Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 40 mins Rest time: 15 mins Total time: 1 hr
Macronutrients per date bite: 19g fat | 4g protein | 15g carbohydrates
Servings: 10 date bites
Make it AIP or Dairy-Free: Use animal fat other than ghee or butter
If you’re a sucker for the salty-sweet combo, these buttery bacon-wrapped dates were made for you!
What you need to make Buttery Bacon-Wrapped Dates
Ingredients:
- Bacon
- Pitted dates
- Grass-fed ghee (or butter)
Equipment:
- Toothpicks
Substitutions
You can substitute the ghee for your animal fat of choice, although I do highly recommend ghee with this recipe due to its sweet and buttery flavor.
How to make Buttery Bacon-Wrapped Dates
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
To start – wrap the dates with raw bacon.
Slice halfway through the dates horizontally (not all the way through, but enough to open them and access the pits).
Remove the pits and discard them.
Wrap each date with a full piece of bacon.
Optional: secure the end of the bacon with a toothpick. I didn’t do this prior to baking, but you can if you prefer.
Next – bake the bacon-wrapped dates.
Place the bacon-wrapped dates on a baking sheet with about 1/2-inch spacing between each piece.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
While the bacon-wrapped dates are baking, prepare the ghee.
If you store your ghee in the fridge, you can skip this step. If you store your ghee at room temperature, read on.
On a plate, form 5-10 tbsp of the softened room temperature ghee (or whatever amount you’re using) into the shape of a stick of butter.
Place in the fridge to firm up.
Once the first 20 minutes of baking is up, remove the bacon-wrapped dates from the oven and flip the pieces.
Continue to bake them for another 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Keep an eye on the pieces for the last 5-10 minutes or so and remove them when the bacon is as crispy as you like it.
Now, put it all together!
Once the bacon-wrapped dates are done baking, remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool. They must cool to room temperature before pairing with the blocks of ghee.
Once the bacon-wrapped dates are cooled, cut blocks of ghee from the large block you made earlier (or from your refrigerated ghee). 1/2-1 tbsp per piece works well.
Add the blocks of ghee to the bacon-wrapped dates. If you didn’t add the toothpicks before baking, connect the pieces with a toothpick at this step.
Serve and enjoy! Store in the fridge (covered) for up to a day.
Tips to make the best Buttery Bacon-Wrapped Dates
- Don’t forget to remove the pits from the dates prior to baking!
- Make sure the bacon-wrapped dates are fully cooled to room temperature before adding the blocks of ghee. If they are even slightly warm, the ghee will begin to melt.
- To prevent your ghee block from breaking when connecting it to the bacon-wrapped date piece with a toothpick, make sure it has had enough time to harden in the fridge. Also make sure the piece is wide enough and thick enough. The smaller, thinner, and softer the piece is, the more likely it will break when shoving the toothpick into it.
A few of my other favorite sweet and savory recipes:
Beef Liver Pancakes with Strawberry Glaze
Blueberry Beef Liver Waffles with Honey Butter
Buttery Bacon-Wrapped Dates
Buttery Bacon-Wrapped Dates
Equipment
- Toothpicks
Ingredients
- 10 pieces bacon
- 10 pitted Medjool dates
- 10 tbsp grass-fed ghee (or butter) (or the amount you prefer; 1/2-1 tbsp per date piece works well)
Instructions
- If you’re interested solely in the recipe, skip this bullet point and keep on reading. For those interested in sourcing nutrient-dense food, low-toxic household products, and discounts on brands that may support your AB journey, you may find value in my product guides. Head over to this page if you’d like to check them out. All are free (and always will be).
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Wrap the dates with raw bacon.
- Slice halfway through the dates horizontally (not all the way through, but enough to open them and access the pits).
- Remove the pits and discard them.
- Wrap each date with a full piece of bacon.
- Optional: secure the end of the bacon with a toothpick. I didn't do this prior to baking, but you can if you prefer.
Bake the bacon-wrapped dates.
- Place the bacon-wrapped dates on a baking sheet with about 1/2-inch spacing between each piece.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
While the bacon-wrapped dates are baking, prepare the ghee.
- If you store your ghee in the fridge, you can skip this step. If you store your ghee at room temperature, read on.
- On a plate, form 5-10 tbsp of the softened room temperature ghee (or whatever amount you're using) into the shape of a stick of butter.
- Place in the fridge to firm up.
Flip the bacon-wrapped dates.
- Once the first 20 minutes of baking is up, remove the bacon-wrapped dates from the oven and flip the pieces.
- Continue to bake them for another 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Keep an eye on the pieces for the last 5-10 minutes or so and remove them when the bacon is as crispy as you like it.
Put it all together.
- Once the bacon-wrapped dates are done baking, remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool. They must cool to room temperature before pairing with the blocks of ghee.
- Once the bacon-wrapped dates are cooled, cut blocks of ghee from the large block you made earlier (or from your refrigerated ghee). 1/2-1 tbsp per piece works well.
- Add the blocks of ghee to the bacon-wrapped dates. If you didn't add the toothpicks before baking, connect the pieces with a toothpick at this step.
- Serve and enjoy! Store in the fridge (covered) for up to a day.
What I used for this recipe:
Looking for some more easy sweet and savory treats? Try one of these recipes:
Beef Liver Pancakes with Strawberry Glaze
Blueberry Beef Liver Waffles with Honey Butter
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Ashley Rothstein develops tasty, whole food, animal-based recipes that include a moderate amount of “minimally toxic” plant foods. To fix her own health issues, she bounced around between the carnivore, keto, and paleo diets for a few years. After experiencing and studying each diet philosophy, she learned she feels her best by merging the three and following an animal-based diet. As a glut at heart, she likes to channel her creativity and create meals that are healthy but also satisfy her inner gluttonous spirits.
