How To Make Bacon Jerky

If you love bacon and you love Jerky, then you will find the below article packed full of information about how to combine the two! So you may have come to this page looking for how to make bacon jerky, well guess what… you’ve come to the right place!

Bacon is absolutely one of my favourite foods and combining it with another of my favourites jerky, it’s simply a winning combo.

The recipe below is amazing and helps to make the most delicious snacks I think on planet earth today.

So without any further delays, let’s get into the most amazing bacon jerky recipe.

Bacon Jerky Recipe – The Perfect Blend

You know the old saying, anything that is made with bacon no matter how bad will always be great. But, before we can start making this delicious snack we do need to consider a few things.

Things To Consider

The first thing that we should be considering is temperatures. These are going to need to be kept consistent as much as possible.

The recipe we are going to use will require the use of a smoker. If you don’t already have one, then I would suggest looking at the following: ( Enter Link Here ). The reason for the smoker is I absolutely love the flavours and taste you receive from using one, but there is nothing stopping you from using an oven or dehydrator.

As long as you follow the temperatures no matter which heat source you are using, the outcome will always be the same.

Once you have selected your cooking method, it is now time to collect those all important ingredients!

Required Ingredients

• Regular Cut Bacon, Two Pounds Will Be Perfect. Although you might believe that thicker cuts would be better, it’s really not!
• A dry rub, consisting of black pepper (coarse), brown sugar and not forgetting garlic powder.
• A set of cooling racks, ideally 2 if at all possible. 2 baking sheets.
• Choice of cooking tool, Offset Smoker, Dehydrator or even your Oven.
• Zip Lock Bags
• To get the best flavour, I would recommend Hickory Wood!

Preparation time for this recipe is around 20 minutes which is great, but the cooking time will be around 4-5 hours this is the usual cooking time if you are using a smoker.

Preparing Your Meat & Most Importantly The Fire

Before you can start to make your wonderful bacon jerky, you are going to need to begin by placing the cooling racks into the cookie sheets.

This will mean that the smoke can surround the meat during the initial cooking process.

Note: You should really try to work with a pound of meat per cookie sheet & cooling rack setup. But, if you are wanting to use more than a pound of meat or can’t manage to fit the pound of meat onto a single sheet, then it’s more than okay to set up some extra cookie sheets.

Once you have your meat placed onto your cookie sheets, then you need to make sure that you have some space between each slice. Now is the time that you need to rub in your ingredients to the meat.

Unlike when smoking other meats, where you would usually mix your rub and apply it liberally all over your meat. With this recipe, the best way is to lightly take the mixture and sprinkle it over, the amount will depend on your required taste.

I am lightly dusting over the garlic powder for mine, with a larger amount of black pepper to coat, with a smaller amount of brown sugar compared to the amount of pepper.

This blend should give us that ideal flavor combo of sweet and savory which is what we are desiring! Once you’re done with the first side, flip over the meat and apply the same seasoning to the other side of your meat.

Cooking Tip: When making any kind of jerky, it is important that you don’t limit the seasoning amount. I know we all have our favourite marinade we love to smother onto our meat, whether that’s honey, hot dry peppers, hot sauce or even more sugar. You do have a lot of potential when it comes to this, but it is important that you don’t overpower the flavor of your jerked meats.

Once you have finished seasoning your meat, it is now time to get your racks of jerky meat and place them into your refrigerator for around an hour.

Whilst they are chilling away in your refrigerator, you can go ahead and get your fire started, prepping your smoker.

With the fire burning away, the coal going a nice gray color, it is now time to place in your first piece of hickory wood.

It is important that you keep an eye on your fire’s temperature and try to maintain it at around 190 Fahrenheit. After you’ve achieved and managed to maintain the 190 Fahrenheit temperature, it is time to bring out your bacon from the refrigerator.

In order to get the best results and make bacon jerky the perfect way, it is important that you follow the two step cooking process I am about to show you. The first step being the use of a smoker, then removing your meat and placing it into the oven.

Making Bacon Jerky – The Process

The initial stage is to get the smoking process started.

