Want to eat something full of proteins and delicious? Try cooking bacon for your breakfast and serving it with some fresh vegetables of a half fry egg. Making bacon is extremely easy and can be cooked in much lesser time as compared to all other smoking recipes. Smoking or cooking bacon is not a tiring process, take a fresh pork belly, brine it and then season it inside out to make the best bacon. You can apply various rubs the way you like it.
Apart from the belly meat, if you want to smoke some other part, try cooking the shoulder part that is cured and sliced. This shoulder part bacon is also called country bacon, the old-fashioned way. It comes with a good texture and is enriched with flavors.
Bacon, when smoked for breakfast, lunch, or dinner with apple wood, will give a fantastic savory you can every imagine. This Applewood Smoked Bacon recipe is just incredible. Give it a try, and I am sure you will love it.
How to make Applewood Smoked Bacon
Below is everything you’ll need to know to make the perfect Applewood Smoked Bacon on your pellet grill, offset, or charcoal smoker. After making bacon on your smoker, you may never go back to skillet bacon ever again.
For making such recipes, you know well that I always use my pellet smoker, and you can use the one you are comfortable with. You can also take recipe notes white going through this recipe. Do not forget to mention your reviews in the comment section below.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Temperature: 275ºF
- Wood Flavor: Apple
- Servings: 4-6 people
Required Tools
- Your preference of smoker (I recommend a pellet smoker)
- Commercial grade tinfoil
- Plastic wrap
- Plastic bag
- Sharp knife
- BBQ tongs
- Paper towels
Ingredients
- 1 (1 pound) package of thick sliced
- 1 lb. of kosher salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons black pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Get your fresh pork belly directly from the butcher’s shop and brine it.
- Start your smoker, grab your pellets, and get the temperature stable of 275ºF.
- Place the strips of bacon directly on the grill smoke for 20 to 30 minutes (or until done to your desired crispness). Be careful to make sure that the strips do not hang over the drain pan.
- Serving the appetite.
BBQ Hero Tip: For easy clean-up, place a baking sheet or aluminum pan on the drain pan to catch the grease.
Detailed Cooking Instructions
1) Brining the bacon
Before you start cooking or smoking the slices, you need to brine them. In this very step, I will tell you how to brine your bacon in a proper way. Take a container. It can be any container but make sure that it is not reactive. In that container, pour in one gallon of cold water. After that, add salt and sugar and mix them well.
When no solid particle of sugar and salt is left behind, it means your solution is ready to brine the slices. Take all the pork pieces and put them in the brine. Make sure that they are completely submerged, and then place the container in the fridge for 1 day.
After the time duration of 24 hours, remove the container from the fridge, stir the solution properly and again put the pieces in it and let them rest in the refrigerator for another 24 hours.
When the said duration of the brining is complete, remove the pieces from the container and rinse pork in cold water. Take paper towels and pat dry the slices.
2) Preparing your smoker for smoking
First of all, clean the grill grate or the wire rack, whatever you are using with any grill cleaner. After that light up the smoker and preheat oven or smoker to 275ºF. You can also make it in an oven, but I recommend smoking it because it serves you with a crisp meaty texture infused with a delicious smoky flavor.
You can also cold smoke it by opening all the vents of the grill and letting as much air as you can to pass through it.
3) Smoking the bacon
When you are done preheating the grill its time to get the scrumptious bacon cooked over the red hot charcoal and desired wood chips. Place bacon single layer directly onto the grill grate or the wire rack. Let them smoke for almost 30 minutes. During these 30 minutes, turn bacon after short intervals so that it does not get overcooked.
There is no need to record the internal temperature because the thin slices take 20 to 30 minutes to cook.
You can also fry them in an iron skillet pan if you do not have a smoker or are not familiar with a smoker and turn frequently.
4) Serving the bacon
When your food is cooked properly at the desired temperature for the said time, it’s time to remove it and serve it on a platter accompanied with some mouth-watering sidelines.
When you are done cooking the bacon, try brushing them with melted butter and garnishing them with finely chopped parsley.
The most appropriate sidelines that can be enjoyed with a strip of bacon are half-fried egg, Smoked baked potatoes, or Smoked sweet potatoes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between applewood smoked bacon and regular bacon?
The apple wood smoked bacon is infused with a delicious smoky flavor and is grilled in a smoker, whereas normal bacon can be baked in an oven or fried over an iron skillet. The only difference when you cook it in an oven or fry them, bacon will not have that smoky flavor.
Bacon smoked with apple wood chips is moderately sweet and Smokey.
Why do people smoke with apple wood?
Applewood is abundant in sugar molecules, which caramelize the outsides of meats and vegetables. Additionally, the smoke from burning apple wood imparts a sweet, savory taste to meals. Because they are resin-free and give an excellent taste, all of these hardwoods make excellent cooking timbers.
Is smoked bacon really smoked?
Yes, smoked bacon is really smoked.
After being cured, a pig belly is usually smoked and cooked to around 130 degrees. This step gives the Smokey flavor that we’ve all learned to like. It also aids in the preservation of the bacon’s red, cured hue and makes clean slicing much simpler.
What is apple wood smoked bacon?
Pork belly when smoked with apple wood for almost 20 to 30 minutes to infuse the meat with a smoky flavor. This is called apple wood smoked bacon.