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The method for baking bacon in the oven is much easier than frying it up in a pan. With oven baked bacon, the strips come out straight and crispy. Plus, there’s no standing at the stove with grease splattering everywhere!
Why Bake Bacon in the Oven?
Who doesn’t love the delicious taste of freshly crisped bacon? It’s such a great add into recipes like my Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole and my Grilled Cabbage Steaks.
I absolutely hate the mess that results from frying the strips in a pan. It splatters everywhere and it seems I’m cleaning up grease for years after.
And, I end up spending a long time standing at the cooktop when frying. It’s because the whole package never fits in one pan. Or, if I try to squeeze too much in, they all get shriveled.
Baking bacon in the oven solves all these issues!!!
If you have not tried this cooking method, you must give it a try. I guarantee you will never fry bacon again!
Cooking bacon in the oven is so easy and will result in picture perfect strips every time! The best part is that a whole package can be cooked at once without making a greasy mess.
How to Bake Bacon
All you have to do when is to lay the pieces out on a rack in a foil lined rimmed baking sheet. Parchment paper can be used as a liner as well. For the best results, arrange the strips so they aren’t overlapping.
I just use two standard sized rimmed jellyroll pans. Then, I put wire baking cooling racks on top. A full package of bacon fits nicely on the two pans.
The strips are raised up while cooking so it doesn’t get soaked in grease. And, you don’t even need to flip the strips.
Oven Temperature when Baking Bacon
It’s best to bake bacon between 375°F and 425°F. But a temperature of 350°F should work too. It just takes longer to cook with a lower temperature. And for crispy strips, it’s better to go with a higher temperature.
There’s also no need to pre-heat the oven. Of course, it does take a few more minutes to cook in a cold oven. However, the meat does cook as the oven heats up.
How Long to Cook Bacon in the Oven?
To determine how long to bake bacon, the temperature of the oven and the thickness of the strips needs to be considered. But you can use the following times as a guide when baking in a preheated oven.
- 350°F, bake for about 23-27 minutes
- 375°F, bake for about 20-24 minutes
- 400°F, bake for about 18-22 minutes
- 425°F, bake for about 16-20 minutes
If the oven is not pre-heated, about 5 minutes should be added to each time range. And thick cut bacon may need to be cooked longer.
Is Baking Bacon Messy?
Unlike pan frying, the grease doesn’t splatter everywhere while it cooks in the oven. Most, if not all, the grease should drip down into the rimmed sheet pan.
There’s very little cleanup after baking bacon as well. You just have to pour off the grease in the pans and scrub down the racks. Even if using a dishwasher, it’s best to hand wash first.
You will need a good scrubber to wash the rack off. After the initial scrub, it’s best to put everything in the dishwasher because it’s the best way to clean the grease off.
To make cleanup even easier, you can line the pans with aluminum foil and make racks out of foil to lift the strips up. Then, when it’s all done, just toss the used foil in the garbage.
Why Baking is the Best Way to Cook Bacon
Once you give this cooking method a try, you’ll never go back to pan frying. You may even want to have separate baking racks just to use for bacon.
It really doesn’t get much easier than this. And, the strips come out pretty flat and crispy when baking bacon in the oven. To make each one crispier, it’s best to blot up the grease on each strip with a paper towel.
Since learning this method, I use racks to cook anything wrapped in bacon like this chicken tenders recipe. It’s a great way to bake a lot of things instead of frying.
I love that the meat isn’t drowning in the grease. And, there’s less splattering mess as well. So, the food comes out nice and crisp on the outside.
You do need to watch out for fat dripping off the sides of the pan. It may make a greasy and sticky mess on the bottom of the oven. However, having some kind of catch pan underneath if the strips get too close to the edge can help. The other option is to just keep the strips away from the edges.
If you’re on a ketogenic diet, you’ll likely be eating lots of bacon. Some people have actually taken it to the extreme. Take a look at what happens when you eat only bacon for a month!
Oven Bacon Recipe
Recipes Using Cooked Bacon
There’s a ton of recipes that call for cooked bacon. Here’s a few low carb ones:
- Low Carb Breakfast Casserole can be prepared the day before and baked just before serving. It’s great for holiday breakfasts!
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts Soup is a tasty way to eat your veggies. And roasting makes the vegetable slightly sweet.
- Bacon Ranch Chicken Crust Pizza is a nice change from the standard dough crust and red sauce.
