Traeger Smoked Deviled Egg Dip with Candied Bacon

Deviled eggs and candied bacon: two delicious foods to make for a crowd and extra delicious when done on the Traeger. Take your gameday snacks up a notch this weekend and serve up the tasty combo of Traeger smoked deviled egg dip and candied bacon (for dipping, of course) while you watch football with friends and family.

A GAMEDAY DUO THAT CAN’T BE BEAT

We love deviled eggs around here. They’re so tasty and easy to make and fit for a crowd. I swear, every time we make them we remark that we should have doubled or tripled our recipe and we’d still be out of eggs by the end. And it reminds me of the meme about eating deviled eggs– no way would most people eat as many whole hardboiled eggs as they would with deviled eggs. There’s just something about them.

Then you add candied bacon to the party– and that’s another thing where a doubled or tripled recipe would do you good. It’s pretty easy to make, super flavorful and decadent and people eat it without paying too much attention to how many pieces have gone down the hatch.

DEVILED EGGS BUT MAKE IT A DIP

And while deviled eggs are pretty easy to make, there is some delicate touch that is necessary to put together a bunch of them. Slicing in half, scooping out the yolks and refilling them without ripping the whites. It’s easy to try to move fast and make a mistake. And honestly, if your eggs aren’t cooked evenly and the yolk ends up on one end, your deviled eggs are not going to be Pinterest perfect.

This recipe for smoked deviled egg dip made on the Traeger eliminates all of the effort in making deviled eggs and results in something that is filling, reminiscent of the old favorite and fit for a crowd.

START WITH SMOKED CREAM CHEESE

To bulk up this recipe and provide some necessary creaminess, we first smoked a block of cream cheese on the Traeger. Scored with a sharp knife and then seasoned with my Brunch Junkie seasoning, the cream cheese gets soft and melty and picks up some of the great wood-fired flavor that results from the Traeger’s fuel. Smoke the cream cheese for about an hour for maximum result.

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HARD BOILED EGGS– THEN SMOKED

To hard boil a bunch of eggs at once, my favorite tip is to do it in the InstantPot. It’s quick and simple and results in a mess of eggs that are incredibly easy to peel in no time. Add the eggs to the pressure cooker on a wire rack. Pour 1 cup of cold water into the pot and close the lid. Set it to pressure cook on manual for 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes of cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes. Then release the rest of the pressure and immediately plunge the eggs in a cold ice bath. They’ll be ready to peel (and oh so easy to do so) in no time.

Once the eggs are peeled, we popped them in the Traeger for about 20 minutes to also smoke. It imparts an additional layer of wood fired flavor on the eggs for this smoked deviled egg dip, which is complimented so well by the bacon dippers.

FOOD PROCESSOR MAKES IT EASY

Once the cream cheese and eggs have smoked, creating the dip is as easy as adding everything to the food processor for a quick whirl. We added 1/3 of a block of cream cheese, the whole eggs, mayonnaise, mustard (dijon and grainy brown), hot sauce and vinegar and blended the ingredients until nearly smooth. We adjusted the texture a bit by adding more mayo and adjusted the flavor with hot sauce, salt and pepper.

Our dip was not entirely smooth– but had a fine texture to it which made for good dipping. Once the ingredients were blended together, we stirred in some chopped scallions and transferred the dip to a serving bowl where we sprinkled it with paprika.

CANDIED BACON: A TASTY UTENSIL

What better way to eat flavorful and creamy smoked deviled egg dip than with bacon scoopers? We put together these crispy and flavorful bacon strips in no time and allowed them to cook on the Traeger while everything was prepared. About 30 minutes on the Traeger resulted in crispy, sweet and savory bacon strips that held up well as an edible utensil.

START WITH TERRIFIC BACON

We like to use Snake River Farms thick-cut bacon whenever possible. The thick strips stand up well to applications like this and it’s well marbled but still very meaty. And finally, the flavor cannot be beaten.

Begin by lining a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (your dish-doer will thank you for the extra effort) and then place a wire rack in the pan. Lay out your bacon in one even layer without overlapping the strips.

