Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts: A Delicious Two-Ingredient Appetizer

If you know me, you know that I like good food.  Kevin and I joke that he gets excited over good music and I get excited over good food.  This recipe is one of those recipes that I get excited over: bacon-wrapped water chestnuts.  They’re super simple and the perfect appetizer for football, Christmas, parties, or really anywhere there’s food.

Ingredients

• 1 package of bacon
• 2 cans of whole water chestnuts (at our grocery store they are found in the Global Foods aisle, near the Asian ingredients section)

You’ll also need:

• A bowl with warm water
• Toothpicks
• A cookie sheet
• Aluminum foil
• Cooling rack

How to Make Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts

1.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  While the oven is preheating, cut your toothpicks in half with scissors.  You can leave them whole if you’d like, but you’ll end up using more toothpicks.  Put the toothpicks in a bowl with warm water.  (The water keeps the toothpicks from burning in the oven.  It’s not an essential step, as I’ve baked them without soaking them in water before, but it’s a good precaution.)

3.  Line your baking sheet with aluminum foil.  (Again, this step is optional, but it makes for easier clean-up.)  Place a cooling rack on top of the aluminum foil.  I put the “legs” down so it’s more stable.  If you have a broiler pan, you can use that as a substitute for the pan and aluminum foil.

4.  Open your bacon package and cut the bacon into thirds using the kitchen scissors.  You can also use a knife, but the scissors are much faster.

5.  Open the cans of water chestnuts and drain the water.  Cut each of the water chestnuts in half.  You can use whole water chestnuts as well, but you’d either have to buy more water chestnuts or use half the amount of bacon.  Plus, cutting them in half gives double the bacon to water chestnut ratio.  And really, who doesn’t want more bacon?

6.  Wrap each water chestnut half in bacon and use a toothpick to secure.  Put the completed bacon-wrapped water chestnuts on the cooling rack.

7.  Bake for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees F.  The exact amount of time you bake them will depend on how crispy you want your bacon.

8.  Engage in a super-human feat of self-restraint to not gobble all these up at once.

For another delicious appetizer recipe, check out Classic Stuffed Mushrooms.