And I pre-cook bacon in the oven for other recipes like my bacon wrapped egg muffins.
Kitchen Tools Used
These are the items we used for the recipe:
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Baking Bacon
Recipe Video (Click on Image to Play)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Set cooling racks on top of jelly roll pans and spray lightly with non-stick spray.
- Arrange the bacon on racks in baking pan. Be careful not to overlap.
- Bake for about 20 minutes.
- Transfer cooked slices to paper towels to absorb excess grease.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
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Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Unauthorized use of this material without written permission from Lisa MarcAurele is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes.
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Post updated in February 2019. Originally published January 2011.
Cheryl
At what temp do you bake it in the air fryer?
Lisa MarcAurele
You can try 400°F for ten minutes or so. You may also wan to flip the pieces halfway.
Ruth Finck
I now use my oven broiler pans instead of your method prefer this type.
Lisa MarcAurele
The broiler pans are usually a bit more non-stick as well.
Gina
I bake it on a cookie sheet but without the rack. I line it with either tin foil or parchment paper. Bake for about 10 min and then flip each piece. The bake another 10 min. Sometimes it can go another. 5 min. I find it cooks better in the grease. You can still save the grease then fold up the tin foil and toss out. Parchment can go straight into the green bin. Pan isn’t even dirty. I pat the strips with paper towels and store in a zip lock in the freezer. Zap as needed.
Lisa MarcAurele
Thanks for sharing your method Gina!
Sandy
I have tried twice to bake my bacon and both times my smoke alarms went off and smoke filled my kitchen. I place the pan of water on bottom rack also. Did not help!
I have made sure bacon stays on the rack also. Help what am I doing wrong? Is it better to put it in a cold oven? Lower temp?
Lisa
Recently, I’ve had the same issue. I think it’s just a problem with the grease coming out while baking as I always put it in a cold oven. I’m not sure if a lower temp would help, but it’s worth a try.
Connie Cordova
I cook my bacon in the oven like suggested BUT I twist it first (fits 1# easily on the pan/rack) AND I cook it at 300º for about an hour. Actually, I put in the oven when I get up at 0500 (early riser, go figure!) put it in a cold oven heat it to 300º turn it off after an hour and let it sit in the oven until we are ready to eat it. NO smoke ever and our bacon is crispy and delicious…no burned pieces…
Karen Hall
My husband has been doing this for some time. He did find (on Amazon) a rack which exactly fits the large jelly roll pan. If not using it immediately, you can just slightly undercook it, store in frig in a zip lock bag, and then briefly microwave to complete the cooking. We also save the bacon grease for cooking.
Lisa
Great tip for reheating later!
Betsy
To make cleanup even easier, once bacon is cooked and grease is poured out (of course I save the grease for cooking), then I put the rack back into the pan upside down and fill the pan with hot soapy water and let soak for a while.
Lisa
Great tip!
Lee Ann
I use the grill pan, rub it down with coconut oil, and bake at 375–time varies due to thickness of bacon…flip once, have no smoke, and clean up is real easy as the coconut oil keeps the bacon from sticking! Plus I have added fat and flavor when I save the bacon grease for cooking!
Bruna C.O.
I couldn’t agree more!
It’s a lot easyer! We don’t ususally have smoke detectors at houses here in Brazil, so that’s not a problem hahaha !!!
But I haven’t notice smoke in my oven!!
A good tip is to store the grease in the refrigerator, and you can use it to other recipes!
=)
The other day I did a “baconnaise”! I used only bacon grease ant thought the taste was too strong, but my husband and my uncle liked it! I think next time I’ll try with half bacon grease and half coconnut!
Thanks Lisa!
Lisa
Love the idea of baconnaise! It’s such a great fat to add to other things.
Robyn
I was concerned about the smoke as well. I bake mine at 375° for 25 minutes. No smoke.
Lisa
My husband likes his well done so 400°F works best for us.
IDontCook
Would be a good idea if it didn’t make my oven smoke like a chimney. Yes I put a cookie sheet under the bacon. Yes I covered it in tinfoil for good measure. Yes my smoke alarms went off. Yes I gave up with 6 minutes to go because I had that much smoke coming out. Just fry it for heaven’s sake.
Lisa
I’ve had my smoke alarm go off a couple times, but it was when the bacon hung over the side and dripped down. I still prefer this method to frying because I can cook a lot more without having to stand and watch while it cooks.