Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso
Bacon. Cheese. Breadsticks. What else do you need? These Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso are a unique and delicious football party appetizer!
This Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso post is sponsored by Cabot Creamery, but the recipe and opinions are entirely my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Spiced!
In most years, Laura and I spend the last week or two of the year catching up on sleep and watching tv shows. We always make sure to budget enough vacation days in there for a holiday staycation. Robbie still goes to preschool each morning, and then we just relax at home. It helps us recharge the batteries, both physically and mentally. Not this year.
Nope, we decided the holidays would be a great time to move. I mean who doesn’t want to spend Christmas Eve packing up boxes? We’ve been talking for a while about how it’d be nice to have just a little more space in the house. But that’s all it was. Talk. That is until we took Robbie out looking at Christmas lights one cold December night. We drove past a house around the corner (literally), and it had a ‘For Sale’ sign up. Laura looked up the photos online, and we went in for a showing the next day. Fast forward 5 weeks, and our closing is set for next Monday. Talk about a whirlwind!
The first item on the agenda was to get our current house on the market…and that meant staging it for showings. Can we talk about how silly staging a house is? I mean, I get it. Potential buyers don’t want to see your tube of toothpaste on the sink. But we literally cleared off all of the countertops in the kitchen. And dried out the sink before each showing. Really!? Again, I get it. But it’s just downright silly. It must have worked, though, as we were under contract on the current house in just 6 days.
Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso
So while we didn’t get to do much relaxing over the past month, we still managed to make some delicious recipes. (Even with half of my kitchen tools packed up in boxes in the garage!) Take these Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso. Cheesy, bacon-y goodness right here! We made this recipe on a cold Saturday in late December, and it absolutely hit the spot during our break from packing. And I’m planning on making this one again this weekend. These Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso are the perfect appetizer to serve during football games!
Homemade queso is really quite simple to make. The list of ingredients might look long, but trust me when I say that it’s a fairly easy recipe. And you’ll likely have more queso than bacon wrapped breadsticks…so make sure to have some chips on hand! (For a healthier alternative, we like to dip baby carrots in the leftover queso…yum!)
The key to a good homemade queso is the quality of the cheese. I’ve been a huge fan of Cabot Creamery’s cheeses for years, and I used 1 block of Cabot’s Vermont Extra Sharp cheddar and 1 block of Cabot’s Monterey Jack for this queso. Talk about flavor! We always (and I mean always) keep a couple blocks of Cabot cheese in our fridge. The Vermont Sharp that I used in this queso is a favorite, and the Monterey Jack is perfect for making a melty queso dip. (Cabot’s Pepperjack is another favorite, and I often just slice that up and eat it plain. Delicious!) All of Cabot’s cheddar cheeses are naturally-aged as well as being lactose-free and gluten-free.
Cabot is a co-op owned by over 1,000 farm families in New York and New England. As a co-op, 100% of the profits go back to the farmers who produce the milk used to make Cabot’s cheeses. In fact, Cabot is celebrating their 100th year as a co-op in 2019. A couple of years ago, I had the chance to visit a local Cabot farm, and I was stunned at how hard farmers work to produce the food that we buy in stores. Dairy farmers don’t get a day off. The cows must be milked each and every day…even on Christmas Day or on those days when it’s 5°F outside. I’m proud to help support Cabot’s family farms. (To be honest, it’s a win-win since their cheeses are so delicious!)
If you’re looking for a unique and tasty appetizer to serve during the big game, then keep this recipe for Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso handy. I know it’ll be showing up in our house again soon!
If you make this recipe, come back and leave a comment. Or better yet snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). Cheers, friends!
Looking for more tasty recipes? Check out Cabot’s lineup of their favorite recipes!
Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks with Queso
Ingredients
For the Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks
- 1 batch pizza dough homemade or store-bought
- 8 slices thick-cut bacon
- ½ cup Cabot Vermont Sharp cheddar cheese grated
For the Queso
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup white onion minced
- 1 jalapeno seeds and ribs removed, diced
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp cumin
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 10-oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies
- 1 4.5-oz. can diced green chilies
- 8 oz. Cabot Monterey Jack cheese grated
- 8 oz. Cabot Vermont Sharp cheddar cheese grated
- 8 oz. Cabot cream cheese
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
- ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
For the Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set metal cooling rack on top of foil; set pan aside. (Note: The metal cooling rack will allow the bacon fat to drip down and not soak into breadsticks.)
