--- title: VIDEO: Why Does Bacon Smell So Good? description: What causes that amazing aroma? Science explains it all. canonical: https://time.com/119186/explaining-bacon-smell/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-27T15:21:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:21.784Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch: This is why bacon smells so good og:description: What causes that amazing aroma? Science explains it all. og:url: https://time.com/119186/explaining-bacon-smell/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5c6ba14956016af/698690ebe53aba64d54d2ba2/bacon1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: Bacon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: This is why bacon smells so good twitter:description: What causes that amazing aroma? 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video May 27, 2014 3:21 PM UTC  Bacon, from a video by the American Chemical Society Bacon, from a video by the American Chemical Society American Chemical Society by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video May 27, 2014 3:21 PM UTC It’s a smell that we all know and love, but what is it that makes the aroma of sizzling bacon so enticing? The folks at the [American Chemical Society](http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html) decided to find out and were able to pinpoint the answer, with a little help from their friends at chemistry blog [Compound Interest](http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/04/16/why-does-bacon-smell-so-good-the-aroma-of-bacon/). The answer is that the sugar and amino acids in bacon mix in what is called the [Maillard Reaction](http://www.scienceofcooking.com/maillard%5Freaction.htm), which produces about 150 aroma compounds that provide the unique smell. 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