Prepare to delight your taste buds with these incredibly easy bacon wrapped smokies, baked to perfection in your oven! This classic appetizer masterfully combines the irresistible flavors of savory bacon and sweet brown sugar, creating a harmonious bite of pure indulgence. While a smaller batch can be made quickly in an air fryer, this oven method is ideal for preparing a generous quantity, ensuring everyone at your next party or gathering gets to enjoy these addictive treats.

Who can resist the allure of appetizers featuring bacon? Seriously, these savory and sweet bites are an absolute game-changer for any social event. Whether you’re heading to a potluck, hosting a Super Bowl party, or celebrating during the festive holiday season, bacon wrapped smokies stand out as a supreme choice. They’re not just food; they’re an experience, a delightful fusion of textures and tastes that leaves a lasting impression.

Bacon Wrapped Little Smokies: A Symphony of Flavor

Sweetened to Perfection with Brown Sugar

With just three core ingredients – mini hot dogs (or “smokies”), bacon, and brown sugar – you’re on the path to an unforgettable culinary treat. The mini hot dogs provide a wonderful smoky base, while the bacon offers its signature salty, crispy texture. But it’s the brown sugar that truly elevates this dish, melting and caramelizing into a sticky, sweet glaze that coats every morsel. Imagine that savory, smoky flavor perfectly balanced with a luscious sweetness; it’s enough to make your mouth water just thinking about it! The exterior of these smokies develops a delightful candy-like crispness, much like our popular candied bacon, with a tender, flavorful center. This combination ensures they’re always a crowd-pleaser, disappearing from the serving platter almost as quickly as they’re made.

An Optional Touch: Adding Butter for Enhanced Richness

For an even richer, more savory undertone, consider adding a touch of butter to your bacon wrapped smokies with brown sugar. While not strictly necessary, a few thin slices of butter melting over the top during baking can deepen the flavor profile, adding a subtle creaminess and promoting an even more golden-brown crust. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could even prepare two separate trays – one with butter and one without – to let your guests compare and contrast, or simply divide your batch and try both variations. We recommend slicing about half a stick of butter into small pats and distributing them over the bacon-wrapped wieners before baking, allowing them to melt and blend beautifully with the brown sugar as they cook.

Essential Ingredients for Perfect Bacon Wrapped Smokies

Crafting these delectable bites requires only a few simple ingredients and helpful tools. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Bacon: Opt for regular-cut bacon slices, not thick-cut. Thinner bacon crisps up more effectively and wraps around the smokies more easily, ensuring that perfect crispy-chewy texture.
• Mini Hot Dogs or Little Smokies Sausages: While mini hot dogs can work, “little smokies” sausages are highly recommended for their inherent smoky flavor and slightly firmer texture, which holds up wonderfully during baking. They truly are the best choice for this recipe.
• Brown Sugar: You’ll need about 2 cups of brown sugar to achieve that signature sweet, caramelized glaze. This ingredient is key to the dish’s irresistible appeal.
• Toothpicks: A box of uncolored toothpicks is essential for securing the bacon around each smokie. Ensure they are plain to avoid any dye transfer during baking.
• Non-Stick Aluminum Foil: Lining your baking pan with non-stick foil is a lifesaver for easy cleanup, preventing the sticky brown sugar glaze from adhering to the pan.

Can You Use Frozen Bacon?

For optimal results, it’s generally not recommended to use bacon straight from the freezer. Frozen bacon is extremely rigid and will be impossible to bend and wrap around the little smokies without breaking. If you only have frozen bacon on hand, you’ll need to thaw it first. The best method is to transfer the sealed package to the refrigerator overnight. For a quicker defrosting method, submerge the sealed package of bacon in a bowl of cold water for approximately one hour. Once the bacon is flexible enough to handle and wrap without tearing, you can proceed with the recipe.

What About Turkey Bacon?

While the classic sweet and salty flavor of pork bacon is hard to beat, you can certainly substitute turkey bacon if you’re looking for a healthier alternative. However, be aware that turkey bacon typically has a lower fat content, which means it may not crisp up as much or offer the same depth of flavor as traditional bacon. The resulting appetizer will still be delicious, but expect a slightly different texture and taste profile. Many people still enjoy this lighter version, but for that truly indulgent, crispy-candied experience, pork bacon is the way to go. I often find myself making a full pan, only to discover half of it gone before the party even starts, thanks to my husband and kids!

Smokies vs. Cocktail Wieners: What’s the Difference?

When preparing this recipe, I often cut the bacon in half while it’s still in the package. This allows me to easily store any unused bacon in a freezer bag for future recipes, especially if I’m only making a smaller batch. This recipe is highly flexible; you can easily halve it for a smaller crowd or scale it up as described below for a larger gathering. This bacon-cutting technique is also useful when cooking frozen bacon in an air fryer.

