Bacon and Vegetables

• Bacon will add flavor to any vegetable dish at the dinner table. Wrap bacon around asparagus stalks and saute or grill until the bacon is crispy. Combine chopped celery, onions, and crumbled bacon in a roasting pan and bake for a roasted vegetable dish with extra crunch. Bacon is a popular topping for the classic baked potato, and you can also add it on top of mashed potatoes. Add crumbled bacon to sauteed spinach, or to a cold potato salad as well.
  
  

Bacon and Other Meat

• Bacon works well as a topping to other meats, adding a salty, yet slightly sweet addition to a meal. Top your favorite burger with bacon for a burst of flavor. Cover meatloaf with strips of bacon before baking for an extra juicy, flavorful meatloaf. In Southern California, bacon wrapped hot dogs, topped with roasted onions and peppers have become all the rage. Try wrapping any meat in bacon before roasting in the oven to ensure a moist meat dish with extra bacon flavor.
  
  

Bacon and Soups

• Bacon adds texture and flavor to one-note soups. Sprinkle crumbled bacon into creamy soups such as potato soup or New England clam chowder. Try adding it to bean soups as well such as black bean soup or lentil bean soup. Bacon works just as well with thicker stews such as beef stew, gumbo and chili.
  
  

Bacon and Pasta

• Bacon is a traditional ingredient in the Italian dish pasta carbonara, which also includes eggs, parsley and peas in some recipes. You can pretty much add bacon to any noodle pasta dish as it combines well with many different flavors, sprinkling cooked, crumbled bacon on top just as the pasta is finishing. You can also add bacon to other types of pasta, stirring it into an orzo pasta dish or a risotto pasta.