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It’s called Million Dollar Bacon for a reason! My Candied Bacon recipe is sweet and salty, with a kick of heat. Crispy, thick-cut bacon caramelized with a little bit of spice is a perfect pairing for brunch, topping avocado toast, or even as a holiday food gift!
The best part, it is ready in the oven in under an hour, or in the air fryer in 8 minutes.
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Best Candied Bacon
If you haven’t heard about it already, you might be wondering what the buzz is about so-called Millionaire Bacon. We’re here to tell you it’s worthy of that buzz!
If you haven’t tried candied bacon yet, let me tell you, you are going to love it. It is rich in flavor and crave-worthy. I first gave it a try at my local First Watch and had to make it myself.
Like the First Watch Million Dollar Bacon recipe, mine is sticky-sweet with a kick of heat. It’s a perfect addition to breakfast, brunch, or even an appetizer for a holiday meal.
My family is obsessed with this candied bacon recipe. They ask me to make it constantly – so often that I even came up with an air fryer bacon version to save some time!
I served this with pumpkin bread with maple glaze icing. Thought it would be nice contrast. I was right! Everyone who tried it absolutely loved it! Thank you for a great recipe!
Laurie on Pinterest
Candied Bacon Ingredients
- thick-cut bacon
- brown sugar
- cracked black pepper
- cayenne pepper
- crushed red pepper flakes
How to Make Candied Bacon
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet pan with a silicone liner, parchment paper, or aluminum foil.
- Lay thick-cut slices onto the tray until the sheet pan is full. Try to avoid overlapping slices if you don’t have to. If you have an oven-safe wire rack, elevate the slices over the sheet pan – this helps circulate heat.
- Add brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes to a small bowl. Stir to combine.
- Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the slices. Use your hands to pat the sugar down, making sure to cover it all.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until brown and crispy, up to 40 minutes. Once done baking, remove the sheet pan from the oven and let it cool for 10-15 minutes to allow the caramelized sugar to harden. Serve, and enjoy!
Made this birthday treat for a member of my deployed crew. It paired nicely with a rich double fudge mini layer cake with chocolate frosting. He gave it 😍😍😍😍 for the WIN!
Beverly
Candied Bacon in the Air Fryer
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes. Mix well.
- Sprinkle mixture all over bacon and pat down.
- Spray air fryer with olive oil, then add bacon and fry for 8 minutes, checking halfway through at 4 minutes to see if any of the bacon needs any rearranging to crisp up.
- Serve and enjoy!
Million Dollar Bacon Recipe Tips
- Make sure to completely coat the strips with the sugar mixture to get the most texture and flavor out of it. Don’t leave any spot uncovered!
- To avoid unnecessary cleanup, line your sheet pan with parchment paper, or a silicone liner. Trust me, you don’t want to candy bacon directly on the sheet pan (it’s a pain to clean!).
- Give the slices some breathing room. Don’t overlap the slices too much, or they’ll stick together.
- Elevating the slices over the sheet pan will allow air to circulate more evenly, so you’ll have beautiful, crisp slices. This is the best way to cook bacon in the oven – trust me!
TOP TIP—Let it cool before you eat it! It will be tempting because of how amazing it’s going to smell and look, but trust me, let it cool first. This will allow the glaze to finish setting for that perfect candied texture. It takes about 10-15 minutes to harden.
Millionaire Bacon FAQs
Also called Millionaire’s Bacon or Million Dollar Bacon, or Pig Candy, candied bacon is made by coating slices of bacon in something sweet such as brown sugar before baking until caramelized. It’s a fantastic combination of flavors!
Reheat glazed bacon by microwaving it for about 10 to 15 seconds at a time. Place paper towels in between to get rid of any grease. Be careful – it heats up quickly and gets very hot!
Make your million-dollar bacon recipe up to 4 days ahead of time. It is perfect for gifting and reusing in recipes.
Store it in an air-tight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. You can make it ahead of time, then have it ready to go for an easy weekend breakfast appetizer! Or, you can store the leftovers and repurpose them by making a salad for lunch. There are so many ways to enjoy leftover bacon!
This is like candy – we love it! I use a thick sliced pepper bacon and it is so good!
Heather
Millionaire’s Bacon Equipment
It does not take much at all to make our glazed candied bacon recipe. You will need:
- A baking sheet
- Silicone liner, parchment paper, or aluminum foil
- Cooling rack
- Optional, but recommended: wire rack for baking sheet
This is a baked bacon recipe or an air fryer candied bacon recipe – it’s great either way!
