This is how you make the world’s favorite breakfast food even better – with this recipe for Million-Dollar Bacon. You’re welcome.
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Bacon. It’s worth a million dollars! Made from cured or smoked pork belly, bacon has become the most popular breakfast meat in the Western world, and the smell of it cooking is rumored to be the biggest impediment to new vegetarians sticking with their choice. Indeed, cooking bacon in proximity to the extractor fans is a common restaurant trick to increase customer traffic.
Here we have a recipe for Million Dollar Bacon that brings this cured meat up to the next level, with a bit of heat and a bit of sweet perfectly complementing the smoky flavor of regular bacon.
For special occasions or as a treat, I’ve yet to find a better bacon recipe than this one. Try it at your next brunch party, but be sure to make plenty because I guarantee it’ll disappear fast.
on Bacon
Bacon is traditionally made from pork belly or side, but there are versions that include the loin or use the shoulder or even the cheek. It’s either cured in a brine or smoked, and sometimes both. Cheaper bacon is often injected with water during the brining process, which is why you’ll see it shrink so much as it cooks – hand made artisanal bacon won’t generally do that.
There is quite a range in quality, and I generally prefer to splurge on smoked bacon from a butcher over the grocery store varieties, but any kind of bacon will work for Million Dollar Bacon. If you only eat bacon occasionally, I say go ahead and treat yourself to the best bacon you can find!
INGREDIENTS
- 12 ounces sliced bacon
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
INSTRUCTIONS
Arrange
Arrange the slices of bacon on a baking sheet.
Stir
In a mixing bowl, stir the brown sugar, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and paprika together until well-combined.
Spread
Spread the sugar mixture over the bacon slices.
Bake
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 °F, or until bacon is crispy and caramelized.
Cool
When the bacon is cooked, remove the tray from the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack lined with parchment paper.
DEVOUR!
Tips and Tricks to Make a Perfect Million-Dollar Bacon
- Use thick-cut bacon for a meatier, chewier texture. If you like your bacon very crispy, then use thinner slices.
- Keep an eye on the oven for the last five minutes, as it can go from perfect to burned fairly quickly.
- The bacon will continue to cook on the baking tray, so be sure to transfer it to cooling rack as soon as it’s done.
- Make clean-up a snap by lining your cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- If your bacon is very fatty, replace the parchment paper with a paper towel, which will absorb the extra grease.
FAQs
Smoked paprika is getting much easier to find, but if you can’t, regular paprika works great, too. I recommend using smoked bacon if you can’t find smoked paprika, or add a drop of liquid smoke to your sugar mixture.
Any kind of bacon will work great. My absolute favorite is double smoked bacon, cut thick from an East European deli, but feel free to experiment. Canadian Pea meal bacon, which is made from the loin, is virtually fat free and makes a healthier but still delicious version.
Brown sugar is made from white sugar and molasses mixed together, and it melts into gooey deliciousness as the bacon cooks. White sugar has a tendency to burn and go hard, and doesn’t work well for this luxurious treat.
Serving Suggestions
This bacon will be the star of your brunch, and I like to serve it with simple scrambled eggs. The soft eggs are a perfect textural complement to the bacon and the chives bring some high notes to the deep sweet smoky flavors.
I like to let this treat take center stage, so I don’t tend to make it with pancakes or French toast that have their own sweetness. Simple, understated elegance and a limited menu is my preferred way to show off our millions!
Make Ahead and Storage
It seems superfluous to make suggestions for storing the leftovers, because I don’t think you’ll have any. But, if by some miracle you do, store it in the fridge until you use it on the best Caesar Salad you’ve ever had.
Million Dollar Bacon
Ingredients
- 12 ounces sliced bacon
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
-
Arrange bacon on a baking sheet.
-
In a mixing bowl, stir all the ingredients together until well combined.
-
Spread the sugar mixture over the bacon slices.
-
Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 °F, or until bacon is crispy and caramelized.
-
When bacon is cooked, remove from the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack lined with parchment paper.
Nutrition
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