Sweet and Salty Chocolate-Dipped Candied Bacon
This post is sponsored by Alaga. All opinions contained within are mine and mine alone. My partnership with Alaga, which has always been one of my favorite local food brands (they are based in Alabama), allows me to publish great new content for all my fans. I’m so thankful to Alaga for allowing us all to come together around amazing food!
Don’t try to hide it—I know your jaw must have dropped when you saw the name of my newest appetizer: Sweet and Salty Chocolate-Dipped Candied Bacon!
Sweet and salty is a winning combo, even if it doesn’t immediately make sense. In this appetizer, the combination brings out the depth of flavor in each; instead of the bacon overshadowing the chocolate, or vice versa, the individual flavors intensify. Candied bacon adds up to an amazing treat that pairs well with any entrée.
Bacon and Chocolate—A Match Made in Heaven
Bacon is my favorite food group! Just kidding of course, but I love it so much that I’m always tempted to make it the star of every dish. But this time, I’m giving it special attention as an appetizer, and dressing it up in one of my other favorite ingredients: CHOCOLATE!
How can it get any better than this Sweet and Salty Chocolate-Dipped Candied Bacon? Just think about it! Chocolate. Dipped. Bacon.
I was dreaming up ways to use one of my favorite partners’ products, Alaga Original Cane Syrup, when I ended up stumbling down memory lane to a magical party I’d once attended.
It was the first time I discovered the magical marriage of bacon and chocolate. Funny enough, the party was in celebration of a different kind of marriage!
Magical Candied Bacon
I was in law school, and one of the big firms in town was holding a private celebration for the upcoming wedding of one of the partner’s daughters. The house was crazy beautiful, the veranda perfect for entertaining, the weather sunny and breezy, crowds having fun, and then I saw something that caught my eye—cut glasses lining the middle of the appetizer table, containing what looked to me like Turkish Delight to Edmund Pevensie in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia. Yep, it was chocolate candied bacon.
Thick-cut applewood smoked bacon is my preferred choice for this candied bacon, but feel free to experiment with different kinds. The Alaga Original Cane Syrup provided a perfect base for this delicacy, as it usually does in my desserts.
I think it’s time to get in the kitchen and make some chocolate bacon! I’ll leave you to it!
Sweet and Salty Chocolate-Dipped Candied Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 pound thick-cut applewood smoked bacon
- 3/4 cup Alaga Original Syrup
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt plus extra for sprinkling
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate
- sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a cookie sheet with foil and place a colling rack over the top.
- In a bread pan or shallow casserole dish, add brown sugar, salt, and black pepper. In another bread pan, add syrup. Dip each piece of bacon into the syrup and then into the brown sugar mixture. Place each strip of bacon on a cooling rack.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 30 mins. The bacon will be slightly dark and crispy. If it’s not done, leave in for additional time, checking every few minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove bacon to a piece of parchment paper.
- Place chocolate chips over a double boiler on simmer. Don’t allow water to reach the chocolate. Whisk continuously until the chocolate is smooth. Remove the chocolate from the heat. Dunk one side of the bacon into the chocolate, allowing any excess chocolate to drip off. Lay each slice of bacon on parchment paper on top of a baking sheet. After each piece has been coated, sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over the bacon and put the pan of bacon on parchment paper on top of a baking sheet. After each piece has been coated, sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over the bacon and put the pan of bacon in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes or until the chocolate has set.
- Remove from refrigerator, plate, and serve at room temperature.
