Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Love bacon but hate the hassle and mess? Baked bacon is the answer: very little mess and perfect bacon slices every time! Learning how to bake bacon is really a time saver.
How long it takes: 30 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: sheet pan, rack if desired
Servings: 4
True confession: I love bacon. I love bacon, eggs, and homemade buttermilk pancakes for Saturday morning breakfasts, I love bacon in salads, on pizza, in sandwiches (yum, BLTs), and well, you get the idea. You’ll find that plenty of my recipes include bacon.
But I don’t love making it. Frying it on my stove top always makes a big greasy mess that’s a pain to clean up. Plus, have you ever been hit by a burning hot splatter of bacon grease? Ouch! It almost makes me not want to make bacon. Almost.
But here’s a news flash: you don’t have to fry bacon. In fact, there’s a much easier method to cook bacon: you bake it!
Easy Baked Bacon
Perfect strips and no flipping. When you bake bacon, you get nice flat bacon slices every time. You don’t even have to flip it over. It will be perfectly crisp every time.
Easiest clean-up. The bacon is baked in the oven on a rimmed baking pan lined with foil, which you can just throw away afterwards right along with the bacon grease. It’s o easy and no splatters of grease on the stove or on you!
Two ways to do it. You can bake it with a wire rack or without (that’s the two ways). The results are nearly the same. I usually bake it right on the foil without a rack but if you want the bacon grease to drain away from the bacon as it bakes, a wire rack works well.
Are you convinced yet? I hope so because baked bacon is a game changer in my mind. I’m not sure I will ever go back to frying bacon strips. Besides, isn’t it kind of fun to say “baked bacon?” P.S. If you’re looking for another quick way to cook bacon, try air fryer bacon. That method is particularly good for small batches of bacon.
Ingredient Notes
I like to buy center cut bacon because there is usually less fat. Choose what you like best. Thick sliced bacon will take slightly longer to bake than thin cut bacon.
How To Bake Bacon
Line a large rimmed baking pan with foil. Use heavy duty foil or two layers of regular foil. Make sure the foil goes right up the sides of the pan to ensure that the bacon grease doesn’t seep underneath. You don’t want that to happen because it will mean more clean up time. Parchment paper is a good alternative to foil.
Add a wire rack (optional). If you want to use a wire rack, set it in the baking pan and spray it lightly with cooking spray. The advantages of using a rack are that much of the grease will drip down off the bacon into the pan, leaving very little on the bacon. Less grease means fewer calories. Using a rack also results in slightly straighter, flatter bacon slices.
Arrange the bacon. Separate the strips and place them either directly on the foil or on the baking rack, trying not to have them touch each other (kind of sounds like my kids in the back seat–he touched me, no I didn’t, she touched me! Sound familiar?).
Bake. Place the pan in a preheated oven or a cold oven. The bacon will turn out either way but it will take slightly longer in a cold oven. Bake it approximately 25 minutes. There’s no need to flip the bacon at all, not even once. It will crisp perfectly, both on a rack or not on a rack.
Cooking Tip
Baking time will vary, depending on how thick the bacon slices are. Thick cut bacon will take a bit longer than thin-cut slices. Keep a close eye on the bacon near the end of the baking time because it can go from not done to overdone rather quickly.
Drain on paper towels. Using tongs, remove the bacon from the pan and place it on paper towels to drain. If I’m feeling particularly health-conscious, I pat the tops of the bacon with more paper towels to blot up some of the excess grease.
Clean up. All you’ll need to do is remove the foil from the pan and toss it in the trash. Usually I don’t even have to wash the baking pan. If you used a rack, you will have to wash that (hopefully it will fit in your dishwasher!).
Option 1: Without a wire rack
Option 2: With a wire rack
Cook a whole pound of bacon even it you’re not planning on using that much. Store what you don’t use in the refrigerator or freezer. It thaws out quickly and is ready to use in recipes. For ways to use baked bacon, check out the recipes below.
Refrigerate/freeze: After baked bacon has drained and cooled, put it in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator or freezer to use at a later date. In the refrigerator, it should last 4 to 5 days and in the freezer for 3 to 4 months.
Reheat: It doesn’t take long to thaw, 10 minutes at the most. Reheat it in the oven or toaster oven for 5 minutes or microwave briefly, 15 seconds. If you’re using it in a recipe, you can use it right from the refrigerator or freezer.
