When I was left to make dinner with only bacon, cheese, and spinach left in the fridge I had to think of something that would blow all of my other bacon recipes out of the water. This one did it for sure, and then some. Presenting the cheddar bacon explosion!
The leftovers are EVEN better. You can cut the slices thin, pan fry them to get a crisp outer shell on both sides, and stick it between 2 slices of Focaccia Bread. Absolutely delicious.
I use Tone’s Southwest Chipotle Seasoning in this which gives a reminiscing taste of smoking it on a barbecue. It has deep notes of smoke and spice that I haven’t been able to find elsewhere that pairs perfectly with heavy handed amounts of bacon.
From meatballs to hamburgers to meals made entirely of bacon, this is a seasoning that is a must-have for your pantry.
Make sure you do NOT use thick sliced bacon when making this. The bacon won’t cook properly on the inside if you use a thick cut, rather than a normal cut, which will lead to a soggy and fat filled mess. It will be under cooked on the inside, and nobody wants to eat under cooked pork.
We’re using the convection option again, to cook this in the oven. This helps cook the bacon through and also add a crisp layer on the outside of the whole roll. Don’t have a convection option? You can cook it at 400°F in a regular oven. Though it won’t turn out as crispy as if you do it on convection. To get it crispy on the outside, you can broil the bacon at the very end for about 4-5 minutes.
Yields 5 Servings of Cheddar Bacon Explosion.
The Preparation
- 30 ounces bacon
- 2 tablespoons chipotle seasoning, such as Tones
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose seasoning, such as Mrs. Dash
- 2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
- 5 cups spinach
The Execution
1. Preheat your oven on CONVECTION at 375°F. If you don’t have a convection option, you can do 400°F on bake. Though it won’t turn out as crispy.
2. Start weaving! This step is the most crucial of all the steps. When you place your bacon down, make sure it is all facing the same way. This ensures an even cook when we put it in the oven. You want to do 15 strips that are vertical, and then 12 strips horizontally, to over the whole span of the rest of the bacon. With the remaining 3 strips, you will cut them in half and use them as the remainder of the horizontal strips, to cover any gaps you might have.
3. You want your bacon weave to be tight, and not have holes in it when it’s finished. It will create holes on its own when you start to roll it, so try to get it as tight as possible at the beginning. You’ll be weaving it under and over each slice of bacon, alternating the weave on each slice you pass.
4. Once your bacon weave is finished, season it up with your favorite seasoning. I love getting a barbecue type of taste when I do this type of thing, so I am using Tones Southwest Chipotle Seasoning. Spread it well onto the bacon and rub it into the bacon.
5. Add all of your cheese to the bacon. Make sure it’s spread out well and evenly covers the bacon weave. You want to leave about a 1 1/2 inch border around the edges so that the cheese doesn’t leak out too much.
6. Add all of your spinach to the top of the cheese. Use the palm of your hands to compress the spinach a little bit. This will help out when rolling it. You have to roll it tight, so having the bacon compressed makes it a lot easier to roll.
7. Use the edge of your foil to get the beginning of the roll started. If you’ve ever rolled a cigarette, it will be a similar fasion to how this is done. Though conversely from a cigarette, you want a very tight roll from the beginning. You want it to be compressed as much as you can get it.
8. Once you roll your bacon out, make sure you season it on the outside. Don’t go overboard on the seasoning since this will be sitting in your hot oven, which could lean toward some burnt spices. You might have some excess cheese the started to fall out of the rollup. I picked some of the extra cheese off and left the rest to melt and fall out on its own.
9. Get some foil and cover a baking sheet. Add plenty of salt to the baking sheet. This absorbs the grease that will drip off of all of the bacon, making sure that it doesn’t burn and stops smoke from occurring in your oven.
10. Put your bacon roll on a cooling rack and put the cooling rack on top of the baking sheet. Put this in your oven for 60-70 minutes (It will be longer if you are not using convection bake, about 90 minutes).
11. Once you take it out of the oven, you should notice a very crisp top layer. You want to let this cool for about 10-15 minutes before you try to transfer it off of the cooling rack.
12. Transfer your bacon to a cutting board and slice to your desired thickness. Enjoy!
This makes a total of 10 servings of Cheddar Bacon Explosion. Each serving comes out to be 519 calories, 48.6g fats, 1.9g net carbs, and 17.4g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 30 ounce bacon | 4533 | 396.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 226.8 |
| 2 tablespoon chipotle seasoning | 15 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 2 | 1.2 | 0.6 |
| 2 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning | 5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| 2 1/2 cup cheddar cheese | 1237 | 102 | 9.5 | 0 | 9.5 | 70 |
| 5 cup spinach | 35 | 0.4 | 5.6 | 3.6 | 2 | 4.5 |
| Totals | 5825 | 500 | 19.4 | 6.3 | 13.1 | 302.1 |
| Per Serving (/10) | 582 | 50 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 30.2 |
Cheddar Bacon Explosion
Ingredients
- 30 ounce bacon
- 2 tablespoon chipotle seasoning such as Tones
- 2 teaspoon all-purpose seasoning such as Mrs. Dash
- 2 ½ cup cheddar cheese
- 5 cup spinach
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F on the convection setting or 400F for a conventional oven. Then start weaving! This step is the most crucial of all the steps. Make sure to lay all of the bacon down facing the same way to make sure the slices cook evenly once in the oven. The weave will have some holes once rolled, so get it as tight as possible at the beginning. It's best to do this on a piece of foil paper.
- Once the bacon weave is finished, add the seasonings and rub them into the meat.
- Add all of the cheese to the bacon, spreading it out evenly to cover the bacon weave, leaving a 1 1/2" border around the edges to keep the cheese from leaking out too much.
- Place the spinach on top of the cheese and push down on the leaves to compress them a bit, making the weave easier to roll.
- Use the edge of the foil to get the beginning of the roll started. Roll the weave lengthwise as tightly as possible.
- Season the outside of the roll. Line a baking sheet with foil and add plenty of salt (this absorbs the bacon grease, keeping it from burning and smoke from filling the oven). Place the bacon roll on a cooling rack and put the cooling rack on top of the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 60–70 minutes (around 90 minutes if using a conventional oven setting). The top layer should be very crisp once done.
- Remove and let cool for about 10–15 minutes.
- Transfer the Bacon Explosion to a cutting board and slice. Enjoy!
