Smoked Bacon Jerky

Bacon jerky is the delicious, sweet, sriracha cousin of candied bacon. It's chewy, salty, smoky, and the perfect snack!

We've all had beef jerky, but you haven't lived until you've had smoked bacon jerky.

It's got plenty of smoke flavor, all the yummy bacon umami, and a spicy-sweet glaze.

This bacon jerky recipe is dedicated to bacon!

Jump to:

• Tips + Tricks
• Bacon Jerky vs Bacon Candy
• Key Ingredients
• How To Make Bacon Jerky On The Smoker
• How To Make Bacon Jerky In The Oven
• Variations + Substitutions
• Batch + Storage
• Oven vs Dehydrator Vs Smoker
• More bacon recipes to love!
• Recommended tools
• 📖 Printable Recipe

Tips + Tricks

No. 1 --> Use homemade bacon, if possible! Our lives changed for the better when we started making home-cured and smoked bacon, and I use it whenever possible. I have a full homemade bacon tutorial if you're ready to jump in and get making your own bacon. At this point, I can safely say I'm not a fan of store-bought bacon!

No. 2 --> Don't rush it - the cooking process will take a while, just like smoked beef jerky. For best results, I recommend sipping some coffee and reading a good book while you wait!

No. 3 --> Wrap your cookie sheet in a layer of tinfoil. This is a great way to make the clean-up a total breeze, it catches the sticky drips and the excess grease.

No. 4 --> If you love smoked bacon in different ways, give these smoked bacon-wrapped cookies a try! I'm sure you'll love them!

Bacon Jerky vs Bacon Candy

While these two recipes are similar, bacon candy is cooked at a much higher temperature and bacon jerky at a low temperature, 375f vs 200f, for a shorter period of time. Candied bacon is cooked to a crispy, crumbly texture with a caramelized sugar coating while homemade bacon jerky has a chewier, jerky-like texture.

Key Ingredients

Bacon: I highly recommend thick-cut bacon for this recipe - we want to be left with some meat when we're done cooking it! I love using my home-cured + smoked bacon. However - if you do not have thick-cut bacon, this can be done with regular-cut bacon, but it must be watched much closer as it will likely be done cooking much sooner.

Sweetener: This recipe needs a little sweet - the sugar will caramelize and coat the bacon which is exactly what salty bacon needs - a hint of sweetness. Brown sugar, dark brown sugar, and maple syrup all work for this recipe.

Spice: If you're like us, you like your sweet to be accompanied by a little heat. I personally love a little zip in my jerky. For this recipe, you can use sriracha, hot sauce, cayenne powder, or red pepper flakes.

Note --> If you're using all dry ingredients for your simple marinade, be sure to add a small amount of maple syrup, corn syrup, or honey to help bind the sugar into a paste so it sticks to the bacon!

How To Make Bacon Jerky On The Smoker

1. Preheat Traeger to 200f. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place an oven-safe wire rack on top of the cookie sheet.
2. Choose your flavor:
   Honey sriracha: 1/4 cup honey + 2 tablespoons sriracha
   Brown sugar heat: 1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce
   Maple cayenne: 1/4 cup maple syrup + 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
   * In this photo guide, I made brown sugar heat bacon jerky.
3. Combine ingredients for glaze in a small bowl.
4. Lay the bacon slices on the mesh rack and brush on the sauce with a basting brush. Flip the bacon and brush the back side too.
5. Cook in the smoker at 200f for 2 hours. Flip the bacon, and continue to cook for another 1-1.5 hours, or until the bacon reaches desired texture.
6. Remove the bacon jerky from the smoker and allow it to cool at room temperature for 10 minutes before enjoying.

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How To Make Bacon Jerky In The Oven

1. Preheat the oven to 200f. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place an oven-safe wire rack on top of the cookie sheet.
2. Choose your flavor:
   Honey sriracha: 1/4 cup honey + 2 tablespoons sriracha
   Brown sugar heat: 1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce
   Maple cayenne: 1/4 cup maple syrup + 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
   * In this photo guide, I made brown sugar heat bacon jerky.
3. Combine ingredients for glaze in a small bowl.
4. Lay the bacon slices on the mesh rack and brush on the sauce with a basting brush. Flip the bacon and brush the back side too.
5. Cook in the smoker at 200f for 2 hours. Flip the bacon, and continue to cook for another 1-1.5 hours, or until the bacon reaches desired texture.
6. Remove the bacon jerky from the smoker and allow it to cool at room temperature for 10 minutes before enjoying.

Variations + Substitutions

This basic recipe is just a guide! Use it as a springboard for your own wild flavor ideas! Don't be scared to try new things - just keep in mind that your marinade or glaze should be somewhat paste-like and you may need to add a smidge of liquid sweetener to help keep it brush-able. Try adding:

• fresh cracked black pepper
• garlic powder
• herbs
• molasses

Or think about the wood chips! Use different wood flavors to achieve different profiles, like:

• applewood
• cherry wood
• maple wood

Batch + Storage

Batch:

The recipe as written yields 10 slices of delicious smoked bacon jerky. It can be scaled up or scaled down as desired.

That said, I find 1 slice of bacon jerky made with thick-cut, real bacon, is enough to satisfy the craving, so 10 slices go a long way!

Storage:

Bacon jerky is a perishable product with a relatively short shelf life and while most of the moisture is removed during the cooking or smoking process, the jerky should be kept in the fridge and is best eaten within 3-4 days.

It can be sealed in an air-tight container or Ziplock bag and frozen for up to 6 months. I doubt it will last that long!

I generally usually only make one sheet pan worth at a time, it gives us a nice little treat without having too much to handle.

Oven vs Dehydrator Vs Smoker

Making bacon jerky is easy, picking how you want to do it is harder! This recipe can be made in the home oven, dehydrator, or smoker.

The oven and smoker will have similar results, but the smoker will have more smoke flavor. The dehydrator cannot reach the same temperature as the oven and therefore may take a little longer.

See the recipe card below for detailed information on how to cook the best bacon jerky in each appliance.

More bacon recipes to love!

Recommended tools

Cooling Rack: Using a cooling rack with feet keeps the bacon off the cookie sheet, allowing hot air to circulate all the way around the bacon while it's cooking. A baking rack helps to decrease cooking time and gives a better end product.

Tin foil: I'm not huge on single-use items, but I do like tin foil. It's great for recipes like this to minimize clean-up and to help keep everything clean. For this recipe, I used regular tinfoil as it covers my baking tray perfectly, and it would be overkill to use the heavy-duty stuff!

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