Turkey Bacon Wrapped Dates with a Balsamic Maple Glaze

Are you looking for a mouthwatering bacon dates recipe or perhaps a perfect goat cheese appetizer? This recipe for stuffed dates wrapped in bacon has you totally covered for both criteria. You probably know that bacon wrapped dates tend to be a crowd-pleasing appetizer, but are they healthy? Conventionally speaking, the dates are healthy, but the bacon part is highly problematic. Pork is a meat that I recommend completely avoiding for many reasons, which is why this recipe calls for either turkey or beef bacon.

This recipe is a healthy and even tastier twist on your typical bacon wrapped stuffed dates. With a few key tweaks and additions, these bacon wrapped dates actually gain a lot when it comes to flavor. Plus, this bacon wrapped dates recipe is so easy to make and nutritious!

Health Benefits of Dates

When it comes to date recipes, especially date appetizers, dates wrapped in bacon are definitely one of the most popular options around. By themselves, dates are loaded with vitamins, minerals and high levels of soluble fiber. This type of dietary fiber is excellent for preventing constipation because it helps to keep bowel movements regular by adding bulk to the stool and moving things along in the intestines.

Dates are also known to be very beneficial to cholesterol levels since high fiber foods like dates have been shown to actually lower cholesterol in the body, especially LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides. (1)

Looking for a pre-exercise snack to give you an energy boost? Dates or bacon wrapped dates are an excellent choice because the fruit sugars in the dates are easily processed and utilized by the body. Bacon wrapped dates may seem like a recipe reserved for guests, but with their awesome balance of fat, carbs, protein and sugars, they can be a the perfect snack to get you ready for your next workout.

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Dates also contain calcium, which is is crucial to bone health and warding off major bone problems such as osteoporosis. Individuals who don’t get enough calcium in their diet may also have an increased risk for high blood pressure. (2)

Nutrition Facts

One serving of turkey bacon wrapped dates with balsamic maple dressing contains about: (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)

• 272 calories
• 14.6 grams protein
• 5.9 grams fat
• 40.4 grams carbohydrates
• 13 grams fiber
• 33.5 grams sugar
• 51 milligrams cholesterol
• 529 milligrams sodium
• 60 milligrams calcium (6 percent DV)
• 1 milligram iron (6 percent DV)
• 200 IUs vitamin A (4 percent DV)

I just talked about many of the numerous health benefits of the small yet mighty date. One thing dates don’t have a ton of is protein. But this recipe is certainly not lacking in the protein department. With the additions of both a high-quality meat and a high-quality cheese, this dates recipe is a major source of protein. And these stuffed dates with bacon don’t have just any old cheese inside of them either — they have creamy goat cheese that comes from goat’s milk.

Goat milk benefits are superior to cow’s milk due to a more impressive nutritional profile for starters. Goat’s milk also has less allergenic proteins compared to cow’s milk. In fact, research has shown that avoiding milk containing A1 casein (such as most cow’s milk) and instead opting for milk with only A2 casein (such as goat milk’s) can help consumers avoid gastrointestinal inflammation. (12)

Of course, this recipe also swaps out the hazards and unhealthy fat of conventional pork bacon for organic turkey bacon or organic grass-fed beef bacon. As I’ve talked about before, it goes a  long way for your health to avoid factory-farmed meats and spend a little extra on healthier protein sources. If you’re not a meat-eater at all, I recommend checking out my Eggplant Wrapped Goat Cheese Recipe.

How to Make Bacon Wrapped Dates

This entire recipe only takes about 25 minutes to make and that includes 18 minutes of effortless cooking time. Before you get started with these few simple steps, make sure you have your oven preheated to 400 F.

If you’re using whole dates with pits, then you’ll need to remove the pits from the dates before you stuff them.

Stuff the whole dates with goat cheese.

Now, it’s time for all of the dates to get their bacon wraps. Holding a single date in one hand, wrap a piece of turkey or beef bacon snuggly around each one with the other hand.

Bake the stuffed dates wrapped in bacon for 18 minutes in the oven.

While the dates are cooking, add the maple syrup, butter, balsamic and coconut aminos to a small pan over medium-low heat, stirring until well combined. Once the ingredients have married, remove from heat and add in the arrowroot starch, stirring again until well incorporated.

Drizzle the balsamic maple mixture over the dates and serve.

This recipe serves approximately five people, assuming each person has two dates each.