Did that heading capture your attention? Good. This post is about smoked bacon candy. That’s right: bacon candy. These words can bring the world together. This is smoked bacon recipe is so simple, even a child can do it!

One recipe, four ingredients

All you need is four ingredients: maple syrup, brown sugar, rub, and the glue that brings the meat-loving world together: bacon.

Step One for Smoked Candy Bacon: Preheat the grill

First, preheat your grill to 375 degrees over indirect heat. Smoking woods such as cherry, hickory or pecan pair very well with smoked bacon candy.

Step Two: Bacon Candy Ingredients

Next, lay the bacon out on a sheet of parchment paper (foil will work, too). Drizzle maple syrup over the bacon strips. Next, shake some of your favorite pork rub on, then finally sprinkle brown sugar on top.

Pork goes well with sweet flavored seasonings, but this recipe already calls for both brown sugar and maple syrup. This is a good opportunity to add a spicy seasoning to create a nice balance of sweet and heat.

Flip the bacon slices over and repeat on the other side.

Step Three: What Temp to Cook the Bacon

Now that the bacon candy is assembled, take them to your smoker. For easy transfer to and from the grill, I recommend a cooling rack. I prefer to have something for the bacon candy to cook evenly on both sides without flipping. A lined cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper will work, but you would need to flip the bacon strips halfway through the cooking process.

Simply put the rack or cookie sheet on the grill to cook at 375F for 30-35 minutes. The smoked bacon candy will be done when it firms up and gets to the right amount of crispiness you prefer. Note that the tips of the bacon will be more crisp than the middle portion.

These are super addicting and will make you a hit with your family and friends…if you don’t eat all of the bacon first.

More Easy Recipes for Smoking

Here are some more easy recipes you can make on the smoker:

Smoked Chex Mix

Hot n Fast Pulled Pork

Smoked Buttery Shrimp

Pulled Pork Nachos

Smoked Prosciutto Wrapped Brie

Smoked Bacon Candy Recipe!

Smoked Bacon Candy

Yield: 12 strips of bacon

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Smoked bacon candy is a perfect blend of sweet and salty with a kiss of smoke flavor! Only four ingredients and some time on the grill yields a tasty treat!

Print

Ingredients

• 12 strips thick cut bacon
• 2 Tablespoons rub
• 1/3 Cup brown sugar
• 1/4 Cup maple syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat grill to 375 degrees over indirect heat.
2. Lay out strips of thick cut bacon on either a cooling rack or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.
3. Apply seasoning, brown sugar, and then maple syrup on each side. Flip strips of bacon over and repeat.
4. Place bacon in grill and cook for 35 minutes. Remove when smoked bacon candy reaches desired crispiness.

Notes

1. It is preferred to cook the smoked bacon candy on a cooling rack to avoid flipping the bacon strips halfway through.
2. Use a spicy seasoning to create a sweet and heat flavor.
3. The ends of the bacon strips will cook faster than the middle portion.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 2 strips of bacon
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 260Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 350mgCarbohydrates: 9gSugar: 10gProtein: 8g

NOTE: Nutrition information isn't always accurate.

Now that I’ve been barbecuing religiously for a while, I’ve experimented with a variety of tools and accessories to make this craft more enjoyable and the end product more gooder better. There are always the variety of rubs and various cuts of meat, but this list is focused on the non-edible items (hence, the “tools and accessories” reference in my last sentence).

Without further ado, I present to you this list of BBQ Essentials that, in my opinion, are must have’s for barbecuing.

Nitrile Gloves

If you’ve been following me on social media (namely Instagram) at @learningtosmoke you will notice me handling food while wearing thin, black gloves. The first on this BBQ Essentials list, these nitrile gloves are powder free and have three times the puncture resistance of latex. They are also ambidextrous and disposable. I like using them when prepping meat (especially poultry) to keep raw meat juices from getting on my hands, rub and other items from getting under my fingernails, and I don’t have to wash my hands as much. I typically go through two or three pairs with each smoke I do.

