Bacon Wrapped Pretzel Rods
These Bacon Wrapped Pretzel Rods with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Glaze are simply indescribable. Crunchy, chewy, salty, hot, and sweet? Yes…perfection!
I first published this post for Bacon Wrapped Pretzel Rods with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Glaze in 2009, back when I was still just putting some recipes online and maybe taking a quick snap with a small point and shoot camera. The photos were so bad and these are so good so I decided it was time for a redo.
These goodies have an addictive quality I can not deny. But I’m OK with that…I’ll watch the booze and beer intake carefully but this addiction I’m never going to quit. I thought it time to take some better snaps and share the bounty with my blog readers; you deserve to join me! Try these Bacon Wrapped Pretzels with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Glaze and you will see the light!
Before many of us starting scattering around the country, I had a great group of girlfriends that would meet regularly at my home each summer for a Girls Nite In. I made my favorite margaritas and they all brought snacks and we would just gab and drink and eat til we could no more.
I remember the night my oldest daughter ‘auditioned’ for the executive direction of a Chamber of Commerce we all belonged to, and where we met. I had offered Emily’s voice to sing the Star Spangled Banner before a 5K race that was held on Thanksgiving Day. Julie, the director needed to hear her first.
What can I say…I thought she should take my word for it, but she insisted and she was the boss of the Chamber so I asked Em to drop by, she went out into the backyard and sang the song A cappella. When she had finished, you could hear catcalls coming from neighboring houses that we couldn’t even see and then Julie turned around, tears in her eyes, and said. “I will never not take your word for anything again.” Whew. I know I’m her mom and all but her voice is simply beyond compare!
We even wore our PJ’s for the events although everyone actually went home; it made us feel like we were girls again! I will never forget the words on the hand written recipe card that my friend Stacy gave me for these treats that we all loved so much we demanded she bring them to our summer soiree every year; it went something like this:
Do not proceed if you are looking for a low fat or low calorie dish!
Have to admit, she is right but for the occasional treat, they are SO good! I mean so decadently good!
Bacon. Pretzel. Brown Sugar. Cayenne Pepper. Really…what’s not to love right? Sweet, salty, hot, crunchy; this one will tickle all of your taste buds. Bless Stacy’s heart, she followed through each and every year and we, or at least I, looked forward to them with great anticipation. I only hope she has shared them as generously in Seattle..
Since Stacy moved, the baton had to be passed and I’ve made these several times over the years, I’m mostly reminded of those fun evenings during the summer and I’ll have a craving. A bad one when I realize I can no longer survive without this indulgence.
Besides, it was time to make them and remember to capture a photo before they disappeared so that I could share them with you! But it does not mean you can blame me for wanting to eat them all (I didn’t because I had company coming but I assure you I think I could have!).
Bet you can’t eat just one.
More of my Favorite Pretzel Dishes!
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Pretzel Crust
- Strawberry Pretzel Salad
- Baileys Salted Caramel and Espresso Martini with Pretzel Rim
PIN ‘Bacon Wrapped Pretzel Rods with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Glaze’
Bacon Wrapped Pretzels with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Pepper
Ingredients
- 1 Package Pretzel Rods
- 1 pound of regular bacon - regular cut NOT thick cut
- 2 cups Brown Sugar
- 3-4 Tbsp Red Chili Powder or most to taste if you want them real spicy
- Dash or two or three! Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Break the pretzels in half; I actually have the best luck if I cut them with a very sharp knife.
- Cut the bacon slices into half.
- Mix the sugar, chili powder and cayenne in a medium size bowl and then spread it out on a large flat dish.
- Coat each strip of bacon on both sides with the brown sugar mixture.Press firmly to make sure a lot of it adheres to the bacon.
- Wrap the bacon around the pretzel.
- Place the delicious treat on a wire rack placed on top of a baking sheet or roasting pan; I try to make sure that the tail end of the bacon I just wrapped is on the bottom to try and avoid having it 'unwrap' during cooking.
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until bacon cooks and appears crisp.
Notes
- IMPORTANT: Let cool on wire rack and rearrange occasionally while cooling so they don't stick to rack. Do not put these on paper towels; they are sticky.
- For Easy clean up: I line a baking sheet that has sides with aluminum foil. After they are baked and removed to a serving dish, the foil is pitched and I fill the baking sheet with hot water. Put the wire rack in there to soak a bit and the caramel bacon yucky stuff will melt away. (Sorry but not true about the fat on our thighs after eating the entire batch of bacon pretzels!).
- As tempting as it might be; do not take a bite straight out of the oven. Your tongue will thank me.
