Bourbon Candied Bacon

Author: Shay
Total Time: 40-50 mins
Yield: 16-20 slices

Ingredients

• 1 lb. regular cut bacon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. bourbon
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1/2 tsp powdered red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. line baking sheet with aluminum foil
3. in a small bowl, combine brown sugar, bourbon, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.
4. Lay out bacon onto foiled baking sheet.
5. Evenly distribute sugar mixture over bacon slices. Gently pat it down onto each slice
6. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until the bacon has reached your desired crispness.
7. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cook 10 min.

Notes

People tend to like their bacon at different levels of crispness. This recipe was designed to reach about medium crispness. If you want your bacon even crispier without burning the sugar mixture, then between steps 4 and 5, par-bake the bacon for about 5 minutes.

For the Powdered red pepper flakes, we typically use Flatiron Pepper Company’s Dark and Smoky blend or Sweet Heat blend, and grind the flakes to a fine powder using their chile pepper grinder. In a pinch, you can grind red pepper flakes in a mortar and pestle, food processor, or coffee grinder, or use cayenne pepper; Though different hot pepper blends really shine through on this recipe. Also, we calibrated the spice level for our tastes to reach the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. If you want less of a kick, put about 1/4 to an 1/8th tsp in the mixture instead. I don’t recommend leaving the pepper out completely, as it tastes just a little flat without them.

I filed this recipe under appetizers because it is a popular dish for potlucks and dinner parties. However, It also pairs very well for breakfast alongside some sourdough pancakes.