You can find these nitrile gloves HERE (NOTE: they offer other colors besides black)

Thermoworks Smoke

If you don’t already have a digital thermometer, I highly advise you buy one. Like, right now. A must-have of these BBQ Essentials! While I swear by the suite of Thermoworks products, the one I want to highlight for this list is the Smoke. I actually did a product review on this at the beginning of 2017. The Smoke is made specifically for BBQers like us (that’s you and me). It has a dual probe thermometer for BBQ that monitors both the temperature of the food and the pit. You can also set alarms to go off when temps either exceed or fall below your specifications. The Smoke comes with a wireless receiver that has Bluetooth and, as of recently, now offers a Smoke Gateway (aka Wi-Fi adapter) to improve the range to wherever you go (sold separately). I’ve had mine for a year now and still use it often!

Check it out by clicking here. You can also click on my banner ad at the top of the page.

Wireless Grill Brush

Keeping a clean grill is important so flakes of burnt crust from previous cooks don’t stick to your food. While it is quite common to use the traditional wired brushes, I’ve been hearing stories of the metal wires coming off, sticking to the grill, getting into someone’s food, and causing intestinal pain because the metal wire is poking their insides. Don’t believe me? Here is a CBS News article speaking to it. With that said, I prefer wireless brushes. They don’t scrape as powerful, but the cleaning is much easier on a warm grill. These wireless grill brushes can also be used on porcelain grates for those using pellet grills.

Find yourself a wireless grill brush HERE

Large Cut Meat & Fish Spatula

I saw someone else using this on social media and knew I had to have one. I have not been disappointed. This spatula is efficient in size and strong enough to hold the weight of meats such as whole chickens, large steaks, pork shoulder, and filets of fish.

Buy this spatula by clicking HERE

Well-insulated Cooler

If you spend way too much time following barbecue enthusiasts on social media like I do, you will begin to see folks using some heavy duty coolers. They do this because they keep drinks (and other items) cold for days, and can also double as a place to keep food warm for hours. I mainly use my coolers for keeping barbecue warm and have kept it that way for hours, so I don’t have to worry about being finished to soon before I need to serve it. I use Pelican coolers because they do an excellent job at the previously stated activities, but are built tough, made in the USA, and come with a lifetime warranty.

Get the best deals on that Pelican cooler HERE

Boning Knife

As you become more familiar with prepping the various meats you smoke, you’ll learn more about the importance of trimming them. In my experience, a boning knife works best. A more narrow blade that curves at the tip to help get more precise slicing done. They also tend to be quite sharp, which is helpful when trimming off that annoying silverskin. I picked one up at my local BBQ shop for about $20 and have considered it a great investment.

You can pick one up HERE

Pink Butcher Paper

Explaining why I prefer pink butcher paper over foil 95% of the time is worthy of it’s own blog post. But to summarize, wrapping meats in butcher paper while still in the smoking process allows the air to flow through while still holding in heat. This way, you develop a better bark on the meat and it doesn’t turn out soggy like with foil, which creates steam inside. It also is great for food presentation. I like to use it as a liner on a tray when serving up the sliced/shredded product. Try it once and you’ll be hooked!

Get a roll of your own HERE

Headlamp

Why on Earth would I choose a headlamp as something essential to BBQ? Because when you do longer smokes for brisket or pulled pork, for example, you are likely tending the smoker early in the morning and even late at night (and sometimes through the night). Using a headlamp, like the Pelican 2740 that I use, makes seeing things a whole lot easier. And with it being darker sooner (and longer) in the wintertime, I see the headlamp as a must.

