This post may contain affiliate links, view our disclosure policy.
I guarantee you if you make these Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts, they will not last long. I almost ate this entire batch myself. It’s the type of recipe where you cannot just have one. I eat one and I’m in for it. I have to eat them ALL!
Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
My mom calls this recipe, Rumaki, but I simply refer to it as Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts. Either name works. She used to make this recipe anytime she was hosting a party at our house. I used to bug her to make them “just because” and sometimes she would.
I’m not even a fan of water chestnuts. I dislike them in stir-fries. In bacon, though? Pure magic. I will eat just about anything if its wrapped in bacon.
Ingredients
Bacon
Water chestnuts
Brown sugar
Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce
Ketchup
Garlic powder
How to Make Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
Step One: Preheat oven to 375F. Cut bacon in half. Wrap each slice of bacon around water chestnut and secure with a toothpick. Place in a 9×13 inch baking pan.
Step Two: Bake for 10 minutes. Drain grease from pan.
Step Three: While bacon is baking, stir together brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, ketchup and garlic powder.
Step Four: Pour sauce over partially cooked bacon. Put back in the oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Serve hot.
My cousin, Allison, remembers this delicious appetizer, too. I called her over and told her I was making a few batches. She drove straight over and took a plate home. I don’t think she shared with her husband and two boys. I don’t blame her!
I remember making this recipe before and I only needed one package of bacon. They made the bacon packages so much smaller now so it takes about two packages to make this recipe. I wish they would stop shrinking all the packages, but that is a whole other blog post.
I also used two 227g cans of whole water chestnuts to make this recipe. I found water chestnuts with the soy sauce in the grocery store.
The first thing you need to do is cut the bacon strips in half so it’s two shorter pieces. Wrap each bacon slice around one water chestnut and secure with a toothpick. I recommend using plain wooden toothpicks versus the coloured variety. The coloured toothpicks may leave stains from the dye.
Bake the bacon wraps in the oven for 10 minutes in a 9×13 pan. While the bacon is baking, stir together the sauce. It’s made with brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, ketchup and garlic powder. Sweet and savoury!
After the bacon has baked for 10 minutes, drain off the grease that has accumulated in the pan. I poured the grease into an empty water chestnuts can and let it harden before I threw it out.
Pour the sauce over top of the bacon and put back in the oven for another 30 minutes.
My cousin asked if my oven started to smoke when I made this recipe. It didn’t, but maybe that is because I poured off the grease? I think had I left it, the wraps would be swimming in greasy sauce.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Course Appetizers
Cuisine American
Keyword bacon wrapped water chestnuts
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see it! Make sure to share it on your favorite social platform.
Canned water chestnuts should be rinsed under cool, running water. To remove the "tinny" taste, soak the rinsed water chestnuts in fresh water with 1 teaspoon of baking soda for 10 minutes before slicing or chopping for various recipes.
People suffering from kidney disease often opt for kidney treatment in India. However, consuming water chestnuts can improve your kidney health naturally. It eliminates toxins from your body. Including water chestnuts in your diet can help your body's detoxification processes naturally.
Water chestnuts belong to the non-starchy, low-calorie vegetable group and are ideal for people who have diabetes' diets, according to the American Diabetes Association. Try adding them to salads, soups, wraps or even pizza and take advantage of the health benefits of water chestnuts.
Water chestnuts are high in fiber, low in calories, and contain no fat. They also contain several vitamins and healthy antioxidants. Water chestnuts are an excellent source of: Vitamin B6.
In general, stir-frying water chestnuts requires around 3-5 minutes, boiling them in soups or stews may take about 10-15 minutes, and baking or roasting them can take anywhere from 15-25 minutes.
Water chestnuts contain antioxidants such as fisetin, diosmetin, luteolin, and tectorigenin that aid in cell repair and reduction of inflammation. These antioxidants are mainly present in the peels of water chestnuts and protect the body from several diseases.
