Canadian Bacon Recipe

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Whether you’re making sandwiches, pizza, salads or eggs Benedict, if you’re looking for a homemade Canadian bacon recipe that is so easy and so tasty it will knock your socks off, you’ve come to the right place! Infused with that delicious traditional smoky maple flavor with just the right balances of spices, you’ll find yourself making this again and again!

Why Make Your Own?

Because not only is it so GOOD, it’s so EASY! The ingredients are few and simple. Making your own also gives you full control over the quality of the pork itself, which means a better end product. You also have the ability to adjust the flavor profile to your liking by adding or omitting the spices of your choice.

What is Canadian Bacon?

To start, it isn’t Canadian, it’s American. Specifically, it’s the American name for back bacon (as opposed to pork belly used to make streaky bacon) that is wet-cured, smoked until fully cooked, and then sliced. Canadian bacon is sometimes confused with a type of bacon from Canada (mostly Ontario) called peameal bacon, but the preparation is very different (peameal bacon is not smoked or pre-cooked and it’s also rolled in yellow cornmeal – traditionally ground yellow peas were used). So why is it called Canadian bacon? Some historians believe it’s because the United Kingdom was experiencing pork shortages in mid-19th century and they imported their pork from Canada, including Canada’s peameal bacon. The British took the bacon and smoked it, and the reference to “Canadian” bacon stuck. This method of smoking back bacon caught on with the Americans who continued to use the name.

How to Make Canadian Bacon

The process for making homemade Canadian bacon is really simple. The method involves immersing the raw pork loin in a seasoned brine made with water, sugar, maple syrup, salt, curing salt, garlic and seasonings and let it sit in the fridge for a few days to cure. Then the pork loin is rinsed, patted dry and smoked. Once it’s cooled you can slice it to your desired thickness.

The smoking time for Canadian bacon is relatively short. Unlike homemade bacon which very fatty and smoked at a low temperature for a longer period of time, Canadian bacon is extremely lean and so to prevent it from drying out from a long cooking time, the temperature is ideally bumped up to 325 F for a faster smoking time. However, not all smokers don’t go that high, in which case just set the temperature for as high as it will go (but don’t exceed 325 F).

Homemade Canadian Bacon Ingredients

Much of the flavor of Canadian bacon comes from smoking it. And for that we’re using apple wood chips to infuse it with a pleasant fruity flavor. Besides the smoked flavor you’ll need just a handful of ingredients to give you that traditional Canadian bacon flavor. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Boneless Pork Loin: You’ll need a 4-5 pound loin. If you have a Costco nearby they have pork loins this very size and at a great price. This recipe can also be cut in half if you have a 2-3 pound pork loin. You’ll want to trim off all the excess fat and remove silver skin, which is tough layer of connective tissue that covers muscle.
• Water: For the brine.
• Salt: I use and recommend kosher salt but you can also use sea salt or even pickling salt. Just avoid table salt as it has a harsher flavor and also has additives that can cause your bacon to slightly grayish in color.
• Prague Powder #1: Also known as pink curing salt, there are two types, #1 and #2. Both are curing salts but they’re used for different types of curing. Prague powder #1, or simply called pink curing salt #1, is used meats that are cured and cooked like bacon and pastrami while Prague powder #2 is used for non-cooked meats that are instead dry-cured like salami and prosciutto. Note, pink curing salt is not the same thing as Himalayan salt and cannot be substituted. Why do you need curing salt to make Canadian bacon? It serves two purposes, safety and aesthetics: 1) it inhibits the growth of bacteria during the curing and smoking time, ensuring the meat is safe to eat and 2) it keeps the meat from turning an unsightly gray color and maintains its pleasant pink color.
• Sugar: For a touch of sweetness, a hallmark characteristic of Canadian bacon. I like to use a combination of brown and white sugar so that you get some of the caramel notes from the brown sugar without it being too overpowering.
• Maple Syrup: A traditional flavor element in Canadian bacon. I use and recommend pure maple syrup so that you get a concentrated maple flavor without adding too much additional sweetness.
• Garlic: For some earthy flavor to balance out the sweetness.
• Thyme: For a lovely herbaceous flavor element. You can use dried thyme if you don’t have access to fresh, but I find that the flavor from fresh is extracted more effectively during the curing time.
• Black Peppercorns: For flavor depth and balance.
• Whole Star Anise: This pairs beautifully with the maple syrup and sugar to create a fabulous warmth and depth of flavor.
• Bay Leaves: For a balancing woodsy flavor element. If you’re looking for more of that old-school traditional flavor, you can also add teaspoon or so of juniper berries.

Canadian Bacon Recipe

Let’s get started!

Trim the pork loin of excess fat and remove any silver skin.

Place the water, curing salt, brown and white sugars, maple syrup, salt, garlic and spices in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes then turn the heat off and let the brine sit until completely cooled. If you need to speed things up, you can boil half of the water with the other ingredients and then add the remaining half of cold water to cool it down faster.

Once fully cooled, place the pork loin in the pot. If the pot is not wide enough to hold the pork loin, use a large stainless steel bowl or other non-reactive container that will fit it. The pork loin must be completely immersed under the brine. It helps to place something heavy on the pork loin to keep it weighed down. Place the lid on the pot or container and place it in the fridge to cure for 5-6 days.

After 5-6 days remove the pork loin from the brine and thoroughly rinse it. Pat it dry with paper towels.

Preheat the smoker to 325°F and smoke the pork loin with some apple wood chips (a handful added twice towards the beginning is sufficient) until the internal temperature registers 145°F (this can take anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours depending on the thickness of the pork loin and the ambient temperature).

Remove the smoked pork loin and allow it to cool completely. You can slice it now or later; either way, wrap it well and store it in the fridge where it will keep for up to 2 weeks.

Canadian bacon can also be pre-sliced and frozen for at least 3 months.

Slice the Canadian bacon to your desired thickness. For example, for sandwiches you can slice it thinly and for things like pizza or Egg McMuffins you can slice it thicker.

How to Use Canadian Bacon

Canadian bacon is versatile and can be enjoyed in any number of ways. Here are just a few ideas:

• Thinly sliced and eaten on sandwiches, bagels and in wraps.
• Sliced more thickly, fried in a skillet with a little oil and served on an Egg McMuffin.
• Thickly sliced and eaten as a ham or gammon steak.
• On pizza and in calzones.
• In soups that call for ham like Ham and Bean Soup and Ham and Wild Rice Soup.
• In bean dishes like Southern Butter Beans.
• Added to omelettes, eggs Benedict or quiche like Canadian Bacon and Pineapple Quiche.
• Diced and added to salads like ham salad, Pea Salad, Macaroni Salad, Olivier Salad and Creamy Potato Salad.

Enjoy!

For more homemade charcuterie recipes try my:

• How to Make Bacon
• Porchetta
• Gravlax
• Italian Sausage Recipe
• Mexican Chorizo
• German Bratwurst
• British Bangers
• Breakfast Sausage Recipe
• Pork Rillettes
• Smoked Ham Hocks
• Smoked Ham
• Smoked Cheddar Sausages
• Capicola