You won’t believe how easy it is to cook bacon in the oven. Once you try it, you’ll never want to go back to messy stovetop bacon frying again!
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
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I really don’t know why I waited so long to try this. Sure, I have seen that people are cooking bacon in their ovens. And I thought, “That’s the lazy way to cook bacon. I’m not going to cook bacon in the oven. I’m going to keep cooking bacon the right way. In my skillet. On top of my stove. Like a normal person.”
Guys.
That was so dumb.
I don’t think I will ever go back to frying bacon in a skillet. Ever again.
How Do You Make Crispy Bacon?
Cooking bacon in the oven is so easy. It’s much less messy. And it takes about the same amount of time! I think my favorite part about cooking bacon in the oven is that the bacon comes out nice and flat and perfectly crispy. There are a few small tricks, and I’m going to let you in on them right now.
Tip #1 – Get a good sheet pan.
And line it with aluminum foil. You are going to thank me when it’s time to clean up.
Then go ahead and fill up the sheet pan with bacon. Lay the bacon out flat, and try to not let it touch. (But you can put it so close together that it looks like it’s kissing. It will shrink as it cooks.) If it touches in the pan, it will probably stick together. It’s not the end of the world.
Tip #2 – Put the pan in a cold oven.
Then turn your oven on to 400 degrees F. Leave the bacon alone for 13-15 minutes.
This is where you will get to know your oven. Mine cooks hotter on the left and right side than it does in the middle. After 15 minutes, the 2 pieces of bacon on the left and right sides of my sheet pan were cooked. The rest of the bacon was not. So I took those pieces out and put the rest back in the oven.
How Long Does it Take to Bake Bacon in the Oven?
Tip #3 – Check the bacon often after 15 minutes.
Yours might only take 15 minutes to cook perfectly. Mine took almost 20 minutes to look like this. Those last 5 minutes are so important – bacon will go from not-quite-done to perfectly done to burnt in just a minute or two, so make sure you stay close during those last few minutes.
When the bacon is as cooked as you want it, take it off the sheet pan and let it drain on paper towels. If you leave the bacon sitting in the hot grease on the pan it will continue to cook and it will burn.
Tip #4 – Wait a few minutes before you clean up.
If you want to save your bacon grease, let it cool a little bit before you pour it off. Store it in an airtight container in your refrigerator. If you want to throw away your bacon grease, it’s easier to pour off the pan after it cools a bit. And, if you forget to come back after a few minutes and the bacon grease gets hard again? (Nope, definitely did not happen to me…) Well, then it’s super easy to lift up the aluminum foil – with the bacon grease – and throw it all away. Then just give your sheet pan a soapy water rub down, and it’s all cleaned up!
I know what you’re thinking. 20 minutes to cook bacon? That’s forever!
We almost always cook a whole pound of bacon at once around here. And when I do that, I’m standing at the stove for at least 20 minutes, frying 3-4 pieces of bacon at a time in a skillet. And unless I remember to use my splatter guard (which I almost always forget), I have a big splattery bacon grease mess to clean up when I’m done. And then I still have to make the rest of breakfast!
Pop the bacon in the oven. Work on pancakes or eggs or whatever else you want to eat with your bacon. Or just sit back and wait until the bacon is done and eat it plain.
Bacon in the oven comes out so beautifully flat, without messing around with a bacon press. It was so crispy and easy to crumble. It’s my new favorite thing.
Go ahead, give it a try. Don’t hold out like I did!
Enjoy!
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How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon
Instructions
- Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Lay the bacon in a single layer on the foil. Try to keep the bacon from touching.
- Put the bacon in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 400 degrees F. Let the bacon cook for 12 minutes.
- After 12 minutes, check the bacon every 1-2 minutes. Every oven cooks a little differently, so watch for hot spots (the bacon on one part of the pan will cook faster). The bacon can get overcooked very quickly, so it's important to watch it closely as it finishes cooking.
- When the bacon is done, take it off the sheet pan and let it drain and cool on paper towels.
This is the best way, we use parchment paper instead of aluminum foil. Definitely the best way to cook bacon! 🙂
i put my bacon on a rack so it don’t set in its own fat. i take a cookie sheet put the foil down get the rack put bacon on rack so the air could circualte around it ckeck the time cause it can go from raw to burnt we have a funny kind of oven thanks billy try it it works for me
Like you, I spent years frying bacon the “right” way. I have this beautiful, old cast iron skillet that belonged to my mother, and I thought that frying bacon in it was the only way to do it. I spent far too long standing over the bacon, getting splattered with hot grease, and later having to wipe up all the grease splatter on the stove. The bacon also always curled up and was unevenly cooked or overcooked. Then I discovered cooking bacon in the oven! I was hesitant at first. I thought someone would take away my Official Cooking Card if it got out, but cooking bacon this way has been the best thing since sliced bread. It doesn’t take as long as people think; and the time it takes to cook the oven gives me time to fry a couple of eggs, make toast, and get all the other stuff done. Thanks for posting this!
Great technique. I thought about adding a rack, but I didn’t want one more thing to clean. I’ll try that next time!
I was afraid I would get my Official Cooking Card taken away, too! Next I’ll have to work up the courage to try cooking bacon in the microwave. I have some friends who rave about that, but I can’t quite wrap my mind about it just yet.