Dehydrated Bacon
Instructions for dehydrating raw bacon.
This is not for long shelf storage. Dried bacon strips are delicious and great for snacks for work or for traveling. When dehydrating most meats, the advice is to use low fat meat and to cut away any obvious fat because fat can turn rancid and spoil the jerky. But low fat jerky can be super dry and chewy and not always satisfying. If you dehydrate high fat meat you should store it in the freezer or fridge until ready to use.
Most bacon jerky methods advise frying the bacon first but this causes the fat to render out and the bacon to become crisp. My method uses strips of raw bacon so that the result is more like dehydrated pork belly with translucent fat intact. ( bacon is after all just pork belly slices with added flavoring). I don’t marinate the bacon before dehydrating. If you like lots of fat with your meat then this is the method for you.
Ingredients:
1 packet of bacon slices of your choice. I used thick cut bacon in my example.
1 dehydrator capable of reaching 160°F or 71°C
Method:
Place the bacon strips in single slices in the dehydrator and dehydrate for at least 6-8 hours at 160° F (71° C)
A small amount of fat will render out and settle on the bottom of the dehydrator so make sure you have a collection tray in place.
When done, cut into smaller bite sized pieces and store in a container in the fridge or freezer. Put a date label on the container.
Storage time fridge: I would guess a couple of weeks. If its stored for an unknown length of time I would say use the sniff test or if it looks bad then throw it out.
Storage time freezer: Indefinitely
Recipes by: Cathy Loughman
Check out our full shopping list of approved carnivore foods as well as a sample meal plan.
1 thought on “Dehydrator Bacon”
Would love to see a picture of this! I’ve experimented with higher fat meat dehydration via 73/27 ground beef jerky. In order to ensure no rancidity during the period it takes me to consume the batch (not very long, maybe a few days to a week at most) I marinate in acid first like some apple cider vinegar, and finish the meat after dehydration (275 F for 10 minutes). Curious if this is possible for ‘bacon jerky’ as well? I’d also prefer to use pork belly as it has fewer histamines and preservatives (personally my body is sensitive to that kind of thing). I look forward to your thoughts!