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You won’t find the best bacon at your local supermarket or even at your local butcher shop. For more variety, better cuts and some truly fascinating bacon alternatives (lamb bacon, anyone?) we suggest heading online and trying out a few of these thick-cut, farm-fresh bacon purveyors.
Below, the 10 best places to buy bacon online:
- Porter Road
- Butcher Box
- Tender Belly
- Snake River Farms
- Bacon Freak
- Zingerman’s
- Nueske’s
- Seven Sons
- Goldbelly
- Baker’s Bacon
(And when it arrives on your doorstep, remember you should be baking your bacon, not frying it.)
Porter Road
For our money, this is the single best place to buy bacon online. The difference with Porter Road? Transparency about where each cut of meat comes from, a lack of middlemen (Porter Road owns their slaughterhouse and distribution center) and working exclusively with local farmers. The guys process all the meat in Kentucky, then hand-cut every piece at their Nashville shop. Their thick-cut bacon is pasture raised and free of hormones or antibiotics.
ButcherBox
This carnivore-friendly subscription service has a strict adherence to 100% grass-fed beef — but for bacon fans, it’s ButcherBox’s frequent “free bacon for life” offer that might keep you coming back (essentially, they throw in some artisanal bacon with each box you order).
Tender Belly
“Bland bacon sucks.” That’s a pretty solid sales pitch from Tender Belly, a Denver-based pork purveyor that doesn’t add water to its meat; their process is simply rubbing pork bellies with freshly ground spices, letting it marinate for a few days, and then slow smoke ’em with cherry or apple wood. Note: You’ll have more luck finding this in stores than ordering online (the link below will show you who carries the brand).
Snake River Farms
For the pork equivalent of Kobe beef — Kurobuta — bacon fans can turn to a family-owned business founded in Idaho in 1968 that uses only 100% purebred Berkshire hogs. That means their bacon is culled from pigs raised without hormones before being smoked and cured to its salty-sweet ideal.
Bacon Freak
Get your freak on, indeed. This bacon seller offers wet-cured, dry-cured, uncured, and no-nitrate bacon varieties, some fascinating flavor profiles (sriracha honey bacon, apple cinnamon bacon, etc.), several bacon-of-the-month package deals and actual bacon candy.
Zingerman’s
Members of this legendary Ann Arbor deli’s Bacon Club get a monthly delivery of 12-16 ounces of artisanal bacon that’s supposedly brought seven vegetarians back from the dark side. Available in 3-, 6- and 12-month subscriptions.
Nueske’s
Celebrating 90 years, this family-run Wisconsin butcher specializes in smoked meats, usually with Applewood. Your best bet here is the Smoked Bacon Super Sampler, which offers 12-16 oz packs of everything from triple-thick butcher-cut bacon to wild Cherrywood Smoked uncured bacon.
Seven Sons
Bacon isn’t just about pigs. This regenerative pasture-based farm in Indiana offers up a hardwood smoked lamb bacon cured with celery juice powder and sea salt.
Goldbelly
You can find dozens of meat purveyors and famous restaurant bacon selections at this online marketplace, but focus your attention on Peter Luger; once a secret menu item, these thick-cut slabs are a highlight of this iconic Brooklyn steakhouse.
Baker’s Bacon
Heritage breed pork, humanely raised without crates and fed a 100% vegetarian diet, and previously only sold to high-end restaurants. Baker’s also specializes in hard-to-find cuts — including uncured back bacon chops and sous vide slab bacon.
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