Learn how to bake bacon in the oven and never have a mess of bacon grease to clean up again.
As I was putting together my email newsletter all about pancakes and waffles this week I was missing bacon. I had not posted yet about how to bake bacon in the oven. In my opinion, it is the only acceptable way to cook bacon.
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Ask my children about restaurant bacon. They’ll tell you bacon is not worth ordering out. I have to make it. Because oven baked bacon is perfectly crisp. And most importantly there is minimal mess to clean up. Over the years I have discovered a few things to help you make the best oven baked bacon.
Tips for How to Bake Bacon:
- These are the sheet pans I use to bake bacon. It takes two sheet pans for one package of bacon.
- Lining the pans helps with clean up and keeps the bacon from sticking. Trust me from experience that using parchment paper is the way to go. Foil sticks and rips and is not a good choice.
- Ovens vary a lot in the way they bake. My oven bakes bacon at 400 degrees F in about 20 minutes. But bacon can be thick or thin. So don’t walk away and not check on your bacon as it is baking!
- I personally buy this brand of bacon – it’s our favorite.
- Metal tongs help to flip the bacon as it is cooking if necessary. With thick cut bacon, flipping the bacon halfway through helps it bake more evenly.
- Always drain the cooked bacon on a paper towel lined plate before serving.
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How to Bake Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz pkg bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place the racks in the upper third and bottom third positions.
- Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Lay the slices of bacon flat on the parchment paper, making sure the bacon slices are not touching.
- Bake the bacon for 10 minutes. Rotate the pans.
- Bake the bacon for an additional 10 minutes or until it is crisp.
- If your bacon is thick, it might be necessary to use metal tongs to flip the bacon over on the sheet pans about halfway through cooking time.
- Watch the bacon closely at the end so as not to burn the bacon.
- Drain the bacon on a paper towel lined plate before serving.
Jessica Formicola says
Once I tried making bacon this way, I’ve never fried it in a pan again! Thanks for sharing!
foodtasticmom says
It’s a game changer.
Angela says
So many amazing tips! Love that this is easy clean up. Great info and now I’m craving bacon 🙂
foodtasticmom says
Thank you!
SHANIKA says
I definitely love baking my bacon instead of pan frying! Less mess and more crisp, right?
foodtasticmom says
Exactly! Glad you agree!
Saima says
This oven baked bacon looks so juicy and ready to eat! Thanks for all the detailed tips on how to do it properly!
foodtasticmom says
Don’t tell but I ate three slices of it right after I took the pictures 🙂
Christie says
I prefer the oven baked bacon. The hubs, on the other hand, prefers the pan fried. Oven baked is super crisp and delicious to me!
foodtasticmom says
I totally agree with you!
NikkieV says
I’m not rating the recipe itself but rating how yummy it looks. Now comes my comment/question….. EVERY single time I have done bacon in the oven, it has smoked and ruined the experience. I’ve gone as low as 300°, used various pan covers, different bacons, so what am I doing wrong?
foodtasticmom says
Hmmmm. Since I haven’t ever had it smoke in my oven I’m only guessing. When my oven has smoked it’s because I didn’t realize some grease or other food has run over and stuck to the bottom. So I’ll run the self clean and get it cleaned out and then it’s good to go again. Are you using sheet pans that are rimmed? If not the grease from the bacon will run off and onto the bottom of the oven and that will definitely cause smoking. Those are my best two guesses!
Mike says
I use my air frier for single serve, but when cooking for a group or cooking for weekly prep I use the oven. I do not like greasy food so what I do is line the cookie sheet with foil or parchment then put the cooling racks into the cookie sheet on top of the lined sheet. Put a pound of bacon tight together and bake 350 for 30 minutes. Never fails.
foodtasticmom says
I always line my sheet pans with parchment. I find that foil sticks. And I have tried using my cooling racks. But I find the bacon ends up sticking to them. Do you have non-stick cooling racks? Or what am I missing?
Thanks for adding your experience.
NikkieV says
One more comment my dear, your advertisers have so much of your info blocked, whatever I click goes to another link. I know u need them but the (x)’s aren’t working. Thanks 🙂
foodtasticmom says
Thanks for the feedback. I will send this along to them. I want my user experience to be good!