After you bake it, let it cool on a rack to allow the sugar to caramelize and harden for that perfect, crispy, candied texture.
What to Serve with Million-Dollar Bacon
- Breakfast Casserole
- Starbucks Egg Bites
- Banana Bread Waffles
- Sausage Gravy and Biscuits
- Breakfast Potatoes
Made this for a Christmas party, huge hit. I used the thick bacon and did bake it on a rack.
Kathryn
📋 Recipe
Amazing Candied Bacon Recipe
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Aluminum foil, silicone liner, or parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 pound thick-cut bacon
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp. cracked black pepper
- ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
- ½ Tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
Candied Bacon in the Oven
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet pan with a silicone liner, parchment paper or foil. Lay the uncooked bacon sliced onto the pan. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cracked black pepper, cayenne pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.½ cup brown sugar, ½ tsp. cracked black pepper, ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper, ½ Tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the bacon slices, fully coating all of the slices. Using your hands, gently pat the sugar down onto the slices of bacon.1 pound thick-cut bacon
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until brown and crispy. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Check at 30 minutes and if it isn't as crisp as you'd like, put it back in for the full 40.Carefully transfer the bacon from the baking sheet pan to a cooling rack and let cool for another 10 minutes.
Air Fryer Candied Bacon
- Preheat air fryer to 400°F. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes. Mix well.
- Sprinkle mixture all over bacon and pat down.
- Spray air fryer with olive oil, then add bacon and fry for 8 minutes, checking halfway through at 4 minutes to see if any of the bacon needs any rearranging to crisp up.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Depending on the size of your baking sheet pan and the number of bacon slices in the package, you may need to use two sheet pans.
- Be sure to let the slices fully cool, this will allow the caramelized sugar to harden.
- Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.
Kelvin says
The taste is great and the general procedure works, but if you try cooking it at 375 for half an hour it will be burnt to a crisp. Either cut the time or cut the heat if you don’t enjoy eating charcoal.
Em Beitel says
Hi Kelvin! We’re glad you enjoyed it! This is what works for our oven and we have never had an issue with burnt bacon, but of course, every oven is different. We always advise keeping an eye on it.
Kjelstad says
I really think that it depends on how thick your bacon is too
D. S. says
Who doesn’t like bacon. I put steak bacon in my smoker and use Mesquite and smoke it first. Then use a disposable pie pan and mix brown sugar with water and a little molasses, and very lightly spice. Don’t want to overpower the taste of the bacon. Steak bacon is about 1/4″ thick. I cut the pieces in half, after it’s done and refrigerate them. Wrap them in parchment, and it can be frozen. But candied bacon has to be shared with people, because it’s an excess of goodness, that is only a treat. Serve at room temperature.
Em Beitel says
That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Vikki says
I’m wondering if it would work if you start baking this in a cold oven? …that’s how I normally cook my bacon. Thanks…I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Em Beitel says
Hi Vikki! I honestly have not tried it this way myself, so I can’t be sure, but would love to give it a shot or to know how it goes if you try it out. I hope you enjoy it!
Betty says
What a great treat! Sharing with friends coming for lunch. Recipe worked exactly like written and checking @ 30” I gave it another 10”. Addictive 🤣
Em Beitel says
So glad you enjoyed it, Betty! Thank you so much for giving it a try and leaving us a comment!
Shoshanna says
I made two batches of this for my daughter’s birthday party. Same oven, same bacon, same time, 3 differently-sized baking sheets. The bacon on the full sheet burned both times, but the ones on the smaller ones came out perfectly. Just thought I would share in case anyone else finds useful.
Em Beitel says
Thanks very much, Shoshanna! We hope everyone enjoyed it!
Laurie says
My sister gave me about 2 pounds of heavily peppered bacon that she didn’t like. I googled for some ideas on what to do with it and ran across your recipe! I had all ingredients on hand so I made it last week. YUM!! I left out the pepper from the ingredients as the bacon already had a coating of coarse ground black pepper on it. And, unfortunately, I didn’t measure the remaining ones… soooooo, mine was a bit… ok, VERY spicy! LOL But I figure this way, it will slow me down from eating the entire 2 pounds in one day!
This stuff is so addicting!!! I baked mine on parchment paper for about 22 minutes (really, who times stuff like this? I just keep peeking in the oven and deciding how much time to add.)
I let it cool and now have it stored in a 9×13 Tupperware container in the fridge, with parchment paper between layers.
Em Beitel says
This is awesome, Laurie! We’re so glad you enjoyed it and found a use for the peppered bacon! It sounds like it turned out absolutely delicious!