Taste Tested: Cinnamon and Sugar Churro Bacon at H-E-B

It was freezing outside and a family member was heading to H-E-B despite a warning that whatever it was they were going after wasn't worth it. A Saturday prior to a winter storm? Pfft. That's a big bag of nopes.

Alas, some people can't be deterred. It took only four loops around the parking lot to find a parking space. I couldn't help but send them a screenshot of a new bacon, "Well, if you can find this, that'd be cool." I wasn't up for the journey personally, but if you're there anyway...

Each year the folks at H-E-B "hand season" a small amount of their bacon. Most recently they went with a Churro Cinnamon Sugar Thick Cut Bacon. Yes, it's seasonal and limited. It's hickory- and mesquite-smoked and made to taste like a churro. A 24-ounce package is only about $9.

Previous limited-time seasoned bacon flavors have included Hayride, an autumn favorite spiced with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and pumpkin, and Lumberjack bacon, with maple flavoring along with sea salt, cane sugar, cracked black pepper and cultured celery powder. All of these sound worthy of four loops around a parking lot on a frigid and windy day.
Churros are a wonderfully simple Mexican dessert; a light dough is fried and tossed in cinnamon and sugar. Some places serve them warm with dulce de leche piped in the middle, and if you hold it close to your ear you can hear angels sing. Pollo Regio has these, and eating one alone in your car while your family is at home eating boring stuff is one of the great perks of being an adult. It helps put working to pay for insurance and cellphone bills a bit more in balance. A bit.

H-E-B's churro bacon is well-seasoned, but not overpowering with cinnamon and sugar. The rub is only on the sides of the bacon, so this isn't the full-on candied bacon number. (But that wouldn't be hard to do. Candied bacon is so easy it's dangerous.)

Anyway, with this slightly doctored bacon, the balance of spices is subtle and nice; it doesn't taste manufactured, or like a State Fair treat. Rather the bacon has just a slight extra flavor. Elevated. Something a little special. Like bacon that just got back from the salon.

We simply pan-fried ours and the results were great. At its core, the H-E-B brand of thick bacon is well-cut, trim and has a rich smoky flavor.

As of writing time, the churro bacon is in stock at the Plano and Frisco stores.