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Smoked Bloody Mary with Smoked Bacon is an absolute must try for your weekend brunch. It’s even better made with fresh summer tomatoes!
Find out how to completely jazz up your next brunch with Smoked Bloody Marys!
Since we first created this smoked bloody mary recipe back in 2014 it’s become a staple at any brunch we host.
Table of Contents
The original recipe includes smoked ice, which is definitely worth the effort, but is totally optional. It will certainly add more smokiness to the drink, but you get enough smoke from the tomatoes and smoked bacon. Speaking of bacon…
The basic idea is to smoke tomatoes, and then use those smoked tomatoes in a homemade Bloody Mary mix.
This recipe is super easy, but it does take some time. But isn’t that what any great brunch is about? Taking your time and going big!!!
How to Smoke Fresh Tomatoes for Smoked Bloody Marys
- Prep Tomatoes: Start by quartering your tomatoes, removing stems, and then season them with salt, pepper, and your favorite vegetable spice (think Old Bay seasoning). Place the seasoned tomatoes on a wire rack or baking sheet.
- Smoke Tomatoes: Place the tomatoes in the smoker set to 250 degrees, and cook them until they are roasted. If you’re smoking at around 250-275 degrees this should take roughly an hour. This will depend on the size of your tomatoes.
- Let them cool: After about one hour remove tomatoes and let them cool down in temperature.
- Remove skins: When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skin.
For the Smoked Bacon
Cook the bacon at the same time as the tomatoes. Lay out slices bacon in the smoker for approximately one hour to get crisp. Use as much bacon as needed for cocktails. You want the bacon to be pretty crispy so they stand up and remain crispy when used as a garnish in the cocktail.
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How to make a Homemade Smoked Bloody Mary
Once your tomatoes have cooled enough to touch remove the skins, then place into a food processor or blender, add the rest of your ingredients, and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust to your flavor preferences.
These measurements aren’t strict. Go by what you like! If you like yours really spicy, then add more spicy elements (horseradish, hot sauce, etc.). This is just a base to start your drink with. But even the Traeger Grills folks like this recipe so much they featured it on their own website and even started a product line with it (yes, using our recipe).
This recipe is tried and true!
If you want to add smoked ice, check out the original recipe for instructions.
More Brunch Ideas for the Smoker or Grill
If you love a good weekend brunch, check out some of these amazing brunch recipes to add to your menu:
- Smoked Pulled Pork Hash
- The Ultimate Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict
- Perfect Roasted Potatoes
- Steak and Eggs Burrito
- Smoked Sausage Gravy
- Pork Breakfast Sandwich
- How to make the Ultimate Mimosa Bar
- Smoked Ham Breakfast Hash
About Vindulge
Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.
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Smoked Bloody Mary Recipe with Smoked Bacon
Ingredients
To Smoke the Tomatoes and Bacon:
- 5-6 Roma tomatoes, quartered
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 4 pieces thick cut bacon
For the Mix
- smoked tomatoes (from above)
- 3 cups tomato juice
- 5 teaspoons hot sauce, (we use a combination of Frank’s RedHot and Valentina)
- 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons horseradish
- the juice of 1 whole medium sized lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 oz vodka,, (per cocktail, or more if you want it stronger)
For the Garnish:
- smoked bacon
- pickled asparagus
- celery
- lemon wedges
Instructions
To Smoke the Tomatoes and Bacon
- Set smoker to 250 degrees.
- Prep Tomatoes: Cut tomatoes in halves (or quarters if they are larger tomatoes) and remove stems. Season with salt, pepper, and your favorite vegetable spice (think Old Bay seasoning), just enough to coat. Place tomatoes on a drying rack or baking sheet.
- Smoked Tomatoes and Bacon: Smoke the tomatoes with the lid closed until they look soft and roasted. At the same time, layout slices bacon in the smoker for one hour to get crisp. (Use as much bacon as needed for cocktails). You want the bacon to be pretty crispy so they stand up and remain crispy when used as a garnish in the cocktail.
- After approximately one hour, remove bacon and tomatoes. Let tomatoes cool then remove skin.
For the Smoked Bloody Marys
- Transfer tomatoes to food processor or blender and pulse until pureed and juiced.
- Add tomato juice, Worcestershire, horseradish, hot sauce, lemon juice, and additional seasonings to the blender. Stir or pulse again to combine. Adjust ingredients to your taste and preferences, and add any more ingredients as desired.
- Rim a pint sized glass with lemon juice, then dip it upside down in the seasoning mixture. (For an extra flare consider mixing smoked salt with seasoning for the glass rim)
- Add ice cubes, then vodka, and top with the Bloody Mary mixture. Stir gently. Add garnishes. Instagram your creation and then tell all your friends how ridiculously delicious this cocktail is.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this after buying Traeger’s Bloody Mary mix at $15 a bottle. Made three times as much and so much less. Tastes the same. My wife and I don’t drink hard liquor. We add the Bloody Mary mix with spicy Clamato or V8. Its equally as good! I’m already making my second batch after almost 2 weeks. Planning to smoke the tomatoes at 175 for 2 hours to get a more smoky flavor. Love this stuff. Thanks for this recipe!
I love that! Traeger actually used our exact recipe on their website, and was the inspiration for their bottled version. So that’s probably why they taste the same 🙂
And yes, SO much cheaper than $15 a bottle!
Gave you five stars cuz this sounds amazingggggg!!!!! Haven’t actually tried it yet just have some questions and maybe this has been covered in the comments but i haven’t read them ♀️ how long will this keep in the fridge? also, have you considered canning this mix? just wondering if it would need to be altered a bit…just trying to figure out how to make it last an extra long time lol
So regarding canning, we have not tested it, but if you added the alcohol and played with the acidity, it should last. However we are not experts in canning. And in the fridge we’ve had this about a week (we end up using it all). But a week is very safe with the mixture, especially if you shake it up before serving.
Could this be made up ahead of time to take on a week camping trip? Minus the bacon.
Ricky, we have found that the mix will last for a few days, I would pre-mix the tomato juice and then season while camping. If you don’t mix the juice, what you’ll find is the smoked tomato puree will start to separate the solids from liquid. While still fine, it can look unappealing, so I’d say make as close to the trip as possible, mix the juice in and then season on site. The most this mix lasts in our house is three days….cause we drink it all 🙂
How do you make smoked ice?
Judy, check out this piece we wrote. It is really easy.
Smoked Ice
I’m with Catherine, more of a Mimosa fan, ( when not pregnant) but I know my husband would love this.
Awesome! We love mimosa’s too, but every now and then we just change it up.
I bet this is a HUGE hit at brunch! People go bananas for bloody Marys. I’m personally not a fan (I’m more of a mimosa gal) but it seems I’m just about the only one. 😉
What a cool idea! I love crunchy bacon.
Thanks, the bacon right? It makes for a cool stir stick.
Can’t wait to try
Let us know how it turns out!
Me neither! I wonder if this tastes as amazing as it looks. What I usually do is order my mixes online because I’m just so swamped all the time. Lately my go to has got to be this all natural Bloody Mary mix over at Lava. They use 100% preservative free ingredients. I’ll post a link if you’re interested: https://drinklava.com/shop/lava-bloody-mary-mix-1-liter/
These look incredible. Love the concept of bacon in it a switch from the pickled bean and pepperoni
Thank you, we love the bacon. It has to be thick cut so it can stand up to the liquid and not break either. Which makes it that much more awesome.
Oh my goodness – This sounds absolutely amazing!!! Love that you incorporated smokiness into the bloody mary!
Thank you!