You ever have those days when you think, ‘What else can I do with bacon?’ Maybe it’s just us, but you’ll all be better off for us having thought it!
This time we decided to let the bacon take center stage. This recipe is fairly simple – replace basil with bacon in a pesto recipe, blend and viola! A smoky, creamy, garlicky and most importantly bacon-y pesto sauce! It’s more like a gourmet bacon spread… which sounds excellent, right?
Once done, jar it up and you’ll have it on hand whenever you want to add bacon flavor to a dish, but don’t feel like cooking. Two examples are on a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast or mixed with some angel hair pasta for a quick bacon pesto and pasta dish! The possibilities are endless! Wherever you would put bacon or pesto in a recipe…add a dollop of the bacon pesto and prepare to be amazed!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
- 2 cups cooked, chopped bacon (roughly 1 1/4 package or 10-12 slices of thick cut)
- 4-6 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup bacon fat
- 1/4 extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts
- Salt and pepper to taste
In a pan over medium heat, cook and crisp bacon (you may need to do this in batches). Cooking on medium will leave the bacon somewhat chewy and render out the most fat. Drain bacon and reserve a 1/4 of a cup of fat off to the side. While the pan is off, but not cooled, add garlic and let warm for a few minutes. In a food processor or blender, add your bacon and now warmed garlic. Pulse to start, then process until evenly mixed. Add in pine nuts (or walnuts), parmesan cheese and bacon fat. Repeat the pulse, process and smooth process. Pour extra virgin olive oil and process again, finally pulsing in salt and pepper to taste. Depending on how you like your pesto (thick or thin) add more olive oil until desired constancy.
