I feel like recently there has been a new obsession with bacon. T-shirts, pictures, posts, recipes, flavors galore…everywhere you look, there’s bacon.
I’m sorry, did that sound like a complaint? It totally wasn’t. I’m actually slightly obsessed with bacon myself, if you couldn’t tell from its frequent appearance in my recipes. I just love the flavor bacon gives…EVERYTHING.
So this was a simple, no-brainer recipe to try. Take a date. Stuff it with blue cheese. Wrap it in bacon. Smoke. Eat.
The only way to get this perfectly golden brown finish is to cook indirect. It worked great on my Weber Performer charcoal grill. I used some hickory and apple chips and smoked for about 30 minutes. It doesn’t matter what temperature…you’ll know they’re done when the bacon is dark and the blue cheese starts oozing.
We also did a very interesting experiment because we wanted to see if it REALLY made a difference smoking them. So we put half in the oven, and I smoked the other half. The difference was staggering. Everyone could taste the smoke. The bacon was better, the taste was better. It was a much better overall experience. So yes, BBQ makes everything better.
I’m telling you what – these suckers disappeared quicker than you can say I Love Bacon! We could barely wait for them to cool. Everyone who ate them couldn’t stop. What a tasty appetizer, and a perfect way to start off a party.
Bacon. Yay.
Smoked Bacon Wrapped Dates With Blue Cheese
Ingredients
- Dates stuffed with blue cheese the blue cheese part is optional
- Bacon
Instructions
- Set up grill for indirect cooking. Low temp - around 225-250.
- Make sure to remove pits from dates. Easier yet, buy the ones without pits!
- Stuff some crumbles of blue cheese inside the date.
- Cut slices of bacon in half and they will wrap perfectly around the dates.
- Smoke with hickory and apple wood for about 30 minutes - until bacon is golden brown and dates begin to ooze.