How To Cook Bacon In The Oven
Cooking bacon in the oven creates perfectly crispy, delicious bacon. It’s also super easy, creates less mess than cooking on the stove and allows you to multitask in the kitchen. If you’ve never baked bacon before, give it a try!
Cooking the bacon
When it comes to perfectly crisp, evenly cooked bacon, you really can’t beat bacon in the oven. But it’s amazing how many people have never tried it. It seems that the king rules.
Today we’re going to share with you why you should change your habits and cook bacon in the oven. And trust me, once you cook bacon in the oven, you’ll never cook it on the stove again!
Cooking bacon on the stove creates splatter all over your stove and creates hot spots on the pan. This means that certain bacon cuts can cook faster than others. And because of this, you may have some bacon slices that accidentally have a little too much char while other slices are still undercooked.
Cooking bacon in the oven cooks all your bacon slices evenly while the heat surrounds you. They sizzle slowly, don’t splatter, and are cooked evenly. It’s a beautiful thing.
How to Make It…
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the bacon slices on the baking sheet.
- Cook the bacon for 18-20 minutes or until it is as crispy as you like.
- Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
Advantages of cooking bacon in the oven
First, you can cook for a crowd (and sometimes that crowd is just your immediate family). This is key for vacations or when a lot of people descend on your home. It is also HUGE to help you keep your sanity in the kitchen with the masses.
Second, cooking bacon in the oven is much cleaner than cooking bacon on the stove. I’m notorious for splattering all over the stove because I probably cook my bacon a little too hot. But if you cook bacon in the oven, you won’t get any splattering because the bacon will just sizzle until it’s perfectly crispy (or done to your liking).
Finally, cooking bacon in the oven allows you to multitask in the kitchen. Because once you throw that sheet pan of gorgeous bacon in the oven, you can whip up eggs for about 15 minutes or make a batch of pancakes or waffles.
Be sure to SAVE bacon grease….
If you buy organic bacon, be sure to render and save the bacon grease. Bacon fat not only adds a richness of flavor to braised meats and other dishes, it also has a high smoke point, which means it’s much more stable to cook with
How to make bacon grease?
Once you have cooked your bacon, remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.
Line a fine mesh strainer with another paper towel (you can also use a nut milk bag or cheesecloth) and pour the hot bacon grease over the strainer and into a jar.
Note: it is important to use glass and not plastic as you will melt plastic with hot bacon grease.
What do I use my rendered bacon grease for? Oh, pretty much anything. It’s what I fry my eggs in and how I fry pretty much any meat. It’s also great for sauteed or roasted vegetables to add depth and flavor.
Instructions To cook your bacon:
- preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the bacon side by side on the tray.
- Cook the bacon for 18-20 minutes or until it reaches your desired crispiness. Remove the tray from the oven and, using tongs, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
- If you are making the bacon fat, line a fine mesh strainer with a paper towel. Then place the strainer over a glass container and Pour the bacon grease from the tin bowl into the strainer. Cover the glass container and place in the refrigerator for future cooking needs.
Note: All ovens cook slightly differently. It is best to keep an eye on the bacon beyond the 10-minute mark to ensure it is cooked to your personal preference.