Bacon Onion Bombs

BBQ Onion Bombs
(meaty oniony balls wrapped in bacon and glazed with BBQ sauce)

Preparation: 10-15 minutes

Cooking Time:
60+ minutes at 350 ˚F
(or in smoker at 225˚F)
Serving size: 4 adults (1 bomb per person)

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
2 LARGE yellow onions, or Spanish onions
1 pack bacon - (thick sliced works better)
an 8 oz pkg mushrooms ( baby bellas are nice for this)
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
1 tbsp each Soy and Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp spicy meat rub/chili powder etc
1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
1/2 c Panko bread crumbs

Prepare the shells
First you need to cut the top and bottom off the onions before chopping them in half.
Peel off/discard the outer papery layers and then careful work off ( no breaking!) the eight largest outer half layers of onions - put these aside for later..

Make the Filling:
into a food processor put the rest of the onions, the mushrooms and the dry seasonings... and pulse/coarsely chop

place this chopped mix along with the liquid sauces, covered, into the microwave and cook a few minutes until the onions are softened and the mushrooms start to juice

Using your hands, mix the ground beef with cooled chopped mix & breadcrumbs together in a large bowl.

Build your bombs:
Divide the meat mix into 4 equal balls

Place two onion shell halves round each ball to form a bomb.

Wrap three ( or more) slices of bacon round the onion balls
.... If you drape slices over the top, you should be able to tuck the ends under the bomb base ... but if necessary, use a toothpick or two to hold it all in place.

Place the balls on a rack in a raised edge baking dish ( the bacon grease needs to drain) and pop into the oven.

After 50 min of the cooking time is over and bacon is cooked, glaze the bombs well with your favourite BBQ sauce and put back in oven for 10-15 min to let them caramelize.

The final result is totally delicious.

Once cooled, these freeze well and reheat nicely... so we normally double the batch