To clarify, mini hot dogs are similar in size to “smokies,” but there’s a key difference in flavor. Smokies, as the name suggests, are pre-smoked, which infuses them with a rich, savory taste that mini hot dogs lack. While you can certainly use mini hot dogs, as we did in our amazing Instant Pot cocktail wiener recipe, smokies generally offer a more robust flavor and often have a slightly thicker casing, providing a satisfying snap when bitten. Ultimately, the choice is yours, but for maximum flavor impact in this recipe, smokies are the preferred option.

Any delicious bite can serve as a starter when you have guests over. It’s always fun to offer a wide variety of choices, from savory to sweet, like our breakfast bundt cake, which can double as a delightful brunch item. But let’s start with this incredible, fuss-free appetizer that only requires three main ingredients.

If you’re hosting a party, imagine the wow factor of a stunning bacon charcuterie board, prominently featuring these glorious bacon wrapped smokies! We’ve even created a printable charcuterie board shopping list to help you get started on that culinary masterpiece.

Expert Tips for the Best Bacon Wrapped Smokies

• **Preheat Your Oven:** Always preheat your oven to the specified temperature before placing the pan inside. This ensures a consistent and even cooking environment, which is crucial for achieving perfectly crispy bacon and a beautifully caramelized glaze. A higher temperature helps the exterior crisp up wonderfully.
• **Achieve Desired Crispness:** The cooking time is an approximation. Keep an eye on your smokies during the last few minutes of baking. For extra crispy bacon, you might need to extend the baking time by a few minutes, or even finish them under the broiler for a quick minute or two (watch carefully to prevent burning!).
• **Add a Touch of Heat:** If you enjoy a bit of a kick, consider sprinkling a pinch of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes over the brown sugar before baking. This adds a subtle warmth and spicy counterpoint to the sweet and savory flavors, creating a more complex and exciting appetizer.
• **Don’t Overcrowd the Pan:** Arrange the bacon-wrapped smokies in a single layer with a little space between each. Overcrowding can lead to steaming rather than crisping, preventing the bacon from reaching its full potential.
• **Cooling for Best Glaze:** While tempting to eat immediately, allowing the smokies to cool for a few minutes in the pan after baking allows the brown sugar glaze to set and thicken, intensifying its sticky, candy-like texture.

Bacon Wrapped Little Smokies with Brown Sugar Recipe

By Justine

These incredibly easy bacon wrapped hot dogs with a sweet brown sugar glaze make the perfect appetizer for Super Bowl parties, casual get-togethers, or as a delightful side dish. The best recipe featuring smokies or cocktail wieners.

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Total: 40 mins

Yields: 12 servings

Pin Recipe
Comment
Print Recipe

Equipment

• 1 9×13 inch baking pan
• 1 sharp knife
• Cutting board

Ingredients

• 2 packages (approximately 28-30 oz total) mini smokies sausages, or cocktail wieners (smokies recommended for best flavor)
• 2 packages (approximately 24 slices total) regular-cut bacon, cut in half
• 2 cups light or dark brown sugar
• Box of plain toothpicks
• Non-stick aluminum foil

Instructions

1. Begin by cutting each package of bacon in half crosswise, creating shorter strips suitable for wrapping the smokies.
2. On a clean cutting board, take one half-slice of bacon and place a smokie sausage at one end. Tightly wrap the bacon around the smokie until it is completely enclosed. Secure the loose end of the bacon with a toothpick, ensuring it’s firmly in place. Repeat this process for all smokies.
3. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with non-stick aluminum foil for easy cleanup. Evenly sprinkle 1 cup of brown sugar across the bottom of the lined pan.
4. Arrange the bacon-wrapped smokies in a single layer inside the prepared pan, ensuring the toothpicks are facing upwards for easy handling after baking. Leave a small space between each smokie to allow for even crisping.
5. Once all smokies are wrapped and placed in the pan, preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Then, evenly sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of brown sugar over the top of all the bacon-wrapped wieners.
6. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until the bacon reaches your desired level of crispness and the brown sugar is bubbling and caramelized into a sticky glaze.
7. Carefully remove the pan from the oven. You can transfer the cooked smokies to a serving platter immediately, or for an even richer glaze, let them sit in the pan for a few minutes to soak up more of the cooling, syrupy sugar before serving.
8. If desired, this recipe can be halved and baked in an 8×8 inch pan.

Nutrition

Serving: 2oz, Calories: 246kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 46mg, Sodium: 651mg, Potassium: 48mg, Sugar: 36g, Calcium: 57mg, Iron: 0.9mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: American

Tried this recipe?

Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

Frequently Asked Questions About Bacon Wrapped Smokies