Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese Dates (Devils on Horseback)

A devil on horseback appetizer is a Medjool date pitted and stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in a half slice of bacon, then baked at 400°F until the bacon crisps and the cheese goes soft and salty inside the sweet date.

I make these every year starting around Thanksgiving and I don’t stop until New Year’s Eve. They disappear faster than anything else on my appetizer table, including the stuff that takes three times as long to make. The bacon goes properly crisp, the date turns almost jammy inside, and the blue cheese cuts through both with a salty punch.

The first time I made these, half the bacon came out of the oven pale and flabby. It took me a couple of tries to figure out why, and it wasn’t the recipe, it was how I was baking them. I’ll walk you through exactly what I changed.

This recipe covers the classic stuffing and wrapping method, the fix for soggy bacon, and how far ahead you can actually assemble these before your party.

Key Takeaways

• Use Medjool dates, not Deglet Noor. They’re bigger, softer, and don’t need soaking first.
• Regular-cut bacon works better than thick-cut here. Thick bacon needs so long to crisp that the dates dry out before it does.
• Bake on a wire rack set over a foil-lined sheet pan. This is the single biggest fix for soggy bacon.
• Leave real space between each date on the pan. Crowding steams them instead of roasting them.
• You can assemble these up to two days ahead and keep them covered in the fridge until it’s time to bake.

What goes into a devil on horseback

The name sounds dramatic for something this simple. It’s really just three ingredients doing all the work.

• Dates: Medjool, pitted. They’re plump and almost caramel-like once warm, which is exactly what you want against salty bacon.
• Cheese: A good blue cheese, something with real funk to it. Goat cheese is the common swap if blue isn’t your thing, and it’s milder but still works. I’ve found a solid wedge at Aldi more often than not, sitting right in their rotating cheese case (see our best Aldi snacks roundup for what else is worth grabbing while you’re there).
• Bacon: Regular thickness, cut in half. Thick-cut bacon takes too long to crisp and the dates turn mushy waiting on it.

I’ve tried this with pre-cooked bacon to save time and I don’t recommend it. Raw bacon bastes the date and cheese with its fat as it renders, and that’s a huge part of the flavor. Skip that step and the whole appetizer tastes flatter.

How to make them

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F and set a wire rack inside a foil-lined half sheet pan.
2. Slice each date lengthwise without cutting all the way through, then pop out the pit.
3. Press about half a teaspoon of crumbled blue cheese into each date and press it closed around the filling.
4. Wrap a half slice of bacon around each stuffed date, overlapping the ends, and secure it with a toothpick.
5. Set the wrapped dates seam side down on the wire rack, leaving space between each one.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the bacon is deeply browned and crisp on the edges.

Don’t soak your toothpicks first. I used to do this out of habit from grilling and all it does is add moisture right where you don’t want it. A dry toothpick holds fine for a 25-minute bake.

The mistake that kept giving me soggy bacon

For a while my bacon just wouldn’t crisp evenly, no matter how long I left the tray in. I’d pull them out, the edges would look done, and the underside would still be pale and a little rubbery. It drove me crazy because the recipe itself was right.

Two things were going wrong at once. I was baking the dates directly on a sheet pan, so they sat in their own rendered fat the whole time instead of letting it drip away. I was also crowding the pan to fit more on one batch, which trapped steam around the bacon instead of letting hot air circulate.

Switching to a wire cooling rack set inside the sheet pan fixed almost the whole problem by itself. The fat drips down and away instead of pooling under the bacon. Give each date some breathing room on the rack and you get crisp bacon all the way around instead of just on top.

If your oven runs a little cool, push the temperature up to 425°F rather than baking longer at 400°F. A hotter, shorter bake crisps the bacon before the dates have a chance to dry out or the cheese fully melts away.

Make-ahead and party timing

This is one of the easiest appetizers to prep in advance, which is honestly half of why I keep making it.

• Up to 2 days ahead: Assemble the stuffed, wrapped dates and keep them covered tightly in the fridge. Bake straight from cold, adding two or three extra minutes to the bake time.
• Up to 1 month ahead: Freeze the assembled, unbaked dates on a tray until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. Bake straight from frozen, adding about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Day of: Bake no more than an hour before guests arrive. These are best warm, and the bacon softens again if it sits too long.

I use a set of decorative cocktail picks instead of plain toothpicks when I’m serving these at an actual party. It’s a small thing, but it makes a platter of these look intentional instead of like a weeknight snack.

A few ways I’ve changed this up

Blue cheese is my default, but I’ve served these with goat cheese plenty of times when I know I’m cooking for a crowd that’s not into blue cheese’s sharper edge. A drizzle of honey or hot honey right before serving adds a sweet-heat contrast that disappears fast at parties. I’ve also tucked a sliver of jalapeño in next to the cheese when I wanted more heat, and it holds up well through the bake.

Devils on horseback versus other bacon-wrapped bites

	Devils on Horseback	Angels on Horseback
Base	Date	Oyster
Filling	Blue cheese or goat cheese	None, oyster is the filling
Flavor profile	Sweet, salty, funky	Briny, smoky
Best served	Room temp to warm	Warm, right out of the oven

My last word on this appetizer

I keep coming back to this one because it takes almost no skill and still looks like I tried hard. Once you get the wire rack and the spacing right, it’s basically foolproof. It’s the appetizer I trust when I don’t have time to fuss but still want people to ask for the recipe.

If you’re building a full spread for New Year’s Eve or any holiday party, this one sits nicely next to a whipped feta with hot honey or a baked brie en croute, so guests get something warm, something creamy, and something with a little crunch all on the same table.

Frequently Asked Questions