I’m going to show you something today that just might change your life. Do you avoid the whole bacon thing because you have to make a big greasy mess, have bacon oil splattered all over the place, and run the risk of scalding your forearms? Well let me show you a little trick where you can cook bacon and not have a single dirty dish. Really, not one! It’s so easy that you might just find yourself cooking bacon every day purely for the purpose of snacking on it. Errr…okay, maybe that’s just me. Pretend I didn’t say that.
You’re going to need your favorite bacon, a baking sheet, and some aluminum foil.
- Turn on your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Use heavy duty if you have it. Lay out bacon slices in a single layer. They can be close together, just avoid overlap. You can also lay a metal cooling rack in your pan and lay the bacon on top of that. Personally I think it tastes way better when it cooks up in its own drippings!
2. You don’t need to wait for your oven to preheat. Place pan in the oven for about 12-15 minutes. Watch bacon after that and cook until desired level of crispiness. I like mine on the crispy side so I cook it for about 15-17 minutes. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the slice as well.
3. Immediately remove bacon from pan and place on paper towels to soak up grease.
Now you’ve still got that pan full of drippings. And I promised no mess and no dirty dishes. Don’t worry, I’m a woman of my word. Note that at this point, you could save the drippings if that’s your type of thing (and according to the comments it’s quite important to many of you!) Or…when your bacon has cooled take the paper towels it was draining on and place them right on the baking sheet. They’ll immediately start soaking up the grease so you don’t accidentally spill on yourself, and this way you don’t have to find something to pour the oily mess into.
Then take the foil and wrap it right up into itself until you have a little package to toss right in the garbage can.
And as long as you didn’t pierce any holes through the foil, your pan is completely clean! Now how easy is that? Plus, you have the best, crispest, flattest bacon, the bacon dreams are made of!
Back to baking. Baking bacon also results in nice flat pieces. Flat bacon comes in handy for stuff like Bacon-Pineapple Burgers and Egg Salad BLT’s
I especially love baking bacon when I need a whole bunch to crumble up and sprinkle on stuff like Chicken-Bacon Stuffed Pizza Rolls, Spinach Mandarin Poppyseed Salad, and Bacon & Blue Twice Baked Potatoes. You can be cooking the bacon in the oven while you prep the rest of the food so you don’t have to sit there and babysit a hot skillet.
Questions & Reviews
Great tip! I'm your new follower. Hope to see you around my blog sometime:)
I did discover baking bacon a while back and it is far better than the old iron skillet, for sure. However, I am shocked at the unfriendly treatment of bacon grease… 😉 I keep it and use it for a variety of cooking purposes. I'm old school that way, though.
One last thing. This is another quick and easy way to cook bacon. We like it okay. It isn't as yummy as the oven baked bacon, but it is fast and clean up is pretty minimal.
You just have to wait for the grease to harden, then throw away.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002HSFB2?tag=dvdmaailm
Sara–
My brother taught me this and I also LOVE it with brown sugar. One just has to be so careful about not putting too much brown sugar on it, as it will literally burn the yummy bacon. Turning it into a sad, burnt, globby mess. I learned that lesson quickly as I wanted the extra sugary taste. It didn't work out in my favor. 🙂
Also, another fun option for people who like pepper is grinding fresh pepper onto the bacon before cooking it. That's good too if you like peppery bacon!
I've been following your blog for about 2 weeks now and love everything on it. I can't wait to make the pies in a jar. They look so cute and yummy. I started cooking bacon in the oven just a couple of months ago and it is THE ONLY way that I will cook bacon now. It's so worth the time and so easy to do!
what a concept! i love the no frills clean up! awesome! and i love all those bacon cuppie recipes!! i have been wanting to try this for a while, as i love the sweet/salty thingy! this is inspiration1 thanks for sharing!
One method I can recommend NOT to try is crisping them in the broiler. I did this when I was newly married and when I checked them I found the grease had caught on fire. Fortunately, I kept my head and had plenty of baking powder on hand so the only casualty was the bacon itself and, praise the Lord, that was all.
What a coincidence that you posted about this today! Last night I cooked bacon like this for the first time ever. I actually used a cooling rack over a rimmed cookie sheet, which also worked, but your method is definitely easier to clean up.
When you just need a few slices or it is too hot to heat up your oven, try a few slices on your George Foreman grill. It cooks quick and cripsy on both sides and the grease drains neatly into the little tray. And there are no spatters all over your kitchen!
Mary- we didn't win 🙁 But we got a LOT of votes from all of you great readers and for that we are extremely grateful!
I started cooking my bacon like this a few months ago and I am never going back. When you do find out if you won the contest?
i.love.bacon – it was one of the only things that sounded good when I was pregnant and extremely sick. That and chocolate milk.
I'm always overcooking it too – thanks for the tips! I've never done it in the oven. Can't wait to try it!
i love the tips in this post. thank you!!!
Bacon, without the greasy mess?! I had heard of this but didn't have times/temperature! And an easy way to clean up the grease–ingenious! 🙂 I <3 Our Best Bites! 🙂
Mmm… I always save the bacon drippings in a mug in my fridge. Then you can add bacon-flavor to almost anything you cook on the stovetop. Eggs, fried potatoes (hash browns), sauteeing veggies… Yum, yum, yum. Also, the center cut bacon isn't too bad for you – only 1 WW point for 2 slices. And it's REAL bacon, not turkey bacon, which I don't care for.
Mmmm… Bacon! I've always wanted to try it in the oven, but wasn't sure of cooking temps/time, etc. I'll have to try this – my 3 year old LOVES bacon!
[And no mess?! That's just an added bonus.]
I love to cook bacon in the oven!
I LOVE this blog. You ladies are the best!! I never knew that it was possible to cook bacon in the oven and I am the girl that always has bacon grease splattered all over the stove, myself, etc.
Thank you so much for teaching me this trick. I am going to make my husband's favorite Spanish Rice tonight just so that I can try this bacon-cooking technique.
Bacon….YUMMM
Oh my stars girl, don't throw that bacon grease away! I love to cook with it and now that I usually buy the bacon bits, I hardly ever have it around.
BTW Hasn't bacon been this big? Has in our house. Love your ideas for serving it, I got some new ideas. . maybe I will have to splurge and go buy some strips.
Alison, yes- LOVE sugared bacon!
Erica- I bet syrup would work well too- but try the brown sugar because I know that works!
Doehler Days- thanks for the shout-out!
Sooooo happy i found this tip. I LOVE bacon but hate cooking it. I'm so excited….and now i'm really hungry for bacon.
i featured it on my blog.
http://doehlerdays.blogspot.com/2010/04/cooking-baking-tip.html
Wow, I NEVER thought of baking it before (sad, huh?), but I love it. Mmmm.. bacon. If you brushed maple syrup on top would that make it burn in the oven because of the sugar?
We do that sometimes, but more often, especially in the summer, we cook our bacon in the microwave. we line a plate with paper towels, put the bacon on top and then top with a paper towel to avoid the splatter in there. Then we just cook for about 2 minutes, then check after every minute thereafter so it doesn't burn.
Oh my word! Now I need me some bacon!
I do this all the time. I hate standing over bacon and smelling like it.
I just tried this trick this week and loved it. No more wondering what to do with all that grease!
thank you thank you thank you-I can not wait to try this!
Very handy! Thanks for the tip.
Have you tried baking it with Brown sugar sprinkled on top? Its fantastic!
…and bacon strips and bacon strips
Add a little coarse ground black pepper awwwwesome