The Best Cuts Of Meat For The Ultimate Homemade Beef Bacon

If there's one reason to love breakfast, it's homemade bacon. The advent of beef bacon has made things more interesting and also more inclusive for non-pork eaters who were once exempt from the fun. For those who have long been partaking of traditional bacon, the question remains: Does beef bacon taste any different from the classic version? To level the playing field and make homemade beef bacon that rivals classic pork strips, you need to choose the best cuts of meat — those that promise fat, flavor, and fragrance just like pork belly. The ideal options are beef belly, brisket, and round cut.

These cuts work so well that some claim beef bacon is superior to pork bacon, highlighting beef bacon's rich flavor and meatier texture. Nutritionally, beef bacon provides more protein per slice, sometimes delivering three times as much as regular bacon. This is due to each slice of pork bacon containing more fat, which shrinks pork bacon to less than half the weight of its competitor when cooked. Beef bacon's lower fat content makes it the superior choice for a filling breakfast.

Since traditional bacon comes from pork belly, beef belly is also a good source. Beef belly, also known as navel, is similarly high in fat and has a beautiful ribbon of marbling running through its structure. Having less fat is an advantage, but having zero fat isn't. Beef belly sits between these two extremes with just enough fat to achieve bacon's typical succulence but not so much that it becomes greasy when cooked. Its marbling provides alternating layers of fat and meat, resulting in tender and flavorful beef bacon.

The only problem with beef belly is that it's often difficult to acquire. You rarely see a slab of this cut at a typical grocery store meat counter because while the cut is connected to the the popular spare rib, it's often trimmed off of that product. However, you might have luck if you request a cut at your local butcher.

On the lower chest of the cow by its breast section is the brisket cut. This cut is often confused with beef belly because they both come from the cow's underside and are adjacent to each other. But, beef brisket carries less fat and is therefore less tender. It requires more care to avoid drying it out and takes longer to cook. However, you can still get a good strip of beef bacon from brisket if you select a fatty, well-marbled cut.

Then, there's beef round, a cut from the cow's hind legs. Round cuts endure more exercise from the cow walking and are therefore much leaner than beef belly and brisket. Consequently, you get tougher meat from the round. It has little marbling, so it's not always the first choice for beef bacon. But, even the toughest part of the beef round (the eye of round) can create some of the best bacon. It may start off less tender than your typical meat for homemade bacon, but it's nothing a cure and smoke won't take care of.