Recently, I made some Maple Bacon Cupcakes, and let me tell you, these cupcakes are seriously so amazing. They are yellow cupcakes, topped with maple frosting, candied bacon, and sprinkled with a little bit of brown sugar on top.
After posting about the cupcakes, I have had so many people reach out to me asking for both the maple frosting recipe and the candied bacon recipe. If you’re looking for my maple frosting recipe (its seriously the best), visit THIS POST.
Today I’m excited to share my candied bacon recipe with you all. I’m going to start off by saying, this recipe is really simple, and only uses a few ingredients. However, it does take some patience and time to achieve the perfect candied bacon.
A few notes about the bacon: make sure you use a thick cut. When I open my bacon, I like to cut each strip in half. You will be baking the bacon in the oven on a cooking rack. This can get a little messy, so I always lay my baking rack on top of a cookie sheet wrapped in foil. Before starting the recipe, make sure you have about 1 hour to focus on the bacon though, sometimes it can take closer to 1.5 hours. You’ll be taking the bacon out of the oven every 5 minutes to flip, and this does require some attention so the bacon doesn’t burn.
Candied Bacon Recipe
Candied Bacon Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Thick Cut Bacon
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed
- 6 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 7 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place a cooking rack on top of a foil wrapped cookie sheet. Spray the rack with cooking spray. Cut each piece of bacon in half.
- Lay out each strip of bacon flat on top of the rack, the pieces can touch but should not overlap.
- Bake the bacon for 10 minutes in the oven, flip and bake another 10 minutes.
- While the bacon is baking, mix the brown sugar, maple syrup and rice vinegar together.
- Take the bacon out of the oven and coat one side of the bacon with the brown sugar mixture. Place bacon back in oven and cook for 5 minutes.
- Again, take the bacon out of the oven, flip, and coat the bacon in the brown sugar mixture, and cook for another 5 minutes. Continue brushing the bacon with the brown sugar mixture, and baking for 5 minute incriments, flipping the bacon about 8 times total.
- When the bacon is finished baking, it should be browned, soft and glossy. It should not be pink or crispy. Once it is finished baking, allow it to cool for 20 minutes before serving.
How to assemble the cupcakes:
As for the maple bacon cupcakes, you can use any yellow cake recipe to make the cupcake portion. Add some maple frosting on top of the cupcake, and then a piece of cooled and cut candied bacon. I like to sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar on top of each cupcake to add some extra sweetness.
Below is a time-lapse video showing how I made my Maple Bacon Cupcakes.