How to Make Bacon Jerky

When was the last time that you tasted food and it made you salivate like Pavlov's dog? As a food lover, I know how to appreciate food but to be honest, nothing makes me drool like bacon jerky. I just love the taste of bacon jerky, and while nutritionists can discuss the importance of protein in our daily nutritional needs, I just want to focus this article on how you can make your own dehydrated bacon so delicious that it will become your family's new favorite.

I can't remember the last time that I've cooked bacon jerky for my family but I rediscovered my old recipe when my son asked me about a bacon recipe that he saw on YouTube. Not to be defeated by some video, I pulled out some old tricks under my sleeves and cooked my own true and tested bacon jerky recipe.

Ingredients for Homemade Bacon Jerky

This recipe is better prepared on a weekend when you have enough time. The overall preparation time for this recipe is 20 minutes and the bacon cooking time will take about 5 hours with a smoker.

• 2lbs of regular cut bacon. Some would prefer to go for the thick cut bacon.
• Brown sugar, dry rub, garlic powder, coarse black pepper
• 2 cookie sheets
• 2 cooling racks
• Offset smoker and oven or dehydrator
• Zip lock bags
• Hickory wood

Meat and Fire Preparation for Bacon Jerky

The first thing that you have to consider when cooking bacon jerky is the temperature. The recipe that I promote involves using a smoker because smoking is my favorite technique. You can easily use and over and dehydrator with the same procedure here and still come up with the same result.

Pro Tips

Make sure to build your fire away from the meat on the far side of the smoker box. The bacon is a delicate meat and it can easily burn up when proper conditions are not met. The key to making delicious bacon jerky is consistent temperature.

First Step in Making Bacon Jerky

There are basically two steps in making bacon jerky. The first part is when you use the smoker and the second part is when you place the bacon into the oven. Let us first talk about the smoking process.

Second Step in Making Bacon Jerky

Pro Tips

Bear in mind that bacon is thin meat and the thickness can vary depending on where you bought it. You want to see the color and texture change and it should be a bit pliable.

Serving and Saving the Bacon Jerky for Later

After the bacon jerky has reached the color and texture that you want, you can now take it out of the oven. Let it rest covered with paper towel to remove all the excess grease. When it has cooled enough, you can start enjoying it and serving it to your family.

After the family has taken its fill of your homemade bacon jerky, you can set the leftover aside for later munching. Make sure to remove all the excess grease and store them in clean zip locked bags. If you have a vacuum food sealer machine, use it to lock the goodies in. Store them in a cool dry place or in the pantry until you're ready to eat them again.

Final Thoughts

Now that I have walked you through the process of making delicious bacon jerky, let me tell you about its nutritional value. A pound of bacon has 660 calories and 48 grams of protein. The two-pound recipe that I gave you should yield a whooping 1,320 calories and 96 grams of protein. All these are rough estimates because it's difficult to account for what have been lost during the cooking and dehydrating process.

Bacon jerky is ideal packed lunch when you want to go backpacking, rock climbing, mountaineering, paddling and such activities that require heavy performance from your muscles and points. The reason behind this is that you need to fuel your body with complex protein when you engage in these types of activities to keep it at its peak performance.

The next time you see bacon on sale, try to buy some extra packs and apply what you've learned so far. Share your thoughts by leaving a comment or two below.