Making Candles Out of Bacon Is Ridiculously Easy

Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Cole Saladino/Thrillist

You can do a hell of a lot with bacon (and bacon fat). Bacon condomsbacon soapbacon beerbacon bacon. And although most projects that enlist bacon fat are bona fide recipes, there are some practical uses for the leftover grease as well. Enter: the bacon candle.

It only takes five simple steps, a buttload of bacon, and the self-control to not immediately devour all of it. Here's how it's done:

Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Materials

• 15-20 strips of bacon
• A tiny Mason jar
• Candle wick
• Super glue

Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Step one

Grab a sack of delicious cured bacon, open that sucker up, and throw as many pieces as you can on a skillet set to medium heat. Fair warning, you’re going to need A LOT of bacon to make this candle. I think I cooked 22 pieces... my roommates loved it until about piece 15, when the overpowering smell of bacon started to make everyone hallucinate.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Step two

While the bacon is sizzling, grab a candle wick and super-glue it to the bottom of the mini Mason jar -- you know, the kind that serves very few purposes outside of stashing illegal substances or making candles.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Step three

Once you’ve cooked a whole swine’s worth of bacon, transfer the grease into a measuring cup (you should have about 4oz). Slowly stream the grease from the measuring cup into the Mason jar.

Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Step four

Toss the jar in the fridge for a few hours, allowing the grease to solidify. While you wait, you can stare at the massive plate of bacon sitting in front of you and wonder how many pieces you can eat before feeling incredibly nauseous. (Hint: it's 17.)

Cole Saladino/Thrillist

Step five

Remove the candle from the fridge and check if the grease has hardened. If it's ready, ta-da! You’ve got yourself a brand-spankin’-new bacon candle. Light the wick, dim the lights, and prepare to have a lot of explaining to do when people come over and ask, “Did you just cook bacon? Can I have some?”

Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Alex Robinson is an editor at Thrillist Media Group. He can eat 16 pieces of bacon one after the other, but not 17. Never 17. Check him out on Instagram.