Ah, bacon. Besides being delectable and one of humankind’s most fabulous creations, there are numerous other reasons why you can allow yourself to revel in the tasty cured meat more often. For one, bacon has nutrients. A 3.5-ounce (100 grams) portion of bacon has around 37 grams of protein, a good amount of B vitamins, and 89% of the daily recommended amount of selenium. Also, if you plan to go on a keto diet, bacon will be your most trusted ally.
Of course, we’re not going to come out and say you should be eating bacon every day. But, in moderation, almost anything we can consume can help us out somehow (except smoking — we all know nothing good comes of that).
If you’re planning on indulging in more fatty goodness this summer, you should spring for the best. We’ve hunted down 11 of the best bacon brands you can check out right now. However, unless you live in the same town as most of these smokehouses, you won’t find them in your local supermarket. Thanks to online shopping, you can buy bacon from these brands with a click of a button and have them ship it to your doorstep. If you want more bacon goodness, consider getting one of these bacon subscription boxes.
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Benton’s
Better known for the delicious hams they’ve made since 1947, Benton’s smokes all its meats in a small smoker out back of its facility in Tennessee. The hand-rubbed bacon is cured for weeks before undergoing 48 hours of smoke on each side for pig perfection.
Buffalo Gal
Buffalo Gal produces some of the finest buffalo meat in the country — but right now we’re talking about bacon. The brand’s wild boar bacon is maple-smoked and has a rich, porky flavor with earthy game quality. Plus, an overpopulation of wild boars in the American South causes tens of millions of dollars in agricultural damage per year, so frying up these strips is doing some good for the ecosystem.
Tender Belly
The heritage hogs used in the dry-cured bacon from Tender Belly are raised in Iowa free of hormones, antibiotics, and the use of farrowing or gestation crates. Happier hogs mean better bacon, especially if it’s smoked with cherry wood like this glorious stuff is.
Peregrino Ibérico de Bellota Bacon
This melt-in-your-mouth bacon is made from acorn-fed Spanish Ibérico pork that’s hand-rubbed with salt and slow-smoked over hickory in Kentucky. Ibérico pigs roam free in the Dehesa forests of southwest Spain, where they get plenty of exercise and nutrients from an antioxidant-rich acorn diet. Nutty, smoky, savory, and sweet, the bacon from Peregrino Ibérico de Bellota Bacon from La Tienda is like an adventure for your palate.
Bill-E’s Small Batch Bacon
Cutting corners isn’t something that Bill-E’s Small Batch Bacon does. Bill-E’s mouth-watering bacon starts with Berkshire Red and Chantilly White pigs raised on 25 Midwestern family farms. He then cures the bacon for eight days in pink salt and brown sugar for a meaty treat that makes our mouths water before it even hits the skillet. It took him three years to perfect the recipe, and now it’s available for carnivores everywhere to enjoy.
Allen Brothers
Allen Brothers supply some of the best steakhouses in the country, so you know you’re getting top-notch quality when you buy its meat. The brand’s thick-sliced, English-style Bakers Back Bacon is cut from the loin and belly, so it’s leaner and meatier than some other brands. Allen Brothers use sustainably raised heritage pork from small family farms and cure it naturally without nitrates, so you can feel extra good about indulging in this bacon.
Vande Rose Farms
The craftsmen at Iowa-based Vande Rose Farms slow-smoke their thick-cut bacon with brown sugar, salt, and pepper. But perhaps more importantly is what their family farm suppliers don’t use. The heritage breed Duroc hogs the brand’s bacon is made from aren’t given antibiotics or hormones and eat a vegetarian diet of corn and soybeans. Oh, and you won’t find any water or phosphates — cheater ingredients used to get the flavor of artisanal bacon — in these strips.
Snake River Farms
Coming in both uncut (slab) and cut form, Snake River Farms Kurobuta bacon is lightly cured and made from 100% Berkshire pork belly and offers a wonderful amount of both marbling and meat. The Japanese term for the pig, Kurobuta, is akin to Kobe beef and indicates the high quality of the meat. We prefer the slab bacon as it allows us to customize the cuts that we need, from slices for burgers and sandwiches to thick cubes for soups and other dishes.
North Country Smokehouse
Made by one of the last family-run smokehouses in the country, North Country Smokehouse bacon is farmhouse-style bacon that is first cured in real maple syrup and spices before being smoked over Applewood and Cherrywood to create a rich, rustic flavor. North Country uses antibiotic-free pork and eschews preservatives and nitrites. Our pick is the brand’s thick-cut Applewood smoked bacon.
Niman Ranch
A leader in both sustainable and humane agriculture, Niman Ranch has been producing meat used by a veritable who’s who of chefs since the 1970s. The brand’s pork products are fed a 100% vegetarian diet and are free of hormones and antibiotics. While they do a dry-cured Applewood smoked bacon, our favorite is the uncured pepper bacon, which is the perfect amount of smoky and spicy.
Broadbent’s
Known primarily for its country hams (which the company has been producing since 1909), Kentucky-based Broadbent’s also makes some damn good bacon. We opt for its hickory-smoked bacon, which is dry-cured and slow-aged. One thing we also like about Broadbent’s is that it offers “bargain bacon packs,” which feature fatter cuts of bacon from end slices and irregular cuts at a lower price.
