How to Bake Bacon in the Oven

5 from 3 votes

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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.

Anyone can make perfect bacon every time with this easy-to-follow oven recipe!

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. Anyone can make perfect bacon every time with this easy-to-follow oven recipe! #bacon #ovenbacon #bakedbacon #easybacon #baconrecipe #howtomakebacon
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How to Make Bacon in the Oven

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.

When I was in high school, I worked at an amazing little deli called The Big Cheese. Every Saturday for years, I fried up 30 to 40 pounds of bacon to prep it for the rest of the week. I would come home and just smell so strongly of bacon I had to shower immediately. After years of this, I started to hate bacon, especially the smell.

I stopped eating bacon at around 16 and didn’t look back. After I got married and started cooking more for a family instead of just myself, bacon slowly made a reappearance. Enough time had passed that I didn’t totally hate it anymore. And when I learned about oven-baking it, I was totally in! It requires little to no effort, you don’t get splattered with hot grease, it’s easy to clean up, and the smell is not quite so in-your-face when you are done.

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. I could’ve used this hack in high school!

Is it better to bake or fry bacon?

If you ask me, baking! It’s so much easier than the conventional frying method, and makes for such a swifter cleanup.

What is the least messy way to cook bacon?

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.

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. Anyone can make perfect bacon every time with this easy-to-follow oven recipe! #bacon #ovenbacon #bakedbacon #easybacon #baconrecipe #howtomakebacon

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.

What is the healthiest bacon?

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 🙂

How to make bacon in the oven:

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  • Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
  • Lay the bacon onto the foil in a single layer.
  • Cook the bacon in the oven for about 18 to 22 minutes.
  • Remove the bacon from the pan, and place it on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb grease.
  • Throw away the foil once the pan is cool.
  • Enjoy in your favorite recipes, or eat as is.
eggs and bacon with a piece of toast with jelly
5 from 3 votes

Oven Baked Bacon

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.
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 18 minutes
Total: 22 minutes
Servings: 12

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

Nutrition

Serving: 1 of 12 slices of bacon, Calories: 133kcal, Carbohydrates: 0.5g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.04g, Cholesterol: 28mg, Sodium: 476mg, Potassium: 141mg, Vitamin A: 10IU, Calcium: 3mg, Iron: 0.3mg
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!

Another great break recipe you might want with your bacon is easy sausage gravy and biscuits. Such a treat!

My favorite bacon recipes include these:

Oven baked bacon is the perfect method to cook bacon quickly and with minimal mess just to eat or to prep it for a recipe.

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28 Comments

  1. 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?

    1. 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.

  2. 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?

    1. 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.

  3. I made bacon in the oven but I DID get splattered…not sure why. My hands didn’t have water on them.

    1. No, I think the heat not just coming from the bottom makes it much less of a mess for some reason! It’s lovely!

  4. 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.

  5. 5 stars
    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 !! :))

  6. 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!

    1. Put the bacon on foil on a cold baking sheet in a cold oven then turn to 400 degrees.