Pigs in blankets

Complete your Christmas spread with pigs in blankets

Pigs in blankets have provided joy for the young and young at heart for generations. Whether served as snacks, canapes or as sides for Christmas dinner, homemade pigs in a blanket bring comfort and nostalgia with every bite. With our easy pigs in a blanket recipe, half of the chipolata sausages are wrapped in golden puff pastry and the remaining in smoky crisp bacon, paying homage to the recipe’s American and British roots. Prepare your bacon-wrapped bites in a blanket the night before and pop them in the oven as your guests arrive. There will be guaranteed smiles for miles.

What is the origin of pigs in a blanket?

In Britain, the name of this savoury dish refers to sausages wrapped in bacon, whereas in the US the bacon is swapped for puff pastry or croissant dough and is called ‘pigs in a blanket’. While we may never know who first decided on this tradition, historically many cultures around the world have wrapped meat in pastry. There are also bacon-wrapped oysters, known as ‘angels on horseback’, which were a popular Victorian-era snack. These days the British are most likely to serve pigs in blankets as an accompaniment to roast turkey at Christmas, whereas in America they are more of a snack and are particularly popular eaten with a cold beer while watching the Superbowl. 

The only four ingredients you’ll need

Because there are only a few ingredients in this chipolata pigs in blankets recipe you need to make sure each element is good quality. Chipolatas are the perfect size for a canape and you can use either pork or beef. When making mini pigs in a blanket with puff pastry, you can opt to use butter puff pastry for another level of flavour and flakiness. Streaky bacon is the perfect cut of bacon to use because it’s long and thin, making it easy to wrap around the sausages. The fat also helps to baste and season the chipolatas as they cook. Chipolata sausages are fun and simple to cook with. Try them in this quick tomato and fetta rigatoni or this traybake with silverbeet and tomato. Chipolatas are the perfect size for mini hot dogs, too.

How to cook pigs in a blanket

After wrapping the chipolatas, place them seam-side down on the baking tray. The heat conducted from the tray will seal the pastry and bacon as they cook. You can secure the bacon with a toothpick if you like. The toothpicks can then be used as little handles if serving them as a canape. When cooking pigs in blankets, the sauce or relish is an important ingredient, too, as it provides a sweet counterpart to the savoury sausage. You can swap the sauce for a drizzle of honey over the bacon-wrapped sausages, or seeded mustard for the pastry version.

Tips on how to roll pigs in a blanket

Wondering how to cut the puff pastry? It helps to get the ruler out! Place the ruler along the edge of the pastry and make eight even notches. Do the same at the other end and then connect the notches with a long sharp knife. Starting at one end of the chipolata, wrap the pastry, slightly overlapping, until you get to the end. Tuck the final bit of pastry under the sausage, brushing and securing with a bit of egg wash if desired. After slicing the bacon in half, use your knife to stretch each piece to be a bit longer, the fatty nature of the bacon makes it quite elastic. Wrap it in the middle of the sausage like a cumberbund.