There’s a sacred contract between you and a package of bacon. You hand over your money, you cook it up on a lazy Saturday morning, and in return you get salty, smoky, crispy perfection. That’s the deal. But some brands out there are violating that contract in the worst possible way — delivering limp, greasy, flavorless strips that belong nowhere near your breakfast plate. I went through multiple taste tests and hundreds of customer reviews to figure out which bacon brands are the biggest offenders. Here they are, ranked from merely disappointing to genuinely offensive.
Hormel Black Label Original Bacon
Hormel Black Label isn’t terrible. I want to be clear about that. But it’s on this list because the name promises something premium and the bacon doesn’t deliver. The “Black Label” branding sounds fancy and high-end, like you’re getting the VIP experience. In reality, it’s pretty ordinary stuff. The most prominent flavor is salt — not smoke, not pork, just salt punching you in the mouth. There’s a decent texture with even streaks of fat and lean meat, and it doesn’t feel cheap when you’re eating it. But the taste just never arrives. One tester who’d previously considered it a go-to option completely changed their mind after tasting it side by side with competitors. It tasted scorched even when it wasn’t burnt, and more like cooked fat than actual bacon. At a higher price point than several better-tasting options, there’s no good reason to reach for it.
Applegate Naturals Bacon
Applegate is the bacon that health-conscious shoppers grab because the label says all the right things: antibiotic-free, humanely raised, no nitrites, no nitrates, no sugar. The ingredient list is refreshingly short — pork, water, sea salt, cultured celery powder. The problem? It doesn’t taste like much of anything. Multiple testers flagged the same issue: a total lack of depth in flavor. It didn’t deliver on the salty, savory qualities you expect from bacon. And here’s the kicker — you’re paying around $7 for a tiny 8- to 9-ounce package. That’s roughly half the bacon you’d get from a standard pack. One tester reported the strips fell apart when lifted from the package, leaving behind much smaller pieces. It was also the first brand to start burning in the oven, with large amounts of fat causing splatter. You’re paying a premium for clean ingredients and getting bland bacon that self-destructs during cooking. That’s a raw deal.
Market Pantry Hardwood Smoked Bacon
Target’s store brand, Market Pantry, costs $4.99 for a 16-ounce pack, which is a solid price. And the bacon does crisp up nicely in the oven. The strips are thin but wider than other brands, and some meatier sections have a pleasant chew. That’s where the compliments end. The flavor is basically nonexistent. One tester described it as tasting like nothing — no smokiness, no depth, just… flat. It’s the bacon equivalent of white noise. Strangely, the brand has a 4.5-star average from over 600 reviews on Target’s website, so clearly some people disagree. But in head-to-head comparisons with other brands, it came across as forgettable. If you’re cooking bacon into a recipe where it gets buried under cheese and other ingredients, Market Pantry will do. But if you want bacon that actually tastes like bacon on a Sunday morning plate? Keep walking down the aisle.
Smithfield Hometown Original Bacon
This one stings because Smithfield is one of the most legendary pork companies on the planet. They process more pigs than any other company in the world. You’d think they could make a decent strip of bacon. Their Hometown Original is a thin, disappointing product that gets even thinner when cooked. The slices shrink dramatically, and what’s left is greasy, wispy, and unsatisfying. One reviewer called them “wispy, chip-like wafers of salty meat,” which is both poetic and devastating. The fat content is high, and the bacon seems to fill the pan with an absurd amount of grease — essentially frying itself in its own oil. Multiple customers have complained about the lack of taste, the leather-like toughness, and the ridiculous thinness that sometimes varies within the same package. Some people swear the brand used to be better. Maybe it was. But right now, it’s not earning its spot in your shopping cart. One ranking was so unimpressed they left every other Smithfield variety off their list entirely.
Sugardale Bacon
Sugardale looks promising in the package. You can see thick slicing and fat marbled through each piece. It costs about $10 for a 40-ounce package, which works out to one of the cheapest per-pound prices you’ll find. But that low price is doing all the heavy lifting because the bacon itself is a bland, chewy disappointment. Testers found it to be the least flavorful bacon they tried. The thick slices refused to crisp up in either a pan or an oven, leaving you with a rubbery, joyless chewing experience. One person described serving it at a family brunch where half the strips were left abandoned on plates. When people voluntarily stop eating bacon — free bacon, at a brunch, that someone else cooked — something has gone seriously wrong. The price is the only thing this brand has going for it, and cheap bacon you can’t finish isn’t a bargain. It’s just waste.
Great Value Bacon (Walmart)
Walmart’s Great Value brand is a perfectly fine option for a lot of grocery staples. Bacon is not one of them. The fat-to-meat ratio is completely out of whack. Customer after customer has reported opening packages to find strips that are almost entirely fat with barely any meat attached. One Walmart reviewer wrote: “If you like 90% fat and 10% bacon, this is your pick.” Another called it the worst bacon they’d ever purchased — too thin, falls apart out of the package, more fat than meat. Multiple testers reported the flavor was off in a way that was hard to pinpoint. It didn’t taste like bacon. It tasted like something pretending to be bacon and not trying very hard. Quality also varies wildly from package to package. You might get a halfway acceptable batch one time and fatty rubber bands the next. The inconsistency alone makes it impossible to recommend.
Jamestown Brand Sliced Bacon
And here we are at the absolute bottom. Jamestown Brand is the bacon that seems actively trying to hide from you before you even buy it. While most bacon brands use see-through packaging so you can check the thickness, the fat-to-meat ratio, and the general quality before buying, Jamestown uses an almost fully enclosed box with only a small window in the center. That’s suspicious, and it should be. Inside, you’ll find ridiculously thin strips that burn almost immediately when exposed to heat. But some pieces aren’t really strips at all — they’re small chunks of varying thickness smashed together into a gooey slab that’s nearly impossible to peel apart. Some customers reported buying packages that were nothing but fat. Others found mysterious gray spots on the meat that needed to be cut away. One vocal customer simply called it the worst bacon they’d ever bought. The eating experience has been described as somehow both charred and chewy at the same time, which shouldn’t even be physically possible. But Jamestown found a way. When your packaging strategy is to prevent customers from seeing your product, that tells you everything you need to know.
What You Should Buy Instead
If you want the short answer: Costco’s Kirkland Signature bacon. Consumer Reports named it the best bacon you can buy, and it costs roughly $4 per pound. The thick-cut strips hold their size during cooking, crisp up properly, and deliver real hickory smoke flavor with a sweet finish. Wright Brand is another strong pick if you don’t have a Costco membership — it’s got a great smoky flavor, minimal shrinkage, and even comes in resealable packaging that keeps it fresh. Oscar Mayer’s Naturally Hardwood Smoked variety also consistently ranks near the top, with multiple testers praising its texture and rich flavor. The common thread with the worst brands on this list is a combination of too much fat, too little flavor, and deceptive packaging that hides the problems until you’ve already paid. Spend an extra dollar or two per package and you’ll actually want to finish what’s on your plate.
