Is it Possible to Make Bacon Even Better?
Bacon has gotten a lot of amazing press lately, and for good reason. It's smoky, salty, enhances any dish, but also tastes amazing on its own. We didn't want to reinvent the wheel with this recipe, rather just expand the flavor horizons of an already delicious treat by giving bacon an added sweet and spice kick.
Enter: Wayward Gourmet's Maple Chipotle Mashup Spice Blend.
With just a little shake of this blend over some bacon, you've (somehow) made bacon even better!
Here's what you need:
- 1 lb thick cut bacon. We prefer the uncured kind, but whichever type you like will suffice, barring the precooked variety
- 1/4 cup Maple Chipotle Mashup Spice Blend
- 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- Ground black pepper to taste (optional)
Here's what you do:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, mix together Maple Chipotle Mashup, apple cider vinegar, and black pepper. (mixture should be the consistency of a thick paste. Slightly more vinegar may need to be added to make sure mixture isn't too dry.)
- Place bacon slabs on cooling rack set into a baking sheet.
- Once oven is preheated, place sheet with bacon on middle rack and bake for 8 minutes, turn slices, and bake for additional 5 minutes.
- Remove bacon and sprinkle both sides with spice mixture. Slightly rubbing in mixture is ok to ensure that it sticks to the bacon.
- Return bacon to the oven and bake another 5 minutes.
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 until bacon has reached desired doneness. Covering the bacon with aluminum foil can help if you're concerned with keeping the bacon moist as you cook it. (we like our bacon with a little chew, but it's ok to keep going until crispy, about 35 minutes)
That's it! Once complete you can chop this bacon up and put into a salad, eat it in a sandwich or do what we do, eat it right off the rack!
Let us know how it turned out, we love to see your creations on Instagram #WaywardGourmet and Twitter @WaywardGourmet. Send em to us and we'll post your deliciousness on our site.