Homemade Smoked Bacon

Making your own Homemade Smoked Bacon is a bit of a process, but it's 100% worth the effort. I'm here to walk you step-by-step through making your own smoked bacon from scratch that is way better than anything you'll get at the store.

Recipe by Susie Bulloch (heygrillhey.com) on June 17, 2021

Prep time: PT20M

Cook time: PT360M

Total time: PT11900M

Rating

4.55 stars (80 reviews)

Keywords

Smoked Bacon

Ingredients

1 5-pound slab pork belly (skin removed)
1 Tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 ¼ teaspoons Prague powder #1 (curing salt)
5 Tablespoons coarse Kosher salt
5 Tablespoons brown sugar
3 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon maple syrup
3 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 ½ teaspoons red pepper flakes

Cuisine

American
Barbecue

Steps

Prepare the cure. Combine all ingredients for the bacon cure in a bowl. It will be a paste-like consistency. This is exactly what you want.
Cure the pork belly. Place your slab of pork belly in a large plastic bag (either a large vacuum seal bag or a gallon zip top bag works great for this). Using your hands, transfer some of the cure to the bag with the pork belly and spread it on all sides. Make sure to thoroughly coat all sides of the bacon and use all of the cure. Seal the bag tightly, removing as much air as possible. Place the sealed pork belly package in the refrigerator and cure for the next 7 days. Flip and massage the pork belly once per day.
Develop a pellicle. After the 7th day in the cure, remove the bacon from the bag. Gently rinse the pork belly to remove any thick slimy build-up on the exterior of the pork. Place it on a wire rack above a baking sheet. Pat the pork belly dry with paper towels. Season the top with the tablespoon of fresh cracked black pepper. Place the peppered bacon in the fridge (while still on the rack) and leave uncovered for at least 12 or up to 24 hours. This step helps develop a tacky coating called a pellicle on the exterior of the bacon.
Smoke the bacon. Preheat your smoker to 160-170 degrees F using your favorite hardwood. Apple, maple, and hickory are all popular for smoked bacon. Place the pork belly directly on the grill grates, close the lid, and smoke for approximately 6 hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork belly reads 155 degrees F.
Slice and cook. Let the bacon chill completely in the refrigerator before slicing. A cold slab of bacon is much easier to slice into even pieces. Slice your bacon as thick or as thin as you like (one beauty of making it from scratch) and fry up in a cast iron skillet. Enjoy!

Nutitrion

Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 24 kcal
Carbohydrates: 6 g
Protein: 1 g
Fat: 1 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 1 mg
Sodium: 4 mg
Sugar: 4 g

Reviews

Darel McCormick on 2026-05-15 (5 stars):
I just ran this recipe again today for the second time. I reduced the kosher salt by half and it reduced the salty taste mentioned by others. I actually got the maple and brown sugar overtones with just a smidge of saltiness. Absolutely perfect this time.
Dan Gassmann on 2026-05-05 (5 stars):
Thank you for this recipe. It has never failed me and my kids keep begging for more. I use cherry to smoke which they especially like. Appreciate your straightforward videos and techniques.
Andrew on 2026-04-13 (4 stars):
Flavour is amazing, recipe & instructions very detailed easy to follow. My only thing is the final product is very salty! So keep that in mind if it’s your first time and following a recipe to a T.
Richard F. Henderson on 2026-01-22 (5 stars):
Love your bacon! You need to invest in a meat slicer however, easy to use, consistent cuts, variable thickness, they rock. Only drawback is the cleanup, kind of tedious.
Troy on 2025-11-30 (5 stars):
Can’t recall if I left a comment, but this has been a game changer for me and our family and friends as I’ve now made 63 pounds since the beginning of the year after I first saw your recipe. I’ve tweaked it a bit with some different spices but it’s off the charts and everybody loves it. I have shared this link with a lot of people who want to give it a try and for a little bit of added smoke I put a smoking tube with a mixture of pellets and wood chips as well to amp up the flavor. Thank you again so much for the video and the recipe.
Cameron on 2025-11-03 (5 stars):
Tried this recipe it came out great! Thanks for sharing Where do you get your pork belly from. I have found them at BJs but they aren’t very thick and some have skin on. Thanks again for posting
Daniel A Powers on 2025-10-21 (3 stars):
I had same experience, so salty no one could eat more than one slice. Basically 10lbs of Bacon that we have had to use for cooking in recipes only. Are there some techniques to make it less salty, maybe scrub or soak after cure period for extended period of time?