Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese – a simple 3-ingredient appetizer that will blow you away! Enjoy with a crowd of friends!
Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese
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This was a WINNER! Made a double batch for a party and they were gone in about 30 seconds. So simple, yet so delicious.
Margaret
Well well well well well. What have we here? To my hungry eyes, this looks like bacon-wrapped dates: soft, sweet Medjool dates stuffed with creamy, tangy goat cheese wrapped in salty, smoky bacon and baked to crispy-soft perfection.
Years ago I decided to start a dinner club. I invited a few friends over for dinner, and we all made or brought something delicious and then got overly personal in the best way by talking for hours through dinner and drinks and dessert, and then I invited everyone to do it all over again the next month. Repeat x forever because I love it that much. If you’ve ever thought about doing something like this, let me just say: now is your time. Invite, eat, connect, and be glad you did it. ♡
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Why Bacon Wrapped Dates Are So Good
One of my friends brought these bacon-wrapped dates as an appetizer during our very first DCM –> dinner club meeting –> because sometimes life is hard and I can’t be more creative than that with a dinner club name. Come on, you guys, just GIVE ME A BREAK.
We all bellied up to the peninsula in our old kitchen and she unwrapped the foil from the Bacon-Wrapped Date plate and BAM. They disappeared. So awesome, so alarming, and so right.
The soft, melty goat cheese inside the warm, plumped up date (how much do you like it when I say plumped up date? mixed feelings here) wrapped in the little bite-sized pieces of bacon was the absolute perfect three-way combo for our food-cray group of girls.
Obsessed doesn’t even touch it.
Just Three Ingredients
Now what I want you to do is this: go to the store and pick up these three ingredients:
- Bacon
- Goat cheese
- Dates
Make these bacon-wrapped dates and try them. I KNOW, RIGHT?! SO GOOD, RIGHT?! and now share them // try to share them // think about sharing them while sitting on the couch enjoying your bacon-wrapped date appetizer party.
It’s a Salty/Sweet Food Love Affair
Salty from the bacon, deliciously sweet from the dates, and creamy and tangy from the goat cheese.
The combo of all three: MIND-BLOWING.
Since learning to make these, they have been made approximately one bajillion and one times – for dinner club, for date night, for holiday parties, for sitting on the couch on a Friday night.
They’re so ridiculously easy while also being the most fancy-looking snack. Just what we like to see in the hustle and bustle of holidays and also LIFE.
Your salty-sweet, melty-cheese loving mouth is going to love them like whoa.
Kitchen Hack Ahead
Okay, pause. This is my sideways baking trick.
Basically what this is is me dealing with my annoyance about the bottoms of these little guys getting crispy-bacon while the sides stay chewy-bacon. It’s not evenly cooked and it’s not okay.
So my solution: stick a toothpick in each one and then use the toothpick to turn the Bacon Wrapped Dates every so often so that they get cooked on every side.
Crispy-bacon all around makes for a better party anyway.
Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese: FAQs
How do I get my bacon extra crispy?
FIrst: check out the toothpick hack above. For crispier, browned bacon, set the oven temperature at 375. For crispier bacon, bake longer. Keep leftovers in the fridge.
My bacon didn’t cook. What did I do wrong?
Usually, my bacon pieces wrap around the dates 1.5 times. If it’s wrapping more than twice around the date, trim your bacon slices so they’re a little shorter. If that bacon layer is too thick, it won’t cook.
How did you make that glaze in the video?
Take these to the next level by putting a little honey bourbon glaze on top. Just mix about 1/4 cup of honey with 1 tablespoon of bourbon and brush the mixture on the dates when they come right out of the oven.
Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 (2 dates per serving) 1x
Description
Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese – a simple 3-ingredient appetizer that will blow you away! Enjoy with a crowd of friends!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 8 slices bacon (I find that thin bacon works better)
- 16 dates
- 4 ounces goat cheese
- toothpicks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice the dates lengthwise on one side to create an opening. Remove the pit.
- Using a spoon, stuff a small amount of goat cheese into the cavity of each date and press the sides together to close.
- Cut the bacon slices in half. Wrap each date with a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.
- Arrange evenly on a baking sheet with raised edges (otherwise grease will get everywhere) and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the dates and use the toothpick to turn each one so it’s laying on its side. Bake for another 5-8 minutes, until browned to your liking, and turn the dates to the other side and repeat. Remove from the oven, place on a paper towel lined plate, and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Equipment
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Notes
Nutrition information is for two bacon-wrapped dates.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: bacon-wrapped dates, goat cheese dates, bacon and goat cheese, date recipe
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More Appetizers To Feed a Crowd
- Elote Queso (Creamy melty queso, charred roasted corn, fresh jalapeño and garlic. YUM.)
- Homemade Cheesy Chili Dip (Made-from-scratch super quick deliciously Tex-Mex flavored chili)
- General Tso’s Cauliflower (Golden brown crispy fried cauliflower tossed in a savory-sweet sauce)
- Caramelized Onion Dip (This caramelized onion dip is a total crowd pleaser)
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy snacks. Check it out!
November 22, 2021
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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I’ve wrapped bacon just around anything but not dates before. Will have to try these!