- Press/roll dough into a 12”x16” rectangle. Cut dough into (16) 12”x1” strips.
- Stack bacon strips on top of themselves and slice lengthwise to create 16 thin slices of bacon.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll into a round breadstick. Wrap one slice of bacon around dough, making sure that both ends of bacon are underneath the dough; place breadstick on baking rack.
- Repeat process with remaining dough and bacon.
- Sprinkle tops of breadsticks with grated cheese.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until breadsticks are golden brown.
- For ease of dipping, slice breadsticks in half before serving.
For the Queso
- While the breadsticks are baking, add olive oil to a deep skillet and place over medium-high heat. Once hot, add onion and jalapeno.
- Sauté for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until onions have softened.
- Add garlic and continue sautéing, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 more minutes.
- Add flour and cumin, stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Add milk, diced tomatoes, diced chilies, Monterey Jack cheese, Vermont Sharp cheese and cream cheese. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until cheeses have melted and mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir in chopped cilantro and sour cream.
- Serve hot with bacon-wrapped breadsticks.
Congratulations on the sale of your house and the new home around the corner. I’m not sure which sounds better the bacon breadsticks or the queso. I love queso on anything, especially a bean and rice burrito. I guess I’ll just have to make both the breadsticks and queso and then decide which is better, if possible.
Thank you so much, Ron! I must admit that house selling/buying ranks pretty low on my favorite things list. In fact, it might be at the very bottom of that list…right below buying a new car. But the end is in sight now!
I hear ya on queso! I always joke to Laura that I could probably drink queso. 🙂 But these breadsticks are pretty darn tasty in their own right, too. And together? Well let’s just say the combination made me quite happy. Haha. Hope you had a great weekend, my friend!
DUDE!!!! THIS is huge!!!! Congrats on selling in 6 days! So – do y’all have yet to move? Or, have y’all moved to the new place already? Churning out delicious recipes in the middle of packing and moving is no easy feat! I’ve been there and done that and am about to do it again! So happy y’all found a place y’all liked and were able to sell your place so quickly! BTW – those breadsticks are dope! I mean bacon + bread sticks = true love (right?) But, you threw in some delicious, creamy, caboty sauce! Dude! Brilliant!
If y’all have yet to move – wishing y’all a safe and smooth one! If y’all have already moved happy unpacking!
So we haven’t quite moved yet, Shashi. We’re close though. Closing on the new house is scheduled for next Monday, and then closing on this house is a couple weeks later. It’s going to be a busy time, but it’ll be fun!
And you are totally right about churning out recipes when most of your stuff is in boxes. It’s a challenge for sure! I needed some frosting tips last night, and I discovered that I’d packed ’em. Nothing like calling your neighbor to borrow some frosting tips in the middle of a snow storm. Haha!
And this queso? It’s magical. I’m pretty sure it would go well with pretty much everything. 🙂
Like I mentioned before, moving sucks!! It’s definitely draining, but it’s so awesome that you guys sold your home so quickly! Hopefully soon there will be time to relax! Maybe?? Anywho, this queso dip with those bacon wrapped breadsticks is like ‘WHOA’. Talk about an indulgent treat! Maybe throw in a beer with it? Sounds good, right 😉 Happy Friday, my friend!
Oh man, we’re drained for sure, Dawn. But the prospect of setting everything up in the new house is pretty exciting, too. Relax? What is that? I’ll have to schedule that into the calendar for, say, March. 🙂 But you better believe I’ll be scheduling more of this queso into the calendar before that. It’s so tasty!! Hope you had a great weekend, my friend!
Hi David! I would be hard pressed not to pig out on these! Would it be against the rules to use a spoon in that queso? Moving is a pain, but I always found unpacking and putting things in their place kind of satisfying. PS I agree with Dawn these just ask for a cold beer!
