Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
This is NOT a "Fast & Easy" recipe. Well, I'll try to tell you what I do....I don't have anything written down and I don't measure anything. It's kind of a "fly by the seat of my pants" recipe, and made with whatever I have on hand. I got the idea for these from the recipe for Rumake. Which is basically the Same thing, only they wrap the bacon around both water chestnuts & chicken livers. So if you like chicken livers....go for it. I usually make these for a party, so I'll go by the quantities I usually use.
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Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
30 min
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
  1. 4 - 5 cans of WHOLE Water Chestnuts
  2. 3 - 4 pounds of inexpensive bacon -- I prefer the "maple flavor" kind.
  3. Teriyaki sauce (I use those 2 qrt size bottles from Costco)
  4. Soy Sauce
  5. 1 whole white onion
  6. about 2 - 4 Tbsps. of chopped Garlic
  7. Brown Sugar
  8. --sometimes Honey too
  9. Crushed Red Pepper
  10. 2 Tbsps. butter
  11. box of wood toothpicks
  1. chop the onion and slowly sauté it in butter in a med. size sauce pan.
  2. about half way thru add the chopped garlic. when they're done....
  3. add about a cup of brown sugar -- let it melt
  4. Add about a teaspoon of crushed red pepper
  5. Add about 1 qtr. of Teriyaki Sauce
  6. Add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup soy sauce
  7. Let this simmer for awhile while you wrap the chestnuts.
  8. I taste it and add more teriyaki sauce or brown sugar or...whatever.
  9. Open a couple cans of your chestnuts FIRST.
  10. If you get LARGE chestnuts, then you can cut your bacon strips in half.
  11. ---I just cut one whole pound at a time...NOT each piece one at a time. - understand?
  12. If you get SMALL chestnuts, then you can cut a pound of the bacon in thirds.
  13. Using the Large chestnuts as an example, take a half a strip of bacon, wrap it around
  14. a chestnut and secure it with a toothpick.
  15. Put it in whatever container you're going to use to marinate them in... And keep on going.
  16. This is the time-consuming part. Remember...bacon you can always make it fit.
  17. About 1/2 way thru the process of wrapping the chestnuts, I check the sauce.
  18. If it tastes okay, I turn off the burner and let it cool down.
  19. Once your sauce is down to room temperature...or there bouts.
  20. Pour it over your wrapped chestnuts.
  21. If it’s not enough to mostly cover the chestnuts.....add some water....don't dilute it too much!
  22. Marinate overnight.
  23. Drain right before you bake them.
  24. Put them in a single layer in a kind a deep baking/cookie sheet -- mine's about 1/2" deep.
  25. Bake in a 350 oven for.....heck, I don't know...I just watch them. I'm guessing 1/2 -3/4 hour.
  26. When the pan gets pretty full of "juices", I take a basting syringe and remove most of it.
  27. Bake just a little longer....and there ya go! YUMMMM!
Recipes from Knife River Care Center