Bacon Caramel Brownies
These Bacon Caramel Brownies are swirled with caramel & sprinkled with brown sugar bacon! If you’ve never tried bacon in brownies, you need to try these!
Soooo…I put bacon in your brownies. But first, I baked them with brown sugar and watched the bacon strips get all caramelized and sweet. Seriously guys, brown sugar baked bacon is NOT a joke. It’s too good, and I recommend making more than you need for the recipe just to snack on. In addition: the only complaint from this recipe was “not enough bacon,” so I bumped up the amount of bacon in the recipe so you all have an even better brownie than I did. Really, is there ever enough bacon?
Some of you may be scoffing at me and shaking your head, wondering why in the world I would be putting bacon into brownies. The better question is why have I not done it sooner?!?! I’m seriously lagging on the bacon-baked good thing, but now I’m totally on board, and I hope you guys are too. If you haven’t tried it – these bacon caramel brownies are the perfect place to start.
This brownie recipe is my all-time favorite. It never lets me down, and it’s the one recipe that my friends consistently beg for again and again. It’s rich, dark, fudgy, and pretty much my perfect brownie. The caramel in the recipe (I personally used dulce de leche because it’s what I had on hand) is so delicious in this brownie, and swirls into the batter perfectly!
The crunchy, sweet bites of bacon are layered throughout the brownie. It addd the perfect salty counterpart to the sweetness of the caramel. You want enough bacon to be tasting it in every single bite! So good.
If you haven’t tried the bacon in baked goods thing yet…you should definitely give it a go with these brownies. If you already love bacon in your baked goods…well, then you already know how good it is!
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PrintBacon Caramel Brownies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 32 brownies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Bacon Caramel Brownies are swirled with caramel & sprinkled with brown sugar bacon! If you’ve never tried bacon in brownies, you need to try these!
Ingredients
For the bacon
- 8 slices bacon
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
For the brownies
- 11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 5 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup caramel sauce or dulce de leche
Instructions
For the bacon
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Add bacon brown sugar to a large Ziploc bag and toss until bacon is coated.
- Line a baking sheet with a wire rack and lay bacon on the rack. Put the baking sheet on the top rack of the oven and bake until crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Let cool, and then chop into large chunks.
For the brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13-inch baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper and grease.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.
- Put the chocolate and butter in a large microwavable bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each 30 seconds, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined. The mixture should be room temperature.
- Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir in.
- Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.
- Pour half the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out into an even layer. Drizzle half of the caramel sauce or dulce de leche around the brownie batter. Sprinkle half of the bacon bits evenly over the batter. Spread the remaining batter on top, and repeat with remaining caramel and bacon.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap for up to 3 days.
Love the idea of adding bacon to these brownies! Bacon always pairs so well with sweet things, but I would have never thought to use it this way. Love it! Pinning these :)
Can you believe for as long as bacon as been the thing to add to sweets I have yet to try it?! Crazy, right? These brownies look so delicious! I love that they look so decadent and fudgy.
I’ve still not tried baking with bacon… think it’s time to change that! Looks great!
Rachel, the flavors in this sound amazing. I bet your house smelled wonderful while this was baking.
It definitely did! Thanks Kathleen!
Whoa! Bacon in brownies!? With caramel? My husband would go nuts for these!
yum, these look incredible, Rachel! i’m not a huge fan of bacon, but if you combine it with brown sugar, caramel, and chocolate??? sounds amazing!
Bacon in brownies? Well I never! These look amazing! Wow!
HOLY COW!!!
ohemgeeeee—caramelized bacon….in brownies….just….whooooooooa
Well well well what do we have here? Could this be the best brownie recipe ever? WOW – nom nom nom!
So glad I stumbled across your blog, would love for you to stop past ours.
Anisa – The Macadames. xx
http://www.themacadames.com
Bacon caramel brownies?! Amazing! I’ve heard of putting bacon in everything, but haven’t actually seen any recipes like that. This looks delicious!
LOVE adding bacon into baked goods. I just did it for the first time a few months ago and it forever changed my life. These brownies sound delish, I need to make them stat!
Thanks Louisa!! Isn’t it the best thing ever?! I can’t believe this was the first time I had tried it!
Girl I had to tell you these brownies are the bizness! Pinned!
Thanks for the pin, Jocelyn!
Whuuuut! You caramelized the bacon in brown sugar first. Stop it. Such a good idea! My husband is going to pass out when I tell him whats for dessert on Weds when he gets home! :-)
I hope you both love the brownies, Lindsey! :)
When I saw these on instagram, my mouth just fell open. This is just SUCH a wonderful idea. I’m kind of sad I never thought to do it. :) I love that you caramelized the bacon first, then put it in the brownies. That’s a win-win right there. Absolutely love these!! Pinned!
