Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts Appetizer

I am lucky to have a few “foodies” in my family who I can mooch recipes off of and taste new foods at family get-togethers and holidays. My sister, a vegan, hopes to attend culinary school in the near future and I’m always interested to try her new vegan creations. My uncle is the general manager of the popular Des Moines seafood restaurant Splash and he has had this recipe for Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts in his repertoire for years. This is such an easy appetizer and will become a family-favorite like it has in ours.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
makes around 50 appetizers

About 16 oz of whole water chestnuts, usually found in your Asian aisle.
1 package of bacon (I chose Maple flavored)
3 cups soy sauce
3 cups pineapple juice
3 cups brown sugar
1 garlic clove (or to taste)
Toothpicks
Plastic container for marinating.

This recipe is easy to adapt smaller or larger. The pineapple juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar are all equal parts so you can easily change the amount. Heck, you don’t even need a recipe! First thing, you get the marinade ready. I use a large Tupperware container with a lid and add 3 cups pineapple juice.

Same thing with the soy sauce and brown sugar – 3 cups each.

I am a big garlic fan, so I put a couple of chopped cloves, but you can omit if you’d like. For the bacon, you cut into 3 sections. Yummm… bacon – I’m a big bacon fan too. My whole family is, well except my vegan sister I told you about :)

This is the fun part and it’s quite easy. All you have to do is wrap the bacon around each water chestnut and secure with a toothpick and soak in your marinade. I leave it overnight in the fridge, but if you are in a time-crunch I’m sure you could make them the morning of.

When ready to bake, drain all of the liquid, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and broil until bacon is crispy, turning a few times. Enjoy!