Marge Perry's A Sweet and Savory Life

Bacon Popcorn

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1. Water

2. Food

3. Shelter

4. Bacon Popcorn

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Bacon Popcorn Recipe

10 strips smoked bacon

1 cup popcorn kernels

3/4 teaspoon salt

  1. Place about half the bacon in a single layer in the bottom of a large (8 quart) pot. Cook over medium heat turning once until just crispy; this should take 7 – 10 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towel and add the remaining strips to the pan; again cook until crispy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the plate. There should be about 1/3 cup bacon drippings remaining in the pot.
  2. Add the kernels and salt to the pot; cover and cook, shaking the pan once the popping begins, until the noise slows down, about 4 minutes. (Do not wait until the noise stops entirely or you will bun the bottom layer of the popcorn). Immediately transfer to a large bowl. Crumble the cooked bacon and toss with the popcorn; add salt to taste.

Makes about 28 cups (which sounds like a lot but goes very fast)

Nutritional analysis per 4 cups: 247 calories, 7 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 16 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 528 mg sodium

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Worth noting: popcorn is a whole grain. Also worth noting: this in no way implies or suggests that bacon popcorn is a health food. But it could be worse.

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Comments

    • Hmm, I prefer to call it “bacon drippings” which sounds less…well, less horrifying. Or how about “bacon juice”– that sounds nearly wholesome!

  4. Please do not let Tracy see this….he is the man who like Bacon flavored Chap Stik.

    • Well, Laurie, it could be Bacon-Chocolate Popcorn, which is also delicious…or Bacon with Candy Corn, which I won’t bother testing out, and which provides a massive dose of sugar along with the fat. At least this way you get a little fiber. And, if you adhere to the “Volumetrics” approach to dieting, popcorn allows you to eat a lot of volume for the amount of calories. Believe it or not, 4 cups for about 250 calories is sort of a diet bargain. But having said it could be worse, I should also say that it could certainly also be better. As in…vegetables.

  10. My first food memory is of a crunchy strip of freshly cooked bacon, right out of a cast iron pan- I remember smelling it and crawling (I was a baby) to the source of the aroma.
    Then tasting the unctuous goodness.
    BLT’s followed then smoked pork chops from Hoeffner’s in Morristown, NJ.

    My earliest food memories all surrounded… pork.

    • Wow– I have plenty of early food memories but no idea what the first was! And I certainly can’t lay claim to any from my crawling days…I”m impressed. More impressed still that it was bacon– your mother knew how to treat her baby!

  14. next time I mail order some Benton’s bacon, I will be getting extra for this sinful purpose. I’ve made bacon ice cream (an experiment that has yet to be repeated), but it’s never occurred to me to make bacon popcorn. genius!

  15. Thank you for your yummy and innovative recipes!
    As you pointed out, at least popcorn is a whole grain. Personally, because of the salt in the bacon, I’d omit the added salt, and sprinkle a tablespoon of superfine granulated sugar over after mixing the popped corn and bacon pieces. We know what sugar and salt do together, dance in our mouths.

    • Ann, I am with you on the sweet and salty combo! And sweet-salty-savory? YUM. Sometimes we do a black pepper and sugar combo on popcorn that makes it sweet and spicy, too. Ah, popcorn– the foundation for so very many flavor combinations!

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