The first time we made candied bacon at the shop, it was supposed to be a tasting sample for the meat case. It didn’t make it. The crew ate the whole tray standing around the cutting block, then asked when the next one was coming out of the oven.
The recipe is three ingredients. The trick is the oven temp and the rack.
Why Low and Slow
Bacon at high heat burns the sugar before the bacon renders. Bacon at low heat takes too long and goes leathery. 325°F is the sweet spot — sugar melts into a glaze, the bacon fat renders, and the strips come out glossy and snappable instead of chewy.
The wire rack matters. Bacon sitting in its own fat won’t crisp evenly. A rack lets the fat drain off, and what stays behind on the bacon is glaze, not grease.
Ingredients
- 1 lb thick-cut bacon (Stittsworth’s applewood-smoked is what we use)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon coarse-cracked black pepper
- Optional: ½ teaspoon cayenne for a sweet-heat version
Method
- Heat oven to 325°F. Line a sheet pan with foil and set a wire rack on top.
- Mix the sugar, pepper, and cayenne in a shallow dish.
- Press each strip into the sugar — both sides — and lay on the rack with space between strips. Don’t crowd them.
- Bake 30–40 minutes. Rotate the pan at 20 minutes. Pull when the bacon is dark mahogany and the sugar is bubbling and glossy.
- Cool on the rack 5–10 minutes. Get them off the rack before the glaze hardens and bonds to the wire.
What To Do With It
Candied bacon is brunch protein. It’s a side that gets eaten standing up. Chop it into a Caesar salad and the salad becomes a meal. Crumble it on a baked sweet potato. Lay a strip across a bourbon. Wrap it around a dried date and call it appetizers.
What it isn’t: leftovers. There will not be any.
→ Start with the right bacon. Stittsworth thick-cut bacon ships frozen and holds up to the glaze without curling.