Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe
Published December 20, 2023. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
If you’re looking for the perfect appetizer, try this bacon-wrapped dates recipe simmered in brown sugar and bourbon. This classic 6-ingredient appetizer is incredibly easy to make and a hit when serving guests and family over the holidays or for get-togethers.
With all the variety, appetizers are one of my favorite courses for any meal. If you feel the same way, try my Classic Deviled Eggs or Crab Cakes Recipe.
Bacon Wrapped DSates
Bacon-wrapped dates are a popular appetizer of fresh pitted dates wrapped in bacon and seared until the bacon is browned and crisp. The traditional palette of salty and sweet in this appetizer delivers every time.
This traditional dish became famous during the 1970s and 1980s. However, they’ve been around since the early 19th century in Victorian England.
Dates or date palms, also known as Phoenix dactylifera, come from a palm family plant and are used in this bacon-wrapped dates recipe.
Dates hang off the trees in massive clusters and, when ripe, are picked and dried. However, they can certainly be enjoyed fresh, but you may have difficulty finding them. Dates are a big-time staple food in the Middle East for thousands of years.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Dates – I used fresh medjool dates.
- Bacon – It’s best to use regular or medium-cut bacon that is smoked and uncured. Thick-cut bacon can work, but wrapping and cooking them until finished becomes more difficult.
- Bourbon – Any bourbon or whiskey will work for this recipe.
- Fat – This recipe requires some heavy whipping cream and unsalted butter. I use unsalted butter in my cooking and baking to control the salt content, not a butter company.
- Sugar – You can use light or dark brown sugar in this recipe.
- Oil – Any neutral flavored oil will work in this recipe.
How to Make Bacon-Wrapped Dates
- Remove the pit from the dates.
- Slice the bacon in half width-wise.
- Wrap each date in one strip of the half-sliced bacon.
- Cook the bacon seal side down in a large pan on medium-low heat in a small amount of oil.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until crisp and browned. Set aside.
- Remove the rendered bacon fat.
- Add the brown sugar, butter, and cream to a small saucepot.
- Cook on low to medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until smooth while frequently whisking. Remove the caramel from the cooktop, pour in bourbon, and whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Add the dates to the pan and pour the bourbon caramel back in.
- Bake in the oven at 325° for 15-17 minutes.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make the bacon-wrapped dates 2 days ahead of time. The day you plan to serve them, add them to a pot, cover them with a lid, and cook over low heat until hot.
How to Store: Keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. These do not freeze well, but you can place them in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw for 1 full day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add them to a pot, cover with a lid, and cook over low heat until hot. Alternatively, place them on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and bake them at 325° for 10-12 minutes or until hot.
chef notes + tips
- Stay away from any flavored bacon to wrap the dates in.
- Cook the bacon-wrapped dates in batches if there isn’t enough room in the pan.
- When you cook them with the end of the bacon seam side down into the pan, it cooks the bacon together, sealing it together, so there is no need for a toothpick.
- Don’t worry if the sides of the bacon don’t get cooked while crisping it in the pan, as it will finish cooking in the oven.
More Appetizer Recipes
- Oysters Rockefeller Recipe
- Smoked Chicken Wings
- Grilled Lobster Tails
- Salmon Cakes Recipe
- Potato Latkes Recipe
Video
Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ stick unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 3 tablespoons bourbon or whiskey
- 13 strips medium thick-cut bacon cut in half
- 25 pitted Medjool dates
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°.
- Add the brown sugar, butter, and whipped cream to a medium-sized saucepot and cook over low to medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until cooked and smooth. See notes on the texture below. Set aside.
- Remove it from the heat, whisk in the bourbon, and set aside.
- Wrap each date in a ½ slice piece of bacon and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, and place each bacon-wrapped date bacon seam side down and cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until the bacon is browned and crispy. See note on cooking it in batches.
- Drain the rendered bacon fat, add the crisp bacon-wrapped dates back into the pan, and pour the caramel over top.
- Bake in the oven at 325° for 15-17 minutes.
- Serve hot.
I make these with thin bacon, sprinkle with brown sugar and bake them 🙂 will try this recipe soon
Thanks for giving it a try!
Brought these to dinner party & it was ‘the hit’ of evening. The sauce is amazing & we will definitely use it with other meats & dishes. Thanks for the recipes & tips.
Outstanding appetiser.
Such a Beautiful and Delicious recipe. I have made them before but not like this, these sounds amazing….
Perfect. These are much better than my original recipe. Wish that I’d seen it for Christmas Day.
Thank you as always.
Fantastic
Insanely delicious! A real stunner as an appetizer!
Thanks!
Loved making these. Family was so impressed,
so good!!
These dates were a hit with everyone! Thank you for this recipe.
Awesome!
We hosted our very first Christmas Eve brunch as a married couple with both sides of our family this year. We have some picky eaters but I stumbled upon this recipe and knew it would be a winner! We made this along side a charcuterie board. These quickly became a staple appetizer; people could not stop eating them! Great feeling. Thanks chef Billy Parisi for your amazing recipes! Happy holidays.
Amazing. Thanks for giving it a shot!!
Oh follow-up tip two that worked for me; I put the pan-cooked bacon in the oven seam side down (side I first pan-cooked) in oven w/o the caramel for about 10 minutes then added the bourbon-caramel sauce (touched up with cayenne). This ensured that the bacon was cripsed all around before adding liquid, cooked for less time in the liquid and the caramel was still hot and sticky.
