Bacon in the Oven

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My favorite way to cook bacon is an iron skillet over an open fire while camping. But for practicality, nothing beats the simplicity of baking bacon in an oven.

Sure, anything that gets you the sizzling goodness cooked to your preference is awesome, it is bacon after all. That delightful aroma mixed with the coffee brewing for your first cup is about as good as a morning can get.

sliced bacon coffee

But since I am at home more than the woods, the oven is the only way to go. This is something you learn early on in restaurant kitchens.

Baking Bacon in the Oven

As a kid at home, my mom always used an electric skillet for bacon. For starters it is square, which accommodates the strips well, and it has a thermostat to pick your temperature. However, have you ever seen someone just throw a half pound of sliced bacon in a skillet and slowly separate it as it heats up, keeping it in motion like a pile of oily snakes, slowly and unevenly cooking away? Upon seeing that I realized what it means to be OCD, and wondered how severely I might be afflicted. A quick self-slap and I was back to just thinking, that’s a bad idea and bad technique.

Bacons lines up in pan

Really even

The second-best thing about cooking bacon in an oven is how uniformly it cooks.

Cooked bacons in pan

The overall even exposure to heat, and the ability to control the temperature are the main two factors. Once the fat breaks you have enough to sizzle the bacon to good coloration. In the restaurant we’d cook it two-thirds of the way then chill it down for storage. I do the same thing at home, freezing it for later.

Bacons in oven

Which leads to the best thing about baking bacon, the volume you can cook at one time. A lot!  Even an average sized flat top grill is hard pressed to match full sheet pans cycling through the oven. As a side plus, you can very easily capture all that wonderful bacon fat for future recipes. From oiling baked potatoes to pan frying meats to slapping out refried beans, you need a jar of bacon fat in your fridge.

Baking Bacon recipe

Best Way to Bake Bacon

Allen Bixby
As recipes go, things do not get more basic.
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Side Dish
Cuisine American

Instructions
 

Easy Peasy

  • Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
  • Put Parchment paper in the pan
  • Evenly line up the strips of bacon without touching each other
    Strips of bacon on Parchment paper
  • Check after 20 minutes
    Cooked strips of bacon
  • Place strips on rack to drain excess fat
    Cooked bacon on paper
    This is with an additional three minutes of cooking. This pan was for immediate breakfast, the larger pan for storage. Cook times will depend on thickness of the slices, and how well cooked you want, the level of doneness you personally enjoy.
    Bacon Strips on rack to drain

Storage prep process

  • Cut parchment to a size slightly larger than the bacon, we went with 6 slices per layer
    6 slices of bacon on parchment paper
  • Lay out strips and place parchment on top
  • Continue layering until you have all the bacon, top with one more piece of parchment
    layers of bacon on parchment paper
  • Wrap well with film, or store in a container
    wrapped bacon strips
  • Freeze until ready to use. Thaw, cook 3-5 minutes in a skillet and enjoy.

Notes

Pro tip; line the pans with parchment, prevents sticking and helps immensely with clean up
Keyword bacon, bacon in the oven, baking bacon
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
About the Author Allen Bixby

They say that 10,00 hours working a skill makes you an expert. By that standard I qualify as an expert cook. I eschew the title Chef because I do not have formal training…but dang, do I have hands on work, with the burn and cut scars to prove it. [Read More]

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