Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe
Published December 20, 2023. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
If you’re looking for the perfect appetizer, try this bacon-wrapped dates recipe simmered in brown sugar and bourbon. This classic 6-ingredient appetizer is incredibly easy to make and a hit when serving guests and family over the holidays or for get-togethers.
With all the variety, appetizers are one of my favorite courses for any meal. If you feel the same way, try my Classic Deviled Eggs or Crab Cakes Recipe.
Bacon Wrapped DSates
Bacon-wrapped dates are a popular appetizer of fresh pitted dates wrapped in bacon and seared until the bacon is browned and crisp. The traditional palette of salty and sweet in this appetizer delivers every time.
This traditional dish became famous during the 1970s and 1980s. However, they’ve been around since the early 19th century in Victorian England.
Dates or date palms, also known as Phoenix dactylifera, come from a palm family plant and are used in this bacon-wrapped dates recipe.
Dates hang off the trees in massive clusters and, when ripe, are picked and dried. However, they can certainly be enjoyed fresh, but you may have difficulty finding them. Dates are a big-time staple food in the Middle East for thousands of years.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Dates – I used fresh medjool dates.
- Bacon – It’s best to use regular or medium-cut bacon that is smoked and uncured. Thick-cut bacon can work, but wrapping and cooking them until finished becomes more difficult.
- Bourbon – Any bourbon or whiskey will work for this recipe.
- Fat – This recipe requires some heavy whipping cream and unsalted butter. I use unsalted butter in my cooking and baking to control the salt content, not a butter company.
- Sugar – You can use light or dark brown sugar in this recipe.
- Oil – Any neutral flavored oil will work in this recipe.
How to Make Bacon-Wrapped Dates
- Remove the pit from the dates.
- Slice the bacon in half width-wise.
- Wrap each date in one strip of the half-sliced bacon.
- Cook the bacon seal side down in a large pan on medium-low heat in a small amount of oil.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until crisp and browned. Set aside.
- Remove the rendered bacon fat.
- Add the brown sugar, butter, and cream to a small saucepot.
- Cook on low to medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until smooth while frequently whisking. Remove the caramel from the cooktop, pour in bourbon, and whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Add the dates to the pan and pour the bourbon caramel back in.
- Bake in the oven at 325° for 15-17 minutes.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make the bacon-wrapped dates 2 days ahead of time. The day you plan to serve them, add them to a pot, cover them with a lid, and cook over low heat until hot.
How to Store: Keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. These do not freeze well, but you can place them in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw for 1 full day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add them to a pot, cover with a lid, and cook over low heat until hot. Alternatively, place them on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and bake them at 325° for 10-12 minutes or until hot.
chef notes + tips
- Stay away from any flavored bacon to wrap the dates in.
- Cook the bacon-wrapped dates in batches if there isn’t enough room in the pan.
- When you cook them with the end of the bacon seam side down into the pan, it cooks the bacon together, sealing it together, so there is no need for a toothpick.
- Don’t worry if the sides of the bacon don’t get cooked while crisping it in the pan, as it will finish cooking in the oven.
More Appetizer Recipes
- Oysters Rockefeller Recipe
- Smoked Chicken Wings
- Grilled Lobster Tails
- Salmon Cakes Recipe
- Potato Latkes Recipe
Video
Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons bourbon or whiskey
- 13 strips medium thick-cut bacon cut in half
- 25 pitted Medjool dates
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°.
- Add the brown sugar, butter, and whipped cream to a medium-sized saucepot and cook over low to medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until cooked and smooth. See notes on the texture below. Set aside.
- Remove it from the heat, whisk in the bourbon, and set aside.
- Wrap each date in a ½ slice piece of bacon and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, and place each bacon-wrapped date bacon seam side down and cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until the bacon is browned and crispy. See note on cooking it in batches.
- Drain the rendered bacon fat, add the crisp bacon-wrapped dates back into the pan, and pour the caramel over top.
- Bake in the oven at 325° for 15-17 minutes.
- Serve hot.
I made these for Christmas Eve and they were a hit!
My only issue was the recipe said to use medium/thick bacon. It does not work. Use only regular cut bacon. The thicker bacon will not seal and if it does, when you roll it to crisp up the rest of the appetizer it shrinks and pulls it apart.
I make these with thin bacon, sprinkle with brown sugar and bake them 🙂 will try this recipe soon
Thanks for giving it a try!
Brought these to dinner party & it was ‘the hit’ of evening. The sauce is amazing & we will definitely use it with other meats & dishes. Thanks for the recipes & tips.
Outstanding appetiser.