisped to your liking.
You take strips of bacon and place them on a baking sheet, then sprinkle all-purpose flour on top and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 25 minutes. I was surprised to find out how great this worked. The flour definitely helped to give the bacon a crispier texture and nicer color than the other methods I tried.
In order for the meat and fat in your bacon to cook evenly, they have to be at the same temperature. The fat retains the cold longer than the meat, so letting it sit at room temp for 15 minutes before you start cooking will help produce a more evenly cooked piece of bacon.
The easiest way to tell is by the color of the pork. Just like with many other types of meat, uncooked bacon will be light pink with white strips of fat. When it's ready to eat, those rosy hues will have darkened to a reddish-brown color, and the fat will morph into a tan or golden shade.
Once a pork belly has been cured, it's typically smoked and heated to about 130 degrees. This process adds the distinctive smoky taste that we have all come to love. It also helps to hold the red, cured color, and sure makes it easier for the bacon to be cleanly sliced.
Step away for a minute to slice a tomato for a BLT and your bacon could throw a toddler-level tantrum. But oven-cooked bacon allows you to live your life for 18 minutes or so while the pork does its thing. You don't have to flip it, press it, or shield your kitchen from grease.
Cooking bacon in the oven is easier, quicker, and cleaner than frying it on the stovetop. Lay your bacon out on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet, and start it in a cold oven. The result is a large batch of evenly crisped bacon in about 15 minutes.
Introduction: My name is Carlyn Walter, I am a lively, glamorous, healthy, clean, powerful, calm, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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