Baconfest Chicago: how much bacon can you eat in 3 hours?

All the bacon at Baconfest Chicago.

If you know me, you know one thing. OK, so maybe two things. You know I like the color pink. And you know I like bacon. I like bacon a lot. I’ll put bacon in everything including my potatoes and my brownies. So, of course, when I heard about Baconfest Chicago, a festival devoted to all things bacon, there was no way I wasn’t going to go.

Baconfest was split up into two shifts and my friends and I chose to go to the second shift: a bacon extravaganza lasting from 3pm to 6pm on Saturday. Chelsa and I got there slightly before three, were handed a bacon lollipop and went to check out the bacon perfume while waiting for others to arrive. JoeW and Meredith came in shortly after (and JoeM and Alina shortly after that) and we headed in further to check out the bacon venders.

There were bacon cookies and bacon popcorn and bacon syrup (to make bacon flavored chocolate milk and Pepsi) and bacon cupcakes (my favorite was the BLT) and bacon belts and bacon donuts and free jars of Baconnaise.

Bacon bourbon caramel popcorn.

Bacon chocolate milk

Bacon cupcakes.

Bacon products.

And of course, there was bacon.

Bacon.

And that was just the first floor!

After exploring that level thoroughly, we headed upstairs for more bacony goodness!

First up was to redeem my drink coupon. I went with a spicy and bacony blood mary.

And then it was on to the main ballroom for bacon-chef-apalooza: twelve area restaurant chefs cooking up the best of the best in bacon cuisine…and here’s what we ate!

What we ate at Baconfest Chicago:

Pork belly with peas and braised onions
Vie

After bacon, bacon, and more bacon, it was time for, well, more bacon! We had bacon sangria and a bacon vodka and chocolate milk (surprisingly very tasty). And then went back downstairs for more samples and to buy some bacon. I ended up with a pack of Spencer’s Irish Back Bacon which I had sampled and loved because it was a little meatier than the bacon I’m used to.

It was an awesome day of bacon awesomeness. And I think I’m still in a bacon coma. Afterwards JoeM told me that this was the best outing I have ever planned…although if you know me you know that that really probably isn’t saying much 🙂

Have I used the word “bacon” a record number of times in this post? Yeah, this was a lot even for me! It’s hard to say which dish was my favorite as I quite enjoyed them all. The bacon ice cream was delicious. The Irish breakfast was yummy and I think they win my vote for the fact that I ate something with the term “blood sausage” in the description. I liked Vie’s pork belly. I liked the tacos. I liked Southwater’s dish and I liked the gnocchi…I think I pretty much just liked bacon.

Can’t wait to do it again next year!

More photos from Baconfest Chicago:

Nueske’s bacon samples.

Bacon cupcakes.

Preparing bacon bloody marys.

Gnocchi with Pancetta Ragu from Piccolo Sogno

Sampling bacon dishes at Baconfest Chicago.

Chefs preparing bacon dishes at Baconfest Chicago.

Sampling bacon dishes.

Hominy with bacon, pork belly, jalapeño, and cheddar from Lula Cafe

Slabs of bacon.

Deciding which bacon to eat next.

Spring pea bacon and pecorino salad from The Purple Pig

Tasting bacon dishes.

Making bacon cocktails.

Have we had too much bacon?

Chelsa enjoys a bacon cocktail.

Chicago flag made from bacon.

Eating all the bacon at Baconfest Chicago – a bacon festival in Chicago, Illinois.

Bucket list idea: attend Baconfest Chicago – a bacon festival in Chicago, Illinois.

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