These are fabulous. One of our favorite restaurants serves these (similar) with a romesco sauce. I’ve tried several times to replicate them because I love them so much and I finally realized that just the bacon/date/filling (the restaurant and I stuffed them with a mixture of walnuts/cheese) wasn’t enough – the restaurant’s have a glaze on them. So this recipe was perfect and the solution to making them as good as the restaurant’s – slightly different but every bit as good!! The searing them in the pan and then oven finish was perfect – the restaurant deep fries them apparently but I’m not going to that much trouble. This was very close to their consistency. My husband loved them so much he offered to cook dinner AND clean up. Now I’ve got to go find a romesco sauce recipe…
I’m submitting this in hopes that others attempting this recipe who are unfamiliar with the ingredients can avoid the challenges I experienced preparing this dish. Altho experienced in the kitchen, I’ve never cooked dates and I struggled a lot due to some poor choices I made on ingredients and prep. I chose large Medjool dates and thick bacon. 1/2 strip of the meat barely overlapped the dates so in order to keep the bacon wrapped I used toothpicks to secure. Crisping the bacon evenly was near impossible and I had trouble controlling the heat while some sides were burning but the overlapping portion tended to stay undercooked and the toothpicks added to problem. I thought it would be unedible, but since I used so much butter and Royal Crown in the sauce I went ahead and baked it anyway. Shockingly, the finished dish was absolutely delicious and a big hit. I will definately make again, but not sure if I should use a smaller date and 1/2 strip thin bacon, or if I can use a whole strip of thin bacon wrapped around the larger fruit. Suggestions?
Thanks for your comment. I’m going to be redoing this recipe shortly since it’s 6 years old and hopefully you will get some more clarity from it. Glad at least it tasted good!
Did you ever update this? About to try it for Christmas Day.
Since my sister has a small kitchen and this is my contribution for the pot luck, I need to cook it or mostly cook it beforehand and finish it off or merely reheat when I get there.
Any suggestions on best way to transport this? I’ll probably have too remove it from the hot pan and then place them on a baking sheet or use a toaster-oven in batches when there. Each transfer will loose some of the “sauce”…
thanks! and have a great holiday!
I did but it’s not going live until next Friday. Why don’t you email me and I’ll get you over the recipe.
Hi Billy. Sorry I didn’t see your reply until just now. I’m making this today for a family thing & have to precook it partway at home & transport, then hopefully finish it with the sauce in the oven when I get there.
Suggestions on how to beat handle this???
I also realize you may not see this in time as it’s Chrostmas Day…
Also, if I heat the sauce when I get there and pour onto the precooked bacon & dates, will I have an issue with the sauce burning on the pan when I finish it off in the oven??
Thanks for your reply & Happy Holidaze!!
Isn’t my email recorded when I post?
I make bacon wrapped dates anytime I’m going to a party. I found your recipe yesterday and thought I’d give it a whirl for my friends birthday party last night. Sounds so yummy.
EVERYONE loved them. So very delicious! I wasn’t sure if maybe they’d be a bit too sweet because of the combo of dates and sugar but DAMN THESE WERE SO GOOD!
I always add almonds inside the dates as a bit of texture and flaver everyone is always surprised they’re in there. They were very helpful in balancing all the flavors together.
Next time I think I’ll leave out the bourbon though. The flavor didn’t really come through and since I made such a big batch I used an entire cup! Lol. Any suggestions for a bourbon replacement?
Anyway, thanks for a very delicious recipe.
oh that is so awesome to hear. Glad you like it! No really need to replace the bourbon, you could just leave it out!
want to serve as an app at my pub! Any ideas on how to pre-cook, and finish off per order. Thanks in advance, making to try tonight.
Hey Stephanie great question. The best thing you could do is just sear the bacon quickly so that it seals to the date and it cooks. Cool them until you have an order. When you get a ticket add the dates back to a hot pan with a bit of oil really just to heat it back up and then pour in the caramel sauce and cook on low heat for 2 to 3 minutes and you should be good to go. Shouldn’t take longer than 5 to 7 minutes for a reheat.
Can I make the bacon wrapped dates ahead of time, like a day and then finish them in the oven before the party?
Yes I think that would be just fine.
Went to a restaurant in Columbus that had bacon-wrapped dates and I loved them so much. Was looking for a recipe to try at home and found yours. So delicious! A+
Thanks Danielle, so glad they worked out!
Little late to the part but the recipe was suggested by a friend and I’m very excited to try these out for my company’s potluck!
I think the best way to bring them to work will be to cook ahead of time and then heat up before we eat, any thoughts on a better way?
Thanks!
that would probably be best! good luck!
I made these last year for Thanksgiving and they were a hit. Do you think stuffing them with a little blue cheese would be a good idea or would it be overkill? Not sure how the flavors would combine. Thanks!
you definitely could try that. I think it would add some good flavor for sure! However, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it 🙂
Approximately how long will one need to cook the bourbon for this process? Thanks!
maybe 4 to 5 minutes on high heat, you are just cooking the alcohol off. Be careful thought because it will catch fire.
I’m going to try this with scallops. Should I render the bacon 1st so the scallop doesn’the over cook, then wrap, brown and glaze?
Not sure the bacon will be pliable if you try to wrap the scallops after it’s cooking. If you wrap the outside of the scallops then sear the top and bottom which will be exposed I think you’ll be alright.
Thanks so much for your quick reply. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Can these be done in the oven?
I suppose they could, just want to make sure and get the bacon crispy.
Really fabulous! The only recommendation I have is drain the grease after you finish cooking the bacon wrapped dates. I didn’t the first time and added the sauce straight to the bacon wrapped dates. The flavor would be more concentrated had I drained the grease.
I agree, but I really wanted a lot of bacon flavor, so I kept the rendered bacon fat in the pan 🙂