46 Bacon Recipes to Eat for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (original) (raw)

It’s crispy. It’s salty. It’s fatty. It’s the most versatile meat in your fridge. Of course, we’re talking about bacon, the salt-cured pork that tastes good at breakfast, lunch, dinner and even dessert (but more on that later). While it’s often served solo as a side or haphazardly crumbled atop various dishes for extra crunch and flavor, bacon deserves its time in the limelight. Read on for 46 easy, savory bacon recipes that call for it as a main ingredient. We’re talking pasta dishes, brunch basics, pizzas and more.

1. Linguine With Bacon, Peaches And Gorgonzola

This summer pasta is impeccably balanced, thanks to sweet peaches, funky cheese and salty bacon. Pass the sangria, please.

2. Savory Breakfast Pie With Bacon Lattice Crust

Buttery pie crust + cheesy egg custard + a dozen shatteringly crisp strips of bacon = a good morning indeed.

3. Bacon, Onion And Asiago Fondue

File it under The Easiest Party Appetizers of All Time. You’re only four ingredients away from this decadent crowd-pleaser, not counting all your handy breads, crackers and crudités for dipping.

4. Bacon, Fig And Ricotta Tartines

A taste of autumn in every bite. Best part? The figs are caramelized in maple syrup and bacon grease.

5. Boursin Cheese With Caramelized Onions And Bacon

Spoon it onto crackers, scoop it up with hunks of crusty bread or even use it as a spread on grilled cheese sandwiches.

6. Cheese And Bacon Baked Potatoes

Slicing the spud hasselback style and filling the slits with butter guarantees a drool-worthy final product. All that’s missing is a dollop of sour cream and a flourish of chives.

7. Mini Bacon-wrapped Meatloaf

Meatloaf isn’t fancy, but it’s nostalgically delicious. Instead of being topped with a thick ketchup-based glaze, all those ingredients are mixed into the meat before it’s shaped and wrapped in bacon.

8. Dorie Greenspan’s Maple Syrup And Mustard Brussels Sprouts

They pair just as beautifully with weeknight chicken breasts as they do a Thanksgiving turkey.

9. Blt Tacos

Give the classic sandwich an update with baked black pepper bacon, sliced avocado and soft flour tortillas. Feel free to slather some mayo on there too as a nod to the O.G.

10. Maple Candied Bacon

OK, hear us out: You could have these sticky, salty delights with eggs and coffee…or you could use them as a garnish for a slice of pecan pie. The choice is yours.

11. Bacon Mac And Cheese

Want to trick your kids into eating vegetables? This cheddar macaroni is discreetly loaded with tomatoes, onions and arugula.

12. Bacon-wrapped Black Cod With Spinach And Capers

This savory number will turn you into a fish lover. The tender cod is wrapped in bacon and seared, so all that salty deliciousness seeps right into the meat.

13. Split Pea Soup With Bacon And Beer

This soup gets a bad rap. But crumbled bacon, sherry vinegar, sourdough croutons and a whole can of pale lager will change that.

14. Ritz Crackers With Whipped Honey Ricotta And Bacon

For when you get home after a long day and have no energy to cook. (Or for when you forgot about appetizers and your guests are arriving in 15.)

15. Roasted Sweet Potato And Bacon Open-faced Sandwich With Herbed Ricotta

Introducing our favorite way to use up leftover sweet potatoes. If they’re already cooked, the sammy will only take you ten minutes tops to prepare.

16. Sweet Potato, Bacon And Broccoli Egg Muffins

With this recipe in your arsenal, there’s no reason you should ever leave the house without breakfast. Bake them on a Sunday and keep them in the fridge all week for a grab-and-go option.

17. Polenta With Roasted Mushrooms And Bacon

It may seem time consuming, but it isn’t if you multitask. Simply pop the mushrooms in the oven to roast while you cook the polenta on the stove.

18. Bacon, Kale And Egg Grandma Pie

Runny yolks! Wilted greens! Craggy bacon! Doughy crust! Brunch (or pizza night) at your place has never looked so good.

19. Bacon Guacamole

Whether you use it as a nacho topper, burger fixing or Taco Tuesday dip, one thing’s for sure: Your guests will ask if you made a second batch.

20. Blt Pasta Salad

Creamy, crunchy, refreshing, flavorful—what else can you want in a pasta salad? Make the whole recipe ahead besides the bacon and add it in right before serving, so it doesn’t turn soggy.

21. Crispy Bacon-wrapped Brussels Sprouts

Don’t even try controlling your appetite around these toothpicked cuties. They’re drizzled with honey for an unexpected pop of sweetness.

