Taking Brunch to the Next Level: Maple Bacon Bourbon Jam

A salty, sweet jam made with BACON as the main ingredient.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: $$
Time: 20 minutes (including prep)

Watch me prep, cook, and serve this jam in Episode 1 of Michelle’s Pop Up Kitchen: Maple Bacon Bourbon Jam

Ingredient List:

• 1.5 – 2 lbs Bacon (I, of course, used 2 lbs)
• 1 Sweet Onion (about 1 cup)
• 1 Shallot
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Bourbon
• 1/2 cup Maple Syrup
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt and Pepper to taste (optional)

Instructions:

Prep

• Dice the onion, shallot, and garlic into small pieces (keeping these ingredients separate)
• Slice bacon into chunky, bite-size pieces
• Bring a large-sized pan to medium heat on the stove (non-stick if you have it)

Cook

• Once the pan has heated up, add the bite-sized bacon pieces to fry ’em up
• When the bacon has finished cooking, remove the bacon from the pan, leaving about 1 of bacon fat in the pan
• Place bacon on paper towels to drain excess fat
• Return the pan to the stove with 1 tablespoon bacon fat
• Add the diced onion and shallot
• Once the onions and shallot have begun to caramelize (have turned golden in color), add 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon chili powder
• Add dash of salt and pepper to taste (optional)
• Mix the onions and shallots with the added spices
• Add diced garlic garlic
• Stand back from the stove and *slowly* add 1/2 cup bourbon
• Add 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• Add 1/2 cup maple syrup
• Add 1/2 cup brown sugar
• Stir to allow brown sugar to dissolve
• Add fried bacon bits back to the pan
• Fold in all of the ingredients
• Turn stove on low to simmer (while simmering, the jam will begin to thicken up)

Eat

• Once the jam has reached your desired (thick, gooey) consistency, turn the stove off and serve!

This is a great breakfast or brunch item that any bacon lover will enjoy.  As shown in the video, I simply served this jam on top a couple of toasted baguette slices.  BUT I bet this would also go really good on some flatbread with a little bit of shaved parmesan, topped with arugula.  mmmmmmm.

Definitely saving that idea for another recipe/video.

Thanks for reading!

Let me know in the comments what you think of this recipe or if you have any recipe requests you’d like me to share!

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