Food fads come and go. Certain recipes make the rounds of the blogs and television shows with everyone putting their little spin on them. Bacon cooked with a coating of brown sugar is one of those recent fads. And even though it has been around for several years, I’d never tried it.
I always thought it would be delicious, though. I mean, who doesn’t love it when your pancake syrup spills over a little bit onto the bacon? Just ask my grandchildren. They’ll accidentally-on-purpose pour a little syrup over onto the bacon every time. And besides, most any combination of salt and sweet is like nectar to a Southerner. We love to put a spoonful of preserves inside our ham and biscuit. And there’s that classic combination of fried chicken and waffles drizzled with a little syrup.
So, you can imagine my disappointment when I was most definitely under-whelmed by the Brown Sugar Bacon.
I had been looking forward to making this last Sunday morning and had my game plan firmly in mind. I placed a cooling rack inside a baking pan. Carefully arranged the bacon on the cooling rack and mixed up the brown sugar and pepper.
Sprinkled the bacon evenly with the brown sugar mixture and popped it in the oven. And waited. With anticipation.
While the bacon was cooking, I made some grits, fried eggs, and toast. With our beautiful breakfast before us, BeeBop and I sat down to eat. We each took a few bites, looked at each other, and said “I’d rather have plain bacon.” I’m not sure what we were expecting, but we were definitely disappointed. Oh, the bacon was okay…just not delicious.
So, I’m curious. Have you tried this particular sugar-coated bacon food fad? And I really want to know if you liked it. My recipe is below. Can you spot anything I did wrong? I so wanted to love it, and I’m still optimistic! Let me know what you think!
Bacon coated with brown sugar and pepper
Ingredients
- 8 slices thick-cut bacon
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Place a cooling rack in a baking sheet and place the bacon slices on the cooling rack.
- Mix together the brown sugar and pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over the bacon.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes or until desired crispness.
More recipes for sugar-coated bacon from around the internet:
- Brown Sugar Coated Peppered Bacon fromThe Homesteading Housewife
- Caramelized Bacon from Land O’ Lakes
- Bacon Wrapped Pretzels with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Glaze from Creative Culinary
- Spicy Candied Bacon from Serious Eats
What I was up to:
- One year ago: Nutella Ice Cream Sandwich
- Two years ago: Blueberry Lemon Muffins
- Three years ago: Turkey Burgers
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I have never had the brown sugar bacon but I do love bacon dipped in chocolate fondue :-) I have actually never understood the bacon obsession…I guess I just don’t like bacon that much (other than dipped in chocolate).
I definitely love bacon. I think it’s pretty much manna from Heaven. And was so hoping to like the sugared bacon. Just wasn’t a favorite.
Try this one – you might like:
Cornmeal and Brown Sugar Crusted Bacon
adapted from My Recipes
Framed Cooks blog
1/4 cup plain yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
16 thick bacon slices
1. Preheat oven to 400°. Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish. Dredge bacon slices in cornmeal mixture, shaking off excess.
2. Place half of bacon in a single layer on a lightly greased wire rack in a jelly-roll pan. Repeat procedure with remaining bacon, placing on another lightly greased wire rack in a second jelly-roll pan.
3. Bake at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes or until browned and crisp. Let stand 5 minutes.
The cornmeal in this one is definitely different! Might give that a try.
I’ve had it Lana and really enjoyed it. I think though that’s this one is all about proportion. when I’ve made it, I’ve used a thick cut bacon and used a smaller amount of brown sugar – just enough to give it a hint of sweet, but not too much and I used a dark brown sugar – can’t tell from the photo if yours is a light brown or dark brown sugar!
I think you’re absolutely correct, Nancy. Maybe I’ll decrease the amount and use dark brown. I used light brown for this recipe.
The author Jill Conner Browne calls it “pig candy”. If the bacon is sufficiently crispy I think it’s wonderful.
I’ve never bothered to do slices of bacon but I love those bacon treats of mine that you linked above…LOVE them. They call for cayenne rather than black pepper so if I were going to do it…I would probably lessen the sugar a bit as Nancy recommends and add some real heat to help balance that sweetness. Or I would just make those doggone bacon pretzel things. :)
I like the idea of cayenne, Barb. It has such a different type of heat from black pepper. Also saw a recipe earlier today where the brown sugar and pepper were mixed with Dijon mustard and brushed on the bacon. That sounds interesting, too.
look so good! Must try this
Love this one from Gourmet
1 ½ Tbs packed light brown sugar
Rounded ¼ tsp cayenne
Rounded ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lb thick-cut bacon (about 12 slices)
Position an oven rack in the middle position, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cayenne, and black pepper.
Arrange the bacon slices in 1 layer—not overlapping—on the rack of a large broiler pan. [Jimmy didn’t use a broiler pan. Instead, he lined a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and put the bacon on the foil. It seemed to work just fine.] Bake the bacon for 20 minutes. Turn the slices over, and sprinkle them evenly with the spiced sugar. Continue baking until the bacon is crisp and deep golden, about 20-35 minutes more, checking every 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain before serving.
I tend to make this often but I’ve noticed that lately I’ve been adding more black pepper and, now I’m intrigued to try it with either some Aleppo pepper or cayenne.
I’ve never had it before but I bet I would love it.
I’ve had it and loved it but I used chili powder instead of the black pepper.
I dont have a recipe exactly but my family LOVES when I make this. Mine doesnt look anything like your picture, instead its dark brown with a beautiful glossy coating on it. I actually use regular bacon instead of thick cut so the bacon gets nice and crisp w/o the coating burning. All I do is put some light brown sugar (I’m sure dark would be great too) on a plate and sprinkle it with worchestershire sauce until its moist. I press the bacon into the sugar and coat both sides fairly well then put on a rack like you did. Bake it until its cooked and the sugar is melted into a nice glaze. Ive made it ahead and just warmed in the microwave for a few seconds before serving too. I have a friend who uses sugar and cinnamon and people seem to love it. I personally dont like the cinnamon with the bacon but you might! Also, I cut my bacon in half so I’m using smaller pieces.
Hi Paula – I like the idea of using worcestershire with it! I’m going to give it another try this weekend and I think I’ll use your suggestions. Thanks so much!
Um…it seems delicious to me. Maybe try to add some chopped garlic into sugar. This might bring different flavor. :)