The Bacon Alternative Bobby Flay Serves With Breakfast

While bacon may be the hearty cornerstone of breakfasts around the world, sometimes you just want a change of pace. When Bobby Flay is looking for a bacon alternative to upgrade his breakfast, he turns to a close relative; prosciutto.

A bit off the beaten path but just as flavorful, the biggest differences between bacon and prosciutto is their thickness and cut. Even thin-cut bacon is a bit thicker than most prosciutto, which is almost paper-thin and translucent. Bacon also comes from pork belly, one of the most well-marbled parts of the animal whereas butchers prepare prosciutto from a pig's hindquarter. While both options are quite salty, bacon is far more rich, even when burnt almost black, whereas prosciutto has remarkable meatiness more similar to ham.

Some cooks lament prosciutto's stickiness, causing individual slices to adhere together and make it next to impossible to keep its shape. But Ina Garten's genius tip only requires a few seconds in the microwave to free the slices and help you keep their shape. Just be careful not to let them sit too long because, just like bacon, prosciutto can crisp up prematurely in the microwave. Once you have your individual slices in great shape, you can use them in just about any way you'd use bacon, whether you want crispy bits of protein as a side dish or as a topping to a breakfast casserole.

Both bacon and prosciutto tick off several breakfast boxes — salt, protein, and heartiness. When your favorite recipes call for any of these elements, it's quite easy to let prosciutto do the heavy lifting, all the while adding some incredible new flavors to your dish.

If you want to keep things simple, you can drop prosciutto into a hot pan for less than a minute on each side and end up with a crispy, salty breakfast side. Since it's so thin, it develops a shatteringly crispy crunch that even most bacon can't imitate. Bobby Flay likes pairing this with his unbelievably creamy scrambled eggs, creating a dichotomy of textures that delivers a more complex dining experience overall. Provided you keep a close eye on the meat and are ready to give it a flip, it's easy to transform this charcuterie board staple into your new favorite breakfast protein.

Prosciutto is also an excellent salt substitute in many dishes. From omelets to casseroles, this salt-cured ham comes absolutely loaded with sodium that it's just waiting to share with all your other ingredients. Plus, since it's safe to eat right out of the package, you can keep its chewy texture by mixing it directly into things like scrambled eggs or even pancakes! Just like adding salt to your cookies, prosciutto's meaty tang provides enough contrast to sweet breakfast options that they'll end up tasting even sweeter.