How to Make Bacon Lardons
on May 12, 2019, Updated Jan 07, 2025
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Crispy and chewy, big chunks of thick-cut bacon become lardons in minutes.
Here is why lardons are such a perfect realization of the already pretty perfect food: bacon. When made well, bacon lardons are just the right balance between crispy and chewy, with enough heft so that you really feel like you are biting into something, but the crackle of salty crisp bacon.
More often than not, you will find lardons to be simply cross-sliced thick-cut slab bacon, each little strip about 1/4 x 1 inch. Slim but toothsome. But you can also make lardons with more substantial dimensions, a more hefty bacon treat. You can also use pancetta instead of bacon.
Cutting the bacon before you cook it means you have more control over the shape and thickness of the pieces. You can, of course, crumble bacon after you cook it and have a similar effect, but it’s not as neat or uniform, and the pieces don’t have that thick toothsomeness. Add lardons to a classic frisée salad like this Bistro Salad with Warm Goat Cheese recipe. Or, try adding lardons to Chicken Corn Chowder, Coq au Vin, or Creamy Blue Cheese and Bacon Coleslaw.
Table of Contents
Making bacon lardons at home is both stupidly simple and also possibly life changing.
What Are Lardons?
Lardons is a fancy word for sliced and fried bacon bits (but bigger and better). Sometimes, they are called lardoons or even larding. Lardons come from French cuisine. Originally and traditionally, lardons were made from salt-cured pork, not smoked bacon. You can feel free to use whatever you like. Other cuisines — lots of other cuisines — include a small bit of cooked pork in their dishes, but the word lardons is French.
How to Make Bacon Lardons
- Cut the bacon: Have a plate lined with paper towels ready for the cooked bacon. Take about 6 pieces of thick-cut bacon and cut them crosswise into 1/4- to 1/3-inch slices. You can also make cubed lardons, and then you’ll want to cut the bacon into about 1/3-inch small dice.
- Cook the bacon lardons: Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered out and the bacon is cooked and slightly crispy (it will crisp up a bit further as it cools). Don’t let the heat get too high or let them get too crisp — the difference between lardons and bacon bits or crumbled cooked bacon is to allow the little pieces to have a bit of chew.
- Drain the lardons: Transfer the cooked lardons to the paper towel-lined plate. If you can use them while they are still warm, wow, will you be in for a treat! But they are fine at room temperature.
Make Ahead and Storage
You can make bacon lardons ahead of time and keep them at room temperature in a tightly sealed container for a day or refrigerate for up to 5 days. Bring to room temperature before using, or warm in a low oven or over low heat in a pan.
FAQs
The time it takes to cook lardons depends on the thickness of your bacon, the heat of the burner, and how much you put into the pan in one batch. However, it’s usually somewhere between 4 and 7 minutes. Keep the heat in the medium range so they cook nicely and evenly.
Use thick-cut bacon if possible. Thinly sliced bacon will not have enough thickness to give you the textural contrast between the crisp exterior and the meaty interior of the lardons. If you can get extra thick-cut bacon, go for it!
And, of course, you could thinly slice some regular-cut bacon and get skinnier little lardons, lighter and crisper in texture, and those will be mighty fine as well.
Absolutely. But first, let’s just say that pretty much any bacon is delicious. And I also think there’s almost no such thing as bad pizza. There is okay pizza, there is good pizza, there is great pizza, and there is amazing pizza. But even bad pizza is kind of fine. And I feel the same way about bacon.
Now, having said that, if you get great bacon, especially if you can find or make your own salt-cured pork, you will make some spectacular lardons.
How To Use Bacon Lardons
Lardons are classically used in salad, such as a traditional Bistro Frisée salad, complete with a poached egg. They are also included in various French stews, omelets, quiches, tarts, and potato dishes. Make extra when you prepare them because you will be a) very sad to see them gone and b) tempted to nibble on more than a few as you wait to add them to a dish.
You can also use them in recipes like Sautéed Kale and Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Endive, Radicchio, and Citrus Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette, or Creamy Blue Cheese and Bacon Coleslaw. Also, try lardons on a frittata or in any recipe that calls for a bacon topping.
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Bacon Lardons
Ingredients
- 4 strips thick-cut bacon (or as much as needed)
Instructions
- Have a plate lined with paper towels ready for the cooked bacon. Take about 6 pieces of thick-cut bacon and cut them crosswise into 1/4- to 1/3-inch slices. You can also make cubed lardons, and then you’ll want to cut the bacon into about 1/3-inch small dice.
- Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered out and the bacon is cooked and slightly crispy (it will crisp up a bit further as it cools). Don’t let the heat get too high or let them get too crisp — the difference between lardons and bacon bits or crumbled cooked bacon is to allow the little pieces to have a bit of chew.
- Transfer the cooked lardons to the paper towel-lined plate. Add to a salad, frittata, or another recipe.
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Another good way to make lardons is to by an uncut slab of bacon that is usually sold in the deli department at the grocery store and then you can cut it as thick as you want in whatever size you want. Love lardons. As far as good vs bad bacon, I once purchased what I thought was good bacon but it had very little fat on it. You need the fat to make it good.