When it comes to a good creative appetizer for a party that doesn’t take all day to prepare our “go to” is the Bacon Explosion. It's always a hit!
**Post written by The BBQ Brothers. For all meat prep, grill set up, temperature and humidity control, recommended tools, and techniques for The BBQ Brothers recipes, check out The BBQ Brothers Beginner's Guide To Grilling first, then get to cookin!
Behold. The original bacon explosion. We have a few other variations of the explosion on the blog (like this one....and if you're really feeling crazy you can make this one), but the original one is always a party staple for us (because who doesn't love some bacon wrapped meat??)
What you need:
- 1 lb of bacon (thick sliced is preferred)
- 1 lb of Italian sausage (Hot or sweet whatever you prefer)
- Your seasoning of choice (or The BBQ Brother's All-purpose BBQ Rub)
- Your favorite BBQ sauce
- Any other toppings you want (cheese, jalapeños, hot sauce, more bacon, etc.)
- Toothpicks
BACON EXPLOSION
The first thing you will need to do is construct your bacon weave. Typically you want to make it 5x5 which I find will leave a couple extra pieces in the bacon package so in case one tears you can perform a repair to your weave with the extra slices. (Sorry, we went a little crazy with this weave at 8 slices each way...this larger weave used about 1 ½ packages of thick cut bacon but all of the other ingredient amounts stayed the same!)
Once the weave is completed, sprinkle some of that good ol' rub on there.
The next step is to put your sausage on the bacon weave. Be sure to press the sausage to the outer edges of the bacon creating a patty that is the same thickness all the way across. Most grocery stores carry loose sausage, so just pick out one you like. I chose to go with a hot sausage, but mild or sweet would work just the same.
Once the sausage has been laid down sprinkle some more rub liberally to the sausage. 
Now this is the part where you can get creative. On this smoke we made one that is mild (for Caitlin) and one a little spicier (for us). For the spicy one, we threw on some jalapeños, hot sauce, and cheese. On the mild one, we simply took the leftover slices of bacon, fried them up and threw them on top of the sausage. (Pictured below)
(Note: It’s okay, and encouraged, to snack on these bacon pieces while you're chopping/crumbling. But keep in mind that once those bacon morsels touch the raw sausage, you’ll need to resist all temptations to nibble. This can and will be difficult, but hospital trips are no fun, so stay strong.)
Now comes the critical moment where we have to roll all of this pork goodness up. It helps to have another person with you to help you roll it up and then use toothpicks to hold down the loose ends of bacon to keep it together. Once you have gotten to this part, take a sigh of relief, grab a beer, and smile...as the hard part is over and you will be smooth sailing moving forward.
Sprinkle some more of the rub on the outside of the bacon weave, and now this bad boy is ready for the smoker. Put the bacon explosion over indirect heat at 225 – 250 degrees in a constant cloud of smoke until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. I used apple and cherry wood for my smoke as I found the sweetness works well with the bacon. Normally this will take about 1 hour for each inch of thickness, but that could vary depending on how well you maintain your fire and also how many times you open the smoker to take a peek. Mine took about 3 hours.
Now when your explosion is almost done (temp of about 145-150) baste the roll with your favorite sauce and let it finish off for the last 30 mins, allowing the sauce to get sticky. Use your favorite sauce but make sure it is a thick one as the thinner Carolina vinegar based sauces won’t create that nice thick, sticky finish. (By the way.....we can see you eyein' that smoked mac and cheese we got on there! You can find the recipe here.)
Now remove the roll from the smoker and remove the toothpicks as the heat should have seared the bacon together.
Slice the bacon explosion into quarter to half inch rounds to serve. I usually make these for a party and I have seen people make sandwiches out of it, or just eat it by itself. All are baconly good and this is sure to be the talk of your party as most people are in bacon nirvana once they take a bite.
Looking to take your bacon explosion to the next level?
Check out our Thanksgiving Bacon Explosion. Perfect for the Holidays or even when it's not and you're just craving all the fixin's!
We also have a Pizza Bacon Explosion if that is more your speed!
PrintRecipe Card
Bacon Explosion
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Smoked
- Cuisine: American
Description
When it comes to a good creative appetizer for a party that doesn’t take all day to prepare our “go to” is the Bacon Explosion. It's always a hit!
Ingredients
Meat used: 1 lb of bacon, 1 lb of Italian sausage
Seasoning: Your seasoning of choice (or The BBQ Brother's All Purpose BBQ Rub), BBQ sauce of choice
Other Ingredients: Any other toppings you want (cheese, jalapeños, hot sauce, more bacon, etc.)
Wood Used: Apple and Cherry
Grill Temperature: ~225-250 F
Meat Temperature:165 F
Smoke time: ~3 hours
Instructions
- The first thing you will need to do is construct your bacon weave. Typically you want to make it 5x5 which I find will leave a couple extra pieces in the bacon package so in case one tears you can perform a repair to your weave with the extra slices.
- Once the weave is completed, sprinkle some of that good ol' rub on there.
- The next step is to put your sausage on the bacon weave. Be sure to press the sausage to the outer edges of the bacon creating a patty that is the same thickness all the way across.
- Once the sausage has been laid down sprinkle some more rub liberally to the sausage.
- Now this is the part where you can get creative. For our spicy one, we threw on some jalapeños, hot sauce, and cheese. On our mild one, we simply took the leftover slices of bacon, fried them up and threw them on top of the sausage. (Pictured below)
- Now comes the critical moment where we have to roll all of this pork goodness up. It helps to have another person with you to help you roll it up and then use toothpicks to hold down the loose ends of bacon to keep it together.
