Homemade Bacon Recipe - low sodium & no preservatives. (2024)

FAQs

How to make your own bacon without nitrates? ›

HORMEL^® BLACK LABEL^® Lower Sodium Bacon has 50% less sodium than HORMEL^® BLACK LABEL^® Original Bacon by using sea salt. Each serving has 80 calories and is gluten free, so make bacon the star ingredient in all your meals!

Bacon is made with salt as a curing agent, and nitrite (but not nitrate) is the other most frequently used additive. Bacon may also contain other additives such as sugars, maple sugar, wood smoke, flavorings, and spices.

What Is Nitrate-Free Bacon? If bacon is labeled “no nitrate or nitrite added” or “uncured bacon” it's considered nitrate-free bacon. Ironically, nitrate-free bacon is still cured, just using a non-synthetic curing agent like celery powder—which is naturally high in organic nitrate—or sea salt.

Schenker Farms

Made from our pastured pork, this bacon is hand rubbed with a variety of spices, sea salt and turbinado sugar to give it a light flavor with no added nitrites and nitrates.

It is a technique I learned from my friend Med, many many years ago and it involves giving the bacon a couple of hot water baths. It works with both bits and rashers. Then pour some freshly boiled water over the bacon till it is well-covered. Give it a stir and let it sit blissfully for 2 minutes.

Dry cured ~ mild ~ Suffolk pork

Dry cured. This bacon has a wonderful light flavour, and not too salty.

Made from fermented soybeans, tempeh bacon can mimic the texture of bacon when thinly sliced and marinated in a smoky sauce. It's a plant-based option that's high in protein and fiber, and it contains healthy fats without the cholesterol found in pork bacon.

Turkey bacon has fewer calories, with 30 calories per thin slice, compared to pork bacon, which has about 43 calories per slice. It's lower in fat, too, – 2.1 grams per slice, compared to pork bacon's 3.1 grams per slice.

Should you avoid bacon on a low sodium diet? ›

Regular bacon has 120 mg. Remember that your sodium "budget" for the day is 1500 mg. Adding a slice of bacon here or there is doable, but if you have four slices of regular bacon in the morning you are already at 500 mg! to cook low salt and include a slice of bacon without blowing your sodium budget.

Natural Homemade Bacon

Cut your pork belly down to about 5 pound chunks. Rub the maple syrup all over the belly. Add chunky real salt or chunky Celtic salt to the entire piece of meat. Place in a Ziploc bag and place in your refrigerator for 5 days.

Regular bacon is cured with nitrite (NO₂) or a virtually identical chemical, nitrate (NO₃), both of which act as preservatives, though only nitrite has the potential to form potentially harmful nitrosamines.

Curing your own bacon, at least once, is a great experience for any meat enthusiast. Although it's a fairly lengthy process (at least, compared to running to the store and just buying some), it is a wholly satisfying one, and in addition to the sense of achievement it also yields some tasty rewards.

Some ingredients commonly used in alternatively-cured meat products include sea salt, evaporated cane juice, raw or turbinado sugar, lactic acid starter culture, and natural flavourings, such as celery juice, celery juice concentrate or vegetable juice powder.

HORMEL^® NATURAL CHOICE^® Original Fully-Cooked Uncured Bacon strips have no preservatives or artificial ingredients. 2.5-ounce pack of bacon, making it easier to serve your family, plus no added nitrates or nitrites (except in cultured celery and sea salt).

Nitrates and nitrites are used in the production of processed meats like bacon, salami, and ham. However, they are also found naturally in many plant foods, often in very high amounts. For example, pound for pound, spinach contains at least 30 times more of these compounds than hot dogs do (see table above).

Sodium nitrate (and its cousin additive sodium nitrite) is a common preservative used in cured meat products including bacon, deli meat, and jerky. It has been linked to the development of heart disease and diabetes. This additive has been cut out from some foods due to these concerns.