Smithfield Thick Cut Bacon: 3g Protein per Slice, Labelgrade C- (57/100)

The short answer

Smithfield Thick Cut Bacon delivers about 3 g of protein and 60 calories per pan-fried slice (12 g cooked) (USDA FDC 1507273). On paper the protein density is excellent — roughly 25 g per 100 g, which earns an A- — but that figure is a trap. Do the calorie math on a single slice and bacon shows its true shape: of those 60 calories, about 45 come from its 5 g of fat and only ~12 from its 3 g of protein. By calories, this is a roughly four-parts-fat, one-part-protein food. That’s why the Labelgrade is C- (57 / 100): the saturated fat (2 g/slice) and sodium (220 mg/slice) both score F, and they describe what bacon is far better than the protein number does. Enjoyed as a couple of crisp slices alongside eggs, it’s a perfectly good savory accent. Just don’t read “25 g protein per 100 g” as a reason to treat it as a lean protein — you’d never eat 100 g of cooked bacon, and the fat and salt scale right along with it.

Why the C-

The grade is an honest split-decision. Protein density (A-) and sugar (A+) pull up; saturated fat (F) and sodium (F, a flat zero) pull down hard; ingredient quality sits in the middle. The two F’s aren’t a Smithfield failing — they’re the definition of cured pork belly. No conventional bacon escapes them, which is why the headline isn’t “bad bacon,” it’s “bacon, graded honestly as the fat-and-flavor food it is.”

The protein number is doing sleight of hand

“25 g of protein per 100 g” is technically true and practically misleading, and it’s worth seeing exactly how. The per-100g figure is high because cooking concentrates the meat: frying renders off water and grease, so what’s left is dense. But the serving you actually eat is a 12 g slice carrying just 3 g of protein — and that protein arrives bundled with 5 g of total fat, of which 2 g is saturated. Run the same math at the portion people really eat: three slices give you ~9 g of protein for ~180 calories, ~6 g of saturated fat, and ~660 mg of sodium. That’s the protein of a single large egg, delivered with several times the salt and saturated fat. The lesson isn’t that bacon is junk — it’s that protein density per 100 g flatters any concentrated meat. Judge bacon by the slice, not by the 100-gram column.

Cooked-weight panel, and why it matters for bacon

This is one of the few products where reading the serving basis changes the whole picture. The panel here reports a pan-fried slice (12 g cooked) — not the raw strip you pull from the pack. Bacon is unusual in how much it sheds to the skillet: a raw strip is heavier and fattier, and a meaningful share of that fat leaves as rendered grease you pour off. So these numbers already reflect post-frying reality. The catch is that not every bacon label states it the same way — some report the raw slice, which reads higher in total fat before you cook it. If you’re comparing brands or logging macros, confirm whether each panel is raw or cooked weight first; for bacon the gap is large enough to mislead you. Smithfield’s choice to list the cooked slice is the more useful one for anyone eating it crisp.

What the cure is actually made of

Smithfield’s ingredient line is short and conventional for nitrite-cured bacon: pork cured with water, salt, sugar, sodium phosphates, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrite. Worth knowing what each does, because “bacon” hides a small chemistry set. Sodium nitrite is the cure itself — it fixes the pink color, builds the cured flavor, and most importantly suppresses Clostridium botulinum, the botulism organism, in preserved meat. Sodium erythorbate is a cure accelerator and antioxidant that helps the nitrite work and holds the color stable. Sodium phosphates retain moisture so the slices don’t fry out bone-dry, and the sugar balances the salt and aids browning. There’s no MSG and no artificial color, which is why the ingredient grade lands at C+ rather than lower — it’s a clean cure for the category. If you’d rather skip added nitrite, the alternative is “uncured” bacon cured with celery powder, though that simply swaps in a naturally-occurring nitrate source to similar effect.

Where it fits

Treat Smithfield Thick Cut as what it is: a flavor and texture ingredient, not a protein line item. Rendered crisp and crumbled over a salad, folded into eggs, or laid beside greens, a slice or two earns its place on calories you spend deliberately. The thick cut buys you more chew and a meatier bite than center-cut, at the cost of slightly more fat, salt, and calories per slice simply because the slices are bigger. Smithfield’s wider range — Naturally Hickory Smoked, Applewood, Cherrywood, Double Thick — differs mainly by smoke flavoring and thickness, not by the core cured-pork nutrition, so they all land in this same C- neighborhood. The one shopper who should pass is anyone managing sodium or saturated fat closely, for whom even a small portion costs more of the daily budget than the 3 g of protein returns. This is refrigerated raw bacon rather than a shelf-stable Amazon item, so no affiliate link is listed — and always read the actual package, especially the serving basis (raw vs. cooked) and sodium, which shift by cut.

Ingredients

Pork cured with: water, salt, sugar, sodium phosphates, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite. (Verbatim from the USDA Branded Foods entry, FDC 1507273.)

🔬 Compare this product side-by-side with any other →

See how this fits your day — protein calculator · macro calculator

Scope: This page applies specifically to Smithfield Thick Cut Bacon (Refrigerated pack — serving is 1 pan-fried slice (12 g)) · UPC 070800041251. Other sizes, flavors, or formulations may differ.