Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with anything are always a huge hit at parties and beyond simple to make and prep ahead of time. You can stuff them with goat cheese, almonds, blue cheese….the possibilities are endless AND delicious.

As we go into the holiday season, time to do a lot of food prep becomes more difficult to find and the more simplictic yet delicious recipes you can utilize to make it easier, the better.  The great part about if you do Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with almonds though is that the prep can be done the day before easily, so if you have to be at a dinner party 20 minutes after you get off work yet are supposed to bring an appetizer, this is one you can prep the night before and take with you–so when the party starts you just need to stick them in the oven and they are ready in about 10-15 minutes. Voila!

Ingredients For Each Stuffed Date (multiply as needed, depending on number you need for party):

• 1/2 Slice of Bacon (not extra thick cut, thinner is better as hard to wrap around when thick).
• 1 Almond
• 1 Dried Pitted Date

Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed Recipe Instructions:

Night Before the Party (or morning of):

• Take a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and lie out all your pieces of bacon to cook in the oven.  Depending on your party size you may need to do multiple sheets and/or rotate cooking bacon in shifts. It doesn’t have to all come out at same time.  You do NOT want to cook it completely just to the point of almost done but where it is still flexible and not too crispy.
  
• Start oven at 375 degrees and put bacon in oven. Cook approx 10-15 minutes depending on bacon thickness–watch to make sure not crispy but cooked!
  
• While it’s cooking stuff all the dates with an almond (or goat cheese or blue cheese OR a combination of almonds and goat cheese) and set on another cookie sheet.
• Remove bacon from oven and pat off any excess grease.  Cut all the pieces of bacon in half.
• Wrap each stuffed date with a half of piece of bacon and secure it by putting a toothpick through it.
• Plastic wrap the baking sheet and put in oven to store overnight or until you are ready for your party to start.

 
30 Minutes Before Ready to Serve:

• Preheat Oven to 375. Once heated, remove plastic wrap from cookie sheets and place baking sheets in oven.
• Cook until bacon is cooked through fully and warm. Approximately 10-15 minutes depending on how thick your bacon is–also if you did all the steps in a row and  didn’t break it out into two different days the bacon is not cold from being in refrigerator the cook time will be less.  Just make sure you cook until bacon is done to your desired level of crispiness.
• Allow to cool a few minutes and then serve immediately.

 
We love this recipe as it is so simplistic for an appetizer party! It is easy to change up with whatever you have on hand (if you don’t have bacon or like bacon, prosciutto is also great!).  With stuffing the dates with almonds, it is also a great Paleo appetizer recipe if you eat Paleo.  And it is delicious!  We never see any of these leftover when we serve.

If you are serving a meal afterwards a good number to go with is 1.5 appetizers per person if you are serving 2-3 appetizers.  I sometimes will be safe, especially if it’s a small party and do 2 appetizers per person.

Enjoy!

Tags: Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed, Bacon Wrapped Dates stuffed with Almond, Barbecue Blog, BBQ Blog, Paleo Appetizer