De-salt Bacon

I am watching my salt intake all the time. Honest – I’m not exactly young you know. Anyway, I love Bacon but I find it too salty and I’m not the only one, I’m sure.

Some say what? I know, I know, what’s the point of Bacon without the salt. Well, I believe I can love my Bacon and have it, albeit robbed of some sodium et al.

So if you’re concerned with using your daily salt allowance for other things rather than on a few rashers/bits of bacon, then by all means read on.

It is a technique I learned from my friend Med, many many years ago and it involves giving the bacon a couple of hot water baths. It works with both bits and rashers.

First of all, Put the bacon in a heat-proof bowl

Bacon bits

Then pour some freshly boiled water over the bacon till it is well-covered. Give it a stir and let it sit blissfully for 2 minutes. 

Pour boiling water Hot soaked bitsHot soak

While it is soaking, marvel at the beauty of the intricate patterns formed on the water’s surface by the bacon’s oils…… 

Beautiful pattern

By the time you’re done adoring, it should be ready to have the water drained off. Repeat this again, this time leaving the bacon in the water for a minute. This should be sufficient to remove the ‘excess’ salt while preserving the taste.

When that’s done, rinse and drain the bacon then pat it dry.  

Drained bacon bits Dry fried

The next step is to heat up  a  pan and dry fry the bacon. You don’t need any oil – the bacon is sufficiently fatty to fry itself in its own drippings. As soon as it starts browning, I line a sieve with tissue and get it out of the pan. And then it is ready to go.

 Enjoy your less-salty bacon!

Drained bacon bits Fried bits

Did you enjoy this? See other how-tos!

37 Comments

  1. I’m reading this because I bought some Von’s supermarket bacon and it was too salty which ruins the whole bacon eating experience. Anything in excess can ruin the taste of the meal (salt, sugar, spices).

    Some people simply don’t have a good sense of smell or taste. They may also put on too much fragrance and not even realize that they stink like a bottle of perfume.

  2. Thank you , I needed to reduce the saltiness of my home cured bacon before freezing. The perfect solution is right here!

  3. Does anyone know approximately how much sodium is removed using the multiple soaking techniques? I have kidney disease so its imperative not to OD on salt. Thanks

  4. I’ve got a weird question, but would it be possible to use the drained off water and create bacon flavored salt? If anyone has tried, please lemme know!

    • I’ve seen recipes that boil bacon with ginger and garlic for 30 minutes. and then use the liquid for a ramen broth. The bacon is browned and then added on top of the ramen when served.

  5. Thank you for this tip. I make quiche for my friend’s mom, who is on dialysis, & I was thinking of different combinations, possibly with bacon. This helps a lot …

  6. Thanks for your advice. I am looking for a way to remove some of the salt from my too salty bacon (I have high bp) and need to decrease the salt, but I still love bacon once in a while. I am going to try your method.

  7. Thank you… I do hate over salted food as well… and bacon is one of them… sausages I do boiled them in water first… I don’t know why I never thought to do the same with bacon…

    Merci beaucoup!

  8. Who does that on a busy morning. Come on. Reduce bacon intake and enjoy its full taste in moderation. Much easier. No need to be paranoid and misinformed by doomsday med web sites.

    • Thank you. I do :). I find most Bacon too salty. It’s something I eat on occasion and I enjoy it much better this way. It’s not about paranoia or misinformation. And Med is my friend, Medina :)!

      • I found this blog by googling how to make bacon less salty because I don’t eat much salt for medical reasons, and as a consequence my taste has adjusted and bacon tends to taste too salty for me nowadays. Leaching out some of the salt by soaking in boiling water is a great idea, and easy to do too! Thanks for sharing it!

        And lol at Nicholas getting annoyed by the thought of anyone preferring bacon to be less salty. Why can’t everyone just eat everything the way Nicholas likes it? Is that too much to ask?

      • I do the rinsing when I buy it and then freeze it after drying with papee towel. When I’m in a hurry no problem! I take out a few slices and put it in the air fryer or oven. Quick and easy!

      • Amazing how people feel free to mock someone’s post. I had just asked Google if my Harvest brand sliced back bacon could be soaked in milk (like I do with liver) to remove some of the salt (I use it on my pizza and I’m up all night drinking water) and your post popped up. No need to mock. What do you think of the milk idea?

      • Well said , just found out I’m diabetic ,need reduce , love bacon 200grans of bacon is around 7300mg of sodium. That is 3 times advised daily intake

    • I do too, but because the bacon I get is from an old time country store that slaughters, salt cures and smokes their slabs, I use an overnight soak, turns out perfect. Now,

    • You don’t have kidneys hanging on by a gnats hair mate!! Too much salt can kill some unfortunately

    • Hi there, From one Nicholas to another I have to say, there are some people, like myself who have a low Sodium tolerance and will have found (me included,) the tip very useful. Although some Sodium is vital to our bodies, average over-consumption in the Western World is around 300 times our bodies need. much like Sugar, the food process/preparation industry plays a big part in “tailoring” our palate to their overdosing. For some of us, this presents a problem, since the taste of Salt (apart from the Medical consequences,!) is totally unpalatable.
      For some of us, it’s not a matter of choice but necessity. That said, I thank you Kitchen Butterfly for (hopefully) providing precisely what I came here looking for. having bought a Kilo of the nicest looking Bacon I have seen in years but having tried it, would otherwise be bound for the bin or the Dog

  9. I actually gave this method to remove some of the salt a try and found it didn’t change the bacon flavor. I did notice it did remove some of the salt and a little fat. I baked my bacon as I usually and it tasted fine. The only change I made was to blanch the bacon twice at two minutes. Thanks for this wonderful idea as I thought I would need to cut bacon completely out of my diet.

    • I do this with a gammon joint when making soup. Well, nearly. Soak in cold water for 12 hours draining and covering three times. Allegedly it removes over 50% of the salt in the meat, a necessity for my patients and consumers. Well done on this tip, quick and helpful?

  10. […] been a salt lover but lately, I’ve found bacon too salty and have resorted to giving my bacon hot water baths before the frying or grilling. Sufficient to extract some, but not all of the […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.