Once you have your meat prepared and placed onto the fire, you are going to want to leave it in there smoking for around two hours.

The main thing you will be looking for to know that your bacon jerky is starting to form is by the color change of the meat.

Keep in mind that you should build up your fire on the far side of your smoker box, this will help to ensure that your bacon is far enough away from the fire so that it doesn’t burn. Due to bacon being a delicate meat, it is essential that it doesn’t burn during the process.

As with all other meat smoking techniques, it is essential that a consistent temperature is kept, this will make the ideal setting for the perfect bacon jerky.

If you have a consistent temperature, then you shouldn’t have any issues really. The one thing you should be aware of is the amount of grease that is being produced. Ideally, it would be best if you could check on your bacon jerky after an hour to see how much grease has been produced.

The cookie sheet that we have used will hold any of the grease drippings, however if the bacon you are using has a higher fat content than usual. It would be best to remove this by scraping it into an old container, preferably one you can throw away after use. If you can, have your smoker closed whilst doing this so that you can maintain the consistent temperature and smoke level.

You can always check the other side of your meat by giving it a quick flip to ensure that it is cooking evenly across both sides. But, If you have managed to keep that consistent temperature then you should be all set!

Once the two hours of smoking time is completed and a consistent temperature has been kept, your bacon jerky is around the halfway mark. Now it is time to move on to the second part of cooking.

Second Part Of Making Bacon Jerky

So by now you’ve had your meat in the smoker for around 2 hours and the smoke will have had a good enough affect on your soon to be bacon jerky.

Now is the time to bring your meat inside, turn on your oven and get it preheated to around 190 Fahrenheit.

Draining any grease that has formed since you last checked can be completed whilst you are waiting for your oven to heat up correctly. At this point, it is also a good idea to remove any grease from your meat by blotting it.

Once your oven has gotten up to temperature, you can set your bacon jerky, smoked of course, right inside.

Now that your meat is in the oven, I would recommend a cooking time of 3 or more hours.

Of course, it’s not as simple as placing it in and leaving it for those 3 or more hours. Due to bacon being a delicate meat, I always check on it at least once an hour.

Bacon is a thin meat, and the thickness can vary quite a bit depending on the brand you use. It shouldn’t take long to get the right texture. You are looking to have a good color change and texture which should be pliable. If you’ve got a more crunchy texture then you may have gone a little too long.

This is why I recommend that you check your meat every hour. Once you start to get close to the color and texture we are looking for, I would then start to check at more regular intervals. For example every 30 or even 15 minutes.

Serving Suggestion For Your Wonderful Bacon Jerky

Once your jerky is ready, remove it from the oven and rest it on a plate covered with a paper towel, this will help to remove any built up grease. You can remove the rest of the grease into the container used earlier whilst in the smoking process.

Now it’s time to let it rest and cool down before you can enjoy what is undoubtedly the best taking bacon jerky you’ve ever eaten.

After you’ve let it cool down and have enjoyed a fair few pieces yourself, wouldn’t it be great if you could store it without it spoiling quickly!

Storing Your Bacon Jerky To Eat Later

If you would like to keep your jerky for use at a later time, rather than having to repeat the 4 hour cooking process each time you fancy a piece. Then it is a great idea to store your bacon jerky correctly.

I always have a reliable brand of zip lock bags readily available, placing in a good amount usually around 3-4 ounces of the jerky into each bag and sealing.

It is important that you remove all the grease you can before storing the meat into these ziplock bags, otherwise it won’t keep properly and could cause the meat to lose its texture.

If you do have a vacuum food sealer, then this would be ideal and would definitely help to maintain that goodness to the meat.

Storing these bags in a cool dark place, something like a pantry is ideal, until you are ready to have another piece.

To Finish

I hope you really enjoyed learning the steps on how to make bacon jerky. I tried to break down this recipe into a step-by-step guide.

Now you can take your bacon jerky everywhere you go, whether that’s on a hike with your family, a pool party or even as a gift to your friends. I love to enjoy mine with a refreshing glass of ice water, but feel free to pair it with your favorite beverage. And last but not least…

Enjoy!