Junk Food Nation, today is National Ice Cream Day!  On this day we celebrate all things ice creamy, ice smoothy, loaded with caramel, covered in strawberry sauce, with or without sprinkles, yonanas, hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but you look somebody that I used to know…but I digress.  I looked in my freezer and *gasp* there was nothing ice cream-related for me to review on this special day!  Boo.  I knew what I had to do.

Today’s junk food: Burger King’s Bacon Sundae! Limited time only.  Released about a month ago, there are only a few reviews of it, The Impulsive Buy did one, and there are other reviews here, here, and here.  There are also articles ABOUT the sundae but not taste tested, here, here, here, and here.  I figured I’d throw my name into the ring too.

In DC, there are only four Burger King locations, and one is right up the street from me.  You know how odd it is to drive to a Burger King at 900AM and ask for a bacon sundae?  For some of you, not weird at all.  But for me? Plenty strange, even if I am the Junk Food Guy.  I’m definitely more of a sausage egg cheese on a bagel morning person – not a bacon ice cream morning person.  Still, they had it – so I got it.

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: The Money Shot

As soon as I had it in the car, it started to melt.  And melt.  And melt.  Good lord, the soft serve surrounding the bacon loved to melt! I got it home, opened it up, shot some photos, and started eating…

The basic setup is easy – vanilla soft serve ice cream, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, and two big pieces of bacon with lots of bacon bits on top.  You know how fast food sundae have crushed nuts on top?  This was the same thing, but instead of nuts – bacon bits.  Simple enough.

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: sitting in a pool of vanilla ice cream

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: two big bacon pieces sticking out

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: is this the same bacon they use on the burgers?

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: lots of crushed pieces of bacon on top

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: melty ice cream, first bite

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: second bite with plenty of bacon sticking out

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: third bite, starting to feel brain freezy

Here’s the down low on Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: it’s just a typical fast food sundae loaded with bacon.  But what does this mean, really? Well, it means that the soft serve ice cream is standard – semi-icey and very melty.  Still, good creamy vanilla taste, and it was nice and cold and refreshing.  Sweet vanilla soft serve – mmmmmm. The chocolate fudge was chocolatey and VERY sweet – almost too sweet.  Definitely a corn syrup-y chocolate fudge.  Same goes for the caramel sauce – very sweet, and very artificial.

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: first piece of bacon, coated in chocolate fudge

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: up close and personal with the fudge

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: more than halfway through, still plenty of fudge and bacon bits

And the bacon? I will say this – VERY crunchy.  There was no soggy about it, so that’s good.  As soon as I bend to smell the ice cream cup, the smokiness REALLY came through.  Like, you could just SMELL smokiness. I wondered, in fact, if the bacon had some artificial smokiness added to it, it was so pungent.

The smaller bits of crushed bacon were plenty crunchy and acted just like peanuts in a tyical fast food sundae – providing plenty of texture. The big pieces of bacon were a nice visual touch, but really stood on their own – porky and smoky, I could’ve used the bacon as a spoon to the ice cream.

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: getting towards the bottom, lots of bacon left

Burger King’s Bacon Sundae: smoky to the last drop

Eating all of it in concert, it was a nice sweet/savory combo – sweet, smoky, porky, chocolatey, and salty sweet. Did I like it?  Well, sure…what’s not to like?  I’d eat it again, sure.

But my opinion of the whole thing? I think the bacon movement is finally played out. About three years ago, you had restaurants really starting to experiment with the whole bacon thing – bacon on desserts, bacon and chocolate, etc.  These days, a LOT of restaurants have a bacon sweet/savory dish.  More than a few chocolate companies have a bacon chocolate bar. And now, finally, fast food companies have adopted it.  And that usually signals main stream acceptance.  Whereas only high end places dared try the sweet savory combo, now even your corner burger joint has it.

I could be wrong, but even though I liked this sundae – I’m over sweet/savory bacon dishes.  Bring on the next big flavor, and enjoy National Ice Cream Day, everyone!

PURCHASED AT: Burger King.

COST: $2.49 on menu, $2.74 total with tax.

Thoughts? Please comment below (I always reply) or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy