Smoked Bacon & Onion Jam

Smoked Bacon & Onion Jam will soon be your favorite condiment! Sweet caramelized onions, salty bacon and a smoky sauce come together to make the perfect addition to burgers as well as atop grilled meat or fish. This is called a “jam” but there is little sugar (only natural sugar from Honey) and there is no canning involved. It is perishable and needs to be kept in the Fridge or Freezer (for storage longer than a week). But in all honestly, it gets eaten really fast around here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of Bacon (I prefer our homemade bacon https://itsasavagelife.com/homemade-smoky-peppered-bacon/)
• 2 Sweet Yellow Onions
• 3/4 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons of Mustard (You can use traditional yellow mustard but I used our wholegrain mustard, and it turned out great! https://itsasavagelife.com/savory-wholegrain-mustard/)
• 1 Tablespoon Paprika
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 cup Raw Honey

First, chop the bacon into bite sized pieces. Place in a shallow saucepan and cook until crispy. While the bacon is cooking, prepare onions by removing skins, cut each in half and slice into thin slices so that they will easily caramelize and cook down evenly.

Before adding the onions, you will deglaze the pan by adding the Apple Cider Vinegar, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan well with a silicone spatula. Removing the “stuck on” pieces of bacon will prevent scorching and also add to the flavor. Add onions to the pan and cover with a lid. Simmer until onions are soft, stirring often. Then add mustard, paprika and pepper. Cover and continue cooking for about 30 minutes until rich brown in color (as shown in picture).

Heat up your smoker (we use our Traeger Grill) and set to 375F. Place the jam into a foil lined metal pan (the foil makes clean up so easy!) and then place on your grill uncovered. Cook for 30-45 minutes and remove once thickened and the color has deepened to a dark brown.

Allow to cool completely before pouring into 2 pint jars (or other glass containers of your choice) and then store in the fridge for up to a week, or the freezer for longer storage (be sure to leave extra headspace and leave the lid off until completely frozen).

The night I prepared this, we enjoyed it on top of Grilled Chicken and it was perfect! I found that we didn’t even reach for the barbeque sauce as this complimented the chicken so well! Our menu this weekend will be Burgers with Blue Cheese and this Smoked Bacon & Onion Jam… I can’t wait!