How to Smoke a BBQ Fatty Stuffed with Cheese

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How To Smoke A BBQ Fatty aka Bacon Explosion

All drug jokes aside, in the BBQ world there is the famous “fatty.” It is also known as a “bacon explosion.”

This beast of a meal is comprised of a roll of breakfast sausage that is smoked on a smoker. The simplest version is called a “naked fatty” which is just a roll of sausage that is smoked.

Fancier versions include stuffed sausage rolls that are wrapped in bacon.

The latter is what I chose to do. Wow, this is a wild and crazy appetizer! Check this bad boy out:

Note: I also have an amazing recipe for a buffalo chicken fatty! Please check it out.

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Main Ingredients:

2 lbs of breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean sage variety)
2 lbs of bacon
Any BBQ dry rub (Here’s a good dry rub recipe)
1 onion
2 jalapeno peppers
Shredded cheese (any kind will work)
BBQ sauce (Here’s my favorite BBQ sauce)

Cooking Instructions

First, set up your smoker for 250 degree smoking. I used apple wood for smoking this BBQ fatty. While the smoker is coming to temperature start making the fatty by covering a chopping block with Saran wrap.

This will help you roll up the fatty later. Take the ground sausage and spread it out into an even rectangle. Finely dice the onion and sauté it in olive oil.

Chop the whole jalapeno peppers (leaving the seeds and membrane in!). Spread the onions, jalapeno pepper and cheese all over the ground sausage.

Rolling the BBQ Fatty

Grab one end of the Saran wrap and carefully roll up the fatty.

Set your rolled fatty aside while you make the bacon weave. To be honest I had no clue how to make a bacon weave.

The lovely Mrs. Grilling24x7 had to step in here and help me out. The finished product looked quite nice I think!  You can see why this is called a bacon explosion.

CAREFULLY lift up the rolled fatty by using the Saran wrap underneath of it and place it over top of your bacon weave.

It would have been helpful if I had assembled my bacon weave over top of Saran wrap. I didn’t so it was a bit hard to roll the bacon around the sausage roll. It was possible, however.

Oh yes, very nice!

I used a little rectangle of aluminum foil to sit the fatty on. I don’t think this is necessary. In fact, it sort of caused the bottom of the fatty to be a bit soft since it was sitting in juices.

I was concerned that the fatty would either get stuck to the grates or fall apart but it really didn’t. If I were to do it again I’d put it directly on the grates and use spatulas to get it off.

In hinge site I would also have an aluminum tin sitting on the lower grate to collect any drippings because this thing is fatty! Insert a thermometer probe and smoke it until the internal temperature reaches at least 165 degrees.

Internal Temperature for BBQ Fatty

175 is preferable to make sure you’ve cooked it all the way through. Trust me you won’t dry this thing out by overcooking!

When the internal temperature of the fatty reaches about 160 degrees take some BBQ sauce and brush it all over the fatty. At this point don’t add any extra smoking wood.

This may over smoke the BBQ sauce. Just keep the heat going. A little smoke isn’t bad but I don’t like the taste of BBQ sauce that has been bombarded with harsh smoke. That’s just my preference.

Rest and Serving the BBQ Fatty

Let the fatty rest for at least 15 minutes. Then slice! You can really see the juicy inside. Oh man, the cheese, jalapeno, and onion mixes perfectly with the ground sausage.

Drizzle some extra BBQ sauce on each slice when you serve it! Fantastic.

I sliced my BBQ fatty before taking it to a Superbowl party. When I got to the party I put it in a 350 degree oven to get it hot again. Keep that fatty hot when you are serving it.

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Have you seen my article on how to smoke a buffalo chicken fatty? It’s filled with blue cheese crumbles, hot sauce, and chicken breast. Oh!

More Recipes You Will Love

• Buffalo Chicken Fatty
• Smoked Green Chile Pork Tenderloin Fatty
• Smoked Cinnamon Sugar Bacon Weaves
• Double Sausage Burgers on Garlic Bread Rolls

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