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Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts.
Crispy bacon wrapped around snappy water chestnuts and slathered in a savory sweet barbecue sauce, downright addicting is what they are! When the holidays come around, having this appetizer up your sleeve is a surefire way to ensure minimal stress and happy bellies.
A friend of mine served this years ago at a Halloween party. It wasn’t meant to be spooky (of course I’m sure you could doctor it up in that way), but just as a delicious accompaniment to our celebration. Since then I’ve recreated it countless times for many a happy recipients. It will never be the elegant bacon wrapped scallops, but it WILL absolutely satisfy the need to eat more bacon. Has anyone ever said, “oh no, not more bacon!” Of course not.
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Slathered bacon skewers ready to be baked.
The recipe uses bacon, water chestnuts, brown sugar, ketchup, and some seasonings. These are basic pantry staples which is why it works so well in a pinch, or when you’ve just ran out of time to create something for an upcoming party. Small bacon slices are wrapped around the water chestnuts and secured with toothpicks. While you’re assembling, you heat the sauce and dissolve the sugar. Then to finalize the process, you dunk the bacon skewers in sauce and place onto baking sheets. It’s really that easy.
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Prep station for bacon wrapped water chestnuts. This time I couldn’t find whole water chestnuts, so layers of the sliced ones will do.
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Dunking the bacon skewers into sauce. My background shows excessive dripping which simply means I need to do a lot more work….more bacon, yes please!
The excess sugar helps to caramelize and crisp up the bacon, while the added seasonings help to enhance the flavors of the smoky bacon. To make cleanup effortless, use foil on the baking sheets. All that’s left after baking is a hungry crowd and a host(ess) with a delicious appetizer to please the masses.
To full plates and eating your tarte out,
Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
2 (8oz) cans of whole water chestnuts, drained
1 (16oz) package of bacon
1 cup of ketchup
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of rosemary
1 tablespoon of rosemary
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with foil.
In a small saucepan, combine ketchup, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, rosemary and black pepper until just boiling. Stir and remove from heat.
Prep your ingredients- cut bacon slices into thirds and cut larger water chestnuts in half. Wrap a single water chestnuts in bacon, and secure ends with a toothpick. Set aside and repeat the process. Dip each into sauce, coating sides and allowing excess to drip off. Lay onto a baking sheet and repeat.
Cook until bacon is crisp and fully cooked, about 45 minutes. Flip using tongs halfway through. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
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Crispy delicious bacon wrapped water chestnuts.
Variations: To switch up this recipe, use flavored bacons such as maple, applewood smoked or peppered. Nowadays there are also countless ketchups on the market such balsamic vinegar or jalapeño infused to help you create your own version of this recipe. You could also omit the ketchup and just coat the bacon wrapped water chestnuts in brown sugar to get a seriously sweet snack. You can always amp up the heat with crushed red pepper too!
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