How to Make Candied Bacon - Candied Bacon Recipe

How to Make Candied Bacon

Ingredients

¼ cup (2 ounces) packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons (29.5 ml) rice vinegar
2 tablespoons (29.5 ml) maple syrup
1 pound (456.3 g) thick-cut bacon
Pinch of pepper to taste

How to make it

Part 1 Prepping

1 Preheat the oven to 350 (176.6 Celsius) degrees. 

Wait for the oven to preheat, about 15 minutes.

2 Prepare the baking sheet. 

Cover the bottom of a large baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and place a wire cooling rack on top. The foil or parchment paper will catch any mess, which will make cleaning up much easier.

If you don't have a wire rack, just cover the baking sheet in parchment paper. A rack will make your bacon crispier, but you can still make candied bacon without one.

3 Mix the glaze ingredients.

 Add the sugar, rice vinegar, and maple syrup in a large bowl. Stir until all ingredients are fully mixed.

4 Place the bacon on the wire rack and put the tray in the oven.

 Take the bacon and place it on top of the wire rack. Space each slice out evenly, making sure that none of them are overlapping.

If you don't have a wire rack, just place the bacon on the baking sheet.

Don't add the glaze just yet: first you will partially cook the bacon.

Part 2 Cooking the Bacon

1 Bake the bacon for ten minutes.

 Place the baking tray with the bacon in the center of the oven. Allow it to cook for ten minutes.

2 Turn the bacon slices.

 After ten minutes, take the tray out of the oven carefully with an oven mitt. Brush the top of the bacon with the sugar glaze. Use a pair of tongs or a small spatula to flip over each slice of bacon. Then brush glaze onto the other side of the bacon.

3 Bake for another five minutes.

 Put the tray back in the oven and let the bacon bake for five more minutes. After five minutes, take the tray out of the oven and use a basting brush to brush the glaze on both sides of the bacon. Then put the bacon back in the oven.

Basting the bacon builds up the sugar glaze on the outside.

4 Keep basting the bacon. 

Remove the bacon from the oven after another five minutes. Baste each side of the bacon with the sugar-maple syrup glaze. Repeat basting every five minutes or so until the bacon looks done. The total baking time should be around 35 minutes.

If you aren’t sure whether the bacon is done, break off a small piece and see if it’s crispy enough for you.

5 Allow to cool for 5 minutes. 

After the bacon is cooked, take the tray out of the oven. Carefully lift up the wire rack with the bacon on it and set it on the counter. This will stop the heat radiating from the tray and cooking the bacon further. Let the bacon sit for five minutes, then use a small spatula to remove the bacon from the wire rack. Put the bacon slices on a tray. Sugared bacon can be served warm or at room temperature.