Sweet, Savory, Crisp Candied Bacon

Thick, gorgeous bacon is a thing of majesty with its ripples of fat and lean, its steady sizzle, and a scent that could stop traffic. It hardly needs improving. My son once described it as tasting like "chicken nuggets mixed with chocolate," which, while it sounds like a child's fever dream, isn't that far off: Bacon's magic is in its trifecta of salty, savory, and sweet. The only way to push that perfection even further is to turn it up to 11 is by candying it so it's glossy, sticky, and caramelized at the edges, with a hint of heat and the right balance of crisp and chew.

Candied bacon is called "millionaire's bacon,"—because everything fancy online needs a title like that these days—but this version, developed by Nicole Hopper in our Birmingham, Alabama, test kitchen, proves you don't need a trust fund for luxury. With just a few pantry spices and a bit of patience, you can turn an everyday breakfast side into something that feels genuinely extravagant. 

To make great candied bacon, it's essential to use thick-cut bacon. It's sturdy enough to stay meaty under the molten sugar, rather than crisping into brittle shards. The bacon is sprinkled with a simple mixture of brown sugar, black pepper, smoked paprika, and cayenne. The sugar is what turns it into candy, and the pinch of smoked paprika and cayenne give each slice a subtle, slow-building heat that cuts through the sweetness. 

Equally important as choosing thick-cut bacon is baking it on a wire rack set over a foil-lined baking sheet. The rack allows hot air to circulate, rendering the fat evenly and letting the sugar bubble and caramelize without the strips sitting in grease, and the foil helps ensure an easier clean-up. Once cooled, the slices firm into beautiful, candied slabs that glisten like amber and shatter gently when bitten. Serve them whole as a brunch showstopper or crumble over a hearty, savory stew, such as lentil soup or baked potato soup. This candied bacon is proof that bacon—already perfect—can, in fact, get even better.