This double smoked bacon recipe is the perfect addition to your breakfast lineup using your outdoor pellet grill.
This is the best way to hot smoke bacon for a early morning tailgate or just breakfast for friends and family if you’re a master smoker who loves any reason to fire up the smoker.
When you don’t cook in a cast iron skillet on the stove, in an air fryer, or even in the oven, the bacon doesn’t leave a strong smell in your house for hours, and the smoke flavor makes the bacon taste even better.
Read the article below to learn all the smoking tips and tricks you need to make bacon on the grill. Let’s dive in!.
Bacon lovers, get ready to take your breakfast game to a whole new level. Double smoked bacon takes the classic pork breakfast staple and doubles down on smoky savory flavor. With an extra dose of wood smoke, you get bacon that is intensely smoky, deeply seasoned and crispy.
The secret is cold smoking followed by hot smoking. It only requires a few extra steps but rewards you with next-level bacon bliss in every bite. In this guide, I’ll walk through the incredibly simple process of making double smoked bacon at home. With my tips on ingredients cold smoking hot smoking, and storage, you can create bacon better than the store. Let’s get started!
Ingredients for Double Smoked Bacon
Double smoked bacon starts with just one main ingredient:
- Pork belly – Choose a high-quality pork belly that has nice marbling throughout. The fat equals flavor and keeps the bacon tender. Look for a 2-3 lb pork belly slab.
That’s it! No need to cure the pork belly yourself The store-bought pork belly is pre-cured and ready to smoke.
For added flavor, you can optionally coat the pork belly with:
- Brown sugar – For sweetness and caramelized flavor
- Maple syrup – For a touch of maple flavor
- Spices – Like smoked paprika, garlic powder, pepper
But the pork belly alone will make phenomenal double smoked bacon.
Step 1: Cold Smoke the Pork Belly
Cold smoking is the key to deeply infused smoke flavor. To cold smoke:
- Set up your smoker or pellet grill for cold smoking by removing the heat diffuser.
- Keep temps between 70-90°F.
- Use fruit wood like apple or cherry for milder smoke.
- Smoke the pork for 3-5 hours.
The lower heat prevents the fat from rendering or meat from cooking. This allows the smoke to penetrate deeply into the pork for rich flavor.
During cold smoking, the pork belly will change color as smoke adheres to the surface. Once you have a nice reddish-brown color, remove from the smoker.
Step 2: Rest Overnight in the Fridge
After cold smoking, let the pork belly rest overnight in the fridge. This pause allows the smoke flavor to evenly distribute through the meat.
It also helps form the pellicle – a sticky protein film that helps smoke adhere during hot smoking.
Step 3: Hot Smoke the Pork Belly
The next day, set up your smoker for hot smoking:
- Heat to 200°F using apple, cherry, or maple wood.
- Smoke until the internal temp reaches 120°F.
- This usually takes 2-3 hours.
The hot smoke renders the fat and cooks the bacon just shy of finished. You’ll see the fat start bubbling and dripping during this stage.
Hot smoking at a low 200°F ensures the bacon gets perfectly crispy without burning over high heat.
Step 4: Rest in the Fridge
After hot smoking, let the bacon rest in the fridge for 2 days. This crucial resting period allows the proteins to set and the flavor to develop fully.
It also dries and firms up the surface, which is vital for getting ultra crispy bacon when you fry it later.
Step 5: Slice and Fry the Bacon
Once rested, it’s time to slice and fry your double smoked bacon until crispy!
- Slice the pork belly into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices.
- Fry in a skillet over medium heat until browned and crispy.
The double smoked bacon will have a deep red color with irresistible aromas of wood smoke.
Frying gives you sizzling and crisp bacon that’s ready to dive into. You’ll be amazed by the intense smoky bacon flavor in every bite!
Storage and Serving Suggestions
Double smoked bacon holds up well in the fridge:
- Fully cooked and sliced bacon lasts 5-7 days refrigerated.
- The raw smoked pork belly keeps 2-3 weeks before slicing.
You can freeze the sliced bacon for longer term storage.
This smoky treat makes the perfect complement to all your favorite breakfast dishes. Wake up your eggs, burgers, sandwiches, salads and more with the deep, savory flavor of double smoked bacon. Some tasty ways to enjoy it:
- Classic bacon, egg and cheese sandwich
- Bacon and blue cheese burger
- Bacon, tomato, avocado salad
- Bacon wrapped potatoes or dates
- Candied bacon on pancakes or waffles
The possibilities are endless when you have double smoked bacon on hand. You can even crumble it over soups, beans or pizza for a smoky boost of flavor.
