“From a chef’s standpoint, bacon is prized for its versatility,” says Chef Bob Cook of Edmund’s Oast in Charleston, South Carolina, where each week the kitchen transforms 25 pounds of bacon into bacon jam to top burgers and accompany charcuterie. “I’m not a overuser of bacon, though. It’s familiar to most people, but from a cooking perspective, it can really open your eyes to the uses of fat.” 

In 2015, Purdue University confirmed that fat is the sixth foundational flavor element, so as a cook, it’s important to know how to use it to your advantage. Bacon is a great way to begin, but not all bacons are created, sliced, smoked, and served equally.

By standard definition, in the United States, bacon is a cured meat from the sides and belly of a pig, so even though the idea of “bacon” has widened—from duck to soy protein—we held steadfast to the standard and only tested pork bacon from across the country. For anyone looking to up their breakfast or BLT bacon game, here are some of our favorites. Time to heat up those skillets.

Type of bacon: Dry-cured | Type of cut: Thick cut | Flavor: Salty, intense smoke, porky | Where it’s made: Madisonville, TN | Weight: TK 

Why we chose it: There is simply no other bacon that tastes this distinctive; one bite and you’re transported to the traditional smokehouses of the Appalachian Mountains. 

Despite the wide fandom this bacon elicits in culinary circles, Allan Benton and his team still operate up close and personal to the pork they cure. “By hand” is the operative phrase: it’s dry-cured by hand with salt, brown sugar, and black pepper, then packed by hand after about three weeks spent curing and drying in a refrigerator and 2-3 days continuously in a small wood stove smokehouse. Yes, you read that right, a wood stove in the smokehouse for that true old-fashioned flavor.

“Benton’s is very smoky, so if you like that really smoky flavor, then this is the bacon for you,” says Cook. For home cooks that use bacon in their cooking, this product is economical too, because you don’t need very much of it to impart smoky, porky flavor throughout a dish. That’s why it’s a favorite of hundreds of chefs throughout the country, including David Chang, who was one of the initial evangelists of this beloved bacon, along with Benton’s country ham.

Type of bacon: Uncured | Type of cut: Extra thick | Flavor: Classic pork with light smoke | Where it’s made: Brooklyn, NY | Weight: 12 oz.

Why we chose it: A slice or two of this decadent bacon on a breakfast plate makes us feel like a high-roller any morning.

Originally served at the iconic Brooklyn steakhouse just for employee meals—usually sandwiched between two slices of bread and eaten “on the fly”—the comforting chewiness of this thick-cut bacon eventually became an off-menu item in the 1980s and a public menu item in the 90s. 

Although many folks either get this as a standalone item or with a burger, at home it is undeniably the best bacon to serve alongside eggs. The salty, chewy texture and extra thick cut is a mighty contrast to tender, fluffy, jammy, or runny eggs (any way you like them), and if you’re into frying an egg, use the smoky bacon drippings for a decadent dining experience, no jacket required.

Type of bacon: Uncured | Type of cut: Pieces | Flavor: Pleasantly porky and slightly smoky | Where it’s made: Emeryville, CA | Weight: 8 oz.

Why we chose it: These smoky nuggets are ultra-convenient for cooking. 

Whether you want gourmet bacon on your salad, or are diving into building a French tartiflette, lardons not only save time in the kitchen (and keep you away from all that chopping and dicing), these nuggets of pork goodness provide a pop of flavor to any dish in which you incorporate them. The Baconer is a Bay-area business that begins with responsibly sourced pork, and that pork goodness really shines here, 

When cooking these, pay extra attention to not crowding the pan over medium heat and only flipping once—you’ll be rewarded with slightly crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside bite-size beauties. 

Type of bacon: Hickory-smoked | Type of cut: Thick cut | Flavor: peppery, porky | Where it’s made: California, MO | Weight: 12 oz.

Why we chose it: This black peppercorn-coated, thick-cut bacon cooks up chewy but tender with a decisive peppery bite.  

