I made my favorite grilled cheese for dinner last night (dry rubbed black forest bacon with gruyere), and somehow had a few strips of bacon left over. I was going to wrap them up and put them in the fridge for breakfast, but a few hours later I was in the mood for a nosh and whipped up a little bacon snack.
I was really in the mood for caramel popcorn with bacon, but I was feeling way to lazy to make popcorn, so I thought I’d use maple syrup instead. When I first tasted it, I wasn’t really blown away. It tasted it little (bitter) like Cracker Jack, (something I only ate for the prize inside because the popcorn was never sweet enough to me), but 10 minutes later the bowl was empty and I was very sad to see the bottom of the bowl.
Since there’s bacon in the recipe, I’m not sure how long it would last so in the future I’m going to make small snack size portions. It takes just enough effort to make that I won’t make it every day, but it’s going into my snack rotation.
Maple Bacon Popcorn
- 2 tablespoon bacon grease (, or canola oil)
- 1/3 cup popcorn kernels
- 4 strips of your favorite bacon
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large skillet, fry the bacon until crisp. Reserve bacon grease. Cut bacon crosswise into 1/8 inch strips.
- In a large stock-pot, pop popcorn using reserved bacon grease until all kernels have popped. Let cool. In a large mixing bowl, combine bacon popcorn. Add maple syrup and salt and toss until the popcorn is well coated. Spread the popcorn mixture evenly onto the baking pan. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the syrup is dry. Serve immediately.
