Frying bacon in a skillet has all the time been my go-to technique. As a lot as I like the outcomes, making bacon on the stovetop typically requires an enormous cleanup effort afterward. One of the simplest ways to prepare dinner bacon seems to be within the oven. It is cleaner, requires much less effort and a focus, and bacon comes out even crispier, particularly if you happen to use a rack.
Whereas bacon could by no means be “wholesome,” oven bacon cooked with a rack drains extra grease and fats from the strips versus frying them in a pool of oil. Cooking bacon within the oven has change into my new most well-liked technique, notably once I’m making a complete package deal — and it must be yours, too.
Beneath, you may discover the easy steps wanted to prepare dinner excellent bacon within the oven. For extra kitchen hacks, you too can try easy methods to cease meals from exploding within the microwave and 10 meals you must by no means prepare dinner in your Prompt Pot.
How one can prepare dinner mess-free bacon within the oven
Listed below are my suggestions for cooking completely crisp bacon within the oven. Spoiler alert: There aren’t many steps, and none of them take very lengthy.
Preheat the oven to 400 levels Fahrenheit. I might keep away from air fryer mode in case your oven has it because the fast-moving air is extra prone to blow grease across the inside. We’re aiming for a mess-free state of affairs.
Line a baking tray with aluminum foil, or use a nonstick sheet pan for a extra eco-friendly strategy. For those who’re going the foil route, be sure the perimeters experience up the perimeters of the tray so the grease would not spill over the perimeters and down onto the tray.
For those who’re utilizing nonstick bakeware, I desire a ceramic sheet pan or tray however Teflon works nicely, too.
It is wonderful if the bacon strips contact since they’re going to shrink and shrivel whereas cooking.
Prepare bacon on the tray. The strips should not overlap, but it surely’s wonderful in the event that they contact since they’re going to shrink down considerably whereas cooking. For those who desire tremendous crispy bacon with a bit much less grease, you’ll be able to organize the slices on a wire rack above the tray for the fats to drip down under.
Cook dinner for eight to 10 minutes. Remember to maintain one eye on the bacon as some ovens run hotter than others. For those who like your bacon crispy and nicely carried out, give it one other jiffy. Keep in mind, bacon does a number of its crisping after it comes out and cools.
Now we’re gettin’ someplace.
Drain the bacon on a sheet or two of paper towels. After a couple of minutes, you are able to serve these crispy strips with eggs, in a BLT or crumbled to fancy up boxed mac and cheese.
The very best half? After cooking bacon within the oven, all you are left with is a small ball of foil to heave effortlessly into the trash.
The very best ovens for cooking bacon
For bacon, I like utilizing a smaller countertop convection mannequin. A big oven works simply as nicely however takes longer to preheat and, dang it, we would like bacon now.
The Ninja Double Oven and Breville’s Sensible Oven Air are two multifunction ovens that work nicely. Each are massive sufficient that bacon grease will not splatter on the ceiling, however are small and highly effective sufficient to preheat rapidly and prepare dinner bacon to a crisp in below 10 minutes. (We have additionally bought suggestions for easy methods to clear your forged iron skillet and easy methods to make boxed mac and cheese style so significantly better.)