The Flavors Of BBQ Are Your Secret For Next Level Candied Bacon

Candied bacon is the height of sweet and savory delicacies with a caramelized and crackly crust to contrast the chewy meat. If you thought adding a layer of sweetness to bacon was decadent, the flavors of barbecue are your secret for next level candied bacon. While barbecue styles differ from region to region, methods of dry rubs and basting in barbecue sauce are something they all share. You can use both methods on candied bacon to bring a smoky, tangy, and spicy trifecta to its already complex sweet-and-savory profile.

Most barbecue spice rubs and sauces have a sweet component like brown sugar, ketchup, or maple syrup, so you can effectively use rubs and sauces to substitute for sweeteners. You can make a simple spice rub like this three-ingredient recipe that uses brown sugar, smoked paprika, and garlic salt to coat bacon instead of the three-ingredient rub we use in our recipe for maple-cinnamon candied bacon. For an even more complex profile, try repurposing Alton Brown's baby back rib dry rub formula.

Barbecue sauces are easier to come by pre-made — like this Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce two-pack — and contain a wealth of different flavors for candied bacon. A dry rub full of light or dark brown sugar or your favorite barbecue sauce brand are sweet and complex enough to candy bacon on their own, but you can also use both a dry rub and a sauce for the ultimate barbecue candied bacon.

When to add barbecue rubs or sauce to your candied bacon depends on the type of bacon you're using and whether you're using both a dry rub and a sauce. Thick cut bacon is a popular choice for candied bacon because it gives you the crunch and chew factor. Thick bacon needs extra time to cook, so you'll want to bake it in stages. You'll first bake it in the oven for 15 minutes on a metal rack above a foil-lined baking sheet to catch the drippings. Then, you'll take the bacon out and either sprinkle the strips generously with dry rub or brush them with barbecue sauce before putting them back into the oven for 10 minutes. To get that sugary sweet crust on both sides of the bacon, you'll flip each strip over, season the other side with rub or sauce, and bake again for 10 minutes.

You can also save yourself some time by only candying one side of the bacon. This'll come in handy if you're using a rub and a sauce. For a doubly seasoned candied bacon, apply the rub first to the pre-cooked bacon. After a 7 to 10 minute stint in the oven to caramelize the rub, you can then layer on a slather of barbecue sauce before a third trip back into the oven.