Troubleshooting Double Smoked Bacon
If you run into any issues making double smoked bacon, here are some quick tips:
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Not smoky enough? Cold smoke longer and use stronger wood like hickory or mesquite.
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Too salty? Soak the pork in water for 1 hour before smoking to reduce saltiness.
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Won’t crisp up? Slice thinner and fry over higher heat.
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Burned? Use lower temps when hot smoking around 180-200°F.
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Fat won’t render? Hot smoke longer until the fat bubbles and drips.
Make Your Best Bacon Yet
Now there are no excuses to skip out on breakfast – not when you have the smoky, porky goodness of double smoked bacon waiting. With this simple cold smoke + hot smoke method and my tips, you can level up your bacon game to new heights.
What Temperature Do You Smoke Bacon At?
Smoke bacon at medium heat between 325-350 degrees F. This is lower than the temperature at which I usually cook bacon in the oven, which is between 400 and 425 F. ).
The fat can render slowly during this slower smoking process over indirect heat, which makes bacon that is both slightly chewy and crispy. Once the bacon is on the smoker, you won’t have to flip it at all unless you want to add more spices or sugar to the other side while it’s cooking.
Why This Recipe Works:
Smokers are very similar to ovens. They use indirect dry heat to cook and render the bacon fat, but with the addition of smoke.
This works well for cured pork, I even double smoke ham on my Big Green Egg as well.
Now, pre-packaged bacon that you buy from the store has already been cured and smoked. This is a recipe specifically for cooking the bacon so it’s double smoked (adding more smoky flavor).
- Large Baking Pan
- Aluminum Foil or Parchment Paper
- Wire Rack
- Tongs
- Paper Towels
- Electric Smoker (Traeger grills, Pit Boss, Yoder, etc.)
Welcome to my online classroom! The notes below will help you learn. I answer a lot of the questions I get from readers and cooks like you.
This information is meant to help you understand this recipe and the process better so that you can do it on your own.
Ready to begin cooking? Simply jump to the recipe card below and begin.
Besides being delicious, bacon simply is cured pork belly. Pork belly comes from the belly of the pig (thus the name). The pork belly slab goes through a process called curing, but could also be dry brined.
The curing process is similar to the method used for other fatty, rich meats like ham and salami. Curing is essentially the preservation of food using sodium nitrite, which allows for longer storage without refrigeration.
Pork bellies are seasoned with salt and nitrites and then injected several times over a few weeks with a curing solution that has brown sugar or maple syrup and sodium nitrate to make the bacon sweet and flavorful.
This recipe is for cooking store-bought bacon specifically on your pellet smoker (charcoal smoker works too) and isn’t a recipe to cure a pork belly slab. If you’re looking to make homemade bacon entirely from scratch, check out this recipe for cold-smoking pork belly.
- Thick-Cut Bacon (choose your favorite type of bacon or flavors like apple wood, maple bacon, brown sugar, and more) ).
That’s it! All you need to make bacon is bacon. Buy whichever type of bacon you prefer, but find something that is thicker cut. This allows for additional time to get more smoke flavor into the pork.
If you want to make your bacon slices taste better, I suggest adding a low-sodium dry rub or even just some smoky paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper.
Like the bacon a little sweeter? Brush on some maple syrup, honey, or brown sugar as well. You can also try my keto candied bacon recipe and use that on the smoker too!.
Double Smoked Bacon BLT
FAQ
Is double smoked bacon already cooked?
What does “double smoked” mean?
How long to smoke bacon at 225?
Can you smoke store-bought bacon?
How to make double smoked bacon?
Choosing the right cut of pork is crucial when it comes to making double smoked bacon. Pork belly is the most commonly used cut for bacon, but you also have the option of using shoulder meat. The shoulder is leaner, while the belly has more fat and is crispier. When selecting your pork belly, look for a slab with a good balance of meat and fat.
How long does smoked bacon take to smoke?
The curing salts can be applied as a dry rub or mixed with water to create a brine. Once the bacon has been cured, it is ready for the first round of smoking. Traditional American bacon is typically smoked for about six hours or less, but double smoked bacon spends a whopping 24 hours in the smoker.
Can You double smoke Bacon on a pellet smoker?
Learn how to cook the best bacon and double smoke it on a pellet smoker. A simple way to create tasty bacon without turning on the oven. Preheat the pellet smoker for 350 degrees F. Keep the bacon cold in the fridge before smoking for best results. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a cooling rack over the top.
Can you smoke bacon if you don’t have a smoker?
Not all bacon is smoked. Several European countries have a tradition of making bacon without smoking. So, if you don’t have a smoker, you could still make this bacon by not going through the smoking process. After rinsing the cure off the bacon and soaking it, just put it in a 180 F oven until the internal temperature is 120 F.