Recipes That Use Bacon
Here are a few recipes for that delicious bacon (unless you plan to eat it all right from the oven which is always a temptation!):
- Ricotta flatbread with bacon, squash, apples and maple pepitas (a delicious fall festival of flavors)
- BBQ chicken pizza
- Creamy loaded potato salad (with bacon and hard boiled eggs)
- Green beans with bacon, garlic, and onion (you’ll never look at plain green beans again)
- Bacon cheddar quiche with sweet potato crust
- Broccoli salad with bacon
Baked Bacon Recipe – How to Bake Bacon Two Ways
Ingredients
- 1 pound regular or center cut bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a rimmed baking pan (half sheet pan) with foil, using a couple layers, so the edges of the pan are covered as well (this prevents the grease from going under the foil). Parchment paper may be used instead if you prefer.
- If you prefer, you can place the uncooked bacon on a wire rack, set on the foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Spray the rack lightly with cooking spray (see note).
- Lay bacon on the foil or on the rack, in a single layer, not overlapping slices.
- Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on how thick the bacon slices are, or until the bacon reaches desired crispness. Rotate pan once during cooking so bacon cooks evenly. Keep an eye on it because it goes from not done to burnt pretty quickly.
- Using tongs, carefully remove bacon from baking sheet and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain.
Notes
- Forget to preheat the oven? Just put the bacon in the cold oven, turn it on, and bake slightly longer than directed.
- Using a wire rack: If you would like slightly flatter bacon strips, with a little less grease, use a wire rack.
- Using a convection oven: Baking 2 pans of bacon at once in a convection oven takes about 20 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
I use parchment paper and it works great, bacon fat doesn’t go thru….
Great idea!
I only cook bacon the baking method – no mess and my rack does fit in my dishwasher. Lining the sheet pan with foil clearly makes less mess. I spray my rack on both sides by laying it on the door of my dishwasher so mostly rinsing it off before putting it in the dishwasher is all it takes.
It’s a great method! Thanks for sharing your tips!
I have done my bacon like this for years but bake at 425 for 10 minutes on First side then with tongs turn strips and bake for another 8-9 minutes when cooked, I lay bacon strips on paper plate covered with a layer of paper towels to soak up the grease, then store bacon in a gallon size baggie then reuse the paper towels on top of the foil to soak up the grease in the pan then roll the foil up and toss. No dripping grease when disposing the grease in the pan.
I do the same with the paper towels!
I learned to cook bacon this way when I worked in a restaurant. It’s the only way to do it! My mouth was watering as I read the recipe!
Mission accomplished! ;)
YES, you need to cover it with another sheet, just loosely laid on top. Bacon grease has a mind of it’s own, and no matter how clean your oven is, it isn’t going to stay that way with bacon grease popping out everywhere. Trust me on this!
That’s a great tip!
This is my favorite way to make bacon. I don’t bother with the rack–it’s just more work.
Same here ;)
I love your cooking hints. The way to saute mushroom is a hit and this lookjs great too! Thanks
I’m so glad to hear it! Thank you for your kind words.
I’ve been baking my bacon in the oven for years now simply because of the “no mess, set it and and leave it method.” I won’t cook bacon any other way now. Like you, I bake a big batch, line them up on paper towel then freeze them for later use. What a smart way to use bacon!
I’ve baked the bacon with a rack version only. I can tell you that my sheet doesn’t look anything like yours when I remove the bacon; it has probably a cup worth of fat that’s rendered from the bacon :)). I actually keep some of the fat for cooking later, when a recipe calls for bacon fat. Hey, I do encounter this, sometimes, so don’t criticize :)
I don’t use foil on my food ever because it’s not healthy (feel free to read up on the effects of foil and hot foods); I always substitute it with parchment paper or line it with parchment paper and wrap the foil over it (if I need to use the foil for the recipe). I realize this may be double work but I don’t mind it. I will often reuse my parchment or foil if it’s clean so I’m trying to do my part to conserve…
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I have often referred your recipes to friends and they are having a great time trying your recipes, especially the air-fryer ones :). I’m making more and more stuff using my Instant Pot and loving every minute.
Thank you and keep sharing your great recipes!
Thank you so much for your kind words and for taking the time to leave a comment. It means so much!
Using either method, the bacon is not covered during baking….doesn’t it splatter onto the oven surfaces?
Not a whole lot, but my oven isn’t sparkling clean to begin with. ;)
I always make my bacon in the oven.
Same :)