I know it! Bacon = love. It’s that simple. I mean, have you seen the bacon bouquets you can make now? Who doesn’t want a bouquet out of bacon, flower, bah. But I’m going to use the fancy toothpicks, you know, the umbrella ones!
Bacon bouquets?? Amazing. Thanks for the tip, Laura! 🙂
These are one of my favorite appetizers! My friend makes these for our dinner club and as you said they are ALWAYS a hit. Sweet, salty, and creamy what could be better?
Yes – you know, girl! they’re the best.
They had almost this very dish at the tapas restaurant I used to work at. We couldn’t get enough of it! Yours look even better 🙂
Thanks Sarah! 😀 Appreciate that!
I made mine with feta, but I like the idea of goat cheese. It hits all the right notes. Great party food.
This looks absolutely delicious! A must try at our next dinner party! 🙂
We learned this in a cooking class I attended– they were finished with a drizzle of honey after coming out of the oven.
Yes! Love that! Ali from Gimme Some Oven put some black pepper all over them at our get together… so good!
These look great! I love anything with goat cheese
I’m not even a huge fan of bacon but these look fantastic. I love Medjool dates and I have been cooking them in the oven at a low temp to make them tougher and less sticky and then slathering them in homemade almond butter. This is a nice mix up for a more savory option though. Thanks for sharing!
Yes – Medjool dates + almond butter = best ever!
Dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon blankies! How is it actually Monday? 😉
The sideways baking trick is going to be a great trick to use!
Yeah – such a weird little hack but it makes it easier to get the bacon evenly cooked! 🙂
I stuff mine with ALMONDS instead of cheese.
Maple syrup or honey drizzled on top sounds great!
What are you brushing onto them once removed from oven??
Here’s the FAQ on it!
How did you make that glaze in the video?
Take these to the next level by putting a little honey bourbon glaze on top. Just mix about 1/4 cup of honey with 1 tablespoon of bourbon and brush the mixture on the dates when they come right out of the oven.
This recipe is what my DREAMS are made of! Sweet, salty, bacon… emphasis on the bacon. I love how friend potlucks/dinner parties introduce you to new recipes that instantly become your favorite!
This is one of our favorite apps…EVERYONE loves them, even if at first they’re skeptical of the whole combo…and a lot of people don’t think they even like dates…until they try them with cheese and bacon…then they’re sold. Sometimes we use blue cheese too…gives them a bit more edge…
Right? LOVE the idea of the blue cheese Ramona! I’ll have to try that.
Y.U.M. this has all of my favorite things in one bite sized treat! Great tip for getting all sides of the bacon nice and brown!
These remind me of one of my favorite tapas! You really can’t go wrong with sweet, sticky dates, creamy goat cheese and bacon — pretty much the dream team of ingredients….
I had these served at a wine and cheese and they are seriously the best thing ever. I was literally reminiscing yesterday about how fabulous they were. They are that good- I literally daydream about them.
Haha! I’m sure you’re not the only one, Lauren, 😉
These are really great. Has anyone one used the precooked bacon?
I tried them with the Precooked bacon and it is a bit stiff and didn’t wrap good enough. Also, not enough fat in the Precooked to really sizzle the date and cheese. By the way, I tried Goat Cheese and didn’t care for it but tried them again with Cream Cheese and loved it much more.
So perfect & only 3 ingredients! Love these little party poppers!
Thanks Emily! Great blog name! Our new dog is named Sage… so… I’m a super fan. 🙂
There is a place in Chicago that we used to go just for their bacon wrapped dates..they were out of this world. The idea of goat cheese just takes them to the next level. Genius!
it has to be cafe lababareba
Yep! Those tapas are exactly why I’m here…. To try and replicate them
Hey, you just solved my “What’s for dinner tonight” dilemma, party or no. Well, it sounds like it just became a party. Thank you!
Party for Monday dinner! I’ll be right over.
I live in Miami I had these exact goat cheese dates at high end bar restaurant on Los Olas boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. They were a bit expensive you only got 4 but the flavor was stupendous. I googled bacon wrapped dates and I found your recipe and I look forward to your other recipes. Thanks Ray
Dates! I love them! We will have to try this for summer barbecue.
Gosh so so creative!!!!
Wow! Happy Monday to you. I am salivating…DEFINITELY going to try these babies!
Oh yum! I have made stuffed dates with ricotta that were tasty, but OMG why did I never think of goat cheese? I just bet that ups the flavor to a whole new level!
Ricotta sounds great too! But yes – goat cheese will always have my heart.
There is no way this ISN’T good! Looks so good!
Thanks Derek! Hope you like them!
They don’t look very pretty but since I’m milking my goats again and will have goat cheese coming out of everything, I’m sure I’ll give these a try, and from the sounds of it I’m sure I’ll be addicted.
Homemade goat cheese – Yum!
They serve these at my favorite restaurant in San Francisco. I can’t wait to make them at home!!!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Would the restaurant happen to be called Magnolias? We had them there in San Francisco and loved them!
Wrap anything around bacon and it becomes a winner…pineapple, potato tots, cheese, etc. Dates are my all time favorite…thanks for the reminder….