Canned water chestnuts are ready to eat. I recommend draining them and soaking them in water for about 15 minutes before using them though. Doing so helps to draw out the flavor of the brine they add to the can. You don't need to cook chestnuts, but like many foods they taste better heated to most people.
Water chestnuts must be hand-harvested and processed; therefore, they are somewhat expensive. However, since a little goes a long way, water chestnuts are not too dear to be used often.
Because of its high fibre content, overeating water chestnuts might give you stomach problems. A sudden increase in dietary fibre may cause stomach pain and gas. Therefore, stick to moderate amounts and avoid overeating.
Raw chestnuts are safe to eat for most people. However, they do contain tannic acid, which means they could cause stomach irritation, nausea, or liver damage if you have liver disease or experience a lot of kidney problems.
The nut is also LIKELY SAFE when consumed in the amounts found in food. It is not known if American chestnut leaf, nut, or bark are safe in the larger amounts typically used as medicine. American chestnut might cause some side effects such as stomach and intestinal problems, kidney and liver damage.
Despite being called chestnuts, water chestnuts are not nuts at all. They are aquatic tuber vegetables that grow in marshes, ponds, paddy fields and shallow lakes (1). Water chestnuts are native to Southeast Asia, Southern China, Taiwan, Australia, Africa and many islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Water chestnuts are safe for dogs to eat in small quantities, but you should remove the skin before offering the food to your pet. Also, avoid canned varieties with added salt and preservatives harmful to dogs.
Just 10 roasted chestnuts include 17% of what you need for the day — a major plus considering most of us don't get nearly enough. Americans eat on average about 16 grams of fiber per day, half of the recommended amount of 25 to 30 grams.
The name "water chestnut" comes from the fact that it resembles a chestnut in shape and coloring (it has papery brown skin over white flesh), but the water chestnut is actually not a nut at all—it is an aquatic tuber (rootlike part of a plant) that grows in freshwater marshes.
Yes, the quality may have decreased but water chestnuts with a date of 11/15 are almost definitely still perfectly good. (Various tests have shown that canned food decades, or even a century, old are still perfectly edible.) If it's gone bad, it will smell bad when you open it.
Rather than searching grocery stores or Asian markets for fresh water chestnuts, home chefs can easily and quickly find them online via Instacart. You can be guaranteed a wide selection of fresh produce, quickly and easily, without even leaving your home.
"Unpeeled, with the remnants of mud still on their skins, they will keep in a brown paper bag in the refrigerator for seven to 10 days," she writes. When rinsed and peeled, they'll keep for an additional two to three days in a covered container, she adds.
Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts are freezer-friendly. Bake them to completion, let them cool to room temperature, then freeze them on a baking sheet until solid. Transfer the frozen bites to an airtight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to three months.
Additionally, water chestnuts can reduce native bay grasses from areas in which dense beds grow, create breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and provide poor habitat for native fish and birds.
Opened canned water chestnuts should be stored in water and used within 3-4 days. To cook: Stir fry fresh sliced water chestnuts for 5 minutes and sliced canned water chestnuts for 2 minutes. If the chestnuts are cooked for any longer they will not retain their crunchy texture.
I score the chestnut peels first and soak the chestnuts in water before roasting. The residual water left in the drained chestnuts creates steam in the hot pan, keeping the chestnuts from drying out and making them easier to peel.
Since water chestnuts grow primarily in mud and soiled environments, I will be sure to thoroughly rinse them in cool water before usage, even before peeling. Peel with a knife or peeler. You can also cut out the darker middle core as it is a harder part of the root.
Address: 5789 Michel Vista, West Domenic, OR 80464-9452
Phone: +97313824072371
Job: Education Orchestrator
Hobby: Lockpicking, Crocheting, Baton twirling, Video gaming, Jogging, Whittling, Model building
Introduction: My name is Rob Wisoky, I am a smiling, helpful, encouraging, zealous, energetic, faithful, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.