Using a pastry brush, coat each piece of bacon with maple syrup (we used Whistle Pig Maple Syrup). Then sprinkle each piece generously with brown sugar and then a coating of rub. For this recipe we used Traeger’s Pork and Poultry rub). Flip the bacon over and repeat the coating.

INTO THE TRAEGER UNTIL CRISPY

Put the whole tray in the Traeger grill at 250* and smoke for about 15 minutes. Then turn up the heat to get the sugary coating melted and the bacon rendered. This is imporant because the sugary coating will eventually crisp up when removed from the heat, resulting is strengthened bacon strips, which are prefect for dipping.

Carefully remove the hot pan from the grill and give the bacon about 5 minutes to cool slightly. Use a fish spatula to carefully remove each bacon strip from the wire rack (so it doesn’t fully cool and become impossible to remove). Transfer the bacon to a plate and allow to cool completely. Then cut in half with a pair of kitchen scissors to make the prefect dipping vessels.

PRIMARY INGREDIENTS

• Eggs
• Cream cheese
• Brunch Junkie seasoning
• Mayo
• Mustard (dijon and grainy brown)
• Hot sauce
• Vinegar
• Salt & Pepper
• Chives
• Paprika
• Bacon
• Maple Syrup
• Brown Sugar
• Pork & Poultry Rub

WHY COOKING SMOKED DEVILED EGG DIP ON THE TRAEGER WORKS 

For game day in the fall, there’s nothing like a good matchup and some tasty snacks. We like to cook everything we can on the Traeger, and food for football games is no different. We like to do everything from breakfast and baked goods to sandwiches and dips on the grill and this week’s Traeger Game Day challenge is dip. So a Traeger Smoked Deviled Egg dip seemed like the perfect solution.

The cream cheese is smoked along with the eggs and then it all takes on a slightly-smoky air from this cooking technique. It’s not overwhelming, but rather adds another dimension of flavor.

And when served with bacon strips that have been smoked and then cooked until crispy on the Traeger, you have the ultimate chip and dip option with smoked deviled egg dip and candied bacon dippers. Yum!

STEP-BY-STEP

• Cook your eggs until hard boiled.
• Peel the eggs and keep in a bowl of cold water.
• Preheat your Traeger Grill to 225*.
• Place the cream cheese on a piece of parchment paper in a small cookie sheet.
• Using a sharp paring knife, score the surface of the cream cheese in a hatch pattern.
• Season the cream cheese generously with Brunch Junkie seasoning.
• Place the cream cheese in the grill and smoke for about an hour.
• With 15 minutes left in the smoking time, add the hard boiled eggs to the grill and smoke for 10-15 minutes.
• Remove the cream cheese and the eggs from the grill and turn up the grill heat to 250*.
• Arrange the bacon on a wire rack in a lined cookie sheet.
• Brush one side of the bacon with maple syrup, then sprinkle with brown sugar and Pork and Poultry seasoning.
• Flip the bacon and repeat the process.
• Place the bacon on the cookie sheet in the grill and cook for about 25 minutes at 250*.
• While the bacon cooks, make the dip.
• Combine the cream cheese, eggs, mayo, mustards, vinegar and hot sauce in the food processor.
• Pulse until the texture is consistent and everything is well incorporated.
• Scrape down the sides of the food processor and pulse once more.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Stir in the chopped chives.
• Transfer the dip to a serving bowl.
• Sprinkle with paprika.
• Turn up the heat on the grill to 350* and continue cooking the bacon until it is largely rendered and starting to crisp.
• Remove the pan from the grill and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
• Then transfer the bacon slices to a plate and cut in half with kitchen shears.
• Serve the Smoked Deviled Egg Dip with Candied Bacon dippers, crostini and veggie slices.

ALTERNATE RECIPES/PRODUCT LINKS

Here are some other game day snacks to consider making for gatherings this fall:

• Crispy Deviled Eggs
• Southwestern Egg Rolls
• Coconut Shrimp
• Smoked Deviled Eggs

Products used in this cook:

• Traeger Grill
• Snake River Farms bacon

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