In my early 20’s I worked in a commercial kitchen where I learned how to cook deliciously crispy bacon in big batches with next to no effort in the oven. No splattering grease, no standing over a hot skillet. It was one of those 🤯 moments. Sometimes the easiest solutions are the ones that escape us, so I want to share this quick tutorial and make sure everyone knows about the easiest and best way to cook bacon.
Why Cook Bacon in the Oven?
The number one reason I suggest cooking bacon in the oven is that it’s totally hands-off. You put it in the oven and then you are free to make your eggs, toast, or whatever else you want to serve with your bacon for breakfast. You don’t have to babysit a skillet full of sizzling bacon, or protect yourself from projectile hot grease. Everything is safely contained in the oven.
The second great thing about cooking bacon in an oven is that you can cook more at one time than what normally fits in a skillet. So, if you’ve got a crowd to feed, or you just really really like a lot of bacon, you can cook it all at once instead of in batches.
The third thing that I love about cooking bacon in the oven is that it self drains as it cooks. In the technique I use below, the bacon is suspended above the baking sheet with a wire cooling rack, which allows the grease to drain away as the bacon cooks instead of swimming in a pool of grease. I mean, I love bacon grease and all, but in moderation.
Do I Need to Use a Wire Rack?
Using a wire cooling rack is not 100% necessary, but I highly suggest it if you have one. The wire rack allows the bacon to heat from both sides, which yields a crispier piece of bacon. You can lay your bacon right on the baking sheet and it will fry in its own fat as it cooks, which yields a slightly chewier piece of bacon.
Do I Have to Use Foil?
No. If you prefer not to cook with aluminum foil, you can skip it or use parchment paper instead (although the grease does soak through that a bit). It simply makes cleanup easier, IMHO, but I understand that many people have safety concerns about cooking with aluminum foil. Baked on bacon grease usually cleans off baking sheets with a 10 minute soak with hot soapy water and a little elbow grease. Barkeeper’s Friend is also great for getting baked-on grease off cookware.
What Kind of Bacon Can be Cooked in the Oven?
Any type of bacon can be cooked in the oven, but I prefer thick cut bacon for this method. Thin bacon tends to turn out quite delicate and can sometimes stick to the wire rack and tear. The cooking times listed below are for thick cut bacon.
How to Use Leftover Bacon Grease
Leftover bacon grease is pure gold. It adds SO MUCH flavor to whatever you use it with. You can pretty much use it to cook anything in place of butter. Try some of these yummy uses for your bacon grease:
- To fry potatoes or eggs
- Use to sauté greens, like kale, spinach, or even green beans
- Make stove top popcorn
- Spread on your bread when making grilled cheese
- Use in place of butter in Fried Cabbage with Noodles
What to Serve with Bacon
Make your breakfast complete with Homemade Biscuits, Cheese Grits, and maybe some Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Feta!
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
Servings 10 slicesIngredients
- 12 oz. thick cut bacon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and then placing one or two wire racks on top to hold the bacon above the surface of the baking sheet.
- Lay the strips of bacon across the wire rack so they are close, but not overlapping.
- Bake the bacon in the fully preheated oven, for 20-25 minutes*, or until it has reached your desired level of crispiness. Begin checking the bacon at 15 minutes, as ovens can vary.
- After baking, use tongs to remove the strips of bacon from the wire rack to a paper towel lined plate. Serve immediately.
- Allow the remaining bacon grease to cool for about ten minutes, then pour off into a bowl or jar, and reserve for another use.
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Video
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Bake Bacon in the Oven – Step by Step Photos
First preheat the oven to 400ºF. Prepare a sheet pan by covering it with foil and placing one or two wire racks on top.
Lay the slices of bacon out on the wire rack so they are close, but not overlapping.
Bake the bacon in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (for thick cut bacon), or until it reaches your desired level of crispiness. Begin checking the bacon at 15 minutes, so you’re aware of its progress (every oven is different). I like mine extra brown and crispy, so I let mine go closer to 25 minutes.
Although most of the grease drains away as it bakes, some will pool on the top, so I still use tongs to transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate.
Let the bacon grease cool for about 10 minutes on the foil so that it’s still liquid, but not burning hot. Then pull up the sides of the foil to capture the grease, and pour it off into a bowl or jar.
Cover or close the container with the grease and refrigerate until you decide what food will be graced with its presence. If you strain out the small bits of bacon and debris the bacon grease can last months in the refrigerator. But I know I’ll use it quickly, so I don’t bother to strain!
Crispy bacon perfection!!
I actually cook bacon in the microwave. I put 2 paper towels on a plate, line up the strips, add 2 more paper towels on the top, and microwave for about 2 min at a time until it gets really brown and crispy – usually takes 4-5 rounds. There’s no spatter, the paper towels absorb the grease which you then just toss in the trash, and the bacon tastes even better than oven-baked, IMO.
