How to Cook Bacon in the Oven Recipe
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Learn How to Cook Bacon in the Oven for perfectly cooked bacon every time! Enjoy delicious, crispy bacon and less mess with this oven-baked bacon recipe.
Crispy, slightly salty bacon is one of my very favorite foods! It’s so good in many other dishes and perfect eaten piece by perfect piece! So when I learned what has to be the easiest way in the world to cook the best, most evenly cooked, crispy bacon, I was hooked!
Learning how to cook bacon in the oven is an essential cooking tip that I think you’ll love! It is the perfect way to cook to serve with breakfast with scrambled eggs and biscuits or platters of amazing French Toast or buttermilk pancakes! You can make a lot at once, which also makes it great for recipes that use bacon, such as BLT Pasta Salad, and as a topping on a big, juicy hamburger.
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven Recipe
Cooking bacon in the oven is so simple. Once you make it this way, you won’t want to cook it any other way!
Make sure you begin with a cold oven.
Lay the bacon slices in a single layer onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Additionally, you can place the bacon onto a wire rack and then place the wire rack onto a baking sheet if you prefer extra crispy bacon.
Place the baking sheet with the uncooked bacon into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 375ยบ F and bake bacon for 15 to 20 minutes. The baking time depends on the desired amount of crispness for bacon.
Transfer the cooked bacon to a plate for serving.
Benefits of Cooking Bacon in the Oven
There are so many benefits, I can’t even begin to think of them all, but here are a few main ones that come to mind.
- No hot bacon grease splattering me as I cook!
- Easy cleanup.
- Great when cooking for a larger group.
How to Render Bacon Grease
Once you’ve cooked your bacon, remove it from the baking sheet and pour the rendered bacon grease into a container. You can use a metal, glass, or crockery-style container. I use a container designed for storing bacon grease that is fitted with a fine mesh strainer. If you use another style container, line a fine mesh strainer with paper towels and pour the bacon grease through the strainer to remove any bits of bacon.
Store the bacon grease in the refrigerator for three to six months and in the freezer indefinitely.
How to Use Rendered Bacon Grease
From time to time, I add rendered bacon grease to recipes where I would enjoy the depth of bacon flavor. These recipes include roasted vegetables, scrambled eggs, quiche, biscuits, and more.
Storage Tips
To make ahead. Cook and cool leftover bacon. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat and serve.
To Freeze. Cook and cool. Store in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 1 month. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, reheat, and serve.
Here’s my Oven-Baked Bacon Recipe. I hope you love it as much as we do!
How to Cook Bacon Recipe
Equipment
- Wire Rack optional
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon
- olive oil spray, optional
Instructions
- Arrange the bacon in a single layer on a parchment or aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
- If you prefer extra crispy bacon, place a wire rack on the baking sheet and spray it with olive oil spray. Place the bacon in a single layer onto the wire rack.
- Place the baking sheet into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 375ยบ F and bake bacon for 10-20 minutes, depending on the desired amount of crispness.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined platter to remove any excess drippings.ย
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Line the baking pan with foil and the clean up is amazingly simple.
I cook mine in the oven too– great trick to share ๐
this has been the only way i cook bacon for years. #1-no greasy stove to clean up and #2-can cook more at one time when you have a crowd to feed and oh yeah, #3-it doesn’t seem to shrink up as much or curl up like fried does.
You are so right about it not seeming to shrink as much, Nancy. I think it has a lot to do with cooking slowly, too. More fat seems to render off of the bacon, in my opinion.
I love this method, too. I honestly can’t remember the last time I cooked bacon on the stovetop. I line my baking sheet with parchment and when all is finished, I drain off the bacon fat into a jar (you *know* us Southerners *have* to keep a little on hand), toss the parchment in the trash and that’s about it. Very little clean-up needed for the pan.
Oh my, I can’t even tell you the last time I was without a jar of bacon grease! I think I’d lose my Southern card or something if I did! {Well, my Grandmother would have disowned me, at the very least!}
So glad to hear others save their grease… We use ours mostly to pop popcorn. It cuts down on how much coconut oil we use… Which is so expensive!!
And I love baking bacon – a few months ago another blogger mentioned it- we haven’t gone back!!! Need to keep spreading the word.
Isn’t it the best? Love it. My grandmother always saved her bacon grease for cooking so many things. My favorite was always her eggs! So delicious!!!
I love to cook bacon in the oven! beautiful bacon pictures Robyn!
Thanks, Cheryl!
I love when you share tips like this… makes me smack my head and think, why didnt *I* think of that? ๐
Oh my goodness gracious, but the tips you share on how to have cake decorations WITHIN a cake? How genius are those!
I do the second one listed with the rack. I love it that way. I have a question. The hubs and I love bacon and order from a NY place that we adore. I received a large amount from a place in TN as a gift from my broter. It is deliciously smoky, but the hubs couldn’t eat it as it was tooo salty for him. Any ideas? I am just thinking to cook with it a piece or two at a time instead of him trying to eat it. Thanks for your thoughts.
What a great gift! I would try adding a slice or two to greens, beans or peas when cooking them for the added flavor, similar to how my Grandmother would sometimes use salt pork. It will lend a great flavor and you won’t need to add as much salt to your greens, beans, or peas when they are cooked.
and a nice smokey bacon with roasted brussel sprouts – to die for!
For Winnie: Years ago when my mother had an Easter ham that was too salty she would simmer it for awhile in water to remove some of the salt. I think this procedure would also work well for your bacon. Try it with a few pieces to see. Hope it works for you.
I have been baking my bacon in the oven for years. Only way to make it!
My only comment is who the heck ever has bacon left to freeze???? LOL!
So very true! I will say that I sometimes cook a huge pack of bacon while I cooking it and then pop the pieces into a freezer bag to make those weekday mornings so much quicker. ๐
I wait until it comes on special and then buy a few pounds and I cook a few pounds at a time so I usually always have bacon in freezer.
I just talked with a co worker yesterday about this!! She stopped eating bacon for years because of the mess and someone told her about baking bacon. She was even told about boiling it but I thought that method wouldn’t be good. My uncle used to bake bacon all the time when I was a tot and I tried it once but didn’t care for it too much. I would like to try it again and will do so this weekend!
I can’t wait to hear how it works for you, Lisa. It makes all the difference in the world. I will never forget the weekend my sister-in-law, Cindy, taught me that trick. Totally life-changing!!!
Discovered how to cook bacon in the oven 15 years ago. Have not done it another way since! We’re big campers and this works great on the top rack on a grill or open fire pit as long as the flame is not high. We use disposable aluminum pans for outdoor grilling.
We’re big campers, too!!! LOVE cooking bacon over an open fire when we’re camping too, Ann. The smell is incredible!