- Sprinkle some more of the rub on the outside of the bacon weave, and now this bad boy is ready for the smoker. Put the bacon explosion over indirect heat at 225 – 250 degrees in a constant cloud of smoke until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. I used apple and cherry wood for my smoke as I found the sweetness works well with the bacon.
- Normally this will take about 1 hour for each inch of thickness, but that could vary depending on how well you maintain your fire and also how many times you open the smoker to take a peek. Mine took about 3 hours.
- Now when your explosion is almost done (temp of about 145-150) baste the roll with your favorite sauce and let it finish off for the last 30 mins, allowing the sauce to get sticky.
- Now remove the roll from the smoker and remove the toothpicks as the heat should have seared the bacon together.
- Slice the bacon explosion into quarter to half inch rounds to serve.
Notes
Use your favorite sauce but make sure it is a thick one as the thinner Carolina vinegar based sauces won’t create that nice thick, sticky finish.
So let us know what you think....did this recipe smoke the competition or go up in flames? Leave a comment below! 🙂
Laura says
cant wait to try
cutsandcrumbles says
Let us know how you like it!
Chris says
It was excellent. Smoked it for 5 hours with apple wood.
Very popular at the meat fest event I took it to!
Caitlin says
Awesome Chris, so glad you loved it! Also, we are intrigued by this meat feast!
Eric says
Very tasty. Next time I’m just going to do a single layer of bacon on the outside. The bacon inside the wrap doesn’t get crispy.
I also added some mozzarella cheese and banana pepper rings to it. Thanks for the recipe!!
Caitlin says
Thanks, Eric!! So glad you liked it. That’s the great thing about this recipe...you can customize it so many ways!! (Plus...bacon...)
Mike says
Ever thought about dredging it and deep frying after slicing?
Caitlin says
I hadn't but now that's all I can think about...let us know how it is if you try it!
Greg Douglas says
Made this last night for a family picnic. Made it “kid friendly” without the hot peppers and covered the inside with grated cheddar, sautéed bell peppers and crispy bacon. My son made a homemade rub for this and we finished it with a bourbon bbq sauce. Smoked for about 2.5 hours on a Weber Smokey Mountain with an empty water pan - ran it at 300 and added plenty of hickory smoke the whole way through. Definitely would make again.
Caitlin says
Thanks for rating, Dave! So glad your family enjoyed it. A bourbon BBQ sauce sounds amazing!
Chelsea says
I'm quite the cook but new to smoking and was thinking about trying this out on our new Pit Boss combo smoker we splurged on. I had the idea of adding stuffing to the inside like your "Thanksgiving" version and add in some veggies to make this more of a full meal with salad on the side. Love your creativity and can't wait to try it!
Caitlin says
Thanks, Chelsea, hope you love it! The bacon explosion is definitely filling enough to make a whole meal out of it. Let us know how it turns out and what you put in it!
Bridget Reigner says
I'd love to make this but don't have a smoker... Any suggestions on how I could do it in the oven?
Caitlin says
Hi Bridget! You can make this in the oven at the same time and temp as the smoker (225-250 F for about 3-3.5 hours). Feel free to add a little liquid smoke to the outside of it for that smoky flavor if you want! Let us know how it turns out!
Dagwood says
Thanks for this article and recipe. The instructions and photographs are detailed and helpful.
I've made several bacon explosions (which I refer to as "fatties"). I've found that even if the bacon only wraps around the ingredients without a significant overlap, that it doesn't cook uniformly on all sides. I have tried rotating the bacon explosion on to the other side during the cook, but I still end up with some of the bacon being a little too undercooked, even though the internal temperature has reached 165°.
Caitlin says
Glad you found our guide helpful! Have you tried maybe bumping the temp up a little bit to finish off the bacon? Since this is a pretty fatty recipe you shouldn't have to worry about drying it out.
alan says
made this yesterday for friday night patio beers and meat weekly event.
your suggestion to use two people to roll up the bacon explosion.
what i did (because i was by myself at the time)was to lay cling wrap on the counter first build the lattice of bacon then the sausage and just used the wrap to help hod it together as i rolled it up(obviously pulling back the plastic as i went) and tada it work wonderfully
put in tooth picks and refrigerated in the plastic wrap overnight.
i use an oklahoma jeo off set smoker and i know it will be yummy.
thank you
Caitlin says
Excellent technique, that’s very helpful, thanks for sharing! Enjoy the patio beers!
Kim says
So good! This is amazing!
Caitlin says
Thanks, Kim!! So glad you liked it!
Mike says
Been making this since last year. So great. Everyone loves it. Actually after cutting they make the best burgers. Thank you.
Any other recommendations or new recipes.
Caitlin says
Hey Mike! So glad you love it. Have you tried our Thanksgiving bacon explosion or our pizza one? We always serve ours with the infamous smoked Mac and cheese!
Jon M says
Can this be made the day before? Everyone loves it and I want to make it for ahead of time for a big party
Caitlin says
For sure! You could either prep the entire thing, refrigerate it and smoke it the next day or smoke it and then reheat in the smoker or in the oven! Let us know how it turns out!
Karen Anderson says
I’d love to make this but don’t have a smoker , but I am going to try the oven method , I do have a question about it being in the oven .. should it just be put in a shallow pan or put the bacon explosion on a rack then put in the shallow pan .. to catch the fat drippings?
Caitlin says
Hi Karen! I would use a rack, some liquid smoke and cover with foil! Let us know how it turns out!