Check out the headlamps HERE

High-temp Gloves

Being around the grill means you are dealing with coals, hot grill surfaces, and large pieces of meat at temps of upward to 203F. Unless you are the Terminator, then I recommend getting yourself some high-temperature gloves. I have been using Dragon Knuckle gloves for this past year and they have saved me many times! Using a ceramic grill with a deflector plate underneath the grill for low and slow cooking, I remove the plates so I can get the grill up to searing temps to finish off my cook, known as the reverse sear. I don’t feel a thing with these gloves on when I remove the plates. I’ve handled burning coals in them and have been protected, too. These things protect your hands from heat past 500F! Although don’t hold on for too long, for you will begin to feel the heat eventually. (NOTE: I don’t recommend pouring hot liquid on these things for they are not water/liquid resistant)

Get yourself some Dragon Knuckle gloves HERE

There you have it! Stay tuned for other products I have tested and recommend!

Ever since I started my website and social media accounts, I occasionally see people with these huge, bone-in ribeye steaks and it has made me very, very jealous. I have had a difficult time finding these types of steaks around me, but then Costco had blessed my local store with these giant meat lollipops and I had to partake.

While I wasn’t exactly looking to buy meat on this particular Costco trip, there was a 47 ounce USDA Prime ribeye just calling my name…and I listened.

There is debate on whether or not you would consider this a tomahawk steak, because some purists believe the bone needs to extend at least six to eight inches out from the meat. This particular one was 4.5″, but I’ll consider it a tomahawk anyway.

As stated above, this ribeye was 47 ounces! And was just over 2 inches thick. I even had my buddy, Lego Batman, come to help show size of scale.

Since this is a premium cut of beef and I spent a good amount of money on it, I wanted to make sure I didn’t screw this up. Here’s what I did:

REVERSE SEARED RIBEYE STEAK

Ingredients

• 1 monster-sized ribeye steak
• rub

Smoker

• Pecan wood
• 250F for the low and slow
• 550F+ for the sear

Directions

1. Rinse beef, pat dry
2. Apply rub on all sides, let rest for 15-20 minutes
3. Get smoker up to 250F, put wood of choice in
4. Place steak on grill surface (can be done prior to reaching 250F temp)
5. Smoke until internal meat temp reaches 125F, remove from grill surface
6. Place meat on hot, searing surface, preferably a cast iron skillet
7. Sear steak for 1-2 minutes on each side, until internal meat temp reaches 130-135F
8. Rest for 10-15 minutes
9. Slice and enjoy!

As I take the meat out of the package, I give it a quick rinse and pat it dry with a paper towel. I do this because the meat sits suffocating in plastic wrap and want to make sure it’s somewhat of a fresh surface.  Once patted dry, I apply rub. For those of you that follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that lately I’ve been favoring a blend of two different types of rub: Grunt Rub (garlic rub) from Code 3 Spices and What’s Your Beef? rub from Loot n’ Booty. I like to let the meat rest for about 15 to 20 minutes before putting on the smoker because I like how the meat sweats and the rub starts to soak into the meat.

After I have my smoker started and wood chunks put in, I will put the meat in even when it is not at the desired temp of 250F because it’s just more time for it to get smoke flavor in.  I give the meat a quarter turn every 20 minutes or so and then flip it over and do the same. This particular steak, with it being so thick, took an hour and a half to smoke and get to the desired internal temp of 125F.

I had all intentions of placing the steak in the cast-iron skillet on my Kamado Joe for searing, but time was running out and people were getting hungry, so I fired up my stove and put the cast-iron skillet on high heat and seared it there.  In the skillet, I put 1/4 C of butter and some rub and let it melt before searing on both sides of the steak.

While searing, the steak will develop that delicious brown crust on the outside. Don’t be afraid to try to sear the sides of the steak as well.

Once you reach your desired internal temp (I go 130-135 for medium rare), put the steak on a cutting board and let rest for about 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. I love to let it rest afterwards so that way the meat relaxes and the juices start to build up. You’ll notice this as you start to slice.

This was a big hit with my family and guests (yep, it fed all of us)! My only regret is I started late and it finished while dark outside, so natural lighting for my pictures wasn’t there. Guess I’ll have to do this again!