Chicken Fried Bacon
Quick Bite
Chicken fried bacon is bacon strips battered like chicken fried steak, deep-fried until crisp, and served with cream gravy. It is crunchy, salty, wildly excessive, and exactly the sort of thing Texas would dare into existence.
History
Chicken fried bacon is most closely associated with Sodolak’s Original Country Inn in Snook, Texas. Frank Sodolak is widely credited with popularizing or inventing the dish in the early 1990s, serving battered fried bacon strips with cream gravy for dipping.
The idea follows Texas logic very cleanly: if chicken fried steak is good, and bacon is good, then chicken-frying bacon should at least be investigated. The result became a state-fair-adjacent, roadside-restaurant kind of indulgence, the type of appetizer people order partly because they cannot believe it exists.
Sodolak’s branded itself as the home of chicken fried bacon, but the restaurant announced an immediate closure in late 2024 during an ownership transition. That matters for your “Where to Try It” section: the origin spot is historically important, but I would not list it as a current open recommendation unless it has clearly reopened.
Today, chicken fried bacon survives as a Texas novelty, fair-food cousin, and home-cook dare. It is usually served with cream gravy or sausage gravy, because apparently the bacon needed a dipping sauce with a pension plan.
Fun Facts
- Chicken fried bacon is bacon, not chicken.
- It is usually served as an appetizer with cream gravy.
- Snook, Texas, is the town most closely tied to the dish.
Where to Try
This is the dish’s natural habitat: hot oil, paper boats, and someone saying, “We have to try that.”
Look for it as a special at diners, cafés, or country restaurants that lean into chicken fried steak culture.
Because Sodolak’s has had closure and ownership-transition issues, the easiest dependable way to experience classic chicken fried bacon is to make a small batch at home.
About the Game
This recipe is part of Van Life Challenge, a travel-themed board game from Gray Dog Games where players explore the United States, discover regional foods, and collect memorable experiences along the way.
Each featured food celebrates a real place, a local flavor, and the kind of delicious roadside discovery that makes every trip feel like an adventure.
Recipe
Ingredients
For cream gravy:
Instructions
- Partially cook the bacon: Cook the bacon halfway in a skillet or oven until some fat renders but the strips are still flexible. Drain and cool.
- Mix the seasoned flour: Mix the flour, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and salt in a shallow dish.
- Mix the wet dip: Whisk the eggs and buttermilk in another dish.
- Batter the bacon: Dip each bacon strip in the flour, then egg mixture, then flour again.
- Heat the oil: Heat oil to 350°F.
- Fry: Fry bacon strips in batches until golden and crisp.
- Drain: Drain the fried bacon on a rack.
- Start the gravy: For gravy, melt the drippings or butter in a saucepan.
- Make the roux: Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Thicken: Slowly whisk in milk and cook until thick.
- Season: Season the gravy with black pepper and salt.
- Serve: Serve chicken fried bacon hot with cream gravy for dipping.
