A bacon weave is exactly what it sounds like. It’s bacon weaved together so that you can wrap things in a delicious sheet of bacon.
You can wrap just about anything in bacon to make it a minimum of thirteen times more delicious, but I would recommend wrapping it around a meatloaf or some baked chicken breasts for the full effect.
The full effect is when the bacon fat gets absorbed by whatever it’s wrapped around. Like magic.
Bacon Weave Ingredients
Bacon. Just bacon.
How to Cook Your Bacon Weave
You’ll need to let your bacon sit on the counter for a while. To be easily pliable it needs to be at room temperature.
Once the bacon has come up to room temperature, you’ll want to lay out four to eight strips horizontally, depending on the size and quality of your bacon. It’s very important to alternate the fatty and lean sides as you lay them down. This will help ensure that the weave ends up square.
Fold over every second horizontal piece of bacon from the middle, and place a strip vertically across. Fold everything back. Starting from the middle makes the whole process much easier. So start from the middle.
Now, fold the strips that were left flat previously across the piece you laid vertically. Place another piece of bacon vertically across, directly next to the first vertical piece.
Repeat until you reach the end and do the same thing on the other side of the first vertical strip.
What you end up with should look something like this:
When actually cooking the bacon weave, you will need to put it in the oven. Oven cooking bacon ensures it stays flat. Make sure to stay on the lower end of the cooking times.
Click the link above for details on how to cook bacon in the oven properly or just cook it at 400 degrees for about ten minutes.
Tips for Making a Bacon Weave
- Wrap around a meatloaf the first time you make it, because even if everything doesn’t end up perfect, you’ll be more than okay.
- As with anything else, practice and then practice some more. Your fourth bacon weave will be far better than your first. The second one will probably be the worst one ever though.
- Use a higher quality or thicker cut bacon to make the process as easy as possible. Low quality bacon will fall apart.