Blast Your Popcorn Into Flavor Heaven With This Candied Addition

Candied bacon is about to become your next bowl of popcorn's best friend. Candied bacon is thick slices of bacon that have been coated with a sugary layer of maple syrup, brown sugar, honey, or some other lovely sugary combination or concoction before baking. Strips of this pork are often given a sprinkle of black pepper, garlic powder, or even red pepper flakes before popping them into the oven. The goal is to create a perfect balance of sweet, savory, and spicy. While baking, the sugar caramelizes and creates this beautiful layer of sweetness. The texture becomes crisp and chewy and is an experience your taste buds won't soon forget.

But for flavor-packed popcorn that you cannot stop eating, add candied bacon to your bowl of popped kernels and it becomes a blast of heaven. The salty, buttery crunch of popcorn coupled with the sweet, smoky, bacon with a hint of spice will give your mouth all the feels. What you will love about this combo is there are a couple of different ways of assembling these addictive ingredients based on how much time and energy you want to exert.   

The first method for achieving popcorn and candied bacon nirvana begins with crumbling your candied bacon and simply adding all those bits to your popped popcorn. Give it a good toss like a salad so everything is evenly distributed throughout and you're in business. You will find that the candied bacon naturally adheres to the buttered popcorn, ensuring you get a little bit of both with each handful. If you want to roast some chopped jalapenos along with some pepitas or sunflower seeds you can add these ingredients to the mix as well to create your own riff on trail mix. 

Nosh it on while streaming a movie at home, snack on it after a long workout, or add it to the menu for your next soiree. This mix is perfect for a cocktail party and will complement everything — like a boozy Sazerac made with your bourbon of choice. You could also enjoy the candied bacon popcorn while sipping an apple martini by the pool or while drinking a Bloody Mary during a Sunday brunch. This marriage between this easy candied bacon and popcorn will leave your guests impressed; however, there is another way to make popcorn and candied bacon that will leave you wanting more. 

The second method to construct your bacon and popcorn combo is a little more involved; however, it will transform all of your ingredients into something that resembles a really sticky caramel corn or a maple bacon popcorn that straddles the line of being a sweet dessert and a yummy snack. To create candied bacon popcorn, you are going to want to cook the popcorn and bacon separately, but save the candied process for when you bring those two ingredients together. 

Once you have popped your popcorn and fried and chopped your bacon, you are going to want to create your sticky sauce. This can be as easy as heating brown sugar, honey, and some baking soda together until it is bubbling. It will make a sweet, gooey caramelized syrup that you will pour directly over the popcorn and the bacon. You will toss and mix it with the bacon and popcorn until everything is evenly coated. The end result is a true gastronomic paradise for your taste buds. But don't start popping it into your mouth until it has fully cooled or you may end up with a burned mouth rather than a satiated one. You can easily customize it with other add-ins like nuts, M&Ms, and Reese's Pieces, so get to popping!