Frugal Foodie Mama: How to Bake Perfectly Crisp Bacon

Have you always wanted to try baking your bacon? Today I am sharing my method & tips for How to Bake Perfectly Crisp Bacon in your oven...

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Since it is Bacon Month and all, I only thought that it would be appropriate that I start out the month with my preferred method of cooking bacon. In fact, every single bacon-licious recipe that you will see posted to the blog this month all started out this way...

With me baking bacon in my oven.

To some, this may be blasphemy.

To others, this may be piquing your curiosity.

And to still others, you all may already know what I am talking about here. ;)

I have my reasons for only baking my bacon-

For starters, it frees up my stove top for things like scrambled eggs and pancake flipping.

It also seems to prevent my house from smelling like bacon all day long.

And finally, no burns from the splattering of bacon grease as it fries just inches away from your hands as you precariously flip each slice of bacon.

And I should also mention super easy clean-up! No scrubbing of a greasy pan or wiping down of a grease splattered stove top, folks. :)

But there are a few points of precaution and hard learned wisdom I need to go over with you all first and foremost before you endeavor to bake your first batch of bacon...

Always use a RIMMED baking sheet.

Always.

Because the last thing you want to do is use a rimless baking sheet the very first time you decide to try baking bacon, and as you are carefully trying to remove your perfectly cooked batch of bacon from the oven, you accidentally spill bacon grease all over the bottom of your very hot oven.

Which will indelibly catch on fire, turning your oven into a small inferno. Which will cause your very panicked husband to run out into the hallway of your apartment complex, break the glass to the fire extinguisher (which also happens to alert your local fire department of a fire), and then put out the said hypothetical fire with the extinguisher coating your oven in a film that will take hours of scrubbing and airing out to get rid of.

But that is not all, folks. The fire department will show up and proceed to blow out all the grease fire smoke from your tiny apartment with a huge industrial fan.

(Not that I would know anything about this at all! ;) )

Moral of the story? Use a rimmed baking sheet!

Line the rimmed baking sheet with foil- easy clean up and it also makes it super easy to collect to the bacon grease and drippings should you need it for a recipe.

And last but not least, always start the bacon in a cold oven. Do not preheat the oven. This will ensure that you do not quickly burn the bacon to a blackened crisp.

And there you have it, folks! My method to perfectly crisp baked bacon.

Once you have it down, you may never cook bacon the same way again.

And don't let a small oven fire discourage you from not trying to bake bacon again... Not that it would happen to you since you have my recipe and tips here to help you out. ;)

Yield: Approx. 7 slices of bacon

Author: Carrie Robinson

How to Bake Perfectly Crisp Bacon

Have you always wanted to try baking your bacon? Today I am sharing my method & tips for How to Bake Perfectly Crisp Bacon in your oven.

prep time: 3 min cook time: 20 min total time: 23 min

ingredients:

7 slices of baking per baking sheet
Heavy duty aluminum foil
Rimmed baking sheets

instructions:

How to Bake Perfectly Crisp Bacon

Line a RIMMED baking sheet with the aluminum foil. I use a 10x15 baking sheet, and I can fit 7 slices of baking on it. If you are preparing an entire package of bacon, you will need to use at least 2 baking sheets.
Arrange the bacon slices on each foil lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet(s) in your cold oven. Turn the oven to 425 degrees.
After the first 15 minutes, check the bacon for doneness. It may already be done at this point or may need a few more minutes. The batch I baked for this post took about 18 minutes to get to the crispness that I like. If you are using a thicker cut bacon, it could take up to 25 minutes to cook all the way through.
The important thing is to keep checking after that first 15 minutes! Every oven is different.
Allow the bacon to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer over to a paper towel lined plate to cool to warm.
If you are planning to collect the grease and drippings from the bacon, allow the foil to cool for at least 15 minutes. Place a measuring cup nearby, and then carefully grab the foil by the two shortest ends. Holding the foil upright, slowly fold the foil in half creating a tunnel. Move the folded foil over top of the measuring cup, tip it towards the cup, and allow the grease & drippings to drain from the foil. Set aside until you need to use it.
Then just throw the foil away- easy, peasy clean-up! Enjoy!