Grilled twisted bacon is an ingenious TikTok viral video that is a no-brainer to adapt for the grill! This is a super simple recipe that will change the way you prepare bacon for those weekend mornings or serve these up for a creative addition for game day treats!
These hot bacon strips are so crazy popular right now and you have to stop what you are doing and give them a try!
They are so silly easy but they jazz up a breakfast spread. We actually started making them for game days with friends and served them with containers of veggies to offset the heavy weight bacon.
It was a HUGE hit as everyone could just take one from the jar along with carrots and celery sticks.
🥓 Ingredients
Bacon – Use thinly sliced bacon for this recipe. Thin slices twist better and stick together more easily that the thick slices.
Brown Sugar – Sprinkle a bit over the bacon for an unbelievable sweet flavoring that will make this so addicting! You don’t need much!
Chili Powder – Add some heat to offset the sweet. This chili powder isn’t spicy hot, but does offer a capsicum flavoring that works well with the bacon. For a bit more spiciness, replace this with red pepper flakes.
🔥 Instructions
Step One: Mix the brown sugar and chili powder together in a small bowl.
Step Two: Trim the fat off of the ends of the bacon. The fat will shrink at a different rate than the meat in the bacon, and if it is at the end of the spiral, it may unravel easier.
Step Three: Hold a slice of bacon at each end and twist it up. Make it nice and tight. Lay the spirals on your lined sheet pan.
Step Four: Sprinkle a little bit of the brown sugar and chili seasoning on the bacon.
Step Five: Grill at 350 degrees on direct heat for about 30 minutes. Make sure to turn these over every 5-10 minutes to avoid burning as we talked about in our How to Tell When Bacon is Done guide.
Note: The first time I cooked these, I did not turn them over in the cast iron skillet quickly enough and they burned. I think the sugar accelerated the burning, as I didn’t think I left them alone long enough to worry. Stay close by the grill and closely monitor them.
❗ Expert Tips
After these cool, they will crisp up. I like to serve them with fresh veggies and a ranch dipping sauce. Don’t be afraid to dip the bacon in the ranch! It is oh-so good!
Use a Baking Rack – I tried this recipe a few times to test out different methods to grill the bacon. I lined a sheet pan with foil and laid the bacon in that. It worked, but the bacon unraveled more than I wanted. I think it is because the rendered fat heated up and the parts of the bacon that contacted it cooked at a different rate, causing it to unravel.
I then added an elevated baking rack to the sheet pan and it solved the problem. The fat dripped down into the sheet pan and the entire bacon cooked evenly. Check out the photos below to see how much they stayed twisted tightly.
Use Parchment Paper – Line the sheet pan with a piece of parchment before you start this. As this is cooked on direct heat, it is possible that the grease and particles would burn on the pan, making cleanup a pain!
We added brown sugar and chili powder to the bacon and some will drip down. Look how easy it is just to lift up the parchment and remove most of the burned-on stuff!
Keep the temperature BELOW 370 as that is smoking point for bacon. Keep the grill temperature lower or the bacon will burn.
Hold the bacon with one hand and just twist with the other one. I hold with my left hand and just twirl it around my index finger for the desired twist. Too much twisting will actually make the bacon longer.
Another option is to cut the bacon in half to make it half as long and just make a couple twists.
Recipe FAQ
Typically, a slice of bacon is close to one inch wide, which limits the amount you can add to your skillet without overlapping. When the bacon is twisted, it becomes about ¼” wide, which allows you to add a lot more to the skillet and cook a whole package more quickly. Don’t over twist as it does make it longer, which is counter intuitive.
It takes twisted bacon about 30 minutes to cook. Remember to turn it and watch it a bit to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Using indirect heat and also using a sheet pan with baking rack to ensure that the bacon grease doesn’t drip onto the coals + fire is the big key here. If you haven’t tried indirect heating before, make sure to give this a quick read even if you aren’t using a Kamado grill.
Use the technique we tried of putting the bacon straight on the sheet pan with NO baking rack. This will allow the bacon to stay softer.
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Grilled Twisted Bacon
Equipment
- Grill
- Quarter Sheet Pan Baking Rack
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- 12 oz Bacon thin
- 3 tbsp Brown Sugar
- ½ tsp Ground Chili Pepper
Instructions
- Heat grill to indirect heat at 350 degrees.
- Combine brown sugar and ground chili pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
- Hold both ends of the bacon and start twisting the bacon onto itself.
- Once the bacon is twisted, sprinkle the brown sugar/chili pepper mix. Don't overdue it as too much will turn the bacon into candied bacon, rather than adding a little bit of sweetness/spice. Cover the pan you are using with bacon so no grease drips onto the grill and cause flare ups.
- Place bacon twists on the grill and cook until desired doneness, between 30-40 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Jason’s been firing up the grill for over 30 years after graduating from the US Coast Guard Academy. His love of finely-grilled steak and chicken led him to buy his first Weber grill to put on his apartment patio in 1992. Each military move led to a new grill (a mixture of gas and charcoal) until he fell in love with the Big Green Egg in 2008. Since then, he has added another 4 grills to the collection. Yes, he has a problem. Jason loves smoking in the ceramic BGE with exotic woods including olive wood from Egypt and hard to find varieties such as sassafras and orange wood. Jason takes the term “foodie” to a whole new level, jumping at the chance to take food tours and cooking classes during foreign travels. These have provided inspiration to incorporate new ideas into recipes when he gets back home. He has been featured in Fox News, Parade, Yahoo News, Kansas City Living and more. After retiring from the military and moving to southwest Florida, he has focused grilling and smoking locally sourced meats and fish (read: he likes to catch his own fish!)
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