22. Pancake Tacos With Cheese And Bacon

One bite and they’ll replace cereal as your kids’ favorite breakfast. Drizzle them with syrup, spicy mayo or hot sauce (or heck, all three).

23. Bacon And Egg Fried Rice

Feel free to spruce up this 20-minute gem with any leafy greens or veggies that you forgot about in the crisper drawer.

24. Maple French Toast Breakfast Sandwich

Cinnamon-kissed French toast beats a plain English muffin any day. Serve it with plenty of maple syrup for dipping.

25. Spicy Corn Carbonara

Summer on a plate. Think tender bucatini, crumbled bacon and freshly shucked corn swimming in eggy Parmesan cream sauce.

26. Salmon Blt

The classic BLT is flawless as is, but believe it or not, a juicy fillet of lemon-pepper salmon makes it a million times better. Trust.

27. Bacon-wrapped Eggs

We *finally* nailed the perfect egg-to-bacon ratio. The trick is half-baking the bacon strips, using them to line a muffin tin, cracking an egg into each cup and baking it all to jiggly-yolk perfection.

28. Bacon-wrapped Cheese Straws

If only they served these at bars instead of nuts. We’re betting they’d complement a crisp IPA or wheat ale just right.

29. Roasted Broccoli And Bacon Pasta Salad

Because summer doesn’t have dibs on pasta salad. Serve it with a soul-warming fall soup and roast chicken.

30. Bacon, Egg And Cheese Breakfast Muffins

Your eyes don’t deceive you: These handhelds are toting whole hardboiled eggs. You’ll need a jumbo muffin pan to accommodate them.

31. Seared Scallops With Green Peas, Mint And Shallots

All the vegetables and alliums are cooked in bacon grease for salty, savory flavor. Then, the scallops are seared in it for two minutes per side.

32. Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Mimosas, butter and a basket of these bad boys is the key to our heart. Good luck stopping after just one (OK, two).

33. Swanky Blt

The tomatoes are balsamic-roasted, lettuce is traded for escarole and there’s vinegar and crème fraiche in the mayo. The recipe calls for pancetta instead of bacon, but we wouldn’t blame you for including both.

34. Mini Quiches With Hash Brown Crusts

Don’t sweat shredding your own spuds. The recipe calls for using frozen hash browns for maximum convenience. Drain them thoroughly to ensure that they crisp up in the oven.

35. Strawberry Cobb Salad With Dairy-free Ranch Dressing

Isn’t she lovely? This combo of pecans, berries, bacon, tomatoes and avocado is a million times more exciting than store-bought Caesar.

36. Loaded Baked Potato ‘chips’

Isn’t it the worst when you accidentally fill up on your baked potato before even making a dent in your entrée? These itty-bitty loaded chips can help.

37. Keto Guacamole Burger Bites

Fill up on pearl mozzarella, homemade guacamole and mini burger patties wrapped in crispy bacon without slipping out of ketosis.

38. Creamy Gnocchi Soup With Rosemary Bacon

Look up “comfort food” in the dictionary and you’ll find a photo of this warm, cozy dish. The soup is loaded with fresh thyme, Asiago cheese, fennel seeds and canned coconut milk.

39. Bacon-wrapped Shrimp

Brushed with a sweet-and-salty soy-maple glaze, the shrimp will disappear in two minutes flat at your next dinner party.

40. Bacon And Avocado Waffle Grilled Cheese

Sure, you can use homemade (or frozen) waffles in place of bread here. But the recipe calls for a convenient, ingenious substitute: refrigerated canned biscuits.

41. Stovetop Bacon Creamed Corn

If the farmers market has corn, load up on as many fresh ears as you can carry. If not, feel free to use frozen corn in the off season.

42. Bacon Potato Salad

Consider it your famous barbecue steak’s soulmate. The tangy Dijon vinaigrette offers major zing to the salad, but you can toss in crumbled blue cheese for extra creaminess and earthy flavor.

43. Guacamole Bacon Burger

Apply the sliced pepper jack cheese right after flipping the burger over, so it has plenty of heat and time to melt.

44. Honey, Peach And Brie Panini With Bacon Butter

And the award for World’s Tastiest Compound Butter goes to…

45. Homemade Maple Bacon Doughnuts

The buttery maple glaze is nothing short of life-changing. Wash them down with a warm cinnamon latte.

46. Salted Caramel And Candied Bacon Ice Cream

Psst: If you think the ice cream tastes heavenly sandwiched between two graham crackers, wait until you taste it slathered on a Ritz cracker.

For even more great recipes, check out our first cookbook, Only the Good Stuff.

Food Editor

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• Studied English and writing at Ithaca College