How to Wrap Crispy Bacon Around Pretty Much Everything

Bacon fans are an innovative bunch. Forget the simple slice alongside eggs. Diehards have dipped the meat in chocolate, crumbled it into ice cream, infused it into vodka. And, honestly, it’s hard to think of a food that aficionados haven’t wrapped in crispy, savory pork.

But there’s a catch to giving ingredients a coat of bacon—the meat doesn’t get crispy enough on both sides.

Jessica Gavin, certified culinary scientist and author of Easy Culinary Science for Better Cooking has a solution: par-cooking.

“The bacon is roasted on a rack at 400° F (204° C), just until both sides begin to brown, but are not crisp,” she says. “The goal is to have a par-cooked piece of flexible bacon that’s easy to wrap but isn’t raw.”

Only roast the bacon until it just begins to shrink and gets slightly red, about 5 minutes, depending on the thickness. Gavin recommends using a thicker cut that won’t crisp up too quickly and will still easily wrap around your ingredient.

Gavin uses her method to wrap caramelized asparagus, but the technique should work on all sorts of recipes. Twirl slices around scallops, green beans, potatoes, or any one of these dishes below:

What’s your favorite thing to swaddle in bacon? Share in the comments below!