Where To Buy The Best Bacon
Available at some grocery stores and online, the Vande Rose Farms bacon is essential to mention for its top ratings across many publications and taste tests. This Iowa-based group sources heritage Duroc breed pork (known for its flavorful meat and natural marbling) from several farms. They use vegetarian feed and hand-inspect each animal to ensure ideal weight and size. After processing, the bacon is dry-cured for six days and smoked for 12 hours over applewood chips. While the ingredients do contain sodium nitrite and sodium erythorbate (for accelerated curing and color development), the company's process shows this is not a "pumping" method. Is this the best nutrition profile when it comes to calories and fat? No. But based on dozens of #1 rankings, combined with only 260 milligrams of sodium per serving (which, at 33 grams, is two to three times larger than some other brands), this pick is the perfect example that calories aren't everything.
where to buy the best bacon
Applegate is a brand that prides itself on natural and organic meats, with 100 percent vegetarian diets for their animals and humane farming methods. This bacon contains no fillers, no GMO ingredients, and no chemical nitrates or nitrites. Remember, celery powder is still naturally high in nitrates. The low calories for a two-slice serving is a major plus if you like plenty of slices for breakfast, but mind the 310 milligrams of sodium.
This Target brand bacon has reasonable sodium levels, but slightly higher levels of fat than other brands. The ingredients do contain curing accelerators and color development enhancers, nitrites and sodium phosphates to retain moisture. So, nutrition-wise this option isn't bad, but the ingredient list does reveal that this brand uses shortcuts in its production methods.
Smithfield is the largest pork producer in the world (now owned by a Chinese company) so it's no surprise they have a wide variety of bacon products available. This pick doesn't contain added nitrates or nitrites, but does use celery juice which naturally contains the same compound. You'll find turbinado sugar and sea salt on the ingredient list, which may sound fancier but it's still just sugar and salt. At 100 milligrams of sodium and only 80 calories per serving, this is one of the better nutritional picks of the bunch. Smithfield's current practices may not align with your personal philosophies, but they do claim to be working toward certain sustainability goals outlined in a 2018 sustainability statement.
You'll find nitrites and sodium ascorbate on the ingredient list of this bacon. Sodium ascorbate is an addition mandated by USDA when bacon goes through the process of "pumping", and the presence of this ingredient is a good signal that subpar production practices were used. Add to that 350 milligrams of sodium per serving, and the final product is pretty unhealthy.
While the nutrition facts on this bacon don't differ too much from some of the better picks, it's the ingredient list that reveals some reason for concern. You'll find sodium phosphates (retain moisture), sodium erythorbate (color and curing accelerator), and sodium nitrite on the list. That, along with water as the first ingredient, indicates you are getting a lower quality "pumped" product. A peek at the customer reviews reveals complaints about a lack of consistency in the thickness of slices (from super thin to super thick). If you have to eat bacon, get something slightly better than this.
Spread it on a sandwich! Pair it with cheese and crackers! Use it as dip for chips, an ingredient for sauces and dressings, or as a marinade for dinner meats and veggies! When it comes to bacon jam, the possibilities are endless.
Mel is the Senior Food & Drink Writer for Good Housekeeping UK, covering all the delicious new product launches that come her way, writing about food and drink topics, and curating gift guides for the best foodie products to buy. Alongside that, she can be found developing and creating cocktails for GH and holds her WSET Level 2 in Wine and Spirits. She was part of the Good Housekeeping Institute food testing team for over four years before moving over to the digital side, so knows a thing or two about great food products. You'll find her scouring the supermarket shelves in her spare time for new and exciting ingredients to experiment with in her kitchen.
For our money, this is the single best place to buy bacon online. The difference with Porter Road? Transparency about where each cut of meat comes from, a lack of middlemen (Porter Road owns their slaughterhouse and distribution center) and working exclusively with local farmers. The guys process all the meat in Kentucky, then hand-cut every piece at their Nashville shop. Their thick-cut bacon is pasture raised and free of hormones or antibiotics.
Get your freak on, indeed. This bacon seller offers wet-cured, dry-cured, uncured, and no-nitrate bacon varieties, some fascinating flavor profiles (sriracha honey bacon, apple cinnamon bacon, etc.), several bacon-of-the-month package deals and actual bacon candy.
The best bacon for drinks? Besides offering a wide-ranging Bacon of the Month bundle, these butchers also offer up individual packages of Chile Margarita, Vanilla Bourbon and Bloody Mary Flavored bacon.
