Homemade Bacon

Homemade Bacon

I’ve wanted to make bacon pretty much forever! I made pancetta once but bacon is obviously next level. I finally have a smoker and it’s electric so I can really control the temperature on it. This bacon was so easy and so delicious that it made me wonder why it took me so long. I made a regular slab and a teriyaki one and they were both amazing! Now I have to make homemade bacon for the rest of my life because I am not going back.


I started with a huge slab of pork belly, but you can get a trimmed cut from your butcher.

Step one is the cure. It needs to sit about a week in a really salty environment. This is the teriyaki one, it has garlic, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar
The one on the left is the regular bacon.  It is a rub of salt, sugar, cumin, garlic, onion, paprika, and chile flake.
Let it smoke until the internal temp hits 150.
YES! Making the first cut is probably my favorite part of this recipe.  Oh yea, and eating it.
It’s just really rewarding when you slice it and it looks like real bacon!
I have used this in so many recipes since I made it.  I made some amatriciana, potato skins, and this mac and cheese pizza.
The teriyaki bacon is pretty similar to the regular bacon because the smoke flavor is so prominent, but there is some subtle ginger and soy notes that you especially get when you eat it on it’s own.
I’m so glad I have a good amount of this left in my freezer, but when I run out you know I will be firing up the smoker again for another batch.

Homemade Bacon

My first attempt at homemade bacon and it came out great!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time5 hours
curing7 days
Course: Ingredient
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Homemade
Servings: 2 slabs

Ingredients

Classic version

  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 2 tablespoons pink curing salt
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon chile flakes
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Teriyaki Version

  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 2 tablespoons pink curing salt
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons minced ginger

Instructions

  • Start with a 5 pound slab of pork belly. Mix the rub or marinade ingredients together. Rub the pork or pour the marinade over it and put it into the fridge for 7-10 days.
  • Remove from fridge and rinse thoroughly. If you don’t rinse it well enough during this step, it may become too salty.
  • Put into your preheated smoker at 250 degrees and smoke until the internal temp reaches 150.
  • Remove from smoker and cool. Slice into thin bacon slices and use as you would any other bacon!

4 Comments

    1. I can’t think of anything in particular, I think I would just play with the seasonings each time I make it to see how much it would effect the end product and continue to tailor it to my specific tastes.

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