How to Bake Bacon in the Oven
on Mar 06, 2014, Updated Aug 22, 2024
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Baking bacon in the oven is the simplest way to make a large or small amount of crispy bacon with minimal cleanup! This easy bacon recipe comes out perfect every time.
My mom is a traditional stove-top bacon fryer, and that’s all that I really knew. But a few years ago my grandpa mentioned that he would bake large quantities of bacon in the oven to serve to his men’s group at church. That was honestly the first time I had ever heard about oven-baked bacon.
With oven-baked bacon, the house definitely smells delightful, and all of the babies come to see what I’m cooking, but it doesn’t linger forever or make your clothes stink because you were standing over the pan. And you will LOVE how easy it is to get evenly crispy pieces, and it literally takes out all of the work of cooking bacon. This bacon is the perfect addition to some over easy eggs, and buttermilk pancakes.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Oven bacon requires little to no effort
- Anyone can make perfect bacon every time with this easy-to-follow oven recipe!
- You don’t get splattered with hot grease.
- Easy to clean up, and the smell is not quite so in-your-face when you are done.
Recipe Ingredients
- Bacon – Traditional cut
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make Bacon in the Oven
Step 1. Set oven to 400°F.
Step 2. Line a baking sheet with foil and place bacon on it.
Step 3. Cook for 18-22 minutes until desired crispiness.
Step 4. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, and discard the foil once cool. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
If you ask me, baking! It’s so much easier than the conventional frying method, and makes for such a swifter cleanup.
Baking is definitely the least messy bacon cooking method. There’s no grease splatter, greasy pans, or smelly clothes since everything’s contained inside the oven.
Is it better to cook bacon fast or slow?
Slower is actually better because it will keep it from seizing up totally. Instead of frying it over high heat, I prefer to bake it at 400 degrees F. for about 20 minutes.
If you want a healthier cut of bacon, look for bacon that’s thinly sliced with minimal fat. However, bacon is just a fatty meat, so there will always be some fat on it. For a lower fat option, try turkey bacon (which you can make in the oven using this same method). That being said, turkey bacon is more processed than normal bacon so take it for what it is… if you are going to eat bacon. Eat it, enjoy it, and live your live 🙂
Expert Tips
- Line your baking sheet with foil or parchment paper for easy cleanup and to prevent sticking.
- You don’t have to wait for your oven to preheat all of the way to start cooking your bacon.
- Start checking the bacon a few minutes before the end of the cooking time to avoid overcooking, as ovens can vary.
- Pour the rendered bacon grease into a heat-resistant container and use it for cooking other dishes for added flavor.
- If using thick-cut bacon, you may need to adjust the cooking time.
How to Serve and Store Oven Baked Bacon
The obvious way to pair bacon is with the breakfast classics such as with poached eggs, in breakfast tacos, in a breakfast burrito, or on a bagel sandwich. You may also enjoy it in my chicken bacon ranch pasta salad, chicken wrap with bacon and ranch, or in my fall salad with maple candied pecans, bacon, apples, and shaved brussels sprouts.
Store any leftover bacon in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave until warmed through before serving, or enjoy it cold.
More Breakfast Recipes to Consider
Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl Bread – A Perfect Breakfast Loaf
From Scratch Recipes
Cherry Energy Balls
Dessert Recipes
Rhubarb Crumb Bars
Breakfast Recipes
Pineapple Zucchini Muffins
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Oven Baked Bacon
Ingredients
- bacon, traditional cut and about 12 ounces per pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil (have the foil overhang the edges so that the grease doesn’t get onto your pan). Lay the bacon onto the foil in a single layer. If the edges of the raw bacon overlap a little, that’s okay.
- Put the bacon in the oven, and cook for about 18 to 22 minutes. You want the bacon to be cooked through but not too dark, so keep an eye on it toward the end of baking. The actual baking time will depend on the thickness of your bacon and how crispy you like it.
- When the bacon is cooked, take it out of the oven. Remove the bacon from the pan, and place it on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb extra grease.
- You can pour the extra grease in the pan into a heat-resistant container and save it for another use.
- Once the pan is cool, simply throw away the foil.
- Enjoy in your favorite recipes, or eat as is.
Notes
- You don’t have to wait for your oven to preheat all of the way to start cooking your bacon, just FYI.
- Nutritional information is for 12 pieces of baked bacon
- Line your baking sheet with foil or parchment paper for easy cleanup and to prevent sticking.
- You can pour the rendered bacon grease into a heat-resistant container and use it for cooking other dishes for added flavor.
- If using thick-cut bacon, you may need to adjust the cooking time.
- Start checking the bacon a few minutes before the end of the cooking time to avoid overcooking, as ovens can vary.
Only way I cook bacon now! I just set my timer for 18 minutes & check every minute or so until cooked to my liking 👍
Hi thank you for sharing the info, nevertheless if you choose 400F to bake bacon, most likely it contains nitrates/nitrites try to look into what’s happens with nitrates at temperatures above 130C.
best regards
P.S.
BBC
in case cannot find it let me know
Whenever I oven bake my bacon the smell ends up lingering in the house for a few days. Any tips on how to avoid this?
Do you have an outside vent at all in your kitchen, like above your stove? You could turn that on to push the air out.
For those using this method to precook for later use, how did you reheat it? Microwave? Oven? About how long do you think it’ll keep before using?
You can use the oven or microwave! I worked at a deli and we precooked all of the bacon for the week every Saturday and just microwaved it. It’d say it’ll last 5-7 days in the fridge.
I made bacon in the oven but I DID get splattered…not sure why. My hands didn’t have water on them.
Ouch, sorry to hear that. Hope your hands have recovered.
I haven’t tried cooking bacon in the oven. Doesn’t it splatter all over the oven?
No, I think the heat not just coming from the bottom makes it much less of a mess for some reason! It’s lovely!
Loved it . To keep grease from accumulating I used four or five paper towels and pat bacon periodically. No need for wire rack and no grease down the drain.
This method is awesome! I will never fry bacon again!
I’ve been baking bacon for maaaany years now, I learned to do that when I was a cook at a juvenile delinquent boys home. I’ve passed the idea on to friends and family over the years and they love it. 🙂 IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO GO !! :))
You just saved my bacon. Literally. In two ways. I thawed out some bacon for dinner and then realized we couldn’t do the whole ‘breakfast for dinner thing tonight’. What was I supposed to do with the bacon!
I’m gonna cook it like you told me to and not have a mess.
Also, you linked to sandwiches on the bottom of your post and yes! That’s it! Sandwiches for dinner!
You saved my bacon!
Put the bacon on foil on a cold baking sheet in a cold oven then turn to 400 degrees.