Bacon wrapped waterchestnuts are one of my favorite appetizers. These are not only a Whitten family tradition, but they are also award winning too. First, they won an appetizer competition at our Minneapolis office. Then one of my team members made them for a Denver secret ingredient competition, where bacon was the secret ingredient, and won that competition as well. But the icing on the cake that time was this recipe beat our boss’s recipe.
You combine bacon, a little crunch from the waterchestnut, some sweet from the pineapple, and a simple sauce of brown sugar and ketchup that mixes with the rendered bacon fat and caramelizes as it cooks. You really can’t go wrong with this recipe.
Here’s what you need:
Since we’ll be working with raw bacon, you’ll want to get everything you need prepped before you start, so you can keep wrapping without constantly washing your hands.
Slice the bacon in half.
Drain the pineapple and slice each ring into six chunks. You want to do this instead of buying chunks because the chunks are too thick.
Drain the waterchestnuts. Sometimes I notice that the cans have very uneven sized waterchestnuts. You want them to be about equal to the pineapple, if you have some that are too big just slice them in half with a knife.
Take some toothpicks out of the box – remember you don’t want to put your hand into the box once you start and contaminate it with raw bacon.
To wrap them, grab a slice of bacon and place one pineapple and one waterchestnut piece about a third of the way down the slice.
Roll the shorter piece of the bacon on top of the pineapple and waterchestnut, then folder the other end over the top of the rolled end. Secure with a toothpick.
Place the wrapped waterchestnuts into a 9×9 baking pan. You’ll have approximately 40 pieces, give or take depending on how many slices of bacon you have.
Place in a 325 degree oven for one hour.
While it’s baking mix together 2/3 cup of ketchup and 1 c of brown sugar.
After about a half hour you’ll want to flip the bacon wrapped waterchestnuts around so the bacon cooks evenly. Since the rendered fat helps to crisp the bacon, I also like to spoon a little over the top after I flip.
The bacon should be nicely rendered and fully cooked after an hour. It won’t be super crisp though.
After an hour pour on the sauce and then stir until it fully covers the bacon wrapped waterchestnuts.
Bake for 20 minutes until the sauce is bubbling. You can continue baking for another 10 minutes or so to allow the sauce to caramelize more.
Remove from the pan and allow to cool slightly before serving. If bringing to a potluck or planning to have out on an appetizer buffet for the big game, these work really well in a crock pot. For a small group we just place in a bowl, they still taste good as they cool to room temperature but they usually don’t last that long.
- 1 lb bacon, slices cut in half
- 1 can pineapple rings, each ring but into 6 chunks
- 2 cans whole waterchestnuts, drained
- Toothpicks
- ⅔ c ketchup
- 1 c brown sugar
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Wrap one slice of bacon around a pineapple chunk and waterchestnut and secure with a toothpick.
- Bake for 1 hour, stiring halfway through and basting with the rendered bacon fat.
- Stir together the ketchup and brown sugar. Pour onto the waterchestnuts and stir together.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the sauce is thick and bubbly.
- Cool slightly before serving.
LOVE THIS APPETIZER! Going to make it for an upcoming party im going to (: