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Warning ~ If you already have an addiction to bacon, I cannot be held responsible if this recipe feeds your addiction and leaves you craving it morning, noon and night.

I was first introduced to brown sugar bacon at Mint the Restaurant in Ridgeland, Mississippi. It was served as a surprisingly sweet, smoky bacon bit on my lunch salad. I had never had this combination before, and I was determined to recreate it. Fortunately, it was easy. Unfortunately, it is so damn good I found myself eating it like candy.

Bon appétit!

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3.34 from 3 votes

Brown Sugar Chili Bacon

Ingredients 

  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • ½ lb. bacon

Instructions 

  • Combine the brown sugar and chili powder in a Ziploc bag. I used ground dried ancho chilis because I happened to have them on hand, but you can use regular chili powder or smoked paprika.
  • One secret to making your bacon last longer at breakfast is to cut your package in half. This way you have more pieces to go around…great when there are addicts reaching for more. This recipe only uses ½ a package, but you can double it. I saved the rest of the bacon for Saturday's breakfast.
  • Separate the pieces of bacon and place them in the bag.
  • Seal the bag and throw it to your kid and ask them to jump up and down to release some energy…or just shake it yourself.
  • Remove the bacon from the bag, ensuring each piece is lightly coated and place it on a sheet pan. Make sure your pan has a rim, so the grease doesn’t escape into your oven.
  • Bake it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. When it comes out of the oven, it looks kind of scary, but don’t be concerned.
  • Place the bacon on a paper towel to remove excess grease.
  • But don’t leave it longer than a minute or it will stick to the paper.
  • Remove it to a plate and let it cool. After just a few minutes it will become crispy like hard candy. Serve it on a BLT, a grilled bacon cheese sandwich or crumble it up and toss it on a salad.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

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Christie Vanover

About Zestuous

Hi. I’m Christie, the head cook and award-winning competitive pitmaster for Team Girls Can Grill. I have won multiple grand championships and have dozens of top ten category finishes. People know me as the girl who is forever hovering over a grill, smoker or campfire with tongs in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

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11 Comments

  1. I’ve made this before, but I couldn’t find the exact recipe I used previously, so I decided to try yours. I followed your directions exactly… And ended up with a sheet pan full of charcoal strips. I’ve been cooking for 35 years, so I’m not new to this. But it was inedible, and it was a waste of good bacon.

    Reply

  3. This sounds like such a fabulous twist to regular candied bacon! LOVE it 🙂 Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply

  4. This was amazing. Best bacon I’ve ever had! Thanks.

    Two things that I did waif fervently:
    1) Cook the bacon on a cooling rack on the baking sheet – no draining on paper towels required. I always cook like this in oven for crispy, flat pieces.
    2) halved the recipe for half a package of bacon

    Reply

    1. Awesome. I’m so glad you liked it. Good call on the cooling rack. I need to get one that fits inside my baking sheet.

      Reply

  6. I made this today and ruined 2 cookie sheets and half of the bacon had to be thrown away! On a good note-the bacon that turned out good went on some amazing B.L.T’s!! Next time I’ll line the sheets with parchment paper and cook for only 15 minues!

    Reply

    1. Leslie, I’m sorry about the pans. Perhaps your oven is too hot. Do you have a thermometer on the inside to measure the accuracy of the heat? I use a thermometer inside because when I set my oven to 350 it actually reaches 375. You could also try lining the pan with foil, or placing a baking rack inside the pan. I’m glad some turned out okay.

      Reply

  7. Oh no!!! How could you do this to me? I’m already addicted just LOOKING at it! Wonder how many pounds I just gained? 😉

    Reply