Thanks so much Beth!! I figured I had to cook the bacon beforehand anyways…so why not cook it in the most delicious way possible?! So glad you like the recipe, and thanks for the pin!
I would never ever question putting bacon into brownies. Brilliant. love these!
Oh my gosh! These look seriously good!! The caramelization looks just perfect, and the brownies look super dark and fudgy.. drooling!
Rachel, I DIE!!! Bacon + brownies? Totally brilliant! Sweet and salty is my favorite kind of dessert.
Brown sugar bacon? Oh my! This reminds me of a delicious dessert I had in Chicago a few months ago. The bacon chocolate combo is truly fantastic! I can’t wait to try this :)
The internet salivates!
Girl, you are killing me with these brownies! Bacon+chocolate OMG! Love it!
Bacon and chocolate are pretty much my two biggest loves. I am TOTALLY on board with both of ’em stuffed in a gorgeous super-fudgy brownie! These look outta this world amazing, Rachel!
So truth be told- I am not a fan of bacon at all…however I am totally a sucker for the salted caramel combo, even more so when chocolate is added in! Despite my bacon aversion, these look decadently delicious! Totally drooling at your s’mores & Oreo cake below!!
Caramelized bacon in brownies is such a brilliant idea girl! They look so ooey gooey dangerously decadent and amazing all at once! Pinning and drooling!
Hey, it’s never too late to jump on the bandwagon! Looks like you did it with style. Very gooey and decadent!
Haha, wow these look great. Since I’m a vegetarian, I won’t be trying any brownies with bacon – but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued by the idea (I may have to try this with veggie bacon!)
Ooooh — your reasons are (obviously) totally understandable…but I’d be SUPER curious to see how this turned out with veggie bacon!! Let us all know if you try it :) thanks for coming by, Claudia :)
For the love of all things bacon! These look amazing…mouthwatering and irresistible. A sweet and salty combo is my favorite!
Caramel AND bacon?! All wrapped up in a delicious and perfect brownie.
Sign me up, girl.
So glad to be on your blog! Hurrah for twenty year olds!
Those sound like a perfect breakfast food! Bacon = Breakfast, so that means brownies for breakfast. Haha! They look great!
Only my FAV flavor combo SWEET & SALTY! YUM-O :) This GA girl loves her bacon and her brownies now create a marriage and it equals a bite of HEAVEN!
http://www.prettybitchescancooktoo.com
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Made these for my office Potluck competition– if I don’t win I don’t know what could! These are ridiculously unexpected, gooey and delectable. One bite took my taste buds to heaven. Thanks!
I hope you win, Hope!! :) So glad that you like them, thanks for trying and letting everyone know how they turned out!
These look heavenly! Am thinking of making them for Valentine’s Day. How many would you say the recipe makes?
Hi Nazneen, this recipe makes a 9×13 pan which yields about 24 good sized brownies. Hope you like them!
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Nice Recipes, Thank you for posting it.I will surely try this at home.
So far I have made your peanut butter pie and these brownies. Both were a huge hit! The brownies were heavenly! Thanks so much for the great recipes!
Hi Nazneen, I’m so glad both recipes turned out well for you! Those are two personal favorites as well, so I love that you enjoyed them. Thanks for letting me know how they turned out!
Made these last night for friends to enjoy while we watched the Great British Bake Off. They are amazing!!!!!! My BF thinks all bacon should be cooked this way ;) Felt very smug eating the bacon-y and chocolately goodness whilst watching the bakers try to make sugar free cake, heehee. Thanks so much for the idea and recipe!!
Hi Sarah, how fun!! Sounds like a great night, and I totally agree with your BF :) haha! Thanks for letting me sharing how you liked them!
I hope they are as good as the reviews indicate. I’m making them for our weekend ice fishing party. Just 1 question, is the dark chocolate sweet or bitter?
Hi Pam! I hope you love these brownies as much as I do. I usually use chocolate that is around 55% or 60% cocoa, which is semi-sweet chocolate. If your family likes darker chocolate, you could up to 70% cocoa and get a more bittersweet flavor. I wouldn’t recommend going much higher than that, though. Hope this helps! Enjoy :)
You are killing me with these this morning, absolutely can’t wait to make some!
These are the most amazing brownies I’ve ever had! I have made at least 6 batches in the past 3 weeks for various holiday parties and was asked by at least 15 people for a copy of this recipe. So moist!!
Woohoo! So glad they’re a hit, Sandra :) thanks for the feedback!
It’s in the oven now, and smells delicious! We opted for no caramel, it seems plenty sweet and my son doesn’t really like caramel. We also sprinkled sea salt on top. I’ll let you know how it tasted! It was fun to make, and I could eat that bacon all on it’s own!
Hope you and your family love them, Patricia :)