What is the baking sheet and rack you are using here? I don’t see it on your Amazon page. It looks like it’s enameled and would hold up really well over time. Thanks!
It’s from Rove & Swig!
I use a small Breville toaster oven. I’ve been baking bacon for several years. For mine, 290 degrees for about 43-45 minutes for regular Hormel Black Label Original is perfect. I use no rack and cook on baking paper. I can cook it from frozen or fresh out of the package. I prepare slices for freezing by placing baking paper in between each serving., then into a freezer bag. On mornings I want bacon I just take a layer/serving out, put in a small oven pan on the paper on which it was frozen, pop it into the oven, go take my shower, etc., and the bacon is ready right on time and perfectly cooked.
I’ve tried doing bacon like this in the oven, but it never seems to get crispy! What am I do wrong? The bacon I use is NOT thick cut, and I even leave it in longer for multiple increments of 10 minutes, and still, not crispy. I line the pan with foil and put it on cooling racks on the pan to cook in the over. I’m so confused…is there something I am missing?
Have you ever used an oven thermometer? It’s a small cheap thermometer you can get at any grocery store, you put in the oven to make sure the temperature is correct. Sometimes ovens can be off by 10 degrees! That can make a really big difference.
I’ve been doing this for several years now. I usually bake two pounds at a time, one each on a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper (no wire rack). I use metal binder clips to affix the parchment to the pan; just make sure the paper comes up the sides of the pan. Because I don’t use racks, I do flip my bacon a couple of times while it cooks, and I move the racks from top to bottom and the reverse so they brown well. When the bacon is done, I remove it to a plate lined with paper towels. I don’t keep the bacon fat, so I absorb some of it with some wads of paper towel. After everything is slightly cooled, I remove the clips, fold the paper in on itself, and throw it out. The bacon freezes nicely on layers of wax paper in a sealed plastic container.
Hi Beth. I enjoyed your post on How To Cook Bacon in the Oven. I found it very interesting and helpful. I like bacon but cooking it messy with the grease. Like you sometimes I would pass on it. I will try the oven following the instructions you provided. Thank you Beth for your post. Another helpful idea how to use the grease afterwards. Currently I place in a can and toss. With your ideas there is a better way. Thank John
I’ve done this too, and one thing to make sure of is that your wire racks are oven safe. I had some cooling racks that I didn’t realize were not oven safe (I mean, metal is metal, right?? :/ ) and pretty much destroyed them after the second use of cooking bacon on them in the oven. I also lost a pound of bacon because I was too scared to eat the meat after the racks fell apart. There were metal bits every where.
I’m glad you mentioned this. I’m cooking some bacon right now on some cheapo wire racks from the Dollar Tree and I think they’re held together with solder. I sure as heck don’t want those solder joints melting and getting into the bacon.
I also do this and recommend not preheating the oven. It really makes a difference
I love making bacon in the oven!
My favourite thing to make with the leftover grease is sautéed Brussels sprouts. We trim and 1/2 them (1/4 for really big guys) and use a mandolin to cut an onion really thin and then we drizzle with bacon grease, and add seasoned salt and fresh ground pepper. Let it all marinate together for as long as possible (we try to make it up in the morning and let it sit in the fridge till supper) and then just fry it up in a hot skillet. Also works in the oven.
+1 for using leftover bacon grease for stove top popcorn. better than delicious.
I’ve been cooking my bacon in the oven for years, too. Best kept secret. However, I DO NOT preheat my oven. I place bacon in cold oven, temp to 400° for 20 min. Thicker bacon may take 22-24 min; thinner bacon 15-18 min.
I’ve been using this method for years. One slight disagreement though, do not pre heat the oven this will cut down on splatter of bacon grease, just put pan in cold oven.
I agree, no need to preheat the oven. And oddly the time is about the same without preheating the oven
I’ve been doing this for 6-7 years and consider it brilliant. I use the broiler pan that came with the stove. It’s not bad to clean if I do it right away, and easier than trying to scour wire racks which I also use for other purposes. The bacon is always flat as shown instead of curled up like it gets in the skillet. You can also do fun things like candied bacon–sprinkle raw bacon with a little light brown sugar or maple syrup, in which case I don’t save the fat. I have a convection oven, so bake at 350-375 degrees and put the pan in the upper third of the oven–no smoking or splatter.
Thanks for this comment. My oven is not self cleaning so I haven’t used this method, now bacon just went on the grocery list!
Great stuff!!! I look forward to doing this myself. Any tips for cooking scrapple in the oven?
I’ve tried oven bacon before and had a smoking problem with the drippings. What might be wrong? Should I turn it down to 350?
Your oven temp is too high. Turn it down. Let the fat slowly render out. It will crisp up in the end.
Hi Kimberly! Are you putting the bacon atop a wire rack like Beth has outlined in the recipe? That could be part of the issue.