I tried searching to see if you can wrap a whole piece of bacon around a full pretzel rod…seems like that would save time and trips to going back for more. Also, can these be dipped in chocolate once cooled? We have a demand for chocolate dipped bacon (usually baked bacon on a skewer then dipped).
You can but guess I’ve always broken them because those full rods are so long; they’re more finger ‘foodish’ after they’re broken in half. But either way should work. I would sure try the chocolate; sounds great to me!
Do you preheat the oven to 375 or turn it on when I place it in the oven?? Ive baked bacon before and was told not to preheat. How about your recipe??
Preheat the oven Chris…and enjoy!
If you could see me right now, you would see me doing my happy dance because I am soooo excited to make these Bacon Wrapped Pretzels. They are wickedly incredible!
Those could by my exact words Betsy. That wickedly incredible part. They are. :0
These are snacks that would be hard to stop eating. Bacon AND cayenne…. and then the crispiness of the pretzel. Great snack!!!
Don’t forget the brown sugar! 🙂
Oh god, these sound just divine – although I’d probably give the chilli a miss. Not a fan of too much hot stuff, but the rest looks very addictive.
They are not really hot…maybe just a bit tingly…and perfect. 🙂
You are right when you say what’s not to love. I love discovering new appetizers and this one certainly looks like a keeper. Great timing…Superbowl Sunday! 🙂
I’ve made them for Super Bowl parties Paula and I’ve never made enough. Ever! 🙂
OMG!!!! These are so good! A very unique party snack! I used small pretzel rods so no cutting required! I did cut each piece of bacon in half to fit each smaller rod! Mine took 15 minutes to bake! And I loved them straight from the oven while the pretzels were still soft! The coating tastes like a really good smokey/sweet barbecue sauce! Great recipe! I’ll be blogging about this soon and linking back here! Thanks! =)
Saw this on Pinterest today; and my mouth salivated! I love bacon, so this looks and sounds like a winner – will have to try it soon. Before I pin a recipe, I read the blog post and comments and was concerned about the bacon not cooking thoroughly as some commentors have mentioned. Perhaps cooking the pretzel bacon rods at 400-425 degrees for 10-15 minutes will cook the bacon more thoroughly?
I plan to try this recipe and will adjust the oven temp to 400-425 and cook for 10-15 minutes using regular thin cut bacon. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never had a problem with it Kelli but I do know that substituting thick cut bacon is a big mistake; it will never cook. I’ve learned over the years that levels of expertise affect all recipes; I can’t know exactly what someone else has done and how that impacted their end result. I can only know if I’ve made it multiple times and it’s been successful…and this has!
My mouth literally started salivating when I read your recipe. This will be a winner. I may not be able to have friends over before I try it. Thx
I have been there Katie…I would not blame you one bit. 🙂
I thought about making these for little gifts. Do they have to be refrigerated? Is the bacon safe to eat if not?
I hesitate to recommend it go unrefrigerated; the bacon is cooked but it’s still meat and I would prefer you err on the side of caution.
i microwave my bacon and it is evenly crisp every time. High power for 3-4 minutes on a grooved pan.
You wrap the pretzel and then microwave the pretzel and the bacon then? OR??
Seemed like an outstanding idea. I used normal cut bacon, and after 45 minutes, it still wasn’t crispy – at least the way I thought it should be. Turned on the broiler – burnt them all pretty good. I took some bacon off and tasted it – actually think this recipe calls for too much chili powder – overwhelmed the bacon. Oh well. Maybe I’ll try those maple bacon cornbread cupcakes.
So sorry Matt; I’ve made these so many times with success I wish I knew what would have caused that problem or wish I could send you some of mine! I won’t say the cupcakes aren’t good too but honestly feel bad these didn’t work for you!
I have a hunch that I was too worried about the bacon not being crisp enough. So how crisp is crisp for you?
I like my bacon pretty crisp but I’m trying to recall when I had these last and there is some definite chewiness. I tried it once with a thicker cut of bacon and had some similar results; it’s has to be really thin cut. What I might suggest is you let your bacon warm up a bit…it will stretch a bit more as you wrap it and that might be another way to insure it’s thin enough to crisp up. Or else I might fry it a bit to lose some of the fat and then proceed to the next step? I make my own bacon from pork belly…yeah, no way could I cut it thin enough!
I am going to bring these to our espresso coffee shop’s first coffee tasting and wondering if the cooking could be done either in a microwave or a toaster oven? I will of course do them at my home in my conventional oven this time but should these be one of the things that we want to redo our shop only has these small appliances right now. Thank you:)!
