How to Make Perfect Prosciutto Bacon at Home

One of my favorite things about going out to eat is trying something new and finding something great, just to come home and try to reverse engineer it. A few years ago, I went to an Italian restaurant, and I had the best salad I’d ever tasted—crunchy, delicious, flavorful—everything you’d want your salad to taste like. When the waiter came back around, I asked, what is it about this salad that makes it tastes so great? The answer? Prosciutto bacon. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to reverse engineer this salad at home, but it wasn’t until recently that I finally figured out how to perfect the prosciutto bacon and really push my meals over the top. Now, I can make restaurant quality dishes right at home using this simple ingredient. 

Today I’m going to share with you one of my favorite accidental discoveries, prosciutto bacon, and how you can make it perfectly at home to elevate meals of your own. 

Buying Prosciutto Bacon 

The first thing you’ll learn about prosciutto bacon—it’s not cheap!  Now just like the difference between a sirloin steak and a filet mignon, prosciutto is worth every penny because it’s entirely different than the run-of-the-mill bacon you might cook with your eggs in the morning. 

Prosciutto means ham in Italian and it’s basically the un-cooked, salt cured hind leg of a pig. It is a fatty cut of meat and it’s typically sold in very thin slices. The bacon actually takes over a year to make and it’s a very lengthy process to cure it, taking from anywhere from 400 days to three years! 

While prosciutto is definitely worth the money, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should pay top dollar for it. I like to check out my local Costco or Aldi, and I can often find a good deal. The pack I’m using this time was about $12 for about 24 slices from Costco. At the end of the day, the price is absolutely worth it. 

How to Cook Your Bacon

I find that there’s two ways you can do this, but I really like using my air fryer to make my prosciutto bacon—it turns out perfect every time! It’s easy and fast, and it doesn’t take long to make. 

When you’re ready to cook your bacon, separate the thin slices and lay them on your cooking rack. While I was problem-shooting this recipe, I found that the slices would often roll up while they were cooking because the bacon is sliced so thin. To prevent this, you can take another cooking rack and place it directly on top of the bacon—kind of like a cooking rack sandwich. If you put it together this way, before cooking, it ensures that your end result is a nice, flat piece of bacon.  

When you’re ready, set your air fryer to 400 degrees and leave your bacon cook for about twelve minutes, until it’s nice and crispy. 

Now, if you don’t have an air-fryer, don’t worry! You can make this recipe in a convection oven as well. Place some aluminum foil on the bottom of your cooking sheet (the side that the bacon isn’t on) to catch some of the grease from dripping all over your oven. Once that’s done, you an lay out your bacon slices and cover it with another baking rack, just like we did with the air fryer. The air fryer does tend to cook the bacon quicker, so be sure to keep an eye on your bacon if you use a convection oven. 

Best Ways to Serve Prosciutto Bacon

Once your bacon is cooked, the only thing left to do is to serve it! You’ll never run out of ideas for prosciutto bacon once you discover how to make it perfectly every time, but here are a few of my favorite recipes: 

Prosciutto Bacon Avocado Toast

Prosciutto Bacon and Avocado Keto-Friendly Salad

If you’re tired of the chewy texture of traditional bacon, prosciutto bacon is going to elevate any dish you make and truly give you the crunchy, crispy texture that you crave. If you enjoy bacon and you’re looking to try something new with a nice, strong flavor and great texture, this option is going to really uplift some of your favorite recipes. 

If you’ve enjoyed learning about prosciutto bacon, check out some of our other recipes to serve it or leave a comment below letting us know how you like to use this all-time favorite ingredient in your dishes.