Bacon is an all-american fave. We like it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert—any time is bacon time in our book. We searched high and low for the best places to get it both fresh and cooked. Bring home the bacon with our top 10 picks in South Central PA.
Get in my (pork) Belly
Leg Up Farmers Market combines an old-fashioned method with artisanal flavors to create one delicious bacon. Their pork bellies are evenly dry-rubbed with sea salt and spices, slowly smoked over natural woodchips for hours, and set to rest for up to 10 days, allowing the timeless taste to come together beautifully.
Leg Up Farmers Market / legupfarmersmarket.com / 3100 N. George St., York, PA
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Holy Hand Sliced Swine
Lancaster Farmhouse is a brand that celebrates the farm-to-table spirit. Its bacon has been locally smoked and cured to their quality specifications since 1953. Stop by Lancaster Central Market to try the hand-sliced, thick-cut or extra-thick-cut bacon. It goes great as a side with breakfast or piled on a juicy burger!
Lancaster Farmhouse / heagyfoods.com / 1140 Enterprise Road, Lancaster, PA
Sweet and Salty
Bacon for dessert is a thing—and it’s awesome. Try the maple bacon stout cupcake here: a chocolate stout cupcake iced with maple buttercream and topped with bacon. Yum!
Sugar Whipped Bakery / sugarwhippedbakery.com / 77 E. Main St., Lititz, PA
Say No to Shrinkage
Hummer’s hand-trimmed, slow-cured, natural-wood-smoked bacon is extra lean and smoky. Their bacon spends lots of time in the smokehouse, which means less shrinkage when it’s cooked.
Hummer's Meats / hummersmeats.com / 408 E. Main St., Mount Joy, PA
Trimmed to Perfection
The bacon here is hand-trimmed, dry-cured and hardwood-smoked. Locals flock to their many regional locations to get their fix of this flagship item. Save a little money and try the cut end pieces too.
S. Clyde Weaver / sclydeweaver.com / regional locations
Bacon and Brussels
Get your bacon fix while you eat your veggies; the charred Brussels sprouts come with smoked bacon, Parmigiano-Reggiano and apple relish.
The First Post Public House / thefirstpostyork.com / 3691 E. Market St., York, PA
Connoisseurs of Curing
Gourmets: go see these connoisseurs of curing. Not only does Rooster St. sell three types of pork bacon (including one that’s uncured and sugar-free) and one type of lamb bacon, but they also have a bacon burger—and trust us, it’s not just a burger topped with bacon.
Rooster St. Butcher / roosterst.com / 11 S. Cedar St., Lititz, PA
Pumped Up Pigs
The bacon here is made from fresh, local Central Pennsylvania pig bellies. It’s pump cured, which means the cure is injected into the pig bellies before they are smoked, resulting in bacon that is delicious and thick with a uniform flavor throughout.
Shaffer's Meats / 900 Market St., Lemoyne, PA
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Breakfast of Champions
Try the maple-bacon-wrapped cinnamon roll—or if you’re feeling extra indulgent, try the 8th Deadly Cinn, a maple-bacon-wrapped cinnamon roll stuffed with a fried egg, cheese and MORE bacon!
Pepper's Grille / Central Market / 34 W. Philadelphia St., York, PA
Nuff Said
You just have to taste the house-cured brown sugar bacon appetizer. It’s thick-cut and slow-baked in the oven with a secret brown sugar spice blend, and when you eat it (or even smell it, really), it’s pure heaven.
Penn Square Grille / pennsquaregrille.com / 2 E. King St., Lancaster, PA
