Cooking bacon in the oven is a game-changer! No more stove-tops splattered with grease, no constant attention needed to stop it burning and no requirement to add extra oil to ensure perfect crispness. Perfect crispy bacon can be cooked in the oven, and you don’t even need to pre-heat it first! It’s so simple I’m almost embarrassed to share this as a recipe post! But it’s so useful, I couldn’t not share it with you guys. Just 4 easy steps:
Line a shallow baking tray with baking parchment. Place the bacon on the parchment, leaving a little bit of room between each piece of bacon. Place in a cold oven and turn the oven to 175C/350F. Cook for 20-25 minutes (no need to turn) until the bacon is crisp.
Done.
Can I make it ahead?
If you want to cook bacon so you can chop it up and to add to dishes, or to serve cold, then yes you can cook it ahead. Cook until done, then chop it up, cover and refrigerate for 2-3 days until needed. I don’t recommend cooking ahead and then reheating later if you want really crispy bacon - as reheating causes it to lose its crispness. However, if you don’t mind it being a little chewy, then you can reheat it in the microwave on high for 30 seconds or so until piping hot.
Best type of bacon
Use streaky bacon strips (not back bacon or bacon medallions) for this cooking method. The bacon needs to have a good amount of fat (which is why streaky/strips work best) to ensure it’s crispy and not dry.
Using the bacon fat:
You should get approx 1 tsp of fat rendered from around 8 strips of bacon. When the bacon comes out of the oven, immediately transfer it to a warm plate, then carefully pick up the baking parchment and allow the fat to pour into a waiting pan or dish for using later. The bacon fat can be used right away to fry your eggs/mushrooms etc, or you can cover and refrigerate it and use it later during the week.
What if I like chewy rather than crispy bacon?
If you like your bacon on the chewier side, then arrange the bacon on a metal rack above the lined tray. Make sure the bacon isn’t overlapping. Cook for 18-20 minutes (so a little less time than the crispy bacon), no need to turn. Why does this method give you chewier bacon? This is because the bacon isn’t sitting in the rendered fat, so it’s not being ‘fried’ in that fat. The fat will drip onto the lined tray underneath (so you can still use it for your eggs!). Be sure not to overcook it using this method, otherwise, it will be like chewing leather!
Here’s the video:
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