Healthy Bacon Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated January 13, 2017
These bacon recipes all bear our healthy green dot designation, which indicates a recipe that is modest in saturated fat.
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1 of 18

Smoky Egg Salad with Bacon and Greek Yogurt

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This egg salad is made with a smoky Greek yogurt dressing, which pairs perfectly with some savory, crunchy bacon, red onions and chives.

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2 of 18

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

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This is a brilliant marriage of two classics: cornmeal-dusted green tomatoes and a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.

3 of 18

Bacon Quinoa with Almonds and Herbs

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Bruce Sherman tosses nutty, protein-rich quinoa with smoky bacon and toasted almonds to make a substantial side dish that’s delicious with poached eggs or roasted chicken.

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Crunchy Asian Pea Salad with Honeyed Bacon

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This salad typically includes crispy slices of Chinese sausage. Here, thick slices of bacon are brushed with a honey-soy mix and then baked in the oven until crunchy.

5 of 18

Smoky Tuna and Bacon Burgers with Lemongrass Aioli

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Grace Parisi uses a lemongrass wet rub in her Asian twist on the tuna burger, spiked with smoky bacon.

6 of 18

Warm Corn Chowder Salad with Bacon and Cider Vinegar

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In this riff on a Southern classic, corn, potatoes and bacon are tossed with cider vinegar. Because the corn for this salad is barely cooked, it’s best to use the juiciest kernels available.

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7 of 18

Breakfast Burrito

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“How many lunchrooms have disgusting Taco Tuesdays?” asks chef Spike Mendelsohn. As an alternative, he stuffs burritos with scrambled eggs (lightened with egg whites), feta, turkey bacon and spinach.

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Chicken Smothered in Gravy

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This satisfying riff on smothered pork chops calls for skinless chicken drumsticks, which have only slightly more fat than breasts, as well as more zinc and iron and tons more flavor.

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Butternut Squash Soup

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Adding collard greens, bell pepper, corn and carrot to a rustic butternut squash soup is Mary Ellen Diaz’s clever way of making it even more healthy. Together these vegetables deliver vitamins A and C as well as fiber and powerful antioxidants.

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10 of 18

Grilled Kale with Garlic, Chiles and Bacon

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Grilling kale gives it a toasty flavor; the smartest way to prepare kale for grilling is blanching it so it becomes tender and doesn’t burn.

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Mexican Eggs in Purgatory

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For the Italian breakfast dish Eggs in Purgatory, eggs are baked in a spicy tomato sauce. In this Mexican-inspired take, Grace Parisi substitutes a vibrant, fresh green sauce made with tomatillos, cilantro and scallions.

12 of 18

New Orleans Red Beans and Rice with Pickled Peppers

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In New Orleans, red beans and rice are traditionally served on Mondays because the dish uses up leftover Sunday ham. Grace Parisi likes making the recipe any day of the week, and she replaces the ham with smoky bacon.

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Spicy Green Beans with Bacon and Tomatoes

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14 of 18

BLT Bread Salad

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To make this Italian-style salad, Joy Manning tosses cubes of bread with just a little B (bacon) and lots of healthy L (soft butter lettuce) and T (small yellow and red tomatoes). Instead of mayonnaise, she blends the basil-inflected dressing with protein-rich soft tofu.

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Scallops with Chestnut Sauce and Crisp Sage

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“In 1994, when I enrolled at the Culinary Institute oh America in Hyde Park, I had to catch up on so much—it was like I had a virgin palate for food and wine,” says Rajat Parr. “For instance, I’d never had a scallop before; I didn’t even know what they were. I had never seen a chestnut before, either. So cooking school was an eye-opening experience.”

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Grilled Chicken and Watercress Salad with Canadian Bacon

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This dish offers a fitness-minded mix of lean chicken and calcium-packed watercress. Canadian bacon, with just a fraction of the calories and fat of bacon, gives the salad a slightly sweet and salty flavor.

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White-Bean Soup with Bacon and Herb

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A light broth loaded with chunky Great Northern beans and topped with a sprinkling of bacon, this soup was inspired by caldo gallego, a Spanish white-bean soup.

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Sweet Corn Succotash

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Green peas add a nice sweetness to this fast and healthy succotash.

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