A roasting tray of dark, glossy honey-glazed pigs in blankets with thyme, beside a jar of British Heather Honey

Glazed late, turned once in the tray juices: the difference between sticky and scorched.

Recette de Noël

Sticky Honey Sausages and Pigs in Blankets

Roast the pigs in blankets plain for 20 minutes at 200C, then brush on a heather honey, mustard and thyme glaze and give them 10 minutes more. That timing is the whole trick. Honey browns much faster than sugar, so glaze from the start and it scorches before the sausages are cooked; glaze at the end and it turns dark, sticky and clings.

24Pigs

20 minPréparation

30 minutesCuisiner

HeatherMiel

The recipe

Pigs in blankets

24 cocktail sausages (about 450g)
12 rashers smoked streaky bacon
1 tsp neutral oil for the tray

Heather honey glaze

3 tbsp Miel de bruyère britannique
1 cuillère à soupe de moutarde aux grains entiers
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Freshly ground black pepper

Méthode

Chauffer le four to 200C (180C fan, gas 6). Line a large roasting tray with baking parchment and brush it lightly with oil.
Make and split the glaze. Heather honey sits in the jar like a soft gel; stir it for a few seconds and it turns fluid. Whisk in the mustard, soy, vinegar, thyme and pepper. Pour a third into a separate small bowl for serving. That bowl never meets a brush that has touched raw meat.
Enveloppe. Stretch each rasher with the back of a knife, which makes it thinner and longer, then cut it in half across. Wrap one half around each sausage and sit it seam side down, spaced apart so the heat can circulate.
First roast, no glaze: 20 minutes, turning once at 10 minutes, until the bacon is starting to crisp and the fat is running.
Glaçage. Tip off the excess fat (it dilutes the glaze). Brush the glaze generously over every piece and return to the oven for 6 minutes.
Second coat. Turn each piece through the glaze pooling in the tray and roast for 3 to 4 minutes more, until dark and sticky. Check one sausage: steaming hot all the way through, no pink in the centre.
Rest for 3 minutes so the glaze sets from syrup to lacquer, then serve with the reserved glaze for dipping.

Cooking for a family gathering? Honey is not suitable for babies under 12 months, cooked or not. Keep a few unglazed sausages aside for any baby at the table who is already eating finger foods.

Sticky honey sausages (no bacon)

Same glaze, same timing, no blanket. Use 450g chipolatas or cocktail sausages, roast for 15 minutes, glaze, then 8 to 10 minutes more, turning through the tray glaze halfway. Without bacon fat to protect them, the sausages take the glaze more quickly, so watch the last 3 minutes. A scatter of sesame seeds at the second coat is good.

Why honey has to go on late

Honey is mostly fructose and glucose. The Codex standard for honey requires the two together to make up at least 60g in every 100g of blossom honey (Codex Alimentarius, Revised Codex Standard for Honey, CODEX STAN 12-1981). Table sugar is sucrose. That difference matters in a hot oven.

In a 2017 laboratory comparison, food scientists at a Slovak university found that fructose and glucose produced far more browning products than sucrose, and that browning was strongest when sugars met amino acids, as they do on the surface of a sausage (Süli, Hamarová and Sobeková, Potravinarstvo Slovak Journal of Food Sciences, 2017). The paper is about sugar syrups in model systems, not about honey on a roasting tray, but the chemistry is the same reason a honey glaze goes from amber to bitter in a few minutes. The authors also note that “Intensive caramelisation takes place at 120 °C or more”, and a 200C oven is well past that.

Notre guide to the best honey for BBQ applies the same rule to the grill: glaze in the final 5 to 15 minutes only.

A pastry brush applying heather honey glaze to half-roasted pigs in blankets on a lined tray — The glaze goes on at minute 20, after the fat has rendered and been poured off.

Why heather honey, specifically

We use heather because it argues back. A mild honey simply makes pigs in blankets sweeter. Heather is rich, earthy and faintly smoky with a bitter finish, which stands up to smoked bacon and wholegrain mustard rather than disappearing under them. It also has an unusual set: our Yorkshire moorland heather honey behaves like a soft gel in the jar and loosens when stirred. That is useful here, because once stirred it brushes on evenly and then thickens again as it cools on the sausage. If you want the comparison in full, our acacia versus heather honey guide sets out the two extremes.

“Sausages and burgers, are steaming hot all the way through with no pink or red in the centre.”Agence des normes alimentaires, Safer Food Better Business: Cooking safely

Christmas Day countdown

Pigs in blankets are the side that competes with the turkey for oven space. This plan assumes the bird comes out to rest about 40 minutes before you sit down, which frees the oven and lets you turn it up.

