Bacon on an Ice Cream Sundae? – Burger King Says Yes! [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe]

Burger King has tried many interesting fast food gimmicks over recent years and now they’ve gone for the mother load!  Adding bacon to a hot fudge and caramel sundae! Is this new dessert worth your money? You know I had to give it a try!

Burger King was recently unseated by Wendy’s, falling to third place in sales in the fast food burger wars. McDonald’s has been the real king for a long time. In order to get hungry hamburger lovers back, BK has introduced major changes to their menu and has added a large selection of limited-time only, summer items.

BK has tried many novelty products over the years to try and gain an edge. Remember when they had sit down table service in the 80’s?  How about when they served BBQ ribs two summers ago?

Now, new for summer 2012 – the Burger King Bacon Sundae! Adding bacon to just about any breakfast or sandwich makes it good, right?  Well, Burger King is hoping the same works for a sundae.

The Burger King Bacon Sundae ordered in the drive-thru.

Last Wednesday, I went the drive-thru at my local Burger King and ordered a meal and the dessert. I pulled forward to the second window and as soon as the waitress turned away to fill up my drink, I could see her getting to work on my sundae too.

She first swirled vanilla ice cream into a sundae cup. She then added a few squirts of caramel, then chocolate fudge, and a little more ice cream. She then stepped away and when she returned, inserted a full strip of bacon on one side, followed by more chopped up bacon bits sprinkled on top. She placed the plastic lid on top and presented it to me. It took her all of 30 seconds to make.

I couldn’t wait to try it.

My first reaction – this is pretty good! The bacon adds a little saltiness to the ice cream, fudge, and caramel. It really is an unusual, but nice smooth taste. It really does work.

The size of the serving is also perfect. Not to big, not too small. The portion is a happy medium.

At this price you can’t pass it up. It’s only $2.99 plus tax which is far cheaper than what some restaurants charge for a standard sundae.

To be completely fair, Burger King is not the official inventor of this. Ice cream infused with bacon has been sold in some southern states for a long time. Last year, casual restaurant chain Denny’s, had a similar version of the dessert.

Denny's version.

In March 2011, as part of their limited time “Baconalia” menu, Denny’s introduced a Maple Bacon Sundae. Their version only consisted of maple syrup, ice cream, and bacon. While the item sold well, the promotion ended a few months later.

Burger King is the first fast food restaurant to try anything like this. I’m actually surprised they didn’t dream this up years ago. They’ve had all the ingredients in their restaurants for a while; it just took their test kitchens to blend them all together.

Some people seem to be appalled at mixing bacon and ice cream, but others have been dipping salty treats in ice cream for a long time. A popular trend at Wendy’s is to dip French fries into their chocolate Frosty desserts. My mother has admitted to dipping BBQ potato chips into vanilla ice cream as a treat while watching a movie. Ben & Jerry’s currently sell Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night Snack; which is potato chips, fudge, and vanilla ice cream that I wrote about last year.

Health nuts may cringe at the nutrition information on this dessert.  Here’s the facts:

Calories: 510

Grams of fat: 18

Grams of sugar: 61

mg of Sodium: 670

Carbs: 75g

To be fair, this is served with one full bacon strip and crumbles that amount to about a second strip. You’re not getting an entire swine dumped on here. Considering the size- it’s a generous amount.

The Burger King BBQ pulled pork sandwich is also part of their new summer menu.

BK has introduced the sundae as part of their Summer BBQ menu and will only be sold for a limited time.  Other items on the new menu include:

Texas BBQ Whopper ($3.99) or Tendercrisp chicken sandwich ($4.79) – contains pepper-jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, red onion, tomato, Sweet Southern dressing, and Bull’s Eye Carolina Style BBQ sauce

Carolina BBQ Whopper ($3.99) or Tendercrisp chicken sandwich ($4.79) – contains melted American cheese, jalapeno slices, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, and spicy Bulls Eye Texas BBQ sauce

Memphis BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich ($3.49) – pulled pork, Sweet Baby Ray’s Sweet ‘n Spicy BBQ sauce, sliced onion, and Sweet Southern dressing

Sweet Potato Fries ($1.89)

A frozen lemonade and frozen strawberry lemonade have also been added to the menu making this by far one of the largest specialty summer menus the chain has ever tried.

THE 411

What: Burger King Bacon Sundae

Sold: Burger King restaurants across the United States

Cost: $2.99

Advertising slogan: “A cool collision of salty and sweet.”

Restaurant Website: www.bk.com

JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:

Who doesn’t like bacon?  While it’s not the healthiest snack, two strips on a sundae shouldn’t hurt that bad.  Consider this your treat for the week and do a little more cardio in the morning.

It’s only around for a limited time and $2.99 isn’t too bad of a price.  Whether they make any money on this or not, Burger King is getting a ton of press and buzz, which they in turn can help them boost declining sales.

For 3 bucks – it’s worth a try.  Give yourself a little reward and chill out with this very unusual treat.  Let me know what you think!  It’s going down in my book as one of the more unusual desserts, I’ve ever had.

Image credit: luna715