Bacon Jam is a sweet and savory spreadable jam consisting of coffee, bacon and onions. Spread it on warm biscuits or toast topped with an egg.
I have fallen in love.
From the very second my eyes laid upon Rebecca’s recipe for Bacon Jam aka “Ooh Mommy” Jam, I was extremely curious and extremely hungry. Over a few days I found myself always coming back to her recipe wondering what it could possibly taste like. Is it an overly sweet jam with chunks of chewy bacon? Is a savory jam that would work slathered on cornbread or smeared on toast with a fried egg on top?
So I told myself to get on with it and make it already, and I’m so glad I did.
In this recipe, bacon is slowly cooked with onions and garlic in a delicious concoction of coffee, maple syrup and brown sugar with some tang from cider vinegar until the sauce is thick and the bacon and onions melt in your mouth (just be careful not to burn your tongue when taste testing). After it’s quickly blitzed in a food processor, it’s ready to be served or spread!
Yup. It’s true! Bacon jam. Have you ever heard of it? It’s the next best thing since Nutella for your breakfast toast. But then again, it could be for your lunch or dinner toast too.
To Make This Bacon Jam You Will Need:
- bacon
- onions
- garlic
- brown sugar
- maple syrup
- apple cider vinegar
- pepper
- strong coffee
Three whopping pounds of bacon will be needed. It sounds like a lot but this makes a lot of jam! With a sharp knife, slice the bacon into one-inch pieces.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon until crispy and fully cooked.
In the meantime, thinly slice up the four onions. Rebecca’s recipe calls for yellow onions, but I had a big sack of sweet onions so I used those instead. But either type of onions will work in this recipe.
Smash and peel eight cloves and garlic. Lots of garlic equals lots of flavor!
Once the bacon is golden and crisp, use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon.
Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain and cool.
Carefully spoon most of the hot bacon grease into a jar, leave a couple tablespoons in the dutch oven. Once completely cooled, store in your fridge and use for frying eggs, greasing a skillet etc.
Place the Dutch oven back over medium-high heat and add in the sliced onions and smashed garlic. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook low and slow, stirring occasionally.
You’ll want to continue to cook the onions down until they are pretty translucent and soft.
Meanwhile, make the liquid gold.
In a large bowl measure and add in 1 cup of brown sugar.
Pour in 1-1/2 cups strong coffee.
Then 1 cup apple cider vinegar.
1/2 cup pure maple syrup.
Season with 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
Whisk until the sugar dissolves.
Pour that liquid gold over the onions and garlic and give it a good stir as well.
Bring the mixture up to a hard boil for about 2 to 4 minutes before adding in the bacon.
Reduce the heat to low, uncover and simmer until the sauce is thick and the onions start to melt. It takes a good hour to an hour and a half for this all to happen. But your home will fill with a smell I can only describe as a bacon-y barbecue smell which is what I hope heaven will smell like.
When all is said and done and the liquid has reduced, this is what it should look like. Fabulous! I could’ve stopped here and ate it all by spoonful.
Add it to your food processor, fitted with the blade attachment. Secure the lid on tight, and pulsed until it resembles jam.
You could keep going for a smoother consistency but I like texture. So I stopped right here.
After it has cooled, store in an air-tight jar in your fridge.
It’s the most delicious blend of flavors your tastebuds won’t know what hit’em. I can’t seem stop thinking of ways I can consume it, it’s crazy… crazy delicious that is! Serve with warm biscuits or spread on toast and top with a fried or poached egg.
Enjoy! And if you give this recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Bacon Jam
Ingredients
- 3 pounds bacon
- 4 large yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 8 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1½ strong brewed black coffee
- 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon in its own drippings until crispy and fully cooked. Once crisp and golden, use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
- Spoon all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat into a jar and save for later.
- To the bacon fat in the jar, add the onions and garlic. Stir and cook over medium-high heat until soft and translucent.
- Meanwhile in a large liquid measuring cup add the sugar, coffee, maple syurp and black pepper.
- Pour that liquid gold over the onions and garlic and stir. Bring this mixture up to a hard boil for about two to four minutes before adding in the bacon.
- Reduced the heat to low, uncover and simmer until the sauce is thick and the onions start to melt. It takes a good hour to an hour and a half for this all to happen.
- Transfer this to a food processor, place the lid on tight, and pulsed it until it resembles jam.
- After it has cooled, store in an air-tight jar in your fridge.
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OMG, yes please!
i just about died when i saw this on the TK blog the other day – WOWZA!
We love bacon jam at our house! We pair it with fried quail eggs atop of a crostini. Super yum.
I have completely fallen apart over here.
How dare you make me think about this all day long…. must….make….asap.
Seriously?! How is this possible, need to eat now!
Oh god, I’m dying here!
First off I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your head before writing.
I have had a difficult time clearing my thoughts
in getting my thoughts out. I do take pleasure in writing however it just seems like the first 10 to
15 minutes are generally wasted simply just trying
to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or tips? Many thanks!
Hi Moses! I usually sit down with a cup of coffee and just let it come to me. Sometimes I start righting the body of the post and come back to the intro later. I do think about my post as I’m making the recipe so that when I sit down I have something to pull from. However I do suffer from writers block and somehow just muddle through. Thank you for your kind words 🙂