Oh, it is most definitely not against the rules to use a spoon with this queso. That may or may not have happened around here. 🙂 It really is delicious! And I agree with both you and Dawn about queso + cold beer. That may have happened with the leftovers of this batch. Haha. Hope you had a great weekend down south, my friend!
Moving is the worst! But it’s so nice that you sold your house quickly. That eliminates at least one stress right? I’m alllll about queso so I’m going to have to try this soon. Have a great weekend!
Well, the selling of this house wasn’t without some stress, but everything looks like it’s in place now. Closing on the new house is next Monday, so things are about to get wild and crazy around here for a bit. Queso is the great equalizer when it comes to eliminating stress. We figured that out when we were sick of packing boxes but still had leftover queso in the fridge. Yum! 🙂
Congratulations on the new place. I hope you told your old neighbors that it was nothing personal. 😉 I know what you mean about staging. The first house I ever bought, the kitchen was painted pink and fuchsia, with chubby, Rubinesque angels stenciled and painted all along the ceiling border. And since the main door to the house basically let you directly into this room, that was the first thing you saw. It was a nauseating sensation that no smell of freshly baked cookies was going to overcome.
Hah! As soon as the ‘For Sale’ sign went up in the front yard, Laura sent a note around to all of the neighbors. Fortunately, we’re just moving around the corner, so we’ll still be in the neighborhood.
Umm, what? Angels stenciled and pained into the kitchen? I thought this place was bad when we bought it, but the angels win. I’m assuming a can of paint was the first thing on the list for that house? Thanks so much, Jeff!
Many cans of paint. We eventually made friends with the neighbors, and when we invited them over, they looked around and said, “Thank God!”
Your timing is impeccable, Jeff. I just got back from Lowe’s buying another can of paint…
Happy New Year David! Wow, you moved during the Holidays??? That’s pretty adventurous! Congratulations on the new house, it’s crazy how it happened, what a whirlwind 🙂 Whoo Hooo for being under contract on your old house 🙂 that dried out sink did the trick. These breadsticks look divine.
Yes, we did! Well, to be fair, we spent the holidays packing. Closing on the new house is scheduled for next Monday, so we’re in the home stretch. And then things get really crazy as we’re trying to move most of the boxes, etc by ourselves. That should be fun! I suspect this queso will be making another appearance or two during the move. It’s definitely a favorite comfort food around here! 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by, my friend! It’s great to hear from you again.
David, Are you trying to sabotage my post-holiday diet… ?! 😉 Now seriously, though, this does look awfully good. And congrats on the new house, must have been quite the challenge to move this time of year, especially with kids in tow.
Haha! I’m not trying to sabotage you at all, my friend. It’s everything in moderation. 🙂 Plus, it’s football playoff season…and that means we need tasty appetizers!
And you’re telling me about the challenges of the move. Umph. But things are about to get exciting here as we start the move next week. That means I can start unpacking boxes and finding my things again! Hah. Cheers, my friend!
Whew! That’s a whirlwind! Hopefully you are all settled now…or at least the kitchen is all ready! Love these bread sticks! You just can’t go wrong with bacon and cheese! 🙂
It’s totally been a whirlwind lately, Kathy. There was a long waiting period once the contracts were signed, so life is actually about to crank up to full steam here. We close on the other house next Monday, and then we’ve got 2 weeks to move everything over. Wish me luck…and send me some hot queso? 🙂
What a comforting, hearty and taste snack. YUM! And I can’t believe how prolific you are with your writing and delicious recipes, while buying AND selling AND staging a house, AND taking care of a toddler. Beyond impressive! Congratulations on all of it!
Oh my gosh, Valentina. I’ve been really buckling down here the past couple of weeks so that I can keep posts in the hopper for when we start moving. (That’s next week, by the way.) I appreciate the kind words, my friend! Now let’s go eat some queso, ok? 🙂
Moving house during the holidays, bravo to you all for surviving that! Love the bacon wrapped breadsticks, perfect to have with a cold beer while watching the game!
Umph…we haven’t quite survived the house move yet, Matt. Closing is this coming Monday, but at least we’re all packed up and ready to get this show on the road! And trust me…those bacon wrapped breadsticks, queso and a cold beer will definitely be making appearances again after all that moving! 🙂