You can find dozens of meat purveyors and famous restaurant bacon selections at this online marketplace, but focus your attention on Peter Luger; once a secret menu item, these thick-cut slabs are a highlight of this iconic Brooklyn steakhouse.
Coming in both uncut (slab) and cut form, Snake River Farms Kurobuta bacon is lightly cured and made from 100% Berkshire pork belly and offers a wonderful amount of both marbling and meat. The Japanese term for the pig, Kurobuta, is akin to Kobe beef and indicates the high quality of the meat. We prefer the slab bacon as it allows us to customize the cuts that we need, from slices for burgers and sandwiches to thick cubes for soups and other dishes.
It's hard to resist a bag of tender bacon jerky! We've searched high and low for the best-tasting bacon jerky brands on the market. If you love bacon, then you have to try these delicious bacon jerky flavors. Go ahead, treat yourself!
You can't go wrong with a sweet maple bacon jerky! GoBacon has perfected their recipe with this bag of bacon jerky. It's super tender and flavored with delicious maple syrup. We have to keep this jerky under lock and key or we wouldn't have any left to ship out. Grab a bag here.
Another maple bacon favorite with a spicy kick! This bacon jerky is marinated in made-from-scratch buffalo wing sauce and spiked with a dose of maple syrup. It's rated 5 stars on our online shop and typically sells out fast. As one of our customers has said, "This maple bacon jerky is so delicious! Life's short, treat your tastebuds!" We recommend stocking up here.
Inspired by exotic luau bbq flavors from the Hawaiian islands! Tiki Hawaiian offers a zesty and tangy bbq bacon jerky with a hint of mesquite bbq flavor. It's gluten-free and made with natural ingredients. Trust us, these full strips of bacon are bursting with delicious flavor. Try a bag for yourself!
A bacon jerky that's perfect for spicy lovers! Savor these thick cut slices of bacon drenched in sweet and spicy sriracha sauce. Your tastebuds will thank you for the spicy kick this jerky delivers. It comes a nice portable bag that's perfect for traveling. Order a bag today!
Marinated for 48 hours in delicious maple syrup! This sweet and savory bacon jerky is bursting with flavor that will keep you coming back for more. It's contains only premium bacon that's gluten-free, soy-free, and all-natural. Plus it's packed with over 14 grams of protein. Check it out.
Another great option to satisfy your bacon cravings! Tiki Hawaiian crafted this bacon jerky with a combination of spicy Asian and Hawaiian island flavors. These hardy bacon strips are marinated for 24 hours in a spicy gluten-free, house-made sriracha sauce. Learn more here!
Want to explore more flavors of bacon jerky? Shop our curated collection of the best-tasting bacon jerky on the online JerkyGent Shop. Also, let us know which bacon jerky flavors you like best in the comments below!
Whether you want gourmet bacon on your salad, or are diving into building a French tartiflette, lardons not only save time in the kitchen (and keep you away from all that chopping and dicing), these nuggets of pork goodness provide a pop of flavor to any dish in which you incorporate them. The Baconer is a Bay-area business that begins with responsibly sourced pork, and that pork goodness really shines here,
This package of bacon just looks like it would come from Texas, a slab of thick-cut slices that seem to be just the kind of thing beef lovers (like many a Texan) would put on a burger. The dry-cure means no extra moisture is added in the curing process, which makes for less splatter during cooking.
The flavors imparted from the different woods varied only slightly, but either one of these slightly sweet slices would balance a spicy bloody mary cocktail with a bite. The bacon is a medium, or standard cut, so it cooks somewhat crispier and faster in a skillet than other kinds of bacon on this list, making it a sturdy garnish, or if you prefer, a crumble atop a salad instead of a cocktail accoutrement.
In order to test these bacons, we cooked them all at the same temperature in a medium-heat cast iron skillet, making careful to not crowd the slices in the pan. We then drained on paper towels and sampled each one while still warm, taking notes of specific characteristics, and judging on thickness, meat-to-fat ratio, flavor, and overall mouthfeel.
For cooking, if you want to render more fat, look for more soft fat striations between the meat, or for a bloody mary garnish, a high meat content so the bacon slice will crisp and stand up nicely in the glass. In the small-batch bacons we sampled, that ratio may vary slightly within a single pack, so eye a few packs if you can before choosing your specific slice. And finally, the cure can affect the texture, especially when it comes to peppered bacon, which, when done right, cooks up with a meat rind of salty, peppery goodness. 041b061a72