I’m not so sure I can claim myself a true bacon love anymore. I am 28 years old and am only now learning about bacon jam. So I’m just not sure I can put myself up there on the highest bacon-loving pedestal anymore if I haven’t even heard of one of the main forms of bacon!

Bacon jam is basically a slow cooked (usually in a slow cooker) compote of bacon, onions and sweet things like sugar and sometimes coffee to create a slightly sweet, chunky bacon jam that is delicious in so many ways!

I saw a jar of it at Trader Joe’s the other day and I had to pick it up. I had previously seen several delicious looking recipes for it, but I just grabbed a jar of it while I was there because I really wanted to try it that day. I began brainstorming ways to use it and decided on slathering some of it on some pancakes with maple syrup with a coupled of fried eggs on the side.

I took my first bite and let me tell you—it was like a jolt of savory, salty goodness that was stronger than I expected. I really liked it though. I didn’t know they added onions to it and that it would have such a savory flavor—I think I was basically just imagining it to be sweet, sugary bacon jam, so I had visions of adding into my cinnamon rolls and was picturing other similar things. After tasting the onions in it and realizing it is not just sweet, salty bacon I envisioned I decided that wouldn’t work. However, I still really liked it and could think of many ways to use it.

Here are 7 things you can add bacon jam to from the readers at Chowhound.com and I think they all sound super yummy:

1. Stir it into sour cream for a tasty dip.

2. Use it to make a hot bacon dressing for spinach salad.

3. Spread it on baked chicken breasts—add during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

4. Try it with eggs. Fold a spoonful into an omelet or smear some on an English muffin and top with a fried egg.

5. Add it to roasted Brussels sprouts to take the lowly vegetable to new heights.

6. Slather it onto a burger, then top with blue cheese and caramelized onions.

1. Put a spoonful into large, single-serving ravioli, along with ricotta cheese and an egg yolk. Serve with brown butter sauce.

And here’s a couple more ideas that I think sound delicious:

1. I love the simple meal of chili and cornbread so I thought it would be delicious to either slather some on the cornbread like you would honey, or maybe even add a tablespoon or two to the batter so you have some baked into every bite.

2. I also think this would make a mean grilled cheese. Adding a layer of this to your grilled cheese would give it amazing flavor with just one extra step.

It’s funny because I came home with that little jar of bacon jam from Trader Joe’s and couldn’t wait to tell my husband about this new bacon food group we didn’t know about and to be honest, he was a little bit repulsed by the idea. I get it. It sounds kind of strange—I thought so too. But I also knew how much I love bacon so I looked deep into my bacon heart and decided and knew I had to at least give it a chance and I’m glad I did! I wonder how long it will take (if ever) for my husband to get on board.

Now, since I haven’t made it myself before I would hate to recommend a recipe that I haven’t tried but the one I kept reading about was Martha Stewart’s recipe for bacon jam so you will have to check that one out and save it to your Cook’n.

Have you tried bacon jam? Have you made it before? Or does it sound weird to you like it does my husband?? I’d love to know in the comments below :)