What Recipes Can You Make with Tender Belly Bacon?

Updated

Tender Belly's site has a Crazy Tasty Recipes section, and the two recipes it features are a good starting point: Grilled Peaches with Tender Belly Bacon and Jalapeño Honey Drizzle and Tender Belly Zucchini Boats. Both are built around the same product traits the brand emphasizes — thick-cut, hardwood-smoked bacon with a higher meat-to-fat ratio — so they work best when you treat bacon as an ingredient with real texture rather than a salty topping. If you want a quick answer: start with the grilled peaches for a sweet-and-smoky side or appetizer, and the zucchini boats for a weeknight main that uses up garden zucchini.

The two recipes shown on the site

Grilled Peaches with Tender Belly Bacon and Jalapeño Honey Drizzle

The site describes this as an easy summer recipe that combines smoky bacon, fresh grilled peaches, and a sweet-spicy jalapeño honey. It's positioned for BBQs, parties, or as a unique side dish.

Why it suits Tender Belly bacon: the brand's bacon is thick and meaty (the site claims 6g protein per slice), so it holds up on a grill instead of shrinking into a crisp shard. The smoke from the hardwood-smoked bacon is what balances the peach sugar and the honey heat.

What you need to make it work:

  • Ripe but firm peaches — soft peaches fall apart on the grates.
  • Bacon cooked partway first — thick slices need a head start before they hit the grill alongside fruit, or the peaches will burn before the bacon renders.
  • Jalapeño honey made ahead — infusing honey with sliced jalapeño takes time; make it earlier in the day so the heat actually comes through.

Expected result: a plate that reads as sweet, smoky, and a little hot — good as a side for grilled meat or as a passed appetizer.

Tender Belly Zucchini Boats

The site frames this as the answer to "overflowing with garden zucchini" — bacon-stuffed zucchini boats described as easy, crave-worthy, and packed with flavor.

Why it suits Tender Belly bacon: the site's own selling points — thick & meaty, hardwood smoked, freshly ground spices — mean the bacon filling carries the dish. With thin supermarket bacon you'd need more slices and get more grease; with a thick cut, a modest amount of bacon gives each boat a real smoky center.

What you need to make it work:

  • Zucchini halved and scooped — leave a wall thick enough that the boat doesn't collapse in the oven.
  • Bacon cooked before stuffing — thick-cut bacon won't fully cook inside a zucchini in the time the vegetable needs; pre-cook and crumble it.
  • Salt the zucchini first — garden zucchini holds a lot of water, and salting/draining keeps the boats from turning soupy.

Expected result: a savory, smoky main or side that uses up zucchini without tasting like a plain vegetable dish.

How to adapt other recipes to Tender Belly products

The site's best-seller list tells you what you're working with: Signature Dry-Rub Uncured Bacon, No-Sugar Signature Dry-Rub Uncured Bacon, Spiral Cut Uncured Ham, Hardwood Smoked Uncured Bacon Crumbles, and Uncured Bacon Fat. Each changes what a recipe can do.

Product Best use in recipes What to watch for
Signature Dry-Rub Uncured Bacon Grilled fruit, stuffed vegetables, breakfast plates Thick cut — pre-cook before wrapping or stuffing
No-Sugar Signature Dry-Rub Uncured Bacon Recipes where you don't want added sweetness competing with the dish Same thick-cut handling; check your other ingredients for sugar if that matters to you
Spiral Cut Uncured Ham Centerpiece dishes, sandwiches, ham-forward recipes It's a ham, not a bacon substitute — swap it in where a recipe calls for sliced ham
Hardwood Smoked Uncured Bacon Crumbles Toppings, salads, baked potatoes, quick weeknight add-ins Already cooked — add late so it doesn't dry out
Uncured Bacon Fat Roasting vegetables, sautéing, replacing butter or oil in savory dishes Strong flavor — use less than you would of neutral oil

A practical rule: if a recipe calls for bacon as a wrapping or stuffing element, use the thick-cut slices and pre-cook them. If it calls for bacon as a finishing garnish, the crumbles save a step.

Where to find more recipes and how to buy

The site's Crazy Tasty Recipes section is the place to look for new ideas, and the homepage links to Buy on Amazon and Find a Store under "Where to Buy Tender Belly." The site also has a Food Service section and an Athletes login, which suggests the products are sold both retail and through food-service channels — useful if you're cooking for a crowd.

For a first cook, the grilled peaches are the lower-risk choice: fewer components, and the result is obvious even if your grill timing is imperfect. The zucchini boats take more prep but make a fuller meal.