Quand	What to do	Pourquoi
Christmas Eve	Wrap the sausages, lay them on the lined tray, cover and refrigerate	Wrapping is the slow job; doing it a day ahead takes it off Christmas morning
Christmas Eve	Mix the glaze, split off the serving third, cover both at room temperature	Honey glazes keep well overnight; whisk again before use
Turkey out to rest (minus 40 min)	Oven to 200C (180C fan); tray in	Straight from the fridge they may need a few minutes longer
Minus 30 min	Turn once	Even colour on both sides of the bacon
Minus 20 min	Pour off fat, glaze, back in	The glaze needs a dry surface to stick
Minus 14 min	Second coat, turn through the tray glaze	Builds the lacquer without burning
Minus 10 min	Check one sausage is steaming hot inside, then rest	The glaze sets as it cools slightly
Serving	Into a warm dish with the reserved glaze alongside	A warm dish keeps the glaze glossy; a cold one turns it tacky

To freeze ahead, wrap the raw pigs, open-freeze them on a tray, then bag them. Defrost in the fridge overnight and cook within a day, following the Food Standards Agency’s leftovers and defrosting advice: cooked leftovers should be cooled, covered and chilled “within one to two hours”, and eaten or frozen within 2 days (FSA : Réduisez le gaspillage alimentaire et passez un Noël en toute sécurité).

Dépannage

The glaze burned blackIt went on too early or the oven runs hot. Next time glaze at minute 20, and if your oven is fierce, move the tray down a shelf for the glazed stage.

The bacon unwrappedThe seam was not underneath, or the rasher was too thick. Stretch the bacon first and always sit the seam on the tray. A cocktail stick is a last resort; remember to remove it.

The glaze slid offToo much fat in the tray. Pour it off before glazing; honey will not stick to a film of fat.

Soggy underneathThe tray was crowded. Leave a finger’s width between each piece, or use two trays.

The glaze is too thick to brushHeather honey sets when cold. Stir it, or stand the bowl in warm water for a minute. Do not microwave it hard.

Sausages splitThe oven was too hot from cold. Let the tray sit out for 15 minutes before it goes in.

Variations worth making

Hot and sticky. Stir a pinch of chilli flakes into the serving third of the glaze only, so the table can choose. If you want a dedicated chilli honey, our hot honey method infuses it without cooking the honey.

Sage and orange. Swap the thyme for finely chopped sage and add the zest of half an orange to the glaze. Lighter, more fragrant, good with a pork-and-apple sausage.

Grazing-board pigs. Make them cocktail size, glaze, cool to warm, and add them to a Boxing Day spread; our grazing board honey guide covers what else to put out.

And if the evening ends with something warm in a mug, the same jar works there too: see best honey for hot toddies and winter drinks.

Honey for the Christmas kitchen, and for the people you visit

This recipe uses our Miel de bruyère britannique, raw and unpasteurised, from the Yorkshire moors. All jars are 280g. For a host gift, the Trio de découvertes pairs heather with acacia and wildflower, and the full range of coffrets cadeaux miel has one for most tables. More of our British range is on the Miel britannique page.

Free UK delivery on 3 or more jars on any order type. Standard delivery is 2 to 5 working days, so order with that in mind before Christmas. Returns within 30 days unopened.

Shop British Heather Honey See the whole shop

Rated 4.9 stars from 55 Google reviews. Start at the Page d'accueil de HoneyBee & Co. for the story behind the jars.

Questions fréquentes

Can I make pigs in blankets the day before?

Yes. Wrap them on Christmas Eve, keep them covered on their tray in the fridge, and roast on the day. Glaze only during cooking. Cooked and reheated pigs lose their crisp bacon and the glaze turns tacky.

Can I use runny honey instead of heather?

Yes. Any honey works with the same timing. A pale, mild honey gives a sweeter, less savoury glaze; a darker one gives more depth. Heather’s gel-like set means it needs a stir before brushing.

What if my honey has crystallised?

Crystallised honey is fine to use. Stand the jar in warm water to loosen it, or just whisk it into the soy and vinegar, which dissolves it. Our guide to Pourquoi le miel brut se solidifie-t-il ? explique pourquoi cela se produit.

Can I cook them in an air fryer?

Yes, in batches: about 10 minutes at 180C, then glaze and 4 to 5 minutes more, shaking once. Line the basket with parchment that leaves room for air, or the glaze will weld to it.

Are these suitable for babies and young children?

Not for babies under 12 months: honey in any form, including cooked, is not suitable for them. For older children, cut the sausages lengthways before serving to reduce the choking risk.

Sources

Food Standards Agency. Safer Food Better Business: Cooking safely.
Food Standards Agency. Reduce food waste and stay safe this Christmas. Last updated 9 May 2022.
Süli J, Hamarová I, Sobeková A. Possible consequences of the sucrose replacement by a fructose-glucose syrup. Potravinarstvo Slovak Journal of Food Sciences 11(1), 2017.
Codex Alimentarius. Revised Codex Standard for Honey, CODEX STAN 12-1981, Rev.2 2001.

Rédaction de HoneyBee & Co.

We are a six-generation Transylvanian beekeeping family based in the UK. We write our recipes around the honeys we sell, and we explain the method the way we would across our own kitchen table.

Updated: 13 November 2026