With its crispy bite and salty, savory, smoky flavor, bacon is a staple ingredient. It’s a timeless breakfast pairing alongside eggs and pancakes, but it’s also a delicious addition to salads, pasta, and even vegetable side dishes. One look near the butcher’s counter at your grocery store will reveal dozens of different brands and cuts of bacon—and that’s just in the United States. Below, read about the most common types of bacon you’ll find both stateside and around the world so you can choose the right one for your favorite bacon recipes.
Buckboard Bacon
Also known as cottage bacon, this type of bacon is made from Boston butt, pork butt, or picnic shoulder—the same cuts often used for pulled pork. Traditional American bacon comes from the belly of the pig, whereas buckboard bacon comes from the shoulder, which makes it meatier. Because it comes from these readily available cuts, it’s a popular option for people who want to cure or smoke their own bacon at home.
Canadian Bacon
If you’ve ever made this classic eggs Benedict recipe, then you’re familiar with Canadian bacon. This round cut of bacon, also called back bacon, comes from the pork loin. You’ll find both smoked and unsmoked varieties, and it’s naturally leaner, milder, and slightly sweeter than traditional American bacon.
Guanciale
A key ingredient in Italian cuisine, guanciale comes from the pork jowl (also know as the cheek). It’s fattier and more flavorful than most other varieties of bacon, thanks to a curing process that utilizes ingredients like salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary, sage, and juniper berries. It’s a great ingredient to use in pasta dishes like Ree Drummond’s chicken carbonara.
Irish Bacon
This lean, firm cut of bacon is similar to Canadian bacon, as it comes from the pork loin near the back of the pig. Also known as rashers, it’s generally lean and meaty but features a fatty edge around the outside of each piece. It’s typically served as part of a full Irish breakfast or with fried cabbage, a traditional Irish dish often enjoyed on St. Patrick’s Day.
Lap Yuk
Lap yuk is a type of cured pork belly that is commonly used in Cantonese cooking. Although the cut is the same as American bacon, the real magic comes from the umami-rich ingredients used in the cure. The pork is cured in a combination of soy sauce, sugar, cinnamon, and star anise, then hung and air-dried for several days before being sliced and cooked.
Lardons
Bacon lardons are small cubes cut from slab bacon or pork belly that are cooked on the stovetop or in the oven until crispy. They’re often used to garnish salads and soups, but they’re also great folded into breakfast potatoes, roasted vegetables, or creamy pasta dishes.
Pancetta
An Italian salt-cured pork belly, pancetta is similar to guanciale, though it typically has a milder flavor due in part to its shorter curing time. Pancetta is also more widely available and usually more affordable than guanciale, so the two are often used interchangeably in many recipes.
Peameal Bacon
Peameal bacon is made from pork loin that’s rolled in cornmeal, which gives it a crispy exterior that becomes even more delicious once fried. It can be stacked on an English muffin with poached eggs, or used in savory lunch sandwiches, like this fried green tomato BLT.
Slab Bacon
Slab bacon is the source of your favorite streaky breakfast strips. It refers to a whole smoked pork belly before it’s sliced into bacon or diced into lardons. It’s also a great cut to buy if you want to slice your own bacon thick or thin at home.
Streaky Bacon
You know and love it. From fancy brunches to weekend breakfasts at home, this American-style bacon is a staple in households across the country. It comes from pork belly that’s been cured in salt and spices and then smoked, often using applewood, hickory, or maple wood to impart even more flavor in the savory meat. Order up!