Love your site! We used to live in Parker (sub SE of Denver) but recently moved to Pittsburgh, PA, for hubby’s job. Our son is a student at CU-Boulder, GO BUFFS!
Thanks Kitsy. I know Parker well; I live between Arapahoe and Orchard Roads…right by the car dealerships before I-25? When we moved here 26 years ago we moved in a home in Piney Creek, right off Parker Road. We would take out girls to Parker for a ride to ‘the country.’ My how it has changed!
Have a convection pellet grill/smoker will be doing these this weekend..awesome idea..cheers!! and thank you….mr.pepperwood
Would love to know how those turn out; everything is better smoked!
I am making these for an upcoming Pinterest party I am hosting, and I can’t wait! Before I even read some of the reviews I planned on making a double batch, and it looks like my intuition was spot-on! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
They are killer Andrea. I need a new photo though; I don’t think this one does them justice…so I can’t fault a double batch. That way you can try way too many and still have some for guests!
We recently featured this recipe in a new food trend blog post. You can check it out here. Thanks for making great food!
http://blog.recipelion.com/food-trend-crazy-bacon-recipes
Thank you Nathan…I’ve bought the ingredients to make them this weekend and get a new photo…they are so good but think the photo does not convey that like it should (or is that just my excuse to make them, hmm?).
re: Splenda Thankyou for the recipe. I have made this a few times now and will make them for my Office’s Grand Opening tomorrow. That is how good they are. Questions….Has anyone ever tried using SPLENDA Brown sugar? What a thought huh? Wanted to see if anyone had before I attempt it. Thanks !
Hi! These look awesome. Have you ever done them on a grill?
I have not Amanda but I’m betting they would work. Just be cautious about flareups with the combination of sugar and dripping bacon grease.
i don’t know what happened but these did not turn out for me. i had fresh ingredients, followed directions(even rechecked them) after 40 min in the oven i broiled them to get the bacon to finish cooking. nothing wrong with my oven either. oh well. i’m glad i only cooked a few to try it. i dipped the rest of the pretzels into chocolate, always a hit.
thanks, i’ll try another recipe sometime.
Linda, I am sorry to hear that. The only time I’ve ever had a problem was when I thought it might be better to use a thicker cut bacon and that was a big mistake…this really needs thin bacon strips to have the bacon crisp up with burning or drying out the pretzel rod to a rock. Could that have been the case…because if it took 40 minutes that was four times longer than they typically require.
You are killing me. I want these RIGHT NOW!!
Holy snackfood. I think I’d have to make a double batch if I expected any to be left for guests, though.
Made these tonight… & have come to the conclusion that these “treats” will find me a husband. Haha seriously tho… AMAZING. I want to share them with everyone i know and keep them for myself all at the same time! I found this recipe like 2 weeks ago and ive literally thought about it every night. Thanks for sharing!
Whoo hoo…another convert. I actually need to get a better photo; I don’t think the one I have does justice to the amazingness of these treats. You get it now…and why the first time I made some for company I ate so many I had to make a 2nd batch. Yes…I did do that!
Lisa Michelle Just tweeted out this recipe from Parsley Sage and Line Drives…. wow! Is this legal? Who even THINKS of recipes like this – and clearly, it is delicious as those below who have made it also say! Well, that was a no-brainer, anyway!
Happy Friday!
valerie
Do it, do it! They are sinfully good. Make sure you have company coming.
My brother is a bacon freak and I’d like to make these for him for Christmas. The problem is, we don’t live in the same city. Do you know how long they will keep? And do they need to be refrigerated? If so, would this make the pretzel stale or soggy?
I wish I could say yes but probably not. The pretzels would most likely lose some crispness as they are transported inside the bacon. How about buying him some pretzel rods and packaging up some cayenne and brown sugar with the recipe? He would have to do the bacon! Although I’m shipping bacon today that I made. Froze it and vacuum sealed it and now praying but cold between Denver and St. Louis should keep it fine. I’m hoping!
I hope you enjoy these with your brother since you know I’m not sure they would travel that well. The hardest part of taking them somewhere for me? Not eating them all before I get there. 🙂
I brought a batch of these to our local food swap last night. Rave reviews from everyone. I had no problem finding people to swap with. They were dying to get their hands on these. I fully intended to take a photo at the swap but they were devoured before I could get one. Will take pics next time I make them.
I need a new photo…it really does not do justice to how wonderful these are but had the same issue; they were made and people were standing in line to eat them! So glad they were a hit.