The best way to make bacon is not in a skillet
Bacon? More like baking. We’ve discovered the best way to make the king of breakfast meats, and it’s not on the stovetop in a skillet. It’s not even in an air fryer — sorry, too small — although the air fryer is fine if you just need a few strips of perfect pork.
When it comes to making bacon, there’s not much to complain about other than a messy oven and greasy pans that need to be cleaned up afterwards. The best way to make bacon eliminates those dishes and leaves you more time to enjoy your breakfast or brunch. Making bacon in the oven is a set-it-and-forget-it affair, and if you line a baking sheet with parchment paper, there’s no cleanup afterwards.
Baking bacon in the oven on a baking sheet is my new go-to for making large batches of Sunday morning mains. Here I explain how easy and clean it is to make bacon in the oven. You can make an entire batch in one sitting, which is not possible with most typical skillets.
Below are the simple steps needed to bake perfect bacon in the oven. When it’s done, I have 9 genius ways to use leftover bacon fat.
How to Cook Perfect Bacon in the Oven
It’s fine if the bacon bits touch each other, as long as they don’t overlap.
Here are my tips for baking perfectly crispy bacon in the oven. Spoiler alert: there aren’t many steps and none of them take very long.
Preheat the oven up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I would avoid air fryer mode if your oven has it, as the fast moving air is more likely to blow grease around the inside. We are aiming for a mess-free scenario.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or use a non-stick pan for a more eco-friendly approach.If you choose the foil method, make sure the edges run up the sides of the dish so that the fat doesn’t spill over the sides and onto the dish.
If you use non-stick baking pans, I prefer a ceramics baking tray or baking sheet but Teflon works well too.
Place the bacon on the baking sheet. The strips should not overlap, but it is okay if they touch, because they will shrink considerably during cooking. If you want super crispy bacon with a little less fat, you can place the slices on a schedule above the dish so that the fat can drip down below.
Let it boil for eight to ten minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on the bacon, as some ovens run hotter than others. If you want your bacon crispy and well done, give it a few more minutes. Remember, bacon only gets crispy after it comes out of the oven and cools.
Read more: Make your next burger in an Airfryer and thank me later
Oven bacon is the best there is.
Drain the bacon on a paper towel or two. After a few minutes, you’re ready to serve those crispy strips with eggs, in a BLT, or crumbled into deluxe macaroni and cheese from a packet.
And the best part? After you bake bacon in the oven, all you’re left with is a little ball of aluminum foil that you can effortlessly throw in the trash.
A few countertop ovens for baking bacon
For bacon I like to use a smaller countertop convection modelA large oven will work just as well, but it will take longer to preheat. And damn, we want bacon now.
The Ninja Double Oven And Breville’s smart oven air are two multi-function ovens that work well. Both are large enough that bacon grease won’t splatter on the ceiling, but are small and powerful enough to preheat quickly and crisp up bacon in under 10 minutes. (We also have tips for How do you clean your cast iron skillet? And how to make ready-made macaroni and cheese so much tastier.)
Can you make bacon in an air fryer?
An air fryer is another appliance that allows you to fry bacon in a cleaner way.
Absolutely. Easy air fryers are perfect for making bacon in a way that is very similar to oven-baked bacon. Here is a step-by-step guide to bacon in an airfryer.