An iconic Southern brand that began when ferry captain S. Wallace Edwards tucked his family-recipe cured ham into sandwiches and fed them to his hungry passengers on Virginia’s James River, this is a company that knows its pig, from country ham to bacon. A fire devastated the company in 2016, and in 2021, Edwards sold to the Missouri-based Burgers’ Smokehouse. The friends of the Edwards family continue to produce the family’s traditional recipes. 

While the company is no longer based in Virginia, its flavor certainly is, and when summer tomato season rolls around, there’s hardly any better bacon to highlight a warm-from-the-garden tomato in a sandwich in a beloved BLT. Without debate, we will be using this peppered bacon on our first BLT of the season with extra mayo, and suggest you try it the same way. It’s chewy enough to stand up to slicing, but tender enough to bite through and not pull a slice out of the sandwich.

Type of bacon: Dry cured | Type of cut: Thick cut | Flavor: lots of meaty flavor | Where it’s made: San Antonio | Weight: 20 oz.

Why we chose it: Atop a burger, this bacon will shine because its classic, meaty flavor and thick cut can stand up (and enhance) almost any beef patty. 

This package of bacon just looks like it would come from Texas, a slab of thick-cut slices that seem to be just the kind of thing beef lovers (like many a Texan) would put on a burger. The dry-cure means no extra moisture is added in the curing process, which makes for less splatter during cooking. 

“It's a really great product,” says Chef Steve McHugh, who uses Kiolbassa bacon at both Cured and Landrace in San Antonio. Although McHugh cures a lot of the proteins he serves at both restaurants, he simply uses too much bacon to make his own, so he turns to his San Antonio neighbors for a reliable source. “This company is regionally recognized and socially responsible, contributing a lot to our community,” he says, and suggests if you’re making bacon for a burger topping, then follow his lead and “utilize a sheet pan in the oven, which produces a great taste and presentation.” 

Type of bacon: Uncured | Type of cut: 1/2-inch thick cut | Flavor: slightly spicy and delightfully dense | Where it’s made: Emeryville, CA | Weight: 20 oz.

Why we chose it: One slice of this bacon on an otherwise veggie-forward plate can elevate any home cooked meal to hero status.

There’s so much to love about The Baconer, they made our list twice. Camilo Velasquez and Elisa Lewis, the California husband-and-wife team behind the brand, source their pork through Premium Iowa Pork, which for 100 years has partnered with a community of family farmers who raise their pigs humanely on small family farms.  

One bite of this paprika-spiced slab of pork, and it’s easy to imagine how expertly an XXL steak would pair with some slow-cooked beans on a cool, cloudy day. In fact, any meal where ham or country ham has a place on the plate would offer a whole new twist if you switch out a smoked paprika steak for the pork player. Whatever you do, this is a bacon for highlighting and not tucking into a dish. 

Type of bacon: Applewood Smoked is cured; Cherrywood Smoked is uncured | Type of cut: Standard (medium) cut | Flavor: Smoky and slightly sweet | Where it’s made: Wittenberg, WI | Weight: 12 oz.

Why we chose it: We’re not necessarily suggesting one of those over-the-top bloody marys garnished with everything but the plate; however a crispy slice of either of these bacons, along with an olive and a lemon in the spicy tomato cocktail, will start a weekend brunch on just the right foot.

The flavors imparted from the different woods varied only slightly, but either one of these slightly sweet slices would balance a spicy bloody mary cocktail with a bite. The bacon is a medium, or standard cut, so it cooks somewhat crispier and faster in a skillet than other kinds of bacon on this list, making it a sturdy garnish, or if you prefer, a crumble atop a salad instead of a cocktail accoutrement. 

In order to test these bacons, we cooked them all at the same temperature in a medium-heat cast iron skillet, making careful to not crowd the slices in the pan. We then drained on paper towels and sampled each one while still warm, taking notes of specific characteristics, and judging on thickness, meat-to-fat ratio, flavor, and overall mouthfeel. 

“I want a high fat content with marbling,” says chef Mailea Weger of Lou in Nashville, Tennessee, and someone who also admits that “as a consumer, I want bacon, and I love brunch. I adore cooking it, writing recipes for it, and I want bacon every single time. For me, I don’t want it oversalty or overly cured, but farming practices have become important to us.” 

At Lou, Weger specifically looks for producers who use Berkshire pigs, which, along with careful farming and production practices, impart a classic meaty flavor. She stresses that no matter your flavor preference (smoky, peppery, or sweet), making sure that the classic cured pork flavor is the foundation for it all will always serve you well. 

The most important factor in texture will be how you decide to cook it. Some people press their bacon flat, others like it lightly seared, and still others want a crumbly texture, something crunchy and well done. Beyond that, consider the slices’ fat-to-meat ratio. 

For cooking, if you want to render more fat, look for more soft fat striations between the meat, or for a bloody mary garnish, a high meat content so the bacon slice will crisp and stand up nicely in the glass. In the small-batch bacons we sampled, that ratio may vary slightly within a single pack, so eye a few packs if you can before choosing your specific slice. And finally, the cure can affect the texture, especially when it comes to peppered bacon, which, when done right, cooks up with a meat rind of salty, peppery goodness. 

Thick cut was the norm for most of the small-batch bacons we tried, and it’s most assuredly a distinguishing factor between artisanal bacon and many commodity products on big box store shelves. While there might be a time for a thinner cut (when you’re looking to crumble bacon easily atop a sour cream and chive potato, for instance), thick-cut bacon is the most versatile for both eating and using in recipes. 

First and foremost, all bacon is cured—that’s what makes it bacon and not just pork—so the cured vs. uncured designation on packages is understandably confusing. The difference is about what is used, namely nitrates. They are present in both cured and uncured bacon; the difference is whether they are a specific additive to the process (cured) or occur naturally in the curing products, most commonly by using celery powder (uncured). 

Center-cut bacon is simply bacon with the fatty ends cut off, so it has become a popular choice for those looking for a less fatty alternative. However, in a good-quality bacon, that fat won’t curl at the ends, and beyond that, it’s bacon we’re talking about here, so fat is the feature, not something to be avoided, but used to your advantage.

Most companies advise keeping bacon refrigerated after opening and consuming the entire package within a week. “If you notice that when it’s out of the refrigerator, the meat starts losing moisture and seeping, then it’s past its prime,” Cook says, “but I’d have to say it’s been a long time since I knew anyone who had bacon go bad from not eating.” 

However, if that’s you, bacon lasts for months in the freezer, so store any packages, unopened or otherwise, in the freezer until about a day before you’re ready to use. 

“I’m a pan girl, although it’s very messy,” says Weger about her preferred bacon cooking technique. “The pan is cooking in its own grease, so the fat content is somewhat maintained. Baking is best if you are wanting to take it to a crispier level.” 

Note: while we did taste a variety of maple-flavored bacon, none made our final list because they seemed artificially sweet with a lingering, not-altogether-pleasant flavor. Instead, Weger shares this sweet bacon cooking method that keeps brunch regulars coming back at Lou: 

“This is same bacon recipe I did when I worked in Paris. Blend 3 part fennel seed to 1 part chili flake powder, then combine that in equal parts with white sugar and store in an airtight container. When ready for bacon, start with thick cut bacon, and parbake it in the oven. Then remove from the oven to a skillet on medium heat, sprinkle sugar mixture over it and cook an additional 5 minutes. The fennel and sugar kind of melts into the bacon, and then we finish with a light drizzle of maple syrup to just make it sticky.”

Bacon is a versatile product for both cooking and as a protein centerpiece for the plate. Meaty, pork flavor is essential, and then it’s up to the cook and the diner to decide between sweet, smoky, or spiced. And when it comes to the cut, thick-sliced is usually preferable.