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Tip & Tricks Tuesday – Cook Bacon in the Oven

I have always hated cooking bacon because of the mess of frying it.  It doesn’t seem to matter how careful you are or what temperature you try frying bacon on, you end up with grease splatters.   In fact, I hated it so much that years ago Dave took over making bacon and eggs on Sunday mornings.

I’d heard of cooking bacon in the oven but I hadn’t tried it because I assumed that it would make as much of a mess of the oven as it does when frying it in a frying pan.  (Cleaning the oven is right up there with dusting as one of my least favorite household tasks.)

Then one day last summer, I came across a blog post (can’t remember where) that explained that cooking bacon in the oven actually meant no clean up at all.   I was still thinking to myself that must be impossible but decided to give it a try to prove whether it was as mess free, splatter free as the blog post claimed it to be.

It turned out to be one of the things you say to yourself, “Why did I wait so long to try this!”

The bacon cooks up nice and crisp.  The only mess to clean up is in the bottom of the pan you bake it in.  So for anyone who is still frying bacon in a fry pan or skillet and wishes there was a better way… here’s how you do it.

Lay the bacon strips in a single layer in a baking pan (<-affiliate link)

Bacon in a single layer in a baking pan
We lay the bacon on a rack placed in the pan because we find that it bakes up nice and crisp. The rack also allows the fat to drip off into the bottom of the pan so the bacon is less greasy, eliminating the need to drain the bacon on paper toweling after cooking.

Place the pan into a 400 F oven for 20 to 30 minutes… longer if you like it crispier.

Place baking pan with bacon into the oven.
We bake ours for about 40 minutes.

When the bacon is done cooking to the crispness you like, remove from the oven and enjoy.

Bacon cooked just the way we like it... nice and crispy.

That’s all there is to it.

After breakfast, drain the bacon fat into a glass container and store in the fridge.

 

Please note:  Never pour melted fat of any kind down the drain.  Even if you don’t clog your own drain or pipes, the fat congeals in the sewer and can create problems further down the line.

 

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8 Comments

  • Mary Anne
    July 25, 2015 6:34 pm

    That’s the way our favourite restaurant does theirs and it always turns out nice and crispy. Never thought of actually doing it at home though (duh).

  • Rachel
    July 22, 2015 3:43 pm

    It does sound easy!

  • Vickie-HorseMark Cards
    July 22, 2015 11:25 am

    I cooked bacon this morning and love this method! I used my broiler pan and each piece of bacon came out perfect! Thanks so much for this idea! Less fat and less clean up! My husban even said, “This bacon is good!”
    Enjoy your day!

  • Doris McCarty
    July 21, 2015 10:42 am

    I’ve never tried this. But I’m going too. I hate cooking bacon. I’ll have to look for a pan like yours.

  • Susan
    July 21, 2015 9:26 am

    Wow, what a great idea. I never heard of this, but I’ll try it this winter. I love how nice and crispy yours looks, so I’ll try 40 minutes, too. =) Thanks! The bacon grease does a great job of cleaning white wall tires, but almost no one has those any more. =)

  • Mary
    July 21, 2015 9:17 am

    We do it with the rack and paper towels on the bottom. It makes cleanup really easy.

  • Karen
    July 21, 2015 8:52 am

    wow – and it doesn’t splatter all over the oven? I had heard of this but assumed it would get the oven really bad

  • Lea
    July 21, 2015 7:13 am

    I’ve been cooking bacon this way for years. I’m not sure why but the bacon doesn’t seem to shrink as much when cooked in the oven.

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