Bacon Jam Recipe

For anyone who is a fan of jams and relishes, sometimes the traditional options can become a little boring, and you find yourself looking for something extra special, unique and exciting.

This is where bacon jam comes in. It’s made from a wonderful blend of bacon, onions, brown sugar, and coffee. This jam makes the perfect versatile accompaniment to everything from hamburgers and steaks to salads and crackers.

So today, we’ll show you exactly how to make this yourself from home. It’s super simple to make and guaranteed to impress anyone you serve it to. Give it a try!

How to Make Bacon Jam

Bacon jam has everything. It fulfills both the savory and sweet flavors. It’s so easy to make. Even the worst of cooks should be able to nail it. Not only that, it pairs well with just about anything.

Many people are surprised by the use of coffee in the recipe, too, don’t worry if you’re not a coffee fan! It’s there just as a flavor enhancer. This is still very much going to take like bacon.

If you haven’t tried bacon jam before, we highly recommend you give this recipe a try for yourself! We are sure you’ll fall in love with it just as we have.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of thick-cut bacon
• 2 sweet onions (large, quartered, and sliced thickly)
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• ½ cup of water
• ⅓ cup of strong brewed coffee (use a brand of your choosing)
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Number of portions: 2

Instructions

Bacon onion jam is a straightforward recipe to make. It doesn’t require any special cooking skills, ingredients, or kitchen utensils to make. Not only that, but it’s super adaptable too. You can add/remove ingredients as you wish and get playful with them to customize the flavor to your liking.

The total cooking time here is just over an hour with a 10-minute prep time, so it’s a nice recipe to prepare in advance and let cook while you prepare the rest of your meal.

Step 1:

Start by taking the 1lb of thick-cut bacon and cutting it into ½ inch slices.

Step 2: 

Next, throw them into a frying pan on medium heat and let the fat start to render down. Don’t worry about how evenly they are cooking or if every piece is separated at this stage. Let them cook slowly, and they will start to separate themselves.

Step 3: 

Cover the pan and turn the heat up to medium-high and let them cook for about 10 minutes. Keep agitating them every few minutes and fry them until they are mostly cooked – but not completely crispy, as we’ll still be cooking them further. 

The main goal here is mostly just to render the fat down.

Step 4:

Pour most of the cooked bacon grease into a suitable container, leaving about one tablespoon’s worth in the pan. If that’s tough to gauge, pour it all out and re-add one tablespoon back into the pan.

Step 5:

Next, we add the onions to the pan and cook them for 8-10 minutes on medium-high. Once that’s finished, turn the temperature down to low.

Step 6:

To this, we’ll add ½ cup of brown sugar and stir it in thoroughly. Continue cooking this mixture for about 20 minutes to render the cooked bacon and caramelized onions.

Step 7:

Now we add the rest of the ingredients, which include the bacon grease we decanted earlier, the pre-brewed strong coffee, and a cup of water. Essentially everything bar the vinegar.

Continue cooking all of this on medium-low heat for about 30 minutes until the consistency turns into that of jam. The onions should be thick and caramelized, and the bacon should be fully cooked.

Step 8:

Now we can remove it from the heat and add the balsamic vinegar to taste. We recommend about one tablespoon. You can also add a little salt at this stage too if that’s something you like.

Extra tip: If you prefer more of that sticky/gooey kind of jam, you can also add some fig jam here. You need to stir it in thoroughly, and it’ll thicken the jam right up and make it taste sweeter.

Step 9:

Allow the bacon onion jam to come up to room temperature before serving. Alternatively, it can be refrigerated for up to a week.

If you need to use the bacon jam from the refrigerator, you may see small white spots inside the tub, don’t worry about this. It’s just solidified fat, and it will disappear as it returns to room temperature.

Ingredient substitutions

One of the best things about jams is that they are so adaptable. The amount of ingredients you can add or substitute to customize it exactly to your liking is endless.

Here are a few of our top suggestions to further hone your Bacon Jam’s taste and consistency.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar boasts a host of gut health-improving qualities and is a great substitute for balsamic vinegar. 

While it doesn’t reasonably produce that same rich, dark color that balsamic vinegar will, it still works great, and you can substitute it with a simple 1:1 ratio.

Turkey Bacon

Not keen on pork? Or maybe just don’t have any to hand?

Don’t worry! Turkey bacon works just as well. While it’s a little bit less fatty than traditional bacon, the sugar and caramelized onion more than pull their weight in keeping that nice, rich texture.

Maple Syrup

If you’re not keen on using real brown sugar, a more natural (and slightly healthier) option is to swap it out for maple syrup. It will give the jam a little bit more sticky quality and a wonderful unique sweetness.

What to serve bacon jam with

The real question is, what CAN’T you serve bacon jam with? It goes with everything from savory meat dishes to salads and even desserts.

Here are a few of our favorites which a little bit of bacon jam is guaranteed to enhance.

On top of pizza

Ever had a pizza that just needs that little something extra? A generous sprinkling of Bacon Jam over the top can be just the thing to enhance its texture and flavor and create something extraordinary. Sandwiches

If you’ve ever found yourself making an egg or grilled cheese sandwich but aren’t sure which condiments to add inside it, consider smothering it with some bacon jam.

Its flavor profile is rich enough to where even if you use nothing else, it’s going to taste incredible.

Salads

Often people have to use a concoct of ingredients to get their salad to how they like, vinegar and mayo for taste, croutons for crunch, and so on.

Bacon Jam can act as a one-stop shop salad enhancer. Add a few tablespoons, stir it into your salad, and it’s ready to go!

How to reheat bacon jam

Bacon jam is excellent when served at room temperature. But it also needs to be refrigerated.

We don’t recommend reheating it in the microwave or pan here, as it might spoil the texture. The easiest method is to just take it out of the fridge and let it naturally return to room temperature,

How to store bacon jam

Despite what its name suggests, Bacon jam is not a jam in the traditional sense, where it can be canned and kept for months.

Its low acidic content means there is a risk of bacteria growth; in general, the bacon fat doesn’t keep great for prolonged periods.

That said, you can still easily keep this stored for 2-3 weeks without issue. Just remember to let it return to room temperature before serving.

How to store bacon jam in the fridge

Allow the bacon jam to cool to room temperature first, and store it in a suitable container such as a mason jar or something like Tupperware.

Once refrigerated, try to use it within 2-3 weeks.

How to store bacon jam in the freezer

Despite its relatively short shelf life compared to other jams, if you did need to store it for longer, it freezes and thaws out quite well and will retain its texture and taste.

The easiest thing to do is to transfer it to a suitable freezer bag and press the air out